World History
There's a lot going on in the world.
CONTENT WARNING
This section of the website contains information on the following sensitive topics: Genocide, Death, Torture, Rape, Disturbing Images
The Khmer rouge
The Khmer Rouge, pronounced kuh-mehr rouge (with a soft g), was a radical communist movement that ruled over Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. It was ruled by the dictator Pol Pot (original name Saloth Sar). Even though this small group wasn't able to take over until the 1970s, their history began in the 1960s where it operated as a wing of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (the name of the party used for Cambodia). During this time, its neighboring country Vietnam was in its own civil war with The United States (The Vietnam War).
Originally, Khmer Rouge didn't have much support from Cambodian citizens. But, in 1970, a military group made the ruling monarch of the time, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, eject his position of ruler. Khmer Rouge decided to join forces with Sihanouk, which gained them more support. For the next 5 years, there would be a civil war in Cambodia. This war would be between Khmer Rouge and the right-leaning military (which forced Sihanouk from his position as ruler). In 1975, Khmer Rouge would invade the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh and take it over. By taking over the capital, Khmer Rouge won the civil war.
With Cambodia in their grasp, they decided to not return rule to Prince Norodom Sihanouk. Instead, they gave the power to the leader of their group, Pol Pot. They forced Prince Norodom Sihanouk to live in exile. Pol Pot and the forces of Khmer Rouge admired the Cambodian tribes in the rural northeast. They quickly worked to reshape Cambodia, which they renamed Kampuchea in aiming to create a communist-style country. Kampuchea would become isolated from the rest of the globe. Communities would become moved to rural farming communes. The country's currency would be destroyed. Private property and the practice of religion would become outlawed.
Hundreds and thousands of farm workers would die from starvation, disease, and abuse from the Khmer Rouge guards that oversaw the work. Khmer Rouge would also execute thousands of people who were suspected of being enemies of Kampuchea, potential leaders of revolutions, and intellectuals. Some say that some people were executed for even looking to be smart, such as wearing glasses or being able to speak another language.
An estimated 1.7 to 2.2 million Cambodians died while Pol Pot reigned Cambodia.
In 1979, Cambodia would be invaded by the Vietnam Army. They would remove Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge from their leadership. Pol Pot wanted to spread his influence to Vietnam, but failed to do so. Khmer Rouge's forces had to quickly flee to remote areas of Cambodia. But, they still remained active even with their decline in influence. Vietnam regained control of Cambodia throughout the 1980s.
Prince Norodom would return to rule Cambodia in 1993 under a constitutional monarchy. Cambodia, gradually, reconstructed their ties with the world. The country still faces problems today, some of which include illiteracy and widespread poverty. Pol Pot would live in the rural northeast of Cambodia until he was tried by the Khmer Rouge in 1997 for his crimes against Cambodia. The trial was mostly for show. Pol Pot would later die while he was living in the rural northeast in his jungle home during house arrest.
For more information on the Khmer Rouge, check out the following websites.
'Los todos ninos' - The 2014 central american Immigration crisis
The script talks about the subjects of 'Mexican children in cages'. Unfortunately, it's not talking about one specific event. The United States has always had complications with the US - Mexico border. However, we believe we've pin-pointed the specific point in United States history that the characters are talking about. Since the script was written in 2015, we think that the characters are talking about the 2014 Central American Migration Crisis in Week Two.
The United States experienced a rapid increase of unaccompanied children crossing into the US from Central America illegally in 2011. This number would continue to increase until it hit a crisis peak in the year of 2014. At the same time, families with young children arriving at the border increased which would become apprehended. These increases of immigrants coming to the border would occur in the Texas - Mexico border.
68,541 unaccompanied children and 68,445 family unites would be apprehended at the US - Mexico border in 2014. This would be a 77% increase from 2013. The United States has systems in place to take care of migrant children, but Border Control had to keep children in temporary military base facilities due to the systems being overwhelmed. In July and August of 2014, the number of unaccompanied children arriving at the border would decline. The number of migrants would increase again in 2015 but not to the levels the numbers were at in 2014.
Most of the unaccompanied children came from violent parts of Central America. Most of the minors were teenagers. The number of children apprehended that were younger than 13 years old is estimated to have tripled from 2013 to 2014. Approximately three-quarters of the unaccompanied minors were boys according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Why did children and families arrive?
So, why did so many children and families come to the US - Mexico border? Why in 2014? What was going on? There is no specific, single answer. However, there are many estimated causes to have created an influx of people.
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Countries like El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras had some of the highest murder rates in the world in the early 2010s. Honduras had the highest murder rate in the world during 2014. This is almost double of the second highest country, Venezuela. Unaccompanied minors were fleeing from these violent countries, many of them were fleeing from criminal gangs. These criminal gangs will recruit teenagers and then go after their families if the teenager refuses to join.
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The rapid increase could also have been caused by the increase of criminal smuggling networks. Smuggling can be voluntary or it can be coerced, in that case it's trafficking.
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The United States offers more protection to kids that arrive alone. Parents could have sent their children to take advantage of the extra protection. In 2014, during the peak of the migration crisis, the Obama Administration and Congress had interest to remove some of these protections but nothing was changed. Reports from children stated that they were not aware of the extra protections and laws that the United States provides.
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Many of the children who arrived said that they had relatives in the United States. 2014 reports say that the unaccompanied children had parents in the United States. But, some of them said that they were going to the United States to reunite with family.
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Often, the cause of immigrants coming to the United States is for economic opportunity. Although most of the children stated that there was violence in their home countries, a survey from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in 2014 stated that about 84% of them referenced economic opportunity or to reunite with family as their reason to come to the United States.
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There were some rumors that parents bringing children to the United States thought that they'd be given "permisos". But, "perismo" is just a term for a notice to appear in court. A "perismo" is not a work permit. This information was leaked from Border Patrol in June of 2014. This leak said that this was the biggest cause of the influx of migration. But, no Border Patrol reports from before this leak mentioned this.
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But, some reports have described one of the most important factors that caused the influx of migrants in 2014 to the US was due to the Mexican government. According to Vox, the Mexican government started being more aggressive in interdicting children as they were crossing through Mexico to the United States.
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A direct quote from these reports on Vox states: "Mexico has been aggressive in apprehending kids riding 'la Bestia,' the freight train that many children ride through much of Mexico. (In the long term, there's a plan in the works to speed up 'la Bestia' so that it's too fast for migrants to hop onto.) Furthermore, Mexico has set up immigration checkpoints in towns closer to the border - the mirror image of the internal checkpoints in the southwestern United States. Anecdotal reports from NGOs (non-governmental organizations) in Central America indicate that Mexico's efforts are reducing the number of migrants. One advocate in the United States said that he's heard reports that 'what used to be two buses a day of kids coming back from Mexico (to one Central American NGO) are now eight buses a day.'"
What happened to the children and families who were caught?
Unaccompanied children and minors that are caught stay in the custody of United States Border Patrol for no more than 72 hours. During this time, they are screened by a Border Patrol officer. But, because the United States government was overwhelmed with the rapid increase of migrants, unaccompanied children ended up staying in Border Patrol custody longer than 72 hours. Or the children would be held in intermediate detention centers. Some of these centers were made in makeshift spaces in military bases.
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The unaccompanied children would have to prove to Border Patrol that they fear of being persecuted or being trafficked to stay. If they can't, they are returned to Mexico. Unaccompanied children that pass or aren't subjected to the Border Patrol screening are then sent to the Office of Refugee Resettlement. This office is a part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HSS). They will then take custody of the children.
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The Office of Refugee Resettlement is then responsible to make sure that the child is kept in an HHS facility. During this time, HHS will try to find a relative or family friend who can take the child's custody. If no relative can be found, the child is then placed into long-term foster care. During the 2014 influx of migrants, it made it difficult for HHS to try and search for relatives. During the search for relatives, the unaccompanied child's immigration case is processed. An immigration case is processed in different ways. Sometimes, an asylum officer evaluates whether the child can be put in an asylum. In other times, the child goes through immigration court. In immigration court, the child will either receive asylum or they may request Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. Special Immigrant Juvenile Status is for children who cannot be reunited with their families due to abuse or neglect.
