Patrina Tern -- Week 9

In the book War, Genocide, and Justice by Cathy J. Schlund-Vials she writes about the reign of the Khmer Rouge and its effect on the citizen and the havoc they wrecked. The Khmer Rouge killed the weak, sick, elderly and destroyed anything against their beliefs. They did not believe in living in a developed world so they destroyed the state library, killed teachers, got rid of doctors, lawyers and people who held occupations that resembled a 1^st world country. In addition, they tortured and killed Vietnamese who are ethnically Cambodian. They hated the Vietnamese folks and despised the Cambodian folks who lived in Vietnam; It was like a genocide no one payed attention to. This is relatable to what the genocide during world war II where the Nazi’s targeted the Jewish folks and burned books that were against their idealism. Both Pol Pot and Hitler had their own views and agenda. They wanted to stand out and show their power/position in the world. Relating this to most recent events, there are still genocides around the world, people are still trying to kill each other. For instance, Kony in Africa who used guerilla warfare tactics to eliminate their so called “enemy” or ISIS who is killing off innocent people, destroying people’s lives or Syrian refugees. All of the leaders of these so called movements have their own agenda’s and reason’s for killing off another race. My question is, how did the Khmer Rouge come into power, why are they so angry?