The Khmer Rouge Essay

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Power and Control: The Khmer Rouge

There are many genocides that people are not aware of. One of them is the attempted genocide carried out by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge was able to gain power and remain in control of Cambodia for years without interference because they isolated the country from any foreign influence. Other countries had no idea what was happening inside Cambodia until years later. The Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot, wanted to create their own ideal communist society. So how did The Khmer Rouge gain so much power and control? Some argue that Pol Pot was the only one responsible for the power and control gained by the Khmer Rouge. On the other hand, others say that the notion of social hierarchy was …show more content…
Last was Khieu Samphan, David Chandler a Professor of International Relations, explains that Samphan was described as having in his prime a nimble, even mischievous mind – but at the same time was meticulous, doctrinaire, slavishly obedient to his party superiors and extremely rigid in his thinking. Samphan would do anything he was asked to do step by step. The argument that Pol Pot was the only responsible for the power and control in Cambodia is weak because as we can see there were many master minds that helped the Khmer Rouge, they all worked together to gain control. According to Judy Ledgerwood a cultural anthropologist, power and control was gained by the notion of social hierarchy being reversed. Those who were wealthy and educated were treated as slaves, monks and kings from Cambodia were nothing but labor workers for the Khmer Rouge. Ledgerwood says that “crucial reversal was with regard to age. The Khmer Rouge saw adults as already poisoned by the previous regime, but children were still pure and could be properly indoctrinated” (Ledgerwood 3). The idea that adults were “poisoned” by previous regimes is ridiculous. The Khmer Rouge just knew that adults had more reasoning and experience to understand what was happening. They used children to brainwash them and turn them against their parents and adults. Children helped the Khmer
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