Thursday, December 18, 2014
"Killing Fields" Reflection
We've spent a good portion of class time talking about Cambodia and the genocide carried out by the Khmer Rouge. Use your notes to write a reflection on this topic. Your reflection must demonstrate understanding of the geo-political and socio-historical issues that contributed to this horrific event. It might also be helpful to relate this to other topics/events studied this year.
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The Khmer Rouge were a group that came into power in Cambodia in the 1970s. They made Cambodians work on farms because they believed that the country should be an agrarian, communist society. Many people tried to escape the country to avoid the forced labor. However, most Cambodians ended up in labor camps. Part of this relates to ethnocentrism because the Khmer Rouge only used Cambodians for their labor. Also, the Khmer Rouge killed any Cambodians that were not farm workers. This mass genocide had a massive effect on Cambodia and the rest of the world.
ReplyDeleteThe Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975 to express their communist idealistic community, an agrarian utopia where millions of people were killed in the killing fields of Cambodia. Through this, Cambodians were forced to work in labor camps at minimal food and water each day. This ended in 1979 when the Khmer Rouge was defeated, and is known as one of the worst and most recent genocides of the 20th century. The Khmer Rouge came to power to capitalize on the instability of the newly post-colonial country. Not to mention, the conflict in Vietnam added to the violence and influenced the Khmer Rouge's coming to power.
ReplyDeleteThe Cambodian Genocide was the mass killing of over 25 percent of the Cambodian population by the Khmer Rouge. The instability started when the Vietnamese fighting spilled over the border into Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge, a communist party, took over Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge wanted a classless, purely agricultural society, and their way of reaching this goal was to kill all who were not laborers or farmers. This relates to the Holocaust, as well as the Rwandan and Armenian genocides. The Nazis, Hutus, and Ottomans all sought for a pure, unified society and tried to achieve this goal by eliminating the Jews, Tutsis, and Armenians, respectively.
ReplyDeleteThe Khmer Rouge was a guerilla movement that was responsible for the Cambodian Genocide. They were known for their forced agricultural labor camps that were known as the killing fields. The goal of the Khmer Rouge was to create a simple state that focused on the community over the individual. Many people were killed in the camps for either living a western life or for speaking up in the camps and trying to escape. The genocide went from 1975-1979 and around 2 million people were killed.
ReplyDeleteThe genocide in Cambodia that was carried out by the Khmer Rouge resulted in the deaths of millions of people in what came to be known as the killing fields. The goal of the Khmer Rouge was to eliminate all westernization and modernization to create a communist state built solely on agriculture. Anyone who was against the movement or who was previously an elite such as a doctor or teacher was killed. Those who did not get killed were sent to the labor camps where they were worked to death or starved on only a bowl of rice each day. The conditions in the camps were awful, and many were killed for no reason. In addition, it was extremely difficult to escape the brutality of the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge had tried to take over after the official withdraw of France, which left the country unstable. Many countries, including America, tried to ignore the genocide and it was not widely reported. America knew about the conflict from participating in the Vietnam War, but still took no action to protect the Cambodians under threat of the Khmer Rouge. Still, to this day, there is not recognition for the horrible events of the genocide in Cambodia. Overall, the Cambodian genocide was the mass killing of over 25% of the Cambodian population due to the extremist views of the Khmer Rouge regime between 1973 and 1978.
ReplyDeleteThe Cambodian genocide occurred when the Khmer Rouge took over in 1975. causing the Cambodian people to enter an egalitarian state that went back to a "Year Zero", and during this time there were around 2 million deaths out of a population of only around 7 million. After France left Cambodia in the 1950's, there was major confusion as to who would lead. In 1975, the Khmer Rouge, a communist group that rejects all types of western influence, came to power after capturing Phnom Penh, the capital. The Khmer Rouge then sent the population into fields, where they were to do agricultural work all day, with only a bowl of rice as their food. This event relates to other genocides like the Armenian genocide or the Rwanda genocide, and the child soldiers can also be related to the Monkey Brigade in India or the invisible children of Kony's army.
ReplyDeleteThe Cambodian Genocide took place when the Khmer Rouge took over the country. After the government's fight to keep the Khmer Rouge out and the U.S. bombings in villages, even the U.S. gave up on the fight, evacuating the embassy. After the group took over, they used their resentment for the west and communist and Maoist ideas to fuel their agrarian "utopia." To do this, all people with western influence were killed and everyone else was turned into laborers with limited rations and no rights. Children were brainwashed to believe that the Khmer Rouge was the only right thing in the world and that even their parents couldn't be trusted. Anyone who resisted in any way was executed, while many died of starvation or disease due to a lack of food and western medicine. Throughout this genocide, while the Khmer Rouge had taken over Cambodia, different factions still competed for power, causing additional conflict. Now that the Khmer Rouge has been removed and the genocide is over, there is still resentment and hatred in the country since very few of these criminals have been tried at all, and almost no action was taken to make up for what happened. This relates to Mao's Great Leap Forward and his Cultural Revolution, which both created massive destruction in China. It also relates to ethnocentrism in that the Khmer Rouge believed that their way of life in an agrarian society was a superior way of life compared to the west.
ReplyDeleteThe Killing Fields is a fair portrayal of the horrible events committed by the Khmer Rouge. The actual events of the genocide were sparked by a group of educated individuals who saw communism as a superior form of government to the one they currently lived in. The spilled over war from neighboring vietnam provided a reason for the common people to enlist in the revolution. When the Americans eventually withdraw, the Khmer Rouge filled the power gap and set about instituting their communist agenda. Days after successfully taking the capital there were forced marches out of the city, people were turned into nothing more than a bull; dumb, forced laborers in rice paddies. The government killed everyone who had been influenced by the west, they made anyone who could work, work. Everyone who was beyond use was killed. When the Vietnamese invaded they saw fields of dead bodies.
ReplyDeleteThe Cambodian Genocide that was executed by the Khmer Rouge, a guerilla movement led by Pol Pot in order to deconstruct Cambodia. This horrific movement was then called the Killing Fields, because of the horrendous killings and mistreatment to many people. During the genocide, the members of the Khmer Rouge would brainwash children at a very young age to not trust adults and become killing machines. This relates to how North Korea brainwashed people into resenting the West and to worship their leader.
ReplyDeleteThe Cambodian genocide was the Khmer Rouge killing Cambodian citizens if they could not perform the required tasks. The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, wanted to start an agrarian society starting in a year 0. The genocide started by the Khmer Rouge going into Phnom Penh and forcing the evacuation of all Cambodian citizens to the countryside of Cambodia. In the countryside, Cambodian citizens were placed in labor camps, which would later be called the killing fields. In these labor camps, there was a significance of the community over the individual. The children in these labor camps were trained to become members of the Khmer Rouge.
ReplyDeleteThe Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia and began and was called the great revolution by the people of the Khmer Rouge. This revolution left nearly 2 million people dead and many others with scarring memories. The Khmer Rouge took control due to instability due to the withdrawal of France and of the United States bombing and attacking Vietnam. The goal of the Khmer Rouge was to bring Cambodia back to "year zero" by evacuating tons of people from the cities to labor camps where they had barely any food and were usually worked to death here. Many other people were killed for little things such as speaking another language, wearing glasses, and practicing religion. Also if you were influenced by the west at all then you were most likely executed. They also took the children and took them to training camps to teach them not to trust adults and made them into killing machines. Even though this was happening, many people outside the area didn't even know what was happening to people in Cambodia until the movie "The Killing Fields" which brought awareness.
ReplyDeleteThe geo-political and socio-historical causes of the event was the Vietnam War. The US bombed Cambodia, which created anti-US sentiment and allowed the Khmer Rouge to come to power. There was also much instability and a power vacuum. The UN rescued any westerners, but Pran was not really a British citizen and his fake passport did not work.
ReplyDeleteThe genocide: the Khmer Rouge tried to create an agrarian revolution. They had to do forced labor on rice fields. Some people were happy when the KR took over because it meant no more fighting. There were very gruesome scenes such as the hospital right before the forced evacuation. They tried to brainwash the children into only being loyal to the state, and not caring about their families. They did not have very much food.
Relation to other topics: the Cold War paradigm (because of US involvement in Cold War), nationalism (because of the KR wanting to keep only certain ethnicities and promote a Kampuchean identity), genocide (purposeful killing of a group of people), and rejection of the West (by the Khmer Rouge. They killed anyone educated or western, and there was no medicine or religion).
The Cambodian Genocide was a genocide in the 20th century where 2 million Cambodians died in the "killing fields", where they were forced to labor. The point of the genocide was to return all the citizens as rustic laborers and the people who were in the labor camps who had a higher eduction or affiliations with the West, were murdered.
ReplyDeleteThe Cambodian Genocide was initiated by the Khmer Rouge and killed millions of Cambodians. It was caused by the withdrawal of Europe that caused major instability in the region. It is believed to be led by Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, who held the power over the regime and Cambodia. It took place over four years from 1975 to 1979. People were forced to work in "Killing Fields" and were eventually killed anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe goal of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge was to establish an agrarian utopia and to "cleanse" Cambodia of any opposition forces, especially those of the West, that threatened their communist utopia. They emphasized loyalty to the government over all else, even the family unit, and trained kids from a very young age to support the goals of the Rouge. Their "cleansing" forces caused a genocide in Cambodia from 1975 to 1978. Themes of ethnocentrism, where the Rouge believed Cambodians to be superior, as well as the obvious communism and genocide themes, play into this event. This genocide is similar to the Armenian genocide, as the Young Turks wished to "cleanse" their country, and the means by which the Rouge trained children is similar to other child groups such as Hitler Youth during the Nazi Party's period and the Monkey Brigade in India.
ReplyDeleteThe Cambodian Genocide lead by the Khmer Rouge has caused significant damage and has a lasting impression on Cambodia. Over two million were killed by a variety of factors including, starvation, overworked, and many killed for no reason (and were many placed in labor camps). Children were practically "brainwashed" into the ideals of the Khmer Rouge (not trust adults nor western influences). Throughout the genocide, approximately twenty five percent of Cambodian's population were killed.
ReplyDelete