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Episodes of genocidal barbarism have been a feature of the rise of capitalism and of modern imperialism beginning with
genocide of the Indians in the Americas.
In modern times, the most well-known example is the Holocaust carried out by Nazi Germany in the 1930s
and 40s targeting Jews, Roma people, and homosexuals. Less well-known are the genocides carried out by the Ottomans in Armenia around 1900 and the Holodomor,
or mass starvation in Ukraine in 1932-33 resulting from Stalin’s forced collectivization of the peasants and conscious policy of starving them to sell confiscated
grain to the capitalist countries abroad. 7,000,000 Lives were taken.
The Genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda and most recently in Sudan are in more recent memories.
An unintended consequence of the U.S. War in Indochina, the
Cambodian genocide was carried out by the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot and Ieng Sary. |
The Khmer Rouge took inspiration from Mao’s deportation of millions of Chinese
youth to the countryside to be re-educated by the peasantry during the Great Cultural Revolution. It sought to create a utopia by depopulating the cities,
eliminating personal property, and “liquidating social classes.” The “Year Zero” was declared in an attempt to nullify historical continuity.
Special candidates for the killing fields were those who wore eye glasses or had an education. Slave labor was rampant. The genocide
ended when neighboring Vietnam invaded in 1979. China retaliated by attacking Vietnam but was quickly rebuffed. An international tribunal looking into the crimes
of the Khmer Rouge leaders continued into the current decade.
The Rwandan and Sudanese genocides are rooted in ethnic and class rivalries created or magnified by Western domination and social breakdowns resulting
from rivalries between the Great Powers.
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