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For families, that's a different case. The United States has a law that gives a special process for unaccompanied children caught crossing the border illegally. However, there isn't a special process for families. But, this process is similar to the process for when anyone is caught crossing the border illegally.
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Families that are caught crossing the border are eligible for something that is called 'expedited removal'. This is the process of being removed from a country without a trial. But, if families prove that they have a 'credible fear' of returning to their home countries (which, in this case, applied to many of the immigrants crossing into the border in 2014) the United States government is compelled to give these families a hearing. This hearing is to see if these families can qualify for asylum. The United States government will issue a court order to these families to appear in an immigration court on a specific date.
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The United States government would often release families after setting their court dates. Sometimes, this would leave families stranded at bus stops in Arizona. In June of 2014, the Department of Homeland Security would detain many families who were waiting for their court hearings. This was because the Department of Homeland Security enacted a plan to target recent immigrants. This created a permanent family detention center in late 2014. Families who ended up not getting detained would instead become monitored. The United States government would then send immigration judges to these detention facilities. This was in hopes to be able to process the families' cases and quickly deport them. A report from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official explained that the goal was to deport families within ten to fifteen days. Families who were able to get legal counsel while they were in detention would be able to pursue, qualify, and get approved for asylum.
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In a specific detention center in Artesia, New Mexico, four families were getting deported for every single family that was getting released from the detention center because they either got a later court date or qualified for asylum. By October of 2014, those numbers flipped. A single family was getting deported for every four families that got released.
Why was the united states so overwhelmed by the amount of immigrants in 2014?
This answer is surprisingly simple. The system that the United States has in place was built and meant to help 8,000 people.
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Wendy Young, an advocate of Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) which is an backing organization for unaccompanied immigrant children, states that the system Congress has in place 'was designed for 6,000 to 8,000 kids a year' as of 2014. During the peak of the 2014 Migration Crisis, reporters that were given access to go into the makeshift detention facilities described the facilities as "even under relatively good conditions, the holding centers were still traumatic."
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According to the reporters from Azcentral who were granted access, they stated the following: "The CBP agents in the building seem to be genuinely compassionate in their interactions with the children. The facility is clean and air-conditioned. But in essence, it is a juvenile prison camp. The children, mostly of high-school and junior-high-school age, are housed behind 18-foot-high chain-link fences topped with razor wire... most of the children lie motionless on side-by-side mattresses with looks of intense boredom on their faces. Inevitably, given the number of people, it smells of feet and sweat and straw."
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The temporary detention centers were necessary due to the congestion of children being transferred to HHS' Office of Refugee Resettlement. But, children that were sent to HHS were being released to relatives more quickly. Information from a report that's from the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies described that 65% of children were being released when the peak of immigrants started in the spring of 2014, 90% would be released in the summer after.
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The increase of immigrant families during the increase of unaccompanied children also overwhelmed Border Patrol. Border Patrol already had to take care of the surge of unaccompanied children according to the special laws that the United States has in place. They also couldn't immediately deport families because of the law that prevented them from doing so if the families presented 'credible fear' of returning to their home countries.
Did the migration crisis end?
The crisis didn't 'end' and has not 'ended'. But, in August of 2014, the numbers of people coming to the United States diminished. This was, at least, measured in the number of unaccompanied children.
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Officials from the Department of Homeland Security warned that the numbers of immigrants would increase again in 2015 at the United States - Mexico border. So, the detention centers were expanded to hold a bigger capacity of people. But, the numbers of immigrants in 2015 were only but a fraction of what they were like in 2014.
For more information on the 2014 Central American Immigration Crisis, check out the following websites.
The Gender Pay Gap & Its relation to soccer
The gender pay gap is the difference in earnings between men and women. In the past two decades, the gender pay gap has not changed much and has remained relatively stable in the United States. In 2022, women in the Untied States usually earned about 82 cents for every dollar men earned. This has been relatively the same since 2002, where women in the United States earned 80 cents for every dollar men earned. This can be contrasted with the progress of the pay gap the 10 years prior, where women earned about 65 cents for every dollar men earned in 1892.
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The gender pay gap also increases with age. The wage gap is smaller for women who are ages 25 to 34 than for women who are older than 16. The pay gap is also determined at what age women will be more likely to have children that are under the age of 18. The income of employed men with children peaks between the ages of 35 to 44. Fathers tend to receive higher pay while the pay of employed mothers of the same age group remains unaffected.
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The gender pay gap is different between race and ethnicity. According to Pew Research Center, Black women earned 70% as much as White men. Hispanic women earned only 65% as much. White women earned only 83%. Asian women earned only 93% as much. The pay gap varies in this aspect due to the differences in experience, education, and occupation. But, this is also affected by hiring discrimination against racial and ethnic groups, as well as discrimination against LGBTQ and disabled workers. Hiring discrimination has shut out workers from job opportunities.
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The gender pay gap does have an effect on women's soccer. During the 2023 Women's World Cup, female soccer players earned an average about 25 cents for every dollar earned by men. This is an improvement from the previous World Cup in 2019, where female soccer players would earn only 8 cents for every dollar. It was announced by FIFA that, for the first time, about $49 million dollars of the $110 million of the 2023 Women's World Cup prize money would be going to the individual players. This would calculate to $30,000 to each player for participating in the World Cup and $270,000 going to each player of the winning team. The rest of the pot would be split between the participating World Cup federations to split up as they'd like between the teams and players. The Women's World Cup has an estimated one billion viewers worldwide, making it one of the biggest sporting events across the globe. But, the World Cup still has conflicts within the pay gap in comparison to women and men players pay.
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The pay of a soccer player is consisted of many different aspects: the salary of their club, the match fees when representing their national team, prize money and sponsorship. Alex Morgan (captain and striker of the San Diego Wave FC) and Megan Rapinoe (winger for the OL Reign) were the highest paid female soccer players of 2022. Both of them earned at least $5.7 million while on-pitch and off-pitch. But, this compared to their highest paid counterpart shows that there's a large pay gap in soccer. Cristiano Ronaldo (captain and forward for both Saudi Pro League Club Al Nassr and the Portugal National Team) earned $136 million while both on-pitch and off-pitch. A report from a global players' union called FIFPRO in 2020 found out that: "Top female soccer players get paid the same or less in a year than what male soccer players of the same level receive per month."
The World Cup is an important source of income for female soccer players. But, because of the pay gap, many players have to have secondary jobs in order to sustain themselves. Another FIFPRO report stated that "Two thirds of surveyed players reported having to take unpaid leave from another job to play for their national team in World Cup qualifying tournaments. Almost a third weren't paid by their national teams at all during the past 18 months, and for those who were paid, it was often dependent on participation and performance, creating instability." According to CNN, more than half (53%) of the surveyed federations don't have regulations on players' minimum wages.
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For female soccer players, the gender pay gap is about more than closing the gap. Chinyelu Asher, a midfielder for the Jamaican Women's National Football Team, explained: "Anything that creates space for a professional women's soccer player to show up and feel just as professional as a man.". Ali Riley, the captain and defender of the New Zealand Women's National Football Team, explained that: "It's not just about the prize money, but also the equal conditions in terms of the delegation size and having single rooms. These are things that you would have thought we would have a long time ago."
For more information on the gender pay gap and its relation to soccer, check out these websites.
CONTENT WARNING
Specifically for the section below about Abu Ghraib, this section of the website contains the following topics: Torture, death, sexual abuse, and disturbing images.
When reading this content, as well as when you're conducting your own research, please be careful to not fall down the rabbit hole.
