Nazism, Malaysian Style

(patches used by Malaysian neo-Nazis)

Hitler’s belief in a dominant race can be transformed to fit any number of neo-fascist hate groups around the world today. You see it in how Modi twists the Nazi flare to turn the focus from race to religion while still maintaