In 1975, the civil war that had erupted in Cambodia came to an end when the Communist
Khmer Rouge forces entered Phnom Penh. Many Cambodians rejoiced at the time, unaware of
the terror and dictatorship that the Khmer Rouge would bring to the country. Soon enough,
the Khmer Rouge ordered the evacuation of all cities and towns on the pretext that American
forces were going to bomb the cities.

Under the Khmer Rouge ideology, Khmer society was to be re-invented; that is, it would
start anew at “Year Zero.” The Khmer Rouge envisioned a peaceful, collaborative Cambodia
composed of farmers, fields of rice, and soldiers. Led by Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge wanted to
transform Cambodia into a self-sufficient agrarian communist state. The first steps were to
evacuate people from all towns and lead them to the countryside. In addition, all currencies,
markets, religion, and other modern ways of life were abolished. Intellectuals, such as teachers,
students, and doctors, were eliminated because they encompassed the “modernist” view and
therefore, were seen as a threat. Additionally, the primary religion of Buddhism was seen as a
threat to the communist ideology; in order to crush this threat, the Khmer Rouge killed monks
and other religious leaders. A common propaganda slogan was, "With rifles in one hand and hoes
in the other, our workers, peasants, and revolutionary armed forces are striving grandly to
build democratic Kampuchea” (Sharp 1995: Online).

Under the Khmer Rouge, about 1.7 million people died. Executions often occurred for failure
to comply with Khmer Rouge ideology, suspicion of counter-revolutionary plots, disobedience, or
simply for the sake of killing. Whole families were often killed when a
member of the family committed an offense. A well-known location where the Khmer Rouge
committed their brutality was the Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh. There, suspicious individuals
were tortured and interrogated. Of the 14,000 individuals that were brought to Tuol Sleng, there is
only 7 known survivors (Sharp 1995: Online). In addition, death could also be attributed to
malnutrition, which often consisted of rice, watery rice soup, or any other kind of food that could be
picked up without the Khmer Rouge seeing them.

In 1979, Cambodia was liberated by Vietnamese troops and dissident Cambodians. The Khmer
Rouge regime had left the once united Cambodia shattered. The recourse, for many, was to leave
the country and seek refuge in other countries where their children could have a better life.

Today, the precarious economic conditions in Cambodia have sprung new migrant flows to
the United States. The social networks (families and community organizations) that have already
been established by the first generation of Cambodian migrants have made movement to the United
States an appealing choice.

Citation:

Sharp, Bruce. “Cambodia: the Odyssey of the Khmer People.” Online. 29 Oct. 2003
<http://members.aol.com/cambodia/index.htm>.

Deac, Wilfred. “Road to the Killing Fields, the Cambodian War of 1970-1975.” United States of America:
A&M University Press, 1997.

Barkan, Elliott R. “Out of Carnage and Into the Crucible: Southeast Asian Refugees’ Journey from Old
Worlds to a New One.” United States: Journal of American Ethnic History, 1995.

Photo from http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/cambodia/tl04.html

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