Abu Ghraib - Prison and torture
Abu Ghraib is a large prison located in Abū Ghurayb, Iraq, twenty miles west of Baghdad. During the presidency of Saddam Hussein from 1979 to 2003, it became well known for the torture of its prisoners. In August of 2003, the United States military reopened the prison after the invasion of Iraq. Reports of the United States Military abusing human rights surfaced after their invasion of Iraq, an internal investigation was carried out in early 2004 by Lieutenant General Ricardo S. Sanchez. From this, a 53 page report was obtained by The New Yorker written by Major General Antonio M. Taguba that was not meant to be publicly released. Taguba described that the failures of Abu Ghraib were due to many instances of abuse. Taguba's report included the following:
"Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees; pouring cold water on naked detainees; beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair; threatening male detainees with rape; allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell; sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broomstick, and using military working dogs to frighten and intimidate detainees with threats of attack, and in one instance actually biting a detainee."
There was a lot of evidence to support Taguba's findings, such evidence included witness statements and very graphic photos taken by soldiers. Abu Ghraib became the subject of global outcry and scandal when photos surfaced in 2004 that documented the wide ranges of torture used on its prisoners by the hands of the United States Army. These photos would be aired on the U.S. television news program 60 Minutes II in April of 2004. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the factors that contributed to the abuse of the Iraq prisoners were because of: "poor training, short staffing, dysfunctional leadership, and poor morale.".
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According to The New Yorker: "As many as fifty thousand men and women - no accurate count is possible - were jammed into Abu Ghraib at one time, in twelve-by-twelve foot cells that were little more than human holding pits. The huge prison complex, by then deserted, was stripped of everything that could be removed, including doors, windows, and bricks. The coalition authorities had the floors tiled, cells cleaned and repaired, and toilets, showers, and a new medical center added. Abu Ghraib was now a U.S. military prison.". However, there became several thousand prisoners which included teenagers and women. Many of these people were civilians that were picked up at highway checkpoints and random military sweeps. These prisoners fell into three categories that were very loosely defined: common criminals, security detainees that were suspected of 'crimes against the coalition', and a small number of 'high-value' leaders that were against the coalition forces.
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The following paragraphs are examples of the torture prisoners experienced in Abu Ghraib in an article from The New Yorker, from descriptions of graphic photographs to quotes from witness testimonies. Please read at your own pace and discretion. This section will be hidden for content warnings.
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"Private England, a cigarette dangling from her mouth, is giving a jaunty thumbs-up sign and pointing at the genitals of a young Iraqi, who is naked except for a sandbag over his head, as he masturbates. Three other hooded prisoners are shown, hands reflexively crossed over their genitals. A fifth prisoner has his hands at his sides."
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"Private England stands arm in arm with Specialist Graner; both are grinning and giving the thumbs-up behind a cluster of perhaps seven naked Iraqis, knees bent, piled clumsily on top of each other in a pyramid."
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"There is another photograph of a cluster of naked prisoners, again piled in a pyramid. Near then stands Graner, smiling, his arms crossed; a woman soldier stands in front of him, bending over, and she, too, is smiling."
"Then, there is another closter of hooded bodies, with a female soldier standing in front, taking photographs."
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"Yet another photograph shows a kneeling, naked, unhooded male prisoner, head momentarily turned away from the camera, posed to make it appear that he is performing oral sex on another male prisoner, who is naked and hooded." (Homosexual acts are against Islamic law and it is humiliating for men to be naked in front of other men, according to Bernard Haykel, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at New York University. He explains: "Being put on top of each other and forced to masturbate, being naked in front of each other - it's all form of torture.")"
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"Two Iraqi faces that do appear in the photographs are those of dead men. There is the battered face of prisoner No. 153399, and the bloodied body of another prisoner, wrapped in cellophane and packed in ice."
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"There is a photograph of an empty room, splattered with blood."
