New Classes
Khmer Rouge's aim was to make a fair society without any class differences by tearing down the class barriers.
However, there were two different classes formed. One named "The base people" and the other named "the new people". They were treated very differently which is far from the class equality.
The base people are people who had lived in rural areas controlled by the CPK prior to April 17, 1975. The base people were again divided into the full-rights people and candidates.
The full-rights people were those who had no relatives who had worked for the Khmer Republic. They were mostly poor or lower-middle class members and they were especially farmers and laborers. Full-rights people could enjoy their privilege under the Khmer Rouge. They were allowed to vote and run for elections, and they could also become chief of cooperatives and other units.
The difference between full-rights people and candidates are that candidates are people who had
So the low-middle class during the Khmer Republic became the highest class during Khmer Rouge. Relative associated with Khmer Republic. The treatments towards candidates were not fabulous like that of full-rights people, but candidates were tolerated as long as they worked hard.
The new people also called as 17 April people are those people who evacuated from cities and towns in April 1975. The new people considered unreliable and were viewed by Angkar with hated and suspicion just because they were from the cities. Eventually, those were originally from the countryside, but had gont to the cities to escape the war. The new people had no rights. They were classified as "parasites" and the slogans asserted "17 April people are parasitic plants. They are the losers of the war and prisoners of war." , and "To keep you is no gain, to lose you is no loss". They were treated much more harshly than base people.
The new classes in the Khmer Rouge regime totally plowed up the classes. The highest class during the Khmer Republic became the lowest class, and the low class during the Khmer Republic became the highest class during the Khmer Rouge.
Khamboly, Dy. A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) . [Phnom Penh, Cambodia]: Documentation Center of Cambodia, 2007 . Print. Chapter 7. Page 30
Source Analysis
Source 3
Khmer Rouge's aim was to make a fair society without any class differences by tearing down the class barriers.
However, there were two different classes formed. One named "The base people" and the other named "the new people". They were treated very differently which is far from the class equality.
The base people are people who had lived in rural areas controlled by the CPK prior to April 17, 1975. The base people were again divided into the full-rights people and candidates.
The full-rights people were those who had no relatives who had worked for the Khmer Republic. They were mostly poor or lower-middle class members and they were especially farmers and laborers. Full-rights people could enjoy their privilege under the Khmer Rouge. They were allowed to vote and run for elections, and they could also become chief of cooperatives and other units.
The difference between full-rights people and candidates are that candidates are people who had
So the low-middle class during the Khmer Republic became the highest class during Khmer Rouge. Relative associated with Khmer Republic. The treatments towards candidates were not fabulous like that of full-rights people, but candidates were tolerated as long as they worked hard.
The new people also called as 17 April people are those people who evacuated from cities and towns in April 1975. The new people considered unreliable and were viewed by Angkar with hated and suspicion just because they were from the cities. Eventually, those were originally from the countryside, but had gont to the cities to escape the war. The new people had no rights. They were classified as "parasites" and the slogans asserted "17 April people are parasitic plants. They are the losers of the war and prisoners of war." , and "To keep you is no gain, to lose you is no loss". They were treated much more harshly than base people.
The new classes in the Khmer Rouge regime totally plowed up the classes. The highest class during the Khmer Republic became the lowest class, and the low class during the Khmer Republic became the highest class during the Khmer Rouge.
Khamboly, Dy. A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) . [Phnom Penh, Cambodia]: Documentation Center of Cambodia, 2007 . Print. Chapter 7. Page 30
Source Analysis
Source 3
Khamboly, Dy. A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) . [Phnom Penh, Cambodia]: Documentation Center of Cambodia, 2007 . Print. Chapter 7. Page 31
This source is an interview by from Chap Sitha, a 65 year-old woman living in Phnom Penh, described her life as one of the 17 April people. It is taken from the history of democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) book and was published by Khamboly, Dy, who has worked for the documentation center of Cambodia since 2003. This interview contains a woman talking about her experiences during the creation of two new social systems. Chap Sitha lost her husband and children because of Khmer Rouge regime. The purpose of this source is to convey what happened to the new people during the Khmer Rouge regime by describing one's poor life that was seriously affected by the Khmer Rouge regime, and to support the fact that Khmer Rouge violated human rights. The author chose the interview format because it is an effective format of source which clearly shows how the new people were treated and why rise of new classes violated human rights. Interview is from a person who has really experienced the cruel treatments, so it has high reliability and it give more faith to the audience. It can also make the Khmer Rouge look worse by induce a sympathetic feeling of audience. The source is basically saying that the 17 April people were harshly treated by the Khmer Rouge, and many people were killed. We can tell that Chap Sitha has a strong negative perspective towards the new classes. She can’t have a positive perspective because she lost her family members and she had such a tough time under the Khmer Rouge regime. We can also tell that the time period from the source is when Khmer Rouge was ruling Cambodia. The events in the source happened after the evacuation of cities. The controversies which can be told from this source is that Khmer Rouge violated many human rights. People were forced to leave their home, and moved to the other place again (in this case, Battambang), killed without attested reason, lived in a decayed cottage, lack of nutrition and sanitation. The limitation of this source is that it is only showing how people were treated violently and the poor living condition. As the topic is new classes, it could be more affective source by compare the treatment toward 17 April people and the base people. This source is missing too much information such as the full right people had right to vote and run the election when the new people didn’t, and the information of candidates are not shown. Also, Chap Sitha is just one of the victims and there can be more people who experienced worse things.
