The Khmer Rouge

Isaac King 803

Never Fall Down

While reading “Never Fall Down” by Patricia McCormick written about Arn Chorn-Pond I learned about the genocide in Cambodia caused by the “Khmer Rouge.”  In the book a boy, Arn, goes through countless traumas while living under the reign of the Khmer Rouge.  Khmer Rouge translates to Red Cambodia.  Arn does despicable things in the name of survival and eventually runs away to Thailand and a refugee camp.  From there he is adopted by an American, Peter Pond.  He then went to highschool in New Hampshire.  Arn’s story is one of pain, misery, and against all likelihood survival.

The Khmer Rouge were a revolutionary party in Cambodia that ruled from 1965-1969.  When they invaded Arn was only 11 years old.  He was separated from his family and forced to do hard labor in rice fields, until he was given the opportunity to play in a band for the Khmer Rouge.  He jumped at the chance for salvation.    Arn, who didn’t actually know how to play any instrument, was given one week to learn to play the flute expertly.  He did this with the help of an “old man,” as  described by the book.  This man quickly became a father figure to Arn.  Sadly, he was killed immediately after Arn learned to play. Arn, being very resourceful, jumped at any chance to entertain the Khmer Rouge.

I feel that the fact that this young boy had to worry about his survival is despicable.  The Khmer Rouge, who are often compared to the Nazi party who were responsible for 12,000,000 deaths in World War Two, were a regime that traumatized an entire generation of Cambodians.  Before reading this book I had never heard mention of the Khmer Rouge.  This is disgusting as they must be recognized for the sake of all the people killed or hurt by them.  Just because this was not on a global scale does not mean it does not deserve recognition.

Communism

Isaac King 803

Post Communist States

The Berlin Wall fell but happiness did not rise.  My article, “The Legacy of Fear” by David Brooks, he talks about post communist states.  He shows how badly most of them have done.  He also shows that most of these countries were expected to come back to what they had been.  Communism left a lasting negative mark on every communist country.  

In, “The Legacy of Fear”, David Brooks states, “In the bottom group are

basket-case nations that haven’t even recovered the level of real income they had in

1990, as measured by real G.D.P. per capita.”  This shows how dramatic this was.  The

author also mentions that “To put it another way, only 10 percent of the people living in

post-communist nations are living in a place that successfully made the transition to

capitalism. Ninety percent are living under failed transitions of one sort or another.”

This really proves that communism is an awful thing that leaves an awful mark.

I believe that The United States must help out these countries.  While we do not

believe in communism we should celebrate their removal of it from their countries. We

also think of them as people.  People that desperately need our help.  In summation, communism is wrecking countries in its wake but we must help them.