Tyler Bronsink
5-28-13
1st hour
The Cambodia Genocides
On
April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge (which at the time was a secret movement)
overtook the country of
Cambodia. While in power, they would set limits on the Cambodian's life, jeopardizing their human rights. The Khmer Rouge
would put the Cambodians into forced labor camps in harsh conditions. Unfortunately, the Khmer Rouge would also
commit unforgivable genocides (acts of killing certain ethnic or religious
groups of people to get rid of them) during its rule. These acts would eventually lead to the deaths of approximately
two million people and almost destroyed Cambodia.
The Khmer
Rouge led by Pol Pot, overtook Cambodia in the 1970's. During the early 1970’s,
the Vietnam War (North Vietnam vs. South Vietnam (with support from U.S)) was fought in Vietnam. To the left of
Vietnam is Cambodia, which at the time was neutral to the war. However, when
Lol Nol of the Khmer Republic came to power, he allow the U.S to harbored
U.S. troops, airbases, barracks, and weapons caches. The U.S could move freely throughout the land and could use American
B-52 bombers, dart cluster-bombs, and napalm to destroy suspected Viet Cong
targets in Cambodia. Because of this, Cambodia
became a battlefield. Between 1970 and
1974, about 750,000 Cambodians
were killed by the war. Due to these events, many Cambodians were driven to Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge guerilla movement. Many
Cambodians saw it as an image of hope and freedom for Cambodia. By 1975, 700,000 men had joined the movement. On
April 17, the movement took
Phnom Penh, a major city in Cambodia. Cambodia officially fell into Pol
Pot's hands, thus began his
plan. Pol Pot’s idea was to create a utopia where everyone was equal and would rely on their own strength. Some of Pol
Pot’s beliefs included dogmatism (believing the
truth without any evidence),
narrow-mindedness, infallibility of the party line/leader, and contempt for democracy. Some others, the idea of
self-reliance from Maoist elements, which
stated that they should avoid
western technology, were added later. After the takeover of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge send Cambodians from
their city homes into the countryside to
start working on agricultural
work (labor camps). Those who refused to leave were killed. Those with disabilities were killed. Those who were old
or young were also killed. What the Khmer
Rouge wanted was an equal
society with no rich or poor. In order to accomplish this, they banned money, free markets, normal schooling,
private property, foreign clothing styles, religious practices, medical help and traditional Khmer culture. They
also closed down schools and
churches. There was to be no public transportation or private property. The
Cambodians were force
to wear black clothing. Relationships with family members or others were often
not tolerated. To show any
emotions was like asking for the death penalty. The Khmer Rouge decided that only pure people were allowed in
charge of the movement. They would kill any one tied to the Khmer Republic. They would kill or send anyone
affiliated to religion or foreign countries to work camps. They would also kill anyone who wore glasses
because that was a sign of
intelligence. When the workers were no longer fit for duty, they were to be
killed. Those who were
fit worked for 12 hours straight without water or food. Astonishing, a prison,
known as S – 21, had
about 14,000 people. Only twelve survived. It was often that people were killed
for no particular reason. In
fact, one of the Khmer Rouge's slogans stated "To spare you is no profit;
to destroy you is no loss.”
These acts of killing innocent lives would go on for about 4 years.
Around
the end of 1977, fights began to break out between Cambodia and Vietnam over territory. Pol Pot claimed that his army was more
superior then the Vietnamese. In fact, he
stated that one of his men
could kill 30 soldiers from the Vietnam’s army. Because of this, he refused an offer to let the United Nations decide
territory lands. On Christmas day, 1978, the reign of Pol Pot came to an end when a Vietnam invasion force over
threw the Khmer Rouge. The
leaders, including Pol Pot, escaped but were eventually arrested or die. Unfortunately, these genocides would often be
considered one of the worse human tragedies. About two millions Cambodians died from lack of
medicine. Thousands were made into widows, widowers, and orphans and many now have disabilities due to forced
work and lack of medical attention.
In fact, many Cambodians (hundreds of thousands) have left Cambodia. Those who stayed there have mental problems and their
spirits are now broken. All Pol Pot wanted to do was to make his country
an equal society. In the end, however, his dream almost destroyed the country he loved.
