Burma Preparing The Killing Fields

Nasaka Dictate New Rules For Rohingya Villages
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

As the radical Buddhists Rakhine continue to rally around propagandist monks the Arakan region of Burma grows even more unstable. Monks with political agendas replace those who had once taught the actual faith of Buddhism. Police with the power to kill back these very political ideals. And an army with the willingness to torture, torment, and slaughter provide the political base the muscle they need to crush all opposition.

During the summer of 2012 the world watched as the Rakhine took to the torch to remove Rohingya from villages and cities. Then when peace had been "restored" the gates of hell swung open once again in October of 2012. The calm of normality has still yet to return.

Now we watch as the radicals call for "action" once again. The blockades are being reinforced so as to keep the Rohingya within their villages and concentration camps. The police presence is being built up well beyond its original strength. Military presence is everywhere as the army of Thein Sein prepares to back the Rakhine pogrom looming over the horizon.

In Maungdaw, Arakan state the Nasaka (border police) called upon all Rohingya villagers to attend lectures about the new laws they are supposedly there to impose. In these meetings with village leaders and Rohingya community leaders, the Nasaka gave even more harsh demands than before. Now Rohingya are banned from leaving their homes from 10pm to 6am. No Rohingya are allowed to go outside the limits of their villages. Farmers must ask permission to leave the villages to tend their fields. Visiting family members must be documented and reported to the Nasaka guards. And anyone caught violating these laws will be removed for punishment at the whims of the Nasaka guards.

More importantly, any demolished house that was not given an OK by the Nasaka will also be punished extremely by the military or police. This is important to note since the Nasaka do not care how the house was destroyed. They simply need excuses to use when attacking Rohingya and removing them to prisons and torture houses. It will not matter if the house was firebombed by Rakhine or not, the Rohingya will be the ones who pay the price.

It is also important to note that the new police presence is not in the area to protect the Rohingya but rather to defend the Rakhine. The harsh new laws do not apply to the Rakhine. They only are meant to keep Rohingya in one place where they can be easily attacked and killed when the Rakhine mobilize. This is a measured step in preparing the area of Maungdaw for the next wave of ethnic cleansing.

Now all we apparently can do is wait and see. More Rohingya die of starvation every day in Maungdaw. And these harsh rules will only help them die of hunger or die at the hands of the radical Rakhine militias. Whichever comes first. 

Arakan Still Smoldering

Is Next Wave Of Violence Lingering Over Horizon?
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

 (Camps are "more like prisons")

During the past week I have been seeing more and more tweeters sounding the alarm that the next wave of ethnic cleansing is about to strike in the Arakan. Almost a year ago I would have thought this was a tad bit overly dramatic. Today however it feels closer to reality than ever before. 

These days the Rohingya within Burma are living in a situation where they are waiting for the next boot to drop. Their lives are in constant danger as the radical Rakhine continue to rally Buddhists to their cause. All the while they are starved in camps that the UN says are "more like prisons". More of the Rohingya die daily of hunger and disease in villages that are locked down behind blockades the government has erected. 

For the Rohingya it always feels as though the next wave of violence is persistently lingering over the horizon. 

So what could the next wave of violence look like if it were to happen tomorrow?

After the last two outbreaks of ethnic cleansing in the Arakan the Rohingya were effectively disarmed and rounded up into camps or confined to their villages and ghettos. This has left the Rohingya unable to mount any effective form of defense against attacks from well organized Nasaka backed mobs or Rakhine nationalist that were not disarmed after the fighting. It is important to also note that Rohingya prior to the fighting had only been able to use agricultural tools and common household items to fight back. The Rakhine on the other hand have the support of modern weapons and vehicles to readily move their forces onto target. Thus the mere "fighting strength" of the two communities is already disproportionate. 

When you factor in the length of time that the Rohingya have been starved and deprived of communication with family and friends the ability to organize is depleted as well. With no ability to openly communicate with neighboring villages or camps the Rohingya are isolated. They are for lack of better words the proverbial sitting ducks in this situation. 

In addition there is no reason for the Rakhine to wait for an excuse to attack either. 

The initial violence was blamed on an alleged rape and murder of a "Rakhine" Buddhist woman. The result was an untold number of Rohingya arrested, raped, murdered, and made homeless. Of course there were a handful of Rohingya that fought back to save their homes and loved ones and these were killed or arrested while their attackers went free. But the fact remains that the initial campaign of ethnic cleansing was a result of a planned campaign in which a rape was exploited and rolled into a larger crime. 

