Genocide in CambodiaEllen J. Kennedy, Ph.D.

Cambodia

Choeung Ek

Causes of Genocide

Socioeconomic or political upheaval

-Decolonization

-Civil war

-International conflict

-Economic collapse

-Political strife

Alexander Laban Hinton, Why Did They Kill?

U.S. Bombing of Cambodia

                                                                                   

U.S. soldiers survey the Cambodian town of Snuŏl after it has been almost completely flattened by U.S. bombers. Express Newspapers/Archive Photos

Symbols: Jewish Star and Rwandan Identity Card

National Bank of Cambodia

Blown up in 1975

Tuol Sleng Prison

8 Stages of Genocide

Classification Symbolization

DehumanizationOrganizationPolarizationPreparation

ExterminationDenial

From Genocide Watch: The International Campaign to End Genocide, Gregory H. Stanton

How ordinary people commit extraordinary evil

• ethnocentrism, xenophobia, and desire for dominance

• cultural belief systems, moral disengagement, and rational self-interest

• culture of cruelty

• dehumanization; social death of the victims

James Waller, Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing, 2002