Impact of Operation Menu

It is important to note that the intensive destuction that occurred during the American bombing operations left Cambodia significantly unstable and damaged, which further created grounds for a new era of communism to arrive.

The Khmer Rouge

The Khmer Rouge was a large and brutal mass genocide and communist movement that took place in Cambodia from 1975-1979. During these years, an estimated one to two million Khmer people were murdered, and many Cambodians died from starvation and malnutrition.

The Khmer Rouge was a communist group led by Pol Pot. Pol Pot was a communist, known in the present as being responsible for the mass murder of millions of Khmer people. He was originally born in Cambodia in a farming family and later went to Paris, France to study radio electronics. There he became interested in communism and joined the French Communist Party.

The Khmer Rouge aimed to create an agrarian and classless society. They supported the concept of collectivization or eliminating private property and creating large farms run by the government, and eliminating Western influence. The communist Khmer Rouge was supported by groups such as the communist Vietcong and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The Khmer Rouge had amassed around 200,000 members due to their claims that they would rebuild Cambodia after the destruction caused by the United States bombings.

The Khmer Rouge moved Khmer citizens out of cities like Phnom Penh into rural areas to work in agriculture, leaving urban areas empty. They also targeted certain groups of people and aimed to eliminate widespread education among Cambodians to achieve their goal of an agriculture-based society. Educated individuals, teachers, students, intellectuals, and those considered knowledgeable were often killed. Wearing eyeglasses was enough to make one come off as suspicious. Monks were disrobed. Schools and institutions were destroyed. Many former Cambodian refugees can recite their experiences of having to lie about their social and career-related statuses back in Cambodia. For example, some claimed to be banana sellers to avoid becoming targets of execution. The Khmer Rouge also fueled the destruction of Cambodia’s cultural aspects such as music. Today, while other Southeast Asian countries' music industries have begun to flourish and gain ties to global music culture, Cambodia still is in the process of rebuilding its musical influence.