Ethnic Purity

A Tyrant's Pipe-dream
(The Darkness Visible series)

(In Burma its the man with the gun that writes the law.)

When the Serbian nationalist launched their war against the other states that had once made up Yugoslavia the world sat on the sidelines and watched. We watched as radical nationalism led to the same sins that it had produced in Germany. We watched as the barbwire went back up. We watched as rape camps were established. We watched as men and boys were worked to death and starved till they became the walking dead. We watched as what we had called genocide in Germany was renamed "ethnic cleansing". All along we knew it was absolutely wrong. All along we sat silent as the sins of our past were marched back out for the world to see. 

Just as radical nationalism took root in Serbian extremists it can now be seen skulking beneath the surface in the Arakan State of Burma. Like a serpent it slithers just below the facade that the radicalized Rakhine mobs have crafted. The lies that hid for a short while in Serbia are building up the "cause" the Rakhine extremist monks claim to be fighting for. Those who deny it exist refuse that ethnicity lay at the root of the Burmese movement. 

For the past year many have claimed that the Rohingya are spreading Islam where it never existed prior to this outbreak of violence. They claim that the Rohingya are invaders. They claim that the Rohingya are the aggressors. Yet history refuses to back these claims. For lack of evidence, these pillars of the radical Buddhists' movement are left unsupported. 

Without religion to fall back upon, the Rakhine mobs can only rely upon the ethnicity of their victims to rally support amongst poor Rakhine communities. Slurs such as "kalar, ogres, and unclean" float the hate filled message of the true aggressors. These draw upon old ethnic bigotry that the monks were well aware already existed. Islam is just the latest excuse to be added to their arsenal of reasons to attack. 

Yet the Rakhine monks are far from the main reason for the apparently sudden outburst of ethnic violence in Burma. For decades the Burmese military junta have been pushing ethnic minorities toward the borderlands. Those who are not considered ethnically pure are mercilessly attacked. Villages are torched, the inhabitants driven off into the forest and mountains, and the scorched earth filled with landmines. This is a war for ethnic purity. It is a war that has been raging without relent every since the generals hijacked Burma's government.

The Rakhine mobs are simply the willing tools of the "reformed" government. Their targets are highlighted in the same way the Nazis spread across Europe, in a blitz. With government supported propaganda the communities to be "cleared" are highlighted for the mobs. The mobs build, the tension rises, and the stormtroopers come rushing in. All that is left is the lebensraum that the government of Myanmar desired in the first place. 

Radical nationalism is much like genocide in this way, it has patterns. You can check off its rise in stages. And yet we often overlook it's presence with every occurrence of its wretched growth.

In Burma we were shut off from what was happening behind the shroud that the Junta had created. However the moment the door was cracked we should have been able to identify the lies Burma's leaders were feeding us. Instead in the darkness of Burma's past we saw a glimmer of hope for its future.... however misguided that may have been.

The first step for radical nationalism to take root is for the political landscape to be divided into an "us vs them" scenario. If the radical nationalist cannot segregate a party and isolate its members they will resort to ethnic divides to isolate a group to dominate. Once under control the movement can begin to spread its cancer across the landscape.

Much like the Nazi movement and that of the extremist Serbian movement, radical nationalism is alluring to the impoverished and isolated. It offers a cause greater than themselves to which they can attach themselves to. It offers hope to a portion of society that has old scores to settle. And by offering a path forward, even the most extreme views can be swallowed.

When the extremist can seduce their followers to an ideology of "us vs them" they simply have to switch the bait to "you are the oppressed" and "this is your land". With this the extremist become more than just ethnically centered but create the myth that nationalism can be defined by ethnicity and ethnicity alone. With this the excuse for action to right the imagined wrongs can lead to acts previously unimaginable.

In Burma this has meant that select ethnic groups have been given the green light to "retake" lands that they were told were taken from them. Ethnic groups that find themselves on the wrong side of this rewritten history of Burma are pushed out. This has led to the Shan, Chin, Kachin, Kaman, Rohingya, and other minorities being driven to the edges of their homelands. Through being declared "invaders" they have been written out of Myanmar's existence.

We watched the same thing occur in Bosnia. When the Serbs needed excuses to retake their "homeland" in Bosnia they used the same excuse Hitler had for invading the Sudetenland. Ethnic purity and ethnic heritage had given them a perverted justification for genocide. And just as the Serbs and Nazis proved, there is always somebody who just doesn't belong. There is always another undesirable to be removed.