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"The abuse of prisoners seemed almost routine - a fact of Army life that the soldiers felt no need to hide. In an Article 32 hearing (the military equivalent of a grand jury) in the case against Sergeant Frederick, at Camp Victory, near Baghdad, one of the witnesses, Specialist Matthew Wisdom, an M.P., told the courtroom what happened when he and other soldiers delivered seven prisoners, hooded and bound, to the so-called 'hard site' at Abu Ghraib - seven tiers of cells where the inmates who were considered the most dangerous were housed. The men had been accused of starting a riot in another section of the prison. Wisdom explains:
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"SFC Sinder grabbed my prisoner and threw him into a pile... I do not think it was right to put them in a pile. I saw SSG Frederick, SGT Davis and CPL Graner walking around the pile hitting the prisoners. I remember SSG Frederick hitting one prisoner in the side of its ribcage. The prisoner was no danger to SSG Frederick... I left after that."
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When he returned later, Wisdom testified:
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"I saw two naked detainees, one masturbating to another kneeling with its mouth open. I thought I should just get out of there. I didn't think it was right... I saw SSG Frederick walking towards me, and he said, "Look what these animals do when you leave them alone for two seconds." I heard PFC England shout out, "He's getting hard."."
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The next following paragraphs come from Encyclopedia Britannica, explaining the various methods of torture that were implemented on prisoners. Again, please read at your own pace and discretion. This section will also be hidden for content warnings.
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"Regarding the killing of inmates, evidence suggests that they were shot or beaten to death. In one well-publicized example, Manadel al-Jamadi died of asphyxiation after he was hooded, suffered broken ribs, and shackled such that his arms bore his body weight during interrogation. Jamadi's body was then packed in ice, allegedly in an effort to hide the circumstances of his death. U.S. Army specialists, giving thumbs-ups, appeared in photographs with the body."
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"Sexual abuses committed by the military police ran the gamut. According to the report conducted under Taguba, at least one male guard raped a female detainee. Guards also foced male detainees to perform sex acts on each other or to sexually stimulate themselves while being photographed or videotaped. Photographs of nude male and female detainees were taken for amusement, and many detainees were made to remain naked for days at a time."
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"Other acts of abuse alleged to have been taken place included beating detainees, pouring phosphoric acid on them, and urinating on them. Sometimes interrogation became religious persecution, including at least one instance where a prisoner was coerced into thanking Jesus for his life."
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"Authorized forms of interrogation were often no less abusive. Prisoners could be shackled in painful positions, refused sleep, or isolated for prolonged periods of time, as well as subjected to extreme temperatures or confronted with their personal phobias."
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Former President Bush would make a statement and apology for the Abu Ghraib scandal. According to CCN, Former President Bush stated in an apology to Jordan's King Abdullah II: "I told him I was equally sorry that the people that have been seeing those pictures did not understand the true nature and the heart of America, and I assured him that Americans like me didn't appreciate what we saw and it made us sick to our stomachs." Former President Bush also stated the following: "(He) Made it clear to his majesty that the troops wehave in Iraq are the finest of fine, fantastic United States citizens who represent the very best qualities." He told Jordan's king that those who are responsible "will be brought to justice" and ensure that future abuses will not happen in the future. "The acts were abhorrent. It's a stain on our country's honor and our country's reputation. The actions of the people in that prison do not reflect the nature of the men and women who wear our uniforms. We've got brave souls in Iraq sacrificing so that somebody can be free, and helping the Iraqi citizens be free. ... Our soldiers in uniform are honorable, decent, loving people."
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Former President Bush also stated, according to The Guardian: "In a democracy everything is not perfect... mistakes are made.". However, the Middle East did not like Former President Bush's response. A commentator from the Palestinian daily al-Ayyam wrote: "This Greater Middle East that Washington promises is not a recipe for democracy, openness, freedom and respect for human rights; rather, it's a new formula to guarantee U.S. control and a way to keep all Arab regimes humiliated and subjugated."
Down below are a handful of the actual photographs from Abu Ghraib provided from articles. Hover over each of the boxes to look at the photos. Each photo is covered for content warnings of disturbing imagery. Please look at your own pace and discretion.
For more sources about Abu Ghraib, visit these articles.