Necessary Factors of the Cambodian Genocide University of Toronto Mississauga Advanced Topics in Sociology: The Sociology of Genocide SOC445H5 October 30, 2009 The Cambodia genocide came to pass because of local and international geopolitics, the agrarian communism of the Khmer Rouge and the lack of responsibility by the United States. These factors proved to be necessary and sufficient factors that enabled the Khmer Rouge to commit genocide against the citizens of Cambodia. I believe the study of international geopolitics and how Cambodia was influenced by other states illustrates a necessary component in the Cambodian genocide. Prior to 1953, Cambodia was a protectorate of France. As its colonial master, France would award academic scholarships to prominent and worthy Cambodians to study in Paris where they were exposed to the teachings of communism. Following independence in 1953, Prince Sihanouk governed Cambodia until he was disposed of by the Khmer Rouge, the leadership of which was made up of people who had studied in Paris (Jones, 2006). Prior to this deposition and during the Vietnam War, Sihanouk wanted to avoid foreign influence and remain a neutral country. Sihanouk allowed Vietnam the use of a Cambodian port to import supplies and allowed the United States to bomb Viet Cong hideouts located in Cambodia. These bombing raids pushed Vietnamese troops and Khmer Rouge soldiers further into Cambodia (Jones, 2006). The Khmer Rouge utilized the fear created by the bombing raids along with their teachings from Paris to show why Cambodians should be against the imperialist United States and should consent to the protection the Khmer Rouge offered (Ung, 2000). I believe international geopolitics is a
necessary component to understanding the case of the Cambodia genocide as, despite Sihanouk s attempt to remain neutral, he forced Cambodia to become part of the war and allowed other countries to influence and direct Cambodia s political future to be under the ruling of the genocidal Khmer Rouge. Another necessary component in how I think the Cambodian genocide occurred is the agrarian communist philosophy as constructed by the Khmer Rouge, the foundations of which were learning in Paris in the 1950s. The Khmer Rouge believed Cambodia would be purified of the imperial and colonial influence through agrarian communism and only violence and armed revolt could cleanse the minds of Third World peoples and rid them of their colonial mentalities (Jones, 2006, p. 187). The Khmer Rouge ordered a mass exodus of all Cambodians from urban cities to live in communes and work as labourers on country-wide collective farms. As depicted in The Killing Fields (Puttnam & Roland, 1984), no one was spared during the exodus: the sick, elderly, wounded and young were all forced to leave the city en mass, and anyone who refused to leave was killed. The Khmer Rouge ensured their communist power through their eliminationist dogma. Anyone who the Khmer Rouge perceived to have the skill and power to lead a rebellion (professionals, intellects, those with glasses) were killed along with their entire family (Ung, 2000). In First They Killed My Father, the Ung family moves from camp to camp in fear that someone would recognize Pa as a military police captain, which would result in the entire Ung family being murdered (Ung, 2000). On the collective farms, the Khmer Rouge insisted on meeting impossible agricultural goals at a breakneck pace (Jones, 2006, p. 195) thereby forcing Cambodians to follow a strict farming regime the resulted in Cambodians working work from sun up to sun down on minimal food rations with all their harvest being redirected from the immediate farm and community to the greater good of Cambodia (Jones, 2006). This agrarian
communist structure enforced by the Khmer Rouge resulted in the death of many Cambodians through disease, exhaustion and starvation, and the eliminationist dogma. I believe these two aspects combined to create a necessary component that enabled the Cambodian genocide. The third component I believe that was necessary for the genocide to occur is the lack of responsibility by the United States. Despite the public denouncing of the atrocities of the Holocaust only 30 years prior, there appeared little the United States did to prevent or stop the genocide in Cambodia. The United States used Cambodia as a pawn in their bombings of Vietnam during the Vietnam War, destroying five of the six million acres used for rice cultivation which effectively destroyed the agricultural base of an agricultural nation (Jones, 2006, p. 189), making the Khmer Rouge s plan to construct a self-sufficient agrarian communist country far from attainable. Due to the political agenda of President Nixon in the United States, the bombing campaigns were kept secret. Despite radio broadcasts of the atrocities, the massive exodus, and the horrendous conditions in Cambodia (Puttnam & Roland, 1984), the average Americans did not know the full extent of the destruction. This is illustrated in The Killing Fields during the civil war of 1970-1975 when a South Carolina resident writes to the journalists asking for tourism information for their upcoming family vacation to Cambodia (Puttnam & Roland, 1984) 1. When the realities of what occurred in Cambodia were finally reported, the United States media concentrated on the five years under Khmer Rouge ruling as opposed to the five years previous and the United States involvement that contributed to the Cambodian genocide. The genocide in Cambodia is an example of a leadership taking a political idea and attempting to make it a reality despite the obvious hardship it was having on its people and without regard to human life or dignity. The Khmer Rouge might not have come into power had 1 Consul [reading] Dear sir, My family and I are planning a touring vacation of southeast Asia and anticipate, uh 2 weeks in Cambodia touring the country. Would you please send tour information and brochures? Thanking you in advance, Wendal Payne. Wendal lives in Wisacky, South Carolina.
it not been for the military decisions made by the United States that assisted in the political destabilization of Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge followed an agrarian communist ideology with eliminationist dogma that allowed for the murder of any citizen that posed a threat and the United States were willfully blind to the atrocities being committed in Cambodia. When the three components of international geopolitics, ideology of communism and the lack of responsibility of other countries are combined together, the three factors become necessary components to understanding how the Cambodian genocide came to pass.
References Jones, Adam. 2006. Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction. New York, NY: Routledge. Puttnam, David. (Producer) & Joffé, Roland (Director). (November 1984). The Killing Fields [Motion picture]. United Kingdom: Warner Bros. Ung, Loung. (2000). First They Killed My Father. New York: Harper Collins.