In this aspect ethnic purity is a dream of the radicalized mind. Even if the Rohingya were gone tomorrow there would always be another group that the Burmese majority would need to remove. For at the core of radical nationalism is the need for that "us vs them" mentality. Without it the need for radicalized nationalism ceases to exist.

So now we must ask ourselves; are we going to set on the sidelines in Burma? Will we watch as the same sins of our past are dragged out for the world to see? Are we to watch as the Rohingya are starved to death in camps as the barb wire goes back up? Or will we take this opportunity to learn from the lessons history is attempting to teach us yet again?

The blockades that existed prior to the cyclone still exist. Food, clean water, and medicine are still being withheld from Rohingya as they die in the squalor of Burma's version of concentration camps. With every passing day they perish from diseases that could have been easily prevented. With every passing hour they fall to starvation and thirst.

For my ancestors who suffered under the yoke of radical nationalism there were liberators in the form of resistance. Brave young men and women took up arms against a foe that appeared to be impregnable. Through their actions the blood of my ancestors was not lost to the pages of history. With their courage came freedom.

We may not be able to storm the beaches of the Arakan with guns blazing. Yet our resistance is just as dangerous in this modern age. As Stalin said, "ideas are more dangerous than guns...". Our voices are our ammunition.

So take this opportunity to resist. Take this opportunity to scream for those who have been made voiceless. Pick up your weapon and join the fight.

How to Scream:

• Share articles like this one on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterist, Blogger, Tumbler, and other social media outlets.
• Write your local and federal Representatives in government and ask that they stand up for the Rohingya.
• Join "tweet storms" and other social media protest in support of the Rohingya. 
• Share the plight of the Rohingya with your family and friends (maybe even the old fashion way, you know... face to face). 
• Email your religious organizations the story of the Rohingyas' plight in Burma. 
• Contact local leaders in your community and ask them to support the Rohingya in any way possible. 
• And just get creative in ways to spread the message as far and wide as possible (please keep it legal though). 

Literally thousands of lives rely upon you, the free world, to speak up and join the fight. So use your freedoms in the way that they were meant to be used... to help others.

Kaman Suffer Alongside Rohingya

No Place For Muslims Within Myanmar
(Part of The Darkness Visible series)

(Organized Slaughter of Muslims in Burma) 

Since mid summer the world has watched as the Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine state have been targeted and attacked by their Buddhist neighbors. For nearly half a year now we have seen countless cases of violence that are tantamount to ethnic cleansing. And yet the world has failed to do anything about it. Worse of all, most world leaders refuse to call these killings what they really are, genocide. 

As the darkness of genocide has spread across western Burma the victims of these attacks have all but been forgotten. The reasons for their deaths have been pushed to the back of newspapers or websites so as to hide the conflict all together. And in doing this we have failed to stop the killings or even recognize those who are dead and dieing. 

For those of us who are bearing witness to this tragedy it is hard to look past the Rohingya, who make up the majority of the victims. We have in a way made them our poster child in a campaign to halt the blood shed. And with some justification in doing so, we have focused on their plight with a sense of tunnel vision as the world passed us by. 

In reality their are more than just Rohingya men, women, and children being targeted in the Rakhine. Their Muslim brothers and sisters who are not ethnic Rohingya are also being targeted. The Kaman Muslims in Myanmar are at risk of being targeted simply due to their religion. They too suffer from the wave of ethnic cleansing that has engulfed Burma. Yet the world has given little concern for their well-being or for their dead.

"We never fought with them before.  We used to live together in the same village."

The Kaman are given citizenship in Myanmar. However this citizenship is often subject to obvious levels of discrimination. It can be taken away at any given time and the Kaman Muslim becomes stateless without any cause given or legal rights to refute the decision. In reality the Kaman are little better off than any other Muslim in the extremist Buddhist country of Myanmar. At best, they are second class citizens on the basis of their religion. 

Racial slurs like "kular" (the equivalent of the slur 'nigger' in the West) are used for both Kaman Muslims and the Rohingya Muslims. When fighting broke out the Buddhist mobs operated on the mentality that "Kaman are kular too". There was no distinguishing between the Kaman or the Rohingya when it came time to attack and burn down Muslim homes or mosque. 

When the Burmese government began to establish ghettos for the Rohingya the Kaman, who lived amongst the Buddhist prior, were forced into the squalor alongside the "illegal immigrants". Even though the Kaman are legal citizens the Myanmar military used the excuse that it was for their protection that they be removed. 

