Cambodia - Pol Pot and Democratic Kampuchea
- Created by: Alasdair
- Created on: 03-04-17 12:16
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- Pol Pot and Democratic Kampuchea (1975-78)
- 1. What were aims and methods of Pol Pot regime?
- April 1975: Communists established DK
- Wanted to make Cam
- Free from influence of foreigners
- Self-sufficient in food production
- New community and cleansed of social blemishes
- Great again
- 1975: Yr Zero cleansing began.. To remake country.. Methods:
- Exclusion of foreign visitors and influence
- Demolition of urban life
- Elevation of status of peasants
- Creation of huge agricultural cooperatives
- Enforcement of uniformity amongst Khmers and ethnic minorities
- Mass executions
- 2. Chinese models
- Khmer Rouge and Chinese shared belief in
- Triumph of human will
- Downgrading of intellectuals
- Sanctity of manual labour and peasantry
- Collectiviisation
- Countryside surrounding city
- Pol Pot regime unique
- Mao urged Pol Pot to be less extreme and learn from China's moderation
- Khmer Rouge felt Mao had compromised and did not believe in Mao style cult
- Sometimes Cam seemed to follow Ch way, e.g. collectivisation and end of private ownership but this suited them as it ensured food supplies for armed forces helped control population
- Khmer Rouge and Chinese shared belief in
- 3. Evacuation of rural areas
- Cities evacuated because
- Ideological reasons
- Cities were centre of capitalism
- Economic reasons
- Claimed food shortage imminent and more field labourers needed
- Ideological reasons
- People of all types resettled and forced to work like slaves
- By early 1979, approx. 650,000 evacuees had died.
- Food was short, people dispirited, production down, widespread hunger, even cannibalism
- Cities evacuated because
- 4. Anti-intellectualism
- Dissent unacceptable
- Led to death
- Estimated 25% of population died under Pol Pot
- Up to 1/2 of these executed
- Estimated 25% of population died under Pol Pot
- Led to death
- Most Khmer Rouge supports illiterate
- Killed educated elite and urbanites who were likely to speak out. Murdered:
- 80% teachers
- 95% doctors
- Public buildings became torture chambers.
- Journalist Dith Pran called the grave sites: 'The Killing Fields'
- Killed educated elite and urbanites who were likely to speak out. Murdered:
- Dissent unacceptable
- 5. The Killing Fields and Ethnicity
- Some historians say many executions motivated by racism but most of Pol Pot's victims were native Khmers
- Purges carried out by Santebal
- 1976: School teachers, army officers, soldiers and Khmer Republic officials
- 1977: Peasants related to officials
- Proportionately more from ethnic minorities died. Khmer racism had a long history. Ethnic minorities were a threat to uniformity.
- 6. The Muslim Cham
- Largest ethnic minority in Cam. Many joined Comms.
- Nov 1973, some Cham revolted against Khmer Rouge when they attempted to make them abandon their customs and religion.
- Summer 1975 revolted again. Pol Pot ordered 150,000 of them to be dispersed.
- Justified it by saying all Cham were middle class - many had rersisted est. of cooperatives.
- Different customs - seen as threat to uniformity
- Some were forced to eat pork (banned by religion), mosques closed and religion prohibited.
- Buddhism also abolished - religion of ethnic Khmer
- 7. Chinese Cambodians
- Cham and Chinese in Cam considered capitalists.
- Many Chinese involved in moneylending
- Many died because found it difficult to adjust to peasant life rather than ethnic cleansing.
- 8. Vietnamese Cams
- 1974: Roughly 3/4 fled to Vt to escape racist attacks under Lon Nol regime
- 1975: Most of rest expelled by Khmer Rouge
- 1977-78: most of remaining 100,000 hunted down and killed. Likely they were victims of ethnic cleansing rather than killed in drive for uniformity.
- 9. Khmer Krom and the tribal minorities
- Most significant evidence uniformity rather than ethnic cleansing motivator lies in treatment of Khmer Krom and tribal minorities
- Khmer Krom = ethnic Khmers who had lived in Vt - spoke Cam with Vt accent
- 1975-77 many massacred
- Small Thai and Lao minorities persecuted
- Hill tribes like Jarai were not persecuted and were allowed to carry on using own language
- Pol Pot had lived among them 1967-70 and were 'faithful to the revolution, were not raiders and they had class hatred'
- 10. Reasons for exceptional brutality
- Social inequality
- US policies, especially bombing
- Bitterness caused by Civil War
- Likely to follow savage ways from past
- Pol Pot and his associate's fault
- 11. Pol Pot's foreign policy
- 1975 - broke off diplomatic relations with USSR and all capitalist states. Also Albania, Vietnam, Cuba and Laos. China mostly supportive but even some in Cam considered them an enemy.
- They were most wary of Vt - ancient foe
- Spring 1977 border clashes led Pol Pot to -
- Executing those with 'Vietnamese minds in Khmer bodies'
- Purges in zones bordering Vt 'because these were people who follow the Vietnamese'
- Show people luxury Sihanouk had possessed - he was kept in luxurious confinement in Phnom Penh
- Make the regime more open and tolerant to win more foreign and domestic support
- Appeal to the Chinese
- Actions unhelpful
- Deng Xiaoping promised support but told Pol Pot off for his actions
- Purges constituted another civil war that weakened Khmer Rouge
- Most importantly - contributed Vt invasion of 1978
- 1. What were aims and methods of Pol Pot regime?
- 6. The Muslim Cham
- Largest ethnic minority in Cam. Many joined Comms.
- Nov 1973, some Cham revolted against Khmer Rouge when they attempted to make them abandon their customs and religion.
- Summer 1975 revolted again. Pol Pot ordered 150,000 of them to be dispersed.
- Justified it by saying all Cham were middle class - many had rersisted est. of cooperatives.
- Different customs - seen as threat to uniformity
- Some were forced to eat pork (banned by religion), mosques closed and religion prohibited.
- Buddhism also abolished - religion of ethnic Khmer
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