The York Politics Review

Image credit: Alan C. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

By Thomas Haller

In writing on a topic as horrific as the Cambodian Genocide, it’s important for me to write it not as a piece of academic interest, but as a human reality that the people of Cambodia still deal with. In writing this article I want to show that the sheer depravity makes it one of, if not the, single greatest crimes humanity has ever seen. Cambodia is a country I have been lucky enough to visit, and I hold a deep affection for the country and its people. It is a country of rich history, culture, and cuisine. The Angkor Wat palace and temple complex is one of great wonders of the world and is a marvel of both art and architecture, and the people are incredibly welcoming. Just below the surface however is the physical memory of a living horror that eradicated whole families and communities. 

The Khmer Rouge wanted to completely overhaul Cambodian society, to an extent that even Soviet Russia and Maoist China had failed to do. This iconoclasm involved the destruction of all culture and institutions that had existed before the revolution, with class distinction to be eradicated overnight. Cities were forcefully evacuated, and industry was collectivised. The number of targets for this new regime was almost infinite, as Clayton explains: “Many people suspected of association with the previous regime were assassinated, as were students, teachers, engineers, doctors and other educated Cambodians”.

Ironically, despite this cultural iconoclasm, the leadership of Khmer Rouge were opportunistically able to use Cambodian history and culture to gain the obedience of the population. Cambodian culture is highly influenced by Buddhist philosophy, and this extends to the political sphere. This involves both an importance in respecting hierarchy, as well as a strong emphasis on honour and reputation, taught from an early age. This cultural backdrop is part of what allowed Pol Pot (the Khmer Rouge’s leader), a Paris-educated agitator to gain support following the approval of the deposed former monarch Sihanouk. To fulfil Pol Pot’s radical class elimination agenda, he relied both on the historic obedience supplied to authority, as well as the lingering resentments of Cambodia’s rural population, long suppressed by the various regimes that had ruled Cambodia. 

Among the worst crimes of the Khmer Rouge was their indoctrination of children to commit its atrocities. Within the ideology of Khmer Rouge, there was a prioritisation of the rural population (referred to as “old people”) as they were seen as making more loyal revolutionaries. Children likewise were seen as more malleable and so were chosen for intense indoctrination to make them obedient to the orders of the regime. After seizing power, the Khmer Rouge enacted a scholasticide, closing all the schools and higher education facilities in the country along with burning books and destroying technical equipment. This was designed to ensure that no remaining academics could rally against the new cultural revolution, a fear personal to the leadership of the Khmer Rouge who were of this class due to their French education. The surviving educational infrastructure was turned into weapons of the regime. The most infamous torture centre of the Khmer Rouge, Tuol Sleng, was a repurposed high school. As part of the new education of Cambodia’s youth, indoctrination was followed by obligations. These obligations involved denouncing family members and friends, and even taking part in executions, which due to a shortage of bullets often involved bladed weapons. 

Ethnic Minorities were particularly targeted in the merging of radical class elimination and Khmer Nationalism. Large numbers of Chinese, Vietnamese, Thais, and Cham Muslims who had lived in Cambodia for centuries were seen as foreign invaders and spies for the enemy powers (namely the United States, but Anti-Vietnamese sentiment eventually became as important following border skirmishes). In a similar vein to the racial policies of National Socialist Germany, Weitz notes: “The regime carried out genocides against distinct nationalities […] that, to the Khmer Rouge, were by definition hostile to the effort to establish an egalitarian, homogeneous Khmer society”. Divergence and difference, identified along racial lines (namely through physical features determined by the executioner to be non-Khmer), were firmly established as enemies and killed as a result.

What enabled the killing to be so indiscriminate and widespread was that the structure that the Khmer Rouge created was one of total lawlessness and unaccountability at all levels. Individuals were given total power of life and death, and restraint was seen as a threat to the success of the revolution. Paranoia became the backing behind all conduct, as many of those killed were themselves those who had participated both as soldiers, prison guards, and government officials. Kiernan’s figures note that: “Among the 1,622 prisoners who entered Tuol Sleng in 1976, 150 were themselves members of S-21, the security apparatus that ran the prison”. Disobeying orders meant instant denunciation and execution, obeying them often merely delayed it. The constant threat of denunciation alongside the lack of any oversight meant that the cruelty of commanders was encouraged and unchallenged. 

In identifying the characteristics of the Cambodian genocide, an understanding of its unique cruelty emerges through the human cost. Many of those alive today in Cambodia had family members abducted and never heard from again, added namelessly to the thousands of mass graves across the country. Whilst many of these are still being discovered, the search is hindered by millions of landmines laid across Cambodia’s countryside by the Khmer Rouge, which still kill and maim people to this day. The Cambodian Landmine Museum, located near Siem Riep, displays vast numbers of ordinance as uncovered by its founder Aki Ra, a former child soldier, and teams of volunteers. Alongside other relief organisations, they continue to provide support for victims of landmines and ensures the Cambodian genocide is not forgotten. 

The Cambodian genocide was the product of a series of specific events that had led to the destabilisation of Cambodian, but the warning it gives for the future is still relevant. The weaponisation of difference and the violent enforcement of conformity leads to a culture of violent paranoia. When this coincides with the destruction of the rule of law, it enables individuals to kill without restraint. A delusional yet educated leadership with knowledge of the culture of a country can use propaganda to mask their actions, attacking any academic or political body that could challenge them. The lesson is that we should resist attacks towards free and critical discussion in favour of blind conformity, as well as attempts to bastardise and destroy culture for the desires of demagogues. Iconoclasm is therefore a great risk to humanity, as in tearing down without regard, we risk losing the foundations of a society of life and liberty.