After the campaign began the Rohingya were sent off to concentration camps or had their homes turned to ghettos. This was intended and has been carried out to further isolate the targeted community. It leaves the victims vulnerable to further exploitation and potential extermination. It was the same method used in Poland with the Jews in Warsaw. It was the same method used in Bosnia by the Serbs to exterminate Muslims. 

All of this leaves one to guess that if the "ethnic violence" returns it will be targeted at a community already living under siege. If or when the next stage of this campaign of ethnic cleansing begins it has the possibility of being the Rakhine extremists' version of Hitler's "Final Solution".

If it begins as early as March (an estimate given by tweeters following the genocide) then we are almost guaranteed to see Burmese police clearing out ghettos and emptying the camps. Mass executions could be possible as Rakhine extremist find that they have no ability to deport or drive out the thousands of Rohingya caught in their ghetto liquidations. Rohingya attempting to flee would face Nasaka forces ready and willing to shoot first and ask questions after the killing is finished.

Now by this point many people reading this probably think that I'm jumping directly to the worst possible scenario. For many the thought of this sort of thing happening in our time is uncompromisable. We are supposed to be living in a modern age of civility and tolerance. Burma however lives in an age and culture of ethnocentrism and Junta law. And this sort of tragedy is already taking place on a daily basis in the Arakan region of Myanmar whether our Western press and media like it or not.

Rohingya within Burma are living a day to day life as they wait to see if their government will kill them all or just let this latest outburst of violence build upon a long history of oppression and discrimination. For them, it is not a question of if the next wave of violence will happen... it is when it will begin.

Source Documents

(note not all sources are listed)

Democratic Voice of Burma

http://www.dvb.no/news/burma-army-torture-kachin-rebel-suspects-un/26440

Eleven Myanmar 

http://elevenmyanmar.com/politics/2475-un-envoy-says-bengali-meets-with-activists

http://elevenmyanmar.com/politics/2482-human-rights-envoy-quintana-visits-rakhine-state

The Irrawaddy 

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/27020

Mizzima News

http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/8920-rohingya-camps-more-like-prisons-says-un-envoy.html

Preying Upon The Weak

Children Targeted By Rakhine Nationalist
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

In every genocide the weakest and most vulnerable are the most likely to be targeted for extermination. For those communities that find themselves the target of ethnic cleansing their children are preyed upon without mercy. The aim of this merciless method of slaughter is aimed at depriving the targeted community of their next generation. It is a tactic that is employed to ensure that the "undesirables" have not opportunity for a future.

When Stalin wanted to weaken his imagined foe in the Ukraine he commanded his forces to work the adults to death while starving the children. In doing this Uncle Joe damned an entire generation to a fate worse than death. He desired to starve them slowly as they watched their parents wither away and their grandparents perish. Stalin's long term goal however was to wipe out the children by taking the food right out of their mouths.

In Nazi Europe the children, especially the youngest, were often told to go off to the other line than their parents. It was a long and painful line that wandered off to the gas chambers or to freshly dug mass graves. Many SS soldiers took pride and using infants and babies as target practice or bayonet training. Hitler had set this part of the Final Solution in place so as to kill off the "undesirables" both here an now and in the years to come. Without children the "lesser races" could not raise up a generation that could be used to resist the Nazi cause. 

The Ustase behaved like rabid wolves when it came to the children of Jews and Roma in Croatia. Entire campaigns were launched to round up the vulnerable children into massive groups so that they could be led off like sheep to the slaughter. Ustase troops picked young children up by their limbs and bashed their heads onto rocks and concrete so as to save bullets. Roma children were held down while Ustase SS slit their throats. As with the rest of Hitler's followers, the Ustase knew that their actions were designed to slaughter the last hope of their victims. 

Burma has followed in Hitler's footsteps as they target the Rohingya of Myanmar. In Sabbay Goong, Northern Maung Daw, the Nasaka took into custody the mother of four children who were slaughtered by Rakhine extremist. Instead of going after the killers the Burmese security forces have decided to further degrade the mother. Once again Myanmar's government shows that they are willing to prey upon the weakest and most vulnerable of the Rohingya. 

The four children were;

• Noor Semon, 10 year old girl.
• Abdur Rahman, 8 year old boy.
• Rabina, 5 year old girl.
• Yasmine Ara, 2 year old girl. 

Their lives were ended simply because they were born Rohingya instead of Rakhine. Their assailants, thought to be members of the radical Rakhine terrorist group Arakan Liberation Party, are still free even as their little bodies remain unclaimed and most likely buried in unmarked graves. Their mother remains in captivity in a Burmese prison even after having been attacked and tied up by the men who killed her children.

This is what justice looks like in a government that openly practices a campaign of genocide against the Rohingya people. The slaughtered are blamed, the survivors are made to live in hellish conditions, and those who try to flee are killed without mercy.

So once again Alder's Ledge will ask... how many more need die? Why is the world remaining silent as innocent people perish every day?

Hunted Down Like Dogs

RNDP Puts Up A "Bounty" For Every Dead Rohingya
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

(This Boy Is Now A Commodity, Sold As A Slave Or Killed For A Bounty)

Rakhine Prime Minister, U Hla Maung Tin, arrived at Pauktaw this morning and made a beeline for the Rohingya refugee camp. Once there the PM fell in line with his party (the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party) by demanding that the Rohingya in the internally displaced peoples' camp sign documents that state that they are illegal immigrants. The documents state that the Rohingya are illegal Bangladeshi immigrants that have no claim to Burmese citizenship. These documents would be used therefore to deport the Rohingya to a country that has shown no interest whatsoever in accepting them. And without actual legal documents to show that they are either Burmese or Bengali, the Rohingya would officially in Burmese courts be "stateless". 

When the Rohingya in the camp refused to sign the documents Maung Tin threatened the refugees and left. Maung Tin told the Rohingya refugees that if they did not sign that he would see to it that no aid ever made it through the blockades again (including rice from the foreign aid organizations). The RNDP went further by going to Rakhine villages and camps to pass around word of just what these threats entailed. The RNDP then went on to tell the Rakhine that they would pay one lakh kyats for every Rohingya, or kalar (a slur for the Rohingya), they kill. Together, Maung Tin and the RNDP, are making threats that could lead to a return to the June and October riots that launched their genocidal campaign. 

This tactic of "sign or die" has been getting used more and more as the campaign of ethnic cleansing has been amped up. In addition to calling on renewed butchery by the RNDP, the Rakhine extremist have maintained their blockades of Rohingya villages and camps. The RNDP has also begun encouraging Rakhine from Bangladesh and impoverished areas of the Arakan to move into Rohingya villages. By calling the Rakhine "settlers" the RNDP shows that they are intent upon wiping out the memory of these Rohingya villages that were burnt or bulldozed. 

With all the actions taken recently by a major Burmese political party to kill and deport an entire minority one might wonder how the outside world is ignoring this? Time and time again Alder's Ledge has brought proof of genocide taking place right now in Burma and yet these same articles fail to show up in mainstream media. So once again I'm sure there are those wondering just how something like that which has been shown above can take place without their media source covering it. I'm sure there are still far to many people with their eyes closed to this subject to understand that genocide is taking place as they sleep. 

So imagine for a moment that you are a Rohingya trapped behind barbed wire and military checkpoints. Imagine that your family and friends are starving to death as you pick through the grass for any source of food you can find. Imagine that your government, your homeland, is treating you as though you aren't even human. Now imagine that you aren't allowed to leave... you aren't even allowed to travel to neighboring villages or camps. 

All you know is hunger. All you know is pain. All you know is desperation. 

Now imagine that the only way out is to flee by boat. Yet to do this you have to sell everything you have and scavenge for something to bribe the boat's owner. Imagine that you have no way to know if this boat will make it to the presumed safety of Malaysia or not. All you can do is hope that the Nasaka don't catch you as you drift off into the night. 

Imagine that while you starve to death you are approached by Rakhine who promise they can get you out of Myanmar. Imagine that you are asked to sign a paper in exchange for a promise of a better life. Imagine that you don't realize that this paper will make you a slave and that you will be sold in Thailand or Bangladesh. 

But imagine that you stay...

Now try to imagine that the RNDP just visited your village. Imagine that you just heard them proclaim that your Rakhine neighbor can earn cash money just for killing you. You know that your local police don't stop these attacks. You know that the military sides with the RNDP. You know that there is nowhere you can run. Now imagine that you are being hunted... but instead of running, you can only wait for your hunter to strike. You know that you are like a caged animal. You know that there is nowhere in you homeland that you can hide. 

This is the life of nearly a million Rohingya trapped in Burma. This is how the government of Myanmar has allowed ethnic cleansing to occur in the Arakan. The Burmese have committed a forced famine, constructed death camps, blockaded entire villages, and permitted the wholesale slaughter of the Rohingya people. 

It is a story that would enrage the common citizens of the West. It is a narrative that would sell papers across America and Europe. And it is a tragedy that the West could exploit at a moment's notice. Yet the prospects of Myanmar's untapped wealth have curtailed the actions these crimes demand. Once again the numbers were run and the prospect of economic gain topped the cost of saving lives.