Thursday, January 30, 2020
The Killing Fields In Cambodia Essay Example for Free
The Killing Fields In Cambodia Essay Introduction: The killing fields mark a tragic time in history; over two million (2,000,000) reported killed while hundreds of thousands of people displaced. The architect of this massacre is Pol Pot who led the communist guerilla group in 1975 and took over the Khmer Rouge (Etcheson 32). Many of the deaths that occurred during this time were because of the executions that were mandated on anyone who opposed the rule of Pol Pot. While many were executed, a large number also died because of the starvation that became rampant during this period.  Reports show that almost every Cambodian family lost at least a single relative during this holocaust (Etcheson 32). This short discourse will attempt to shed more light upon this event by discussing the events that led up to this holocaust as well as identifying several of the factors that may have led to its occurrence. Pol Pot            In order to arrive at a better understanding of the situation, it is important to first take a brief look at the life of the leader who led the Khmer Rouge during this time and initiated what was perhaps one of the most tragic events in human history. Pol Pot was born on May 19, 1925 as Saloth Sar in Kompong Thom province (Kiernan 162). The son of a prosperous farmer that had connections to the royal family, Pol Pot was able to win a government scholarship to study radio electronics in Paris (Kiernan 163). It is during this time that he becomes exposed to the teachings of Marx and soon develops a passion for revolutionary socialism.            In his quest for more enlightenment in the teachings of Marx, he soon finds himself in the company of other young Cambodians who were studying Paris, such as Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan, Khieu Ponnary and Song Sen (Kiernan 164). They soon after formed what was known as the â€Å"Paris Student Group†and eventually became the leaders of the Khmer Rouge (Kiernan 164). It was with the help of these young students that Pol Pot was able to gain the influence that he did and eventually orchestrate the Killing Fields. In 1953, Pol Pot had his scholarship revoked and was forced to return to Cambodia where he worked for the Kampuchean People’s Revolutionary Party (KPRP) (Kiernan 162). This Cambodian Communist Party was the first step in the plan of Pol Pot. He then used the connections from this party to find work as a teacher where he taught history and geography at a private school in Cambodia (Kiernan 162). The most radical step, however, was when Pol Pot visited China where the â€Å"Cultural Revolution†of Chairman Mao had just been launched. He was taken by the radical change that was occurring in China during this time and thus the seeds for this recreation of Cambodia were planted (Kiernan 262). The continuous revolution concept that Chairman Mao introduces in China is something that deeply inspires Pol Pot and soon after that begins his mission of taking over Cambodia. Hidden in the northeast portion of Cambodia, Pol Pot lives with a hill tribe and realizes that this simple life is the realization of all of the communist ideals that he espouses. Not long after, the Khmer Rouge establishes the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea (Kiernan 262). Unknown to most, the growth of the Khmer Rouge and the influence that Pol Pot possessed was because of the intervention and support that the United States provided at that time (Chandler 301). In an attempt to attack the Vietnamese communist sanctuaries, former President Richard Nixon and former security adviser, Henry Kissinger, authorized secret and illegal bombing raids on all communist sanctuaries within Cambodia (Chandler 301). The damage that resulted and the failure of the United States in the Vietnam War served to increase the support that the people had for the Khmer Rouge (Chandler 301). This enabled the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot to win the civil war that was ensuing in Cambodia and eventually take over control of Phnom Penh thus beginning the tragedy that will be known forever as the â€Å"Killing Fields.†The Killing Fields:            It was on April 17, 1975 that Phnom Penh finally fell to the Khmer Rouge group who were led by Pol Pot. Not long after, the residents of the city were forced into the countryside and into concentration camps and labor camps (Becker 365). During the next three years, eight months and twenty days of Pol Pot’s rule, Cambodia endured what was perhaps the its darkest moment in history. It has been estimated that over thirty percent (30%) of the population of Cambodia died from starvation, execution or torture during this period (Becker 365).            â€Å"Year Zero,†as Pol Pot called the day when the Khmer Rouge succeeded in capturing Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, was the event that led to the death of nearly two million (2,000,000) people (Becker 362). The ruthless program that Pol Pot initiated to â€Å"purify†the Cambodian society of any vestiges of western capitalism, western philosophy, and western influences was all part of his grand design for the country. He desired to create an entirely new Cambodia that was isolated from the rest of the world, much like China was, and totally self-sufficient, similar to the Maoist agrarian states (Becker 365). He enforced this policy by killing anyone who opposed his plans.            