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Cambodian genocide historical context
Cambodian genocide historical context
Rise to power of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia
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Cambodian Research Paper
From 1975-1979, Cambodia experienced a terrible genocide which destroyed the nation and civilians of the country. Kampuchea had recently just received its independence in 1953 from France, before entering a dark period of instability. The current leader, Lon Nol, faced opposition from the Communist Khmer Rouge, causing a civil war to erupt throughout the nation. These battles allowed the leader of the Khmer Rouge, a totalitarian dictator by the name of Pol Pot, to conquer and assume complete control over Cambodia through the overtaking of Phnom Penh. For half a decade, Cambodians endured an outrageously exuberant amount of executions and famines, which lead to a large fraction of its population being depleted. An organization in Yale has concluded that approximately 1.7 million people lost their lives, which was 21% of the population during the period (“Cambodian Genocide Program”)
Under the leadership of Pol Pot, also known as Saloth Sar, Cambodia was led to its
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International aid from the U.S and other countries is often embezzled by bureaucrats into their private accounts (worldwithoutgenocide.org). Pol Pot, the orchestrator of the genocide, died in 1998, and Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea, two important leader in the Khmer Rouge, were sentenced to life in prison in August 2014. However, the people of Cambodia feel they have been robbed of justice. Today, the Cambodian people lean on agriculture for supporter, and still yield one of the poorest economies in Asia. There is little to no industrialization, and Communist forces are still present in their government. The most income of revenue come from tourism and fabrics, yet it isn 't near enough to counteract the backwards movements of Pol
Between 1975 and 1979, Pol Pot-the leader of the Khmer Rouge followed Maoist communism, which they thought they could create an agrarian utopia. Agrarian means that the society was based on agriculture. They wanted all members of society to be rural agricultural workers and killed intellectuals, who had been depraved by western capitalist ideas. A utopia means a perfect society. This idea went to extremes when The Khmer Rouge resumed that only pure people were qualified to build the revolution. They killed Cambodians without reasons by uncivilized actions such as: cutting heads, burying alive… There were about 1.7 million people killed by the Khmer Rouge.
"Cambodian Genocide." World without Genocide. William Mitchell College of Law, 2012. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. .
Pol Pot, known as the butcher of Cambodia, took an estimated 1.5 million lives ("Pol Pot"). Ruling for a total of 18 years he was by far the worst ruler Cambodia has ever had. His goal was to establish an agrarian utopia which to him was the perfect society ("Pol Pot"). Pol Pot created a military dictatorship that built up a strong fear factor within all citizens. Seven out of twenty thousand people survived when put into one of Pol Pots prison camps ("Pol Pot"). Pol Pot had a big impact on Cambodia's population.
Ung (2000) mentions that the Cambodian genocide is a product of a perfect agrarian vision that can be built by eliminating Western influence. More specifically, the Angkar perceives peasants and farmers as “model citizens” because many have not left the village and were not subjected to Western influence (Ung 2000:57). Moreover, the Khmer Rouge emphasized the ethnic cleansing of individuals from other races who were not considered “true Khmer” and represented a “source of evil, corruption, [and] poison” (Ung 2000:92). Lastly, the ideology centered on obtaining lost territory was based on a “time when Kampuchea was a large empire with territories” (Ung 2000:78). In essence, Ung successfully demonstrates that multiple causes encouraged the Cambodian
Most people in the world have not heard of the genocide going on in Laos today. Most people have not taken notice, read about it or bother to spend more than thirty seconds of their lives learning about it. The world has managed to almost entirely ignore the genocide of the Hmong people in Laos for over 30 years and still allows this crime against humanity to continue. Since the 1970s, the ethnic Hmong people in the Southeast Asian country of Laos have been persecuted by the Laotian government (Malakunas, 2000). This harassment is a direct result of the Hmong’s link to the Central Intelligence Agency in the United States in what has become to be known as the Secret War (Malakunas, 2000). The Laotian government officials directing this massacre have not been detained due to lack of evidence (Sommer P.4).
"Pol Pot in Cambodia 1975-1979." The History Place : Genocide in the 20th Century: Pol Pot in Cambodia 1975-1979. The History Place, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. .
...rible for all of Cambodia. Things that happened in the Khmer Rouge years are still around today. In Cambodia it is common for when parents grow of old age and are unable to take care of themselves, their children will take care of them. Since so many people were killed in the Khmer Rouge, those of the elderly that lived most likely no longer have children to take care of them. Another lasting effect of the Pol Pot regime, is the fact that Pol Pot killed anyone who was educated. He killed the educated people because he was worried that they would threaten his power. So Cambodia will now be struggling on educating the Cambodian people. Pol. Pot also wiped out a lot of ethnicity in Cambodia. An author at Regional Geography writes "Cambodia is the least ethnically diverse country in Southeast Asia because of Pol Pot." Cambodia is improving more and more day by day.
A policy that has made it possible for the deportation of refugees back to their homeland has already affected 1,400 Cambodians. As a result of the Illegal Immigration and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, non-citizens of the United States who have been convicted of certain crimes are being targeted for deportation. The U.S. Committee for Refugees states that this harsh law has made it easy for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S. government agency that enforces our immigration laws, to detain and deport legal immigrants who have committed crimes. Since 1996, the INS has been required to detain and deport any immigrant who is convicted of an “aggravated felony,” which includes such crimes as DUI’s, possession of marijuana, minor assaults, shoplifting, joyriding, and even writing a bad check. Any convicted Cambodian may be detained in INS up to 6 months by law. Although they have already served time for these past convictions, Cambodian immigrants still face possible deportation as part of their punishment. ...
The biggest war the world has ever seen was World War II. What was one factor that led to such a quick escalation? Genocide. Over 45 million people were murdered during this tragic time. The question is: was it the allies responsibility to intervene? The answer: No. The Global Community has no responsibility to intervene in states committing genocide.
Prak, K, B, & Schuette, S. (2007). Gender and Women in politics in Cambodia. Henrich Boll
Walker, Luke. "Cambodian Genocide." World Without Genocide. William Mitchell College of Law, 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. .
The Guatemalan Genocide was part of the thirty-six year long Guatemalan civil war, which lasted from 1960 to 1996. Throughout those thirty-six years of civil unrest, the genocide was committed from 1981-1983. A genocide is defined as “the deliberate killing of people who belong to a particular racial, political, or cultural group” by the Merriam Webster Dictionary. The Mayan Indians were the targeted group in the Guatemalan Genocide. It is estimated by the Peace Pledge Union that about, “200,000 people were killed or “disappeared”” in the Guatemalan Genocide, which was about 3% of Guatemala’s population at the time. The United States was also involved in the genocide because it helped the Guatemalan government to find and kill their targets, the Mayan Indians. The reason for sympathizing with the Guatemalan government was that the United States was keen on protecting an American company’s investment in Guatemala. The Guatemalan Genocide is a relatively recent event, and the trial to convict the perpetrators of genocide is still in progress. (Thesis)
The Cambodian Genocide has the historical context of the Vietnam War and the country’s own civil war. During the Vietnam War, leading up to the conflicts that would contribute to the genocide, Cambodia was used as a U.S. battleground for the Vietnam War. Cambodia would become a battle ground for American troops fighting in Vietnam for four years; the war would kill up to 750,00 Cambodians through U.S. efforts to destroy suspected North Vietnamese supply lines. This devastation would take its toll on the Cambodian peoples’ morale and would later help to contribute that conflicts that caused the Cambodian genocide. In the 1970’s the Khmer rouge guerilla movement would form. The leader of the Khmer rouge, Pol Pot was educated in France and believed in Maoist Communism. These communist ideas would become important foundations for the ideas of the genocide, and which groups would be persecuted. The genocide it’s self, would be based on Pol Pot’s ideas to bring Cambodia back to an agrarian society, starting at the year zero. His main goal was to achieve this, romanticized idea of old Cambodia, based on the ancient Cambodian ruins, with all citizens having agrarian farming lives, and being equal to each other. Due to him wanting society to be equal, and agrarian based, the victims would be those that were educated, intellectuals, professionals, and minority ethnic g...
The Communist Party of Kampuchea, also known as the Khmer Rouge, took control of Cambodia on April 17, 1975, which lasted until January 1979. For their three-year, eight-month, and twenty-one day rule of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge committed some of the most heinous crimes in current history. The main leader who orchestrated these crimes was a man named Pol Pot. In 1962, Pol Pot had become the coordinator of the Cambodian Communist Party. The Prince of Cambodia, Norodom Sihanouk, did not approve of the Party and forced Pol Pot to flee to exile in the jungle. There, Pol formed a fortified resistance movement, which became known as the Khmer Rouge, and pursued a guerrilla war against Sihanouk’s government. As Pol Pot began to accumulate power, he ruthlessly imposed an extremist system to restructure Cambodia. Populations of Cambodia's inner-city districts were vacated from their homes and forced to walk into rural areas to work. All intellectuals and educated people were eradicated and together with all un-communist aspects of traditional Cambodian society. The remaining citizens were made to work as laborers in various concentration camps made up of collective farms. On these farms, people would harvest the crops to feed their camps. For every man, woman, and child it was mandatory to labor in the fields for twelve to fifteen hours each day. An estimated two million people, or twenty-one percent of Cambodia's population, lost their lives and many of these victims were brutally executed. Countless more of them died of malnourishment, fatigue, and disease. Ethnic groups such as the Vietnamese, Chinese, and Cham Muslims were attacked, along with twenty other smaller groups. Fifty percent of the estimated 425,000 Chinese living in Cambod...
Settled in the end of the fifth century, two groups established themselves in what is now present day Cambodia. The Champa controlled the central and southern part of Vietnam and the Funan is the southernmost part Vietnam and present-day Cambodia. Influences from both China and India were obvious as dance and music spread throughout the area. Ruling on its own till 1864 when the French absorbed it into French Indochina Along with Laos and Vietnam. For nearly a century, the French exploited Cambodia commercially, and demanded power over politics, economics, and social life. It was not until a leader Norodom Sihanouk proclaimed Cambodia's independence in 1949 which was later granted in 1953. Cambodia fell into chaos during the 1970’s as General Lon Nol and his connections to the Khmer Rouge brought Cambodia into a genocidal age. For a decade Cambodia was surrounded by despair and carnage until the reign of the Khmer Rouge ended in 1979. Slowly rebuilding of the nation began as outside countries and organization such as the United Nation helped to get Cambodia back on its feet. Plans were made for general elections by 1993 which lead to the constitutional monarchy that the country has today. With its cyclical and oppressive history, Cambodia future is optimistic with the economy growing rapidly due to industries such as tourism, textiles, oil and the traditional farming. Slowly the nation reaches to find its place among the other powerhouses in Southeast Asia and around the world.