Download
1 / 8
90 likes | 421 Views
Cambodian Genocide. Under The Influence of Pol Pot. Bellringer: Pre-Questions. 1. What time period is this from? 2. Where does it take place? 3. What event is this? 4:Observations?. Pol Pot's Plan.
E N D
Cambodian Genocide Under The Influence of Pol Pot
Bellringer: Pre-Questions 1. What time period is this from? 2. Where does it take place? 3. What event is this? 4:Observations?
Pol Pot's Plan - To achieve Maoist Communism without taking the intermediate step of Socialism as proscribed by Marx. - Ethnic cleansing - To regain the glory of the Angkor Empire - To reclaim Kampuchea Krom - To get all CIA and KGB agents out of Democratic Kampuchea
"This is year zero!" - The purification of a society. All foreigners were thus expelled, embassies closed, and any foreign economic or medical assistance was refused. The use of foreign languages was banned. Newspapers and television stations were shut down, radios and bicycles confiscated, and mail and telephone usage curtailed. Money was forbidden. All businesses were shuttered, religion banned, education halted, healthcare eliminated, and parental authority revoked. Thus Cambodia was sealed off from the outside world. All of Cambodia's cities were then forcibly evacuated. At Phnom Penh, two million inhabitants were evacuated on foot into the countryside at gunpoint. As many as 20,000 died along the way.
8 Steps of Genocide 1. Classification - All cultures put people into categories creating “us and them” by ethnicity, race, religion or nationality. German vs. Jew. Hutu vs. Tutsi. Heterosexual vs. Homosexual. Colored vs. White. In Cambodia it was the capitalists (considered tainted by foreign influences) vs. farming peasants (considered pure). 2. Symbolization – We give names or symbols to the classifications. We name people “Arabs” or distinguish them by dress. Symbols may be forced on unwilling members of the hated group. The Nazis made Jews wear yellow stars. In Cambodia the urban dwellers were given blue scarves and targeted for execution. 3. Dehumanization – One group denies the humanity of the other group. Members are equated with animals, vermin, insects or diseases. Dehumanization overcomes the normal human revulsion against murder. In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge dehumanized capitalists and ethnic groups like the Vietnamese, Cham and Chinese. The US justified bombing Cambodia because we believed communists were evil. 4. Organization – Genocide is always organized, usually by the state, though sometimes informally or by terrorist groups. Special army units or militias are often trained and armed, as were the Khmer Rouge. Plans are made for genocidal killings. Sometimes a charismatic leader with a solution for improving a nation in crisis rises up, like Hitler or Pol Pot. Cambodia had just been through war and the country was in chaos.
5. Polarization – Extremists drive groups apart. Hate groups broadcast polarizing propaganda and may target moderates. Laws may forbid intermarriage or social interaction. The Khmer Rouge started out by intimidating the school teachers. 6. Preparation – Victims are identified and separated out because of their ethnic or religious identity. Death lists are drawn up. Victims are often segregated into ghettoes, forced into concentration camps, or confined to a famine-struck region. The Khmer Rouge forced everyone into work camps and then identified those they wanted to kill. 7. Extermination – Extermination begins, and quickly becomes the mass killing legally called “genocide.” It is “extermination” to the killers because they do not believe that their victims are fully human. Only one of the Khmer Rouge leaders living today feels any remorse about his actions. Pol Pot said he had a “clear conscience.” 8. Denial – Denial always follows a genocide. It is among the surest indicators of further genocidal massacres. The perpetrators deny that they committed any crimes, and often blame what happened on the victims. They block investigations of the crimes, and continue to govern until driven from power by force, when they flee into exile. There they live freely, unless they are captured and a tribunal is established to try them. The Khmer Rouge continued to massacre ethnic-Vietnamese for 20 years following the genocide. Only two Khmer Rouge leaders have been captured and charged with crimes against humanity. The rest live freely.
Debate Why do you think that the Khmer Rouge decided that educated people were to be killed versus people 'lower' than him?
Exit Slip Define the following: -Sihanouk -Lon Sol -Pol Pot -Killing Camps