The first part of the plan included the expulsion of foreigners and the closing down of any foreign embassies on Cambodian territory. The local currency was abolished and any other capitalist symbols were purged (Etcheson 32). This included the closure of public markets, public and private schools, newspapers, religious practices and even the prohibition on owning any private property. The extremism that marked this reign was never more evident than in the policy of Pol Pot to execute all the members of the previous Lon Nol government, public servants, police, teachers, ethnic Vietnamese, Christian and Muslim clergy, and other members of the middle-class and educated sectors of society (Etcheson 32).            Once this plan was set into place, Pol Pot soon sent the entire population of the country into labor camps. These citizens were stripped of all of their private belongings and sent to what resembled communes where they were forced to do agricultural labor. This led to the so called â€Å"Killing Fields†because of the fact that a number of the people died there due to the very primitive living conditions that were provided (Chandler 211). Families were separated and even the Buddhist monks living in the area were forced to work in these fields. This led to a collapse of society as even children were forced to spy upon adults including their parents.            The situation was so severe that almost all the offenses that were committed during this time were punishable by death. There was no leniency in the enforcement of the policies of Pol Pot. Of the millions of people who were displaced (over Seven Million estimated), over one and a half million (1.5 million) to three million (3 million) people were either worked or starved to death (Etcheson 32). This does not include those who died of disease or executed for the commission of crimes that the Pol Pot regime would not tolerate. The crimes that were punishable under this regime included the death penalty for those who were found to be not working hard enough, those who complained about the primitive living conditions, those who were caught collecting or stealing food for their own personal consumption, those who were found wearing any form of jewelry, those who engaged in any form of sexual relations, those who grieved over the death of their relatives or friends and finally those who expressed any religious sentiments (Becker 387).            There was no judicial process that existed during this time as Pol Pot abolished any of the vestiges of Western influence including the courts of law. This meant that justice was to be served solely by the Khmer Rouge (Chandler 211). All decisions with regard to political and even minor crimes would be initiated by a warning that was sent by the Angkar, which was the government of Cambodia during this time. Those who were unlucky enough to receive two (2) warning were sent for â€Å"re-education,†which meant certain death (Chandler 211). Similar to the secret police in other communist regimes, the suspects were â€Å"encouraged†to confess to the crimes that they were blamed for under the pretense that if they confessed the Angkar would be lenient and â€Å"wipe the slate clean.† All those who were found to have any connections with foreigners were arrested and promptly executed (Chandler 211). The most common targets were the ethnic Vietnamese, ethnic Thai the Christians and the Buddhists. Conclusion:            As the events show, the cause of the genocide in the killing fields was primarily borne from the leadership of Pol Pot. The â€Å"radical†change that Pol Pot envisioned for Cambodia and the intolerant leadership that he possessed led to the deaths of nearly two million (2,000,000) people. It has been argued that the Killing Fields were actually a result of many different historical factors such as the loss of the Americans during the Vietnam War which rallied support around the Khmer Rouge and the aid that the Americans initially lent to the Khmer Rouge. Whatever theories may lie surrounding this event, however, does not alter the fact that this is one of the saddest and darkest moments of human history. The loss of all these lives and the destruction of the lives of many other families who lost their loved ones and everything that they had in this event is something that the world should not soon forget. It takes a million people to create a civilization that will last for centuries but it only takes one person to destroy all of that. Works Cited: Becker, Elizabeth (1998) When The War Was Over: Cambodia And The Khmer Rouge Revolution, Revised Edition PublicAffairs; 1st PublicAffairs ed edition (November 9, 1998) Chandler, David (1993) The Tragedy of Cambodian History: Politics, War, and Revolution since 1945. Yale University Press (September 10, 1993) ISBN-13: 978-0300057522 Chandler, David (2000) Voices from S-21: Terror and History in Pol Pots Secret Prison University of California Press; 1 edition (January 7, 2000) Etcheson, Craig (2005). After the Killing Fields: Lessons from the Cambodia Genocide. Westport: Praeger, 2005. xii + 256 pp. Notes, selected bibliography, ISBN 978-0-275-98513-4. Kiernan, Ben (2004) How Pol Pot Came to Power: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Communism in Cambodia, 1930-1975; Second Edition Yale University Press; 2 edition (August 11, 2004)
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
A Modern Version of Shakespeares Play, Henry V Essay -- Henry IV Henr
