The Communist Party of Kampuchea, or more commonly known as the Khmer Rouge was a brutal regime that took control of Cambodia on April 17, 1975 and remained in power until 1979. The party's existence remained a secret with no one outside of the Khmer Rouge knowing the specifics of its leaders, other than the fact that they referred to themselves as “Angkar Padevat”.
After five years of resistance and civil war between the American backed government under Marshal Lon Nol and the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge took power. While living in the remote north-east Pol Pot had drawn influence from the surrounding hill tribes, who had self-sufficient communal living, with no use for money. When the Khmer Rouge took power they immediately started to transform Cambodia into what they wanted to be an agrarian utopia. Only days after taking power the Khmer Rouge began to force nearly two million people from major cities into the countryside to undertake agricultural work. The Khmer rouge wanted to transform Cambodia into a rural classless society, one with no rich, no poor, and no exploitation.
In order to achieve their agrarian utopia they declared that the nation would restart its calendar at “Year Zero”, empty its cities, abolish money, private property, religion, free markets, normal schooling, foreign clothing, religious practices, and traditional Khmer culture. Public schools, pagodas, mosques, churches, universities, shops, and government buildings were either closed or turned into either prisons, stables, reeducation camps, or granaries. Public and private transportation was gotten rid of, non-revolutionary entertainment was outlawed and leisure activities were restricted. People throughout the country, including the leaders of the Khmer Rouge were forced to wear black costumes. Anyone thought to be an intellectual was killed. Often even those simply wearing glasses or knowing a foreign language were condemned.
During this time all basic rights were taken away. People not only weren’t allowed to leave their cooperative, but anyone who would gather and hold discussions were accused of being enemies and were executed. Simply gathering in groups of three and talking would get one would killed.
Anyone who was deemed as not being pure was arrested, this included hundreds of thousands of soldiers, military officers and civil servants. Thousands of the educated middle class were tortured and executed. One of the most notorious execution and torture centers was the S-21 jail which held about 14,000 prisoners while in operation. However of these 14,000 only 12 survived. Hundreds of thousands of others died from disease starvation or exhaustion. Under the terms of the Khmer Rouge’s 1967 “Four-Year Plan” Cambodians were to produce 3 tons of rice per hectare. This meant that those not imprisoned would have to grow and harvest rice all year. And in most regions the Khmer Rouge forced people to work more than 12 hours a day without rest or adequate food.
The Khmer Rouge was finally overthrown in 1979 by invading Vietnamese troops after a series of armed border conflicts. The Khmer Rouge leaders then fled to the west and with aid from China and Thailand were able to reestablish their forces. However they have been losing power ever since. The country then begin to open its borders revealing the full horrors of the regime. The UN then voted to give the resistance against the Khmer Rouge a seat on the general assembly. Between 1979 to 1990 they were recognized as the only legitimate representative of Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge finally fell completely in 1999, however its legacy of death and suffering remains.
Resources:
http://www.cambodiatribunal.org/history/cambodian-history/khmer-rouge-history/
It's interesting to notice the parallels between the Khmer Rouge and other totalitarian regimes, especially with China's "reeducation" program under Mao. Since these dictatorships don't seem to last, as there is usually popular resistance or an intervention by another country, I wonder why the ruling parties always seem to impose such unpopular rules in hopes of retaining power. Perhaps in the future these types of governments will take a different form.
ReplyDeleteCommunism and the forced eradication of class seems to do that sort of thing. Instead of wealth being unfairly and unequally distributed, now everyone's just equally poor and miserable.
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ReplyDeleteIt is a shame that the United States' role in Vietnam helped to bring upon this genocide. Nixon's bombing runs in Cambodia helped to destabilize their government and Kissinger's Realpolitik effectively favored the genocidal Khmer Rouge over the victorious North Vietnamese. Our balancing game in Southeast Asia between a communist giant, a splintered country, an authoritarian tyrant, a military government, and a genocidal revolutionary group have left lasting problems on the region. Each was used as a counter balance to the other and a strict campaign of human rights or democracy was not upheld, not even in the country we backed the most, South Vietnam. Only now are these nations starting to emerge from political disarray and enter the world as more than backwards communist countries or factory locations, rather a regional bloc that is rising incredibly fast. Everything is linked and I find it very tragic how such atrocities appear when the United States seems to be everywhere and willing to do nothing.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/04/khmer-rouge-cambodian-genocide-united-states/