Cooperatives
There were three changes to the structures formed for people of Khmer rouge. In the structures, families were mostly separated while men and women were almost living separately at all. First, most people, even young children living the areas were put in to make mutual aid teams. ''Mutual aid teams'' were consisted of 10 to 30 families during the 1970-1975 Civil war. Starting in 1973, those mutual aid teams were organized into the second structure which was called ''Low-level cooperatives''. They were consisted of several hundred people or an entire village. Finally, low-level cooperatives were restructured into ''high-level cooperatives'' involving about 1,000 families each or an entire sub-district by 1977.
Cooperatives were organized by the leaders of Communist Party of Kampuchea as a part of their move to get rid of private ownership and capitalism. Those leaders got orders from the above about what to dig or what to produce. Cooperatives were described as great forces for building up the country and as strong walls for protecting Democratic Kampuchea against its enemies. From a view from the Khmer Rouge, cooperatives meant people were supposed to live, work and eat together and share each other's leisure activities. For this reason, the meals were eaten in collective dinning halls and family life was extremely restricted. Besides, everyone in a cooperative had to give all of their property even their important means of production such as tools, cattle, rakes, seed rice and land. If any member of cooperative found food like fruits and vegetables, and ate them, they were severely tortured or even killed. They were sometimes sent to prisons and the most well known one was Tuol Sleng, a torture center in Pnom Penh.
Khamboly, Dy. A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) . [Phnom Penh, Cambodia]: Documentation Center of Cambodia, 2007 . Print. Chapter 7. Page 29
"Cambodia." Under the Khmer Rouge. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.kambodja.name/page10/page18/index.html>.
Source analysis
Source 6
There were three changes to the structures formed for people of Khmer rouge. In the structures, families were mostly separated while men and women were almost living separately at all. First, most people, even young children living the areas were put in to make mutual aid teams. ''Mutual aid teams'' were consisted of 10 to 30 families during the 1970-1975 Civil war. Starting in 1973, those mutual aid teams were organized into the second structure which was called ''Low-level cooperatives''. They were consisted of several hundred people or an entire village. Finally, low-level cooperatives were restructured into ''high-level cooperatives'' involving about 1,000 families each or an entire sub-district by 1977.
Cooperatives were organized by the leaders of Communist Party of Kampuchea as a part of their move to get rid of private ownership and capitalism. Those leaders got orders from the above about what to dig or what to produce. Cooperatives were described as great forces for building up the country and as strong walls for protecting Democratic Kampuchea against its enemies. From a view from the Khmer Rouge, cooperatives meant people were supposed to live, work and eat together and share each other's leisure activities. For this reason, the meals were eaten in collective dinning halls and family life was extremely restricted. Besides, everyone in a cooperative had to give all of their property even their important means of production such as tools, cattle, rakes, seed rice and land. If any member of cooperative found food like fruits and vegetables, and ate them, they were severely tortured or even killed. They were sometimes sent to prisons and the most well known one was Tuol Sleng, a torture center in Pnom Penh.
Khamboly, Dy. A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) . [Phnom Penh, Cambodia]: Documentation Center of Cambodia, 2007 . Print. Chapter 7. Page 29
"Cambodia." Under the Khmer Rouge. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.kambodja.name/page10/page18/index.html>.
Source analysis
Source 6
"Cambodia." Under the Khmer Rouge. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.kambodja.name/page10/page18/index.html>.
This is a picture taken in August of 1978 by unknown photographer. This picture shows cooperatives eating in collective dinning halls. People are sitting by their groups of collectives, not family members. It supports the fact that families were separated and all the meals were eaten in the dinning hall by each cooperative. However, It's hard to find the purpose of this picture. It's not clear whether it was to criticize on the system of cooperatives or just to take a photograph of the people. Picture type sources show exactly how something is, but that makes it find out its real intention. This source doesn't have any clue about what this picture was for so I don't think this source is quite valuable. The photographer doesn't represent any particular side of a controversy or event. Though we cannot tell the story of this source, it reflects the situation that people were put in with cooperative systems very well. But still I think this source is quite limited which we can't find its clear purpose.
This is a picture taken in August of 1978 by unknown photographer. This picture shows cooperatives eating in collective dinning halls. People are sitting by their groups of collectives, not family members. It supports the fact that families were separated and all the meals were eaten in the dinning hall by each cooperative. However, It's hard to find the purpose of this picture. It's not clear whether it was to criticize on the system of cooperatives or just to take a photograph of the people. Picture type sources show exactly how something is, but that makes it find out its real intention. This source doesn't have any clue about what this picture was for so I don't think this source is quite valuable. The photographer doesn't represent any particular side of a controversy or event. Though we cannot tell the story of this source, it reflects the situation that people were put in with cooperative systems very well. But still I think this source is quite limited which we can't find its clear purpose.
How does it violate human right?
Human right Article 17.
Human right Article 17.
- (1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
- (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.