A Modern Version of Shakespeare's Play, Henry V The play Henry V, currently being staged at the University of Alberta student theatre, exemplifies an innovative manner of bringing the historic play into the modern era of technology. Set in the form of two multinational corporations: England and France, the play details the metaphoric battle for the market share from the two companies. Set in the current era circa 2002, the props and set for the play incorporate several technological innovations of the twenty first century. The workers for the corporation mirror the class system of the nobility, clergy and commoners in the play. The members of the clergy and nobility are analogous to the advisors, high-level executives, and members of the board of directors while the King fills the role of the Chief Executive Officer. The commoners and peasants are other employees of the firm such as the clerical staff and other related permissions. Their wardrobe is reflected accordingly the high-level business people wear suits of the finest calibre and the lower level workers wear attire that is considerably less formal. It was in this way that the audience is able to discern the respective classes from each other. This illustration of class distinction was most clearly portrayed in Act four Scene one where Henry changes into less formal wear as he goes down to the lunchroom and begins to converse with the publicists and other commoners that frequent the company's cafeteria. It is here within his masquerade th at he learns the morale of the workers and their attitude towards their executives. The entity of the chorus, which serves as the narrator of the play, still holds true to that function as a camera crew and news reporte... ...ing something that they had either experienced or had a family member experience. As a result, it caused them to identify with the play. The manner in which this play has been configured such that it is drawing on the predatory and imperialistic tendencies displayed by multinational conglomerates provides a way for today's audience to identify with the plight of the characters and their realm. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. Henry V. The Norton Shakespeare Based on the Oxford Edition: Histories. Eds. Greenblatt, Stephen et al. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. 736-793. Works Consulted Ganz, Arthur. "Henry V In New York". Shakespeare Quarterly 35:4 (1984): 470-471 Speaight, Robert. "Shakespeare in Performance". Shakespeare Quarterly 36:5 (1985): 534-540. Stokes, Swell. "The Oliviers". Theatre Arts 29:12 (1945): 711-718.
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Alberto Ginastera
Alberto Ginastera was an Argentinean music composer born in 1916 to an Italian mother and Catalian father in Buenos Aires and died in 1983. He is a legendary classical music composer in the Latin America whose artistic skills cannot be matched with that of other artists of his time.He is known for setting up a dance and music conservatory at Buenos Aires and forming an organization, the International Society for Contemporary music where he became its secretary general. He is also credited for his ability to integrate current music composing techniques into the old Argentinean folk music. This research paper is going to specifically focus on the life of Ginastera and will in-depth discuss about his career achievements and why he is popular.Ginastera developed his interest in music at quite a tender age and achieved much while he was still a child for example, he entered the conservatory when he was twelve but this was not without some influence from other artists such as Schoenberg, B artok and Stravinsky (Sadie 231).He made significant artistic work that was capable of making him a winner of various awards such as the Argentine School Song Award, three municipal prizes, National Fund for the Arts Annual Award, Bicentennial Cinzano Award and the three municipal prizes. He composed all genres of music be it operas, orchestra, violin concerto, piano work, choir works among others something that made him a true representative of Argentinean musical nationalism.In 1941, Ginastera was able to secure himself a job in Buenos Aires at the National Conservatory and the Liceo Militar. In 1942 he received funds to go to the United States from Guggenheim fellowship but his plan was impeded by the Second World War but nevertheless, he was able to produce a lot of great works like the Twelve American Preludes which was played in 1944 and another one which was a dedication to all those who perished in the fight for freedom called Elegiac Symphony that was played in 1944 (Way, J oseph).In 1945, he entered into politics and together with other Argentine intellectuals signed a manifesto aimed at protecting human rights and democratic principles but because of his involvement in anti fascism politics, he was fired as the conservatory’s director in 1952.After Peron regime was overthrown in 1955, he was reinstated as the director but resigned in 1958 to become a director of the Catholic University’s Facultad de Ciencias y Artes Musicale something that helped him to revisit the United States where he performed his second quartet in 1958 (Sadie 228)One of his works to come to the public domain was known as the score for the ballet Panambi which was conducted by Juan Jose Castro and was a five movement orchestral suite that was first introduced in Buenos Aires on 27th November 1937. The second widely recognized and an award prize winning (Association Wagneriana) piece of work was the ballet with choreography produced in 1940s (Sadie 228).In this piece of work, Ginastera tried to harmonize his primitive rhythm with modern technology something that skyrocketed his prominence long before he would graduate but the one that gave him an international recognition was the first Quartet which was played in Frankfurt’s International Society for Contemporary Music and the 1958’s outstanding work as a German critic termed it entitled the Second String Quartet that was performed in Washington