The Cambodian Genocide

Genocide is defined in the dictionary as the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation, and is almost a common occurrence throughout history. In the last one hundred years, there have been numerous genocides, all in different places around the globe, but all usually stem from the same roots. Genocides happen because of several different motivations: for example, the possibility of a potential threat, a way to gain power, to spread terror, or to put an ideology or belief into action. While genocides like the Holocaust are widely known and studied, one of the most tragic genocides is rarely discussed. The Cambodian genocide saw the slaughter of nearly 3 million innocent people—by their …show more content…
However, the intellectuals targeted were called “old” and needed to be exterminated and replaced with the new Khmer Rouge ideology. As most of the targets did not belong to any specific ethnic group or class, there was not much to classify them, but those who wore glasses or spoke foreign languages were more likely to be persecuted as those traits were largely associated with the West. Additionally, during the evacuation of Phnom Penh, men, women, and children from the Eastern zone of Cambodia were given blue and white checked scarves which marked them for …show more content…
A revolutionary magazine was printed, which targeted the lower class with agricultural and communist bias. The government also sent an alert across the nation stating that the U.S. was going to bomb all the major cities, and that it was necessary for everyone to relocate to rural areas as soon as possible. While propaganda was used to promote the regime, dehumanization techniques were used to subdue the public. The slow torturous death given to those who were under the influence of the Khmer Rouge was a form of dehumanization, because these mass killings and the torture in the prisons were not seen as murder, but more as swatting away flies, as they were enemies and they were considered lower than humans by the Khmer Rouge. Children were taken from their parents and forced to work in labor camps, while many others were taken to labor fields, which later became known as killing fields. In these fields, workers would toil for twelve to eighteen hours a day in harsh conditions, with merely two short rest breaks and barely any food or water. Children were also “a huge tool of the Khmer Rouge, as they were easy to control and would follow orders without hesitation”, and many were even forced to shoot their own parents (Authors at United to End Genocide). Additionally, there were many laws that controlled the Cambodians. The Khmer Rouge

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