How does it violate human right?
The source is clearly showing that Khmer Rouge's creating of two new classes is violating the human rights. The source strongly supports that it is especially violating article 3.
Human Right Article 3.
· Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
In the source, there are many aspects that are showing how Khmer Rouge violated human rights. First of all, Chap Sitha's husband is killed by Angkar because husband was a governor of Kandal. "I had been waiting for him, but he never returned… I knew that my husband must have been killed since he was a governor of Kandal province"
Further more, Chap Sitha lost five of her sons and daughters. Malnutrition and diseases were also the reasons, however Chap Sitha is clearly stating in the source that some of them were accused of being enemies and were killed. "some of them die of malnutrition and disease while others were accused of being enemies and were killed". The other factor is that Chap Sitha was compelled to move to Battambang. This shows that Khmer Rouge restricted people's liberty of people.
Khmer Rouge violated the human right article 3 by take away the victim's right to life, liberty and security of them.
This source is an interview by from Chap Sitha, a 65 year-old woman living in Phnom Penh, described her life as one of the 17 April people. It is taken from the history of democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) book and was published by Khamboly, Dy, who has worked for the documentation center of Cambodia since 2003. This interview contains a woman talking about her experiences during the creation of two new social systems. Chap Sitha lost her husband and children because of Khmer Rouge regime. The purpose of this source is to convey what happened to the new people during the Khmer Rouge regime by describing one's poor life that was seriously affected by the Khmer Rouge regime, and to support the fact that Khmer Rouge violated human rights. The author chose the interview format because it is an effective format of source which clearly shows how the new people were treated and why rise of new classes violated human rights. Interview is from a person who has really experienced the cruel treatments, so it has high reliability and it give more faith to the audience. It can also make the Khmer Rouge look worse by induce a sympathetic feeling of audience. The source is basically saying that the 17 April people were harshly treated by the Khmer Rouge, and many people were killed. We can tell that Chap Sitha has a strong negative perspective towards the new classes. She can’t have a positive perspective because she lost her family members and she had such a tough time under the Khmer Rouge regime. We can also tell that the time period from the source is when Khmer Rouge was ruling Cambodia. The events in the source happened after the evacuation of cities. The controversies which can be told from this source is that Khmer Rouge violated many human rights. People were forced to leave their home, and moved to the other place again (in this case, Battambang), killed without attested reason, lived in a decayed cottage, lack of nutrition and sanitation. The limitation of this source is that it is only showing how people were treated violently and the poor living condition. As the topic is new classes, it could be more affective source by compare the treatment toward 17 April people and the base people. This source is missing too much information such as the full right people had right to vote and run the election when the new people didn’t, and the information of candidates are not shown. Also, Chap Sitha is just one of the victims and there can be more people who experienced worse things.
How does it violate human right?
The source is clearly showing that Khmer Rouge's creating of two new classes is violating the human rights. The source strongly supports that it is especially violating article 3.
Human Right Article 3.
· Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
In the source, there are many aspects that are showing how Khmer Rouge violated human rights. First of all, Chap Sitha's husband is killed by Angkar because husband was a governor of Kandal. "I had been waiting for him, but he never returned… I knew that my husband must have been killed since he was a governor of Kandal province"
Further more, Chap Sitha lost five of her sons and daughters. Malnutrition and diseases were also the reasons, however Chap Sitha is clearly stating in the source that some of them were accused of being enemies and were killed. "some of them die of malnutrition and disease while others were accused of being enemies and were killed". The other factor is that Chap Sitha was compelled to move to Battambang. This shows that Khmer Rouge restricted people's liberty of people.
Khmer Rouge violated the human right article 3 by take away the victim's right to life, liberty and security of them.