DC by Juilliard Quartet (Sadie 227-229).According to Elena Dabul, he classified his classical music into three categories that were determined by the use of the music he composed. The three categories were; Objective nationalism which was a period between 1934 and 1948 where he dealt with music concerning Argentinean cultures and produced works like the 1941’s wheat dance, the land workers and ballet Estancia which was all about Cattle ranch’s life. In making Estancia dances, Gisele Ben-Dor preferred the second thoughts expre ssed in Ginastera’s Panambi suites to Andrei Borejko’s Largo Label.Her performances were different fro that of other artiste as they would last a minute longer. The other category was Subjective nationalism which started from 1948 to1958 where he detached himself from traditional popular elements and took no revolutionary moves or position. It is during this period that he produced his masterpiece, the first String Quartet where he would use rhythms to create folk-like songs.The third and last category is the Neo-expressionism that is from 1958 all the way to1983 where he performed works like the second String Quartet which was done in 1958, the 1961’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, operas, Don Rodrigo and Bomarzo operas of 1967 (Compositores and Interpretes).Ginastera in an interview in 1962 referred himself as a slow composer because he would take quite some time to think about his music before he would compose it, a period he referred to as gestation and t he one according to him the moment which was the most trying is when it came to translate the intellectual ideas into something tangible which he likened to a child birth. Unfortunately, not all music that he composed was released to the public for example the Duke of Bormazo because of its provocative nature was banned.The Argentinean president banned the opera on grounds that it portrayed sexual obsession however, the opera was reproduced in 1968 in New York. Contrary to the expectations of many, the same work would make him an international figure for example the opera Bormarzo (Sadie 229).Alberto Ginastera an Argentinean music composer was a prominent figure in his days and was able to make music with a difference something that made him to be known internationally. He composed music of all genres thereby becoming a representative of Argentinean music nationalism. Though his music moved with times, not all of his recordings were made public as some were considered extreme and un fit for the public. Some of his work of art includes the Bomarzo operas, the Piano concertos and the First and the second string quartet.Works cited:Elena Dabul. Alberto Ginastero. Accessed at        http://members.tripod.com/~ostinato/ginas.htmlCompositores and Interpretes. Alberto Ginastero. 2004. Accessed from http://www.ciweb.com.ar/Ginastera/index2.phpSadie, Stanley Ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 7th Edition,  Macmillan Publishers Limited.1980.Way, Joseph. Alberto Ginastero (1916-1983). Sierra Chamber Society Program Notes. 2000. Available at http://www.fuguemasters.com/ginaster.htmlÂ
Monday, January 6, 2020
Violent Video Games Cause Aggression - Free Essay Example
Sample details Pages: 1 Words: 363 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2019/04/26 Category Entertainment Essay Level High school Tags: Video Games Essay Did you like this example? That feeling of adrenaline running through your body as you drag someone out of their car and speed off as the police chase you all around the city until you finally lose them. Opening the car door to get out and go attack someone to steal their money, wallet/purse and then taking the next vehicle for a spin around town. Sounds like a movie, but it isnt. This is what children are exposed to daily. These are the games they are playing. Some kids as young as two years of age being exposed to this horrific scene. People would be devastated if their children had to witness such events in real life. Children begin to link violence and pleasure. Children practice violent activities over and over far more times than regular activities. Children become addicted to video games. These are only a few reasons why violent video games should be banned. In 2003 a young man was being arrested for suspicions on driving a stolen vehicle. He happened to get the officers weapon, shooting at t he officer and another officer being dispatched out. He then took off in a patrol car and was later detained. Once he was arrested he then said something like life is a video game, and everyone has to die. The president of the United States Donald Trump just recently gave a speech where he addressed what young people are seeing, he goes on to say that video games are becoming more violent and influencing the minds of young people. These concerns are not new but have become increasingly obvious as the years have gone on. In the 1930s people were playing, watching and being exposed to violent media at a rate of about 10 hours per week. Aside from video game consoles, children now have access to tablets, smartphones, and computers averaging about 10 hours a day when considering using multiple devices a day. (Lyons) Joanne Cantor a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison states Right now, the research is so overwhelmingly consistent that there are negative effects on the tendency to behave violently causing desensitization and lowering of empathy that its a shame we are still fighting this battle, Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Violent Video Games Cause Aggression" essay for you Create order
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)