The Khmer Rouge - how Cambodia was "re-organised"
KHMER ROUGE – Capture of Pnomh Penh
April 17, 1975 - thousands of Phnom Penh residents celebrate in the streets as victorious Khmer Rouge troops enter the capitol
- A great relief that the five-year civil war had now come to an end
- ordered people to abandon their homes and leave Phnom Penh - by mid-afternoon hundreds of thousands of people were on the move
"The Americans are going to bomb the city!"
- No exceptions - all residents, young and old, had to evacuate asap
- no real American plans to attack the city
a ploy to get people into the countryside
Khmer Rouge believed that cities were living and breathing tools of capitalism
KR cadres referred to Phnom Penh as "the great prostitute of the Mekong." (Chandler, The Tragedy of Cambodian History, 247
to create the ideal communist society, all people would have to live and work in the countryside as peasants
Peasants = simple, uneducated, hard-working and not prone to exploiting others. Their way of life had not changed for centuries, yet they always managed to survive. It was this perception that caused the Khmer Rouge to view peasants - old people, to use their political jargon - as the ideal communists for the new Cambodian state.
The city dwellers of Phnom Penh and other Cambodian cities, on the other hand, were seen as new people (or "April 17 people"). New people were the root of all capitalist evil in the eyes of the Khmer Rouge. It didn't matter if you were a teacher, a tailor, a civil servant or a monk: new people were the embodiment of capitalism and the enemy of communism
EVACUATION OF CITIES AND OTHER "REFORMS"
new rules that were being imposed by Angka ("The Organization") - a secretive Khmer Rouge organisation
- religion, money and private ownership were all banned
- communications with the outside world elimated
- family relationships dismantled
As was often said by the Khmer Rouge, 2000 years of Cambodian history had now come to an end; April 17 was the beginning of Year Zero for the new Cambodia: Democratic Kampuchea (DK).
April 17, 1975 - thousands of Phnom Penh residents celebrate in the streets as victorious Khmer Rouge troops enter the capitol
- A great relief that the five-year civil war had now come to an end
- ordered people to abandon their homes and leave Phnom Penh - by mid-afternoon hundreds of thousands of people were on the move
"The Americans are going to bomb the city!"
- No exceptions - all residents, young and old, had to evacuate asap
- no real American plans to attack the city
a ploy to get people into the countryside
Khmer Rouge believed that cities were living and breathing tools of capitalism
KR cadres referred to Phnom Penh as "the great prostitute of the Mekong." (Chandler, The Tragedy of Cambodian History, 247
to create the ideal communist society, all people would have to live and work in the countryside as peasants
Peasants = simple, uneducated, hard-working and not prone to exploiting others. Their way of life had not changed for centuries, yet they always managed to survive. It was this perception that caused the Khmer Rouge to view peasants - old people, to use their political jargon - as the ideal communists for the new Cambodian state.
The city dwellers of Phnom Penh and other Cambodian cities, on the other hand, were seen as new people (or "April 17 people"). New people were the root of all capitalist evil in the eyes of the Khmer Rouge. It didn't matter if you were a teacher, a tailor, a civil servant or a monk: new people were the embodiment of capitalism and the enemy of communism
EVACUATION OF CITIES AND OTHER "REFORMS"
new rules that were being imposed by Angka ("The Organization") - a secretive Khmer Rouge organisation
- religion, money and private ownership were all banned
- communications with the outside world elimated
- family relationships dismantled
As was often said by the Khmer Rouge, 2000 years of Cambodian history had now come to an end; April 17 was the beginning of Year Zero for the new Cambodia: Democratic Kampuchea (DK).
posted by plicious at
6:51 p.m.
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