Now the Kaman make up a small, but important, portion of the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced peoples within Burma. After all, a large majority of the Kaman do not want to flee the country and risk loosing their citizenship or papers that prove their nationality. And that is exactly what happens to a Kaman Muslim when they jump across the border or flee in a boat. Myanmar refused reentry legally and denies the Kaman citizenship. Putting them in the same boats as the Rohingya who are stateless. 

In addition to clear cut discrimination in issuing the citizenship cards to Kaman, Rakhine police and Burmese military have the "right" to order Kaman to work without pay. Like the Rohingya, Kaman Muslims can be beaten without legal recourse if they do not fulfill their obligations to the Buddhist majority. This also means they can loose their citizenship if they can not pay annual and random taxes levied at the whims of the state. Any refusal to work as slaves can and does result in the loss of citizenship. 

But this one little piece of paper has been all that has separated the Kaman from the Rohingya. Up until this latest bout of ethnic cleansing the fact that the Kaman had citizenship rights had put them above the level of discrimination the Rohingya faced. Yet it was the religion that linked the two groups that put them both in the same gun sights. 

Today Myanmar announced that it will begin permitting Rohingya citizenship rights with drastic restrictions. This move in affect will level the playing field for Myanmar's Muslim minorities. All will now face the same level of hatred by both federal government and local government alike. 

The religious war against the Burmese Muslim groups will continue for some time to come if nothing is done to stop it. For now the Kaman will continue to suffer alongside the Rohingya. Both will continue to face starvation and disease as they flee the wrath of Buddhist extremist. And when the season of boating comes, a record number of both groups will take to the ocean in search of hope. A search that often ends in tragedy. 

It is important to end with the reminder that all this could have been prevented. Stronger UN action to prevent genocide is possible. Western governments, now set to profit from Myanmar's conflict, could have continued levying sanctions upon the genocidal regime in Rangoon. As a world community we could have begun speaking out much sooner than we had. And China, Russia, and ASEAN could all have waited before rushing in for Myanmar's wealth of natural resources. But instead, we have done nothing to stop it.

Suu Kyi Dismisses Rohingya As Illegal

"There Will Never Be An End To The Problem."
(Part of The Darkness Visible series)

(Suu Kyi)

In recent remarks Suu Kyi, the European Union's favorite Nobel Prize winner, made it rather clear to the world why it is that she does not support the Rohingya within her country. Speaking to her supporters, Suu Kyi told fellow Buddhist that the Rohingya Muslims within her country were "illegal aliens". She went on to point out that from her perspective "there will never be an end to the problem" with the Rohingya as long as the border with Bangladesh is left open. To further her less than friendly stance Suu Kyi pointed out that Myanmar needed to get tough on citizenship laws and make it clear what these laws said and to whom citizenship could be given. 

For months now human rights groups have wondered how this "humanitarian" would respond to the massacres of Rohingya within her "democratic" country. Now it is painfully obvious that the woman the world paraded around is in reality no different than the system from which she came. Suu Kyi has continued to say nothing about the attacks on Kaman Muslims along the border with Thailand. Now she has taken the party line when dealing with the Rohingya Muslims in the Arakan region of Burma. 

Bangladesh's government did respond sharply to the sudden outburst from Suu Kyi. Yet the constant insistence on the part of Dhaka that the Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for centuries falls on deaf ears. It is obvious that Suu Kyi does not care that waves of Rohingya have been crossing the border in just the opposite direction as she claims. Since the founding of Bangladesh in 1971 there has been countless migrations of Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh from Myanmar. They are going in the opposite direction of what Suu Kyi claims quite simply because of the turmoil they face within Burma. 

With the backing of Burma's "humanitarian" wing several local officials took to cleansing their villages and towns of all Myanmar's Muslims. In Kyauk Pyu local officials today attacked and drove out Kaman Muslims as Burmese military stood by and watched. Border patrols were then seen attacking and beating Rohingya boat people as they landed in Sittwe. All of this occurring as Burmese government officials claim they have gained control of the Western Rakhine region. 

It is clear to now that the Burmese government will be hiding these sorts of attacks from President Obama when he visits. Instead of allowing the outside world see these atrocities, leaders like Suu Kyi will be displaying their country's progress and potential for trade agreements. Every effort to engage in ethnic cleansing will for a short time be hidden as Barack Obama gives his hollow speeches.

And in the end people like Suu Kyi will sadly remain in control of Myanmar. Their genocidal campaigns of ethnic cleansing will continue. And the question of citizenship for the Rohingya remains answered by those in power. 

According to Suu Kyi and her fellow Burmese, the Rohingya are not human as long as they remain in Myanmar. As long as even one stays within Burma's borders, all Rohingya will remain "illegal".