genocide

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A genocide is “defined as attempting to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group” (Cambodia’s Unpunished Genocide). Throughout history multiple genocides have occurred, however each one happened for a different reason. In each genocide one race or group targets another one, but in the Cambodian Genocide their own people were targeted. The group being targeted is usually chosen out of hatred or jealousy by the genocide leader. “The Khmer Rouge in Cambodia demonstrates that a government can be guilty of genocide against its own people” (The Killing Fields). In the Cambodian genocide the people targeted were those who could not perform labor work and were educated because of the working society Pol Pot desired. Pol Pot, the Cambodian genocide and Khmer Rouge leader, was stopped from continuing on with his horrid acts when he lost control of his army in a battle against the Cambodian government.
Khmer Rouge had a main part in this genocide. Between the years 1975 to 1979 the Khmer Rouge spread “like a virus from the jungles until they controlled the entire country” (The Khmer Rouge). The Khmer Rouge abused the Cambodians by declaring “money, private property, religion, and illegal books and committed massive atrocities” (Cambodia's Killing Fields). Throughout the reign of the Khmer Rouge over a million people were killed mostly in the killing fields. The killing fields a “term for Cambodia’s mass grave sites” (Killing Fields) is where most people were either abused or starved to death.
The Cambodian genocide “emanated from a harsh climate of political and social turmoil” (Cambodian Genocide). In 1962, there was a tremendous amount of conflict between Pol Pot and Prince Sihanouk resulting in Pol Pot to flee into the ju...

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"Killing Fields." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William Darity, Jr. 2nd ed. Vol. 4. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. 265-266. Global Issues In Context. Web. 2 May 2014
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