Vietnamese people living in Cambodia, 59 and the two million refugees in Phnom Penh, 60 could be labelled enemies of the regime and dangerous to stability – this was
less to gain popular support for violence against them, and more simply to justify the
murders and disappearances which would take place. Of course, these social groups
were not the only targets, so much so that 8.16% of the entire population died per year in Democratic Kampuchea, 61 but the exploitation of this socially fragmented society was a vital step in the undertaking of the Cambodian Genocide. 62 Finally, utilising
social cleavages and fragmentation was a key aspect of the Young Turks’ execution of
genocide against the Armenians. Having lost significant portions of land in Europe to
nationalist independence movements, the Ottoman government was growing
increasingly concerned that the historically persecuted, surprisingly wealthy, minority
population of Armenians would begin to demand increased power or even independence. 63 The Young Turks’ utilised previous anti-Armenian sentiment, forming a narrative that the Armenians were the primary obstacle in the fight for a unified state for Turkish people, 64 and creating societal divides which did not necessarily provide popular support for genocide, but certainly allowed the government to feel more justified in the murder of around 1.8 million Armenians between 1909 and 1918. 65 It is
important to recognise that, although social fragmentation can clearly lay groundwork
for violence and eventually genocide in a society, it is by no means a guarantee.
Numerous societies existed and continue to exist that contain social cleavages or have
faced hatred and media controversy related to ethnic and religious peoples, refugees, and other social groups without resorting to violence. 66 Subsequently, social
59 Alexander Hinton, Why Do They Kill? Cambodia in the Shadow of Genocide (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005), p. 11. 60 Hinton, p. 8.
61 Rummel, p. 7. 62 Hinton, p. 11.
63 Rummel, p. 227. 64 Rummel, p. 227. 65 Rummel, p. 4. 66 Syed Enam Ahammad, ‘Genocide: Causes Behind a Gravest State Crime’, Petita , 8. 1 (2023), 12-26. (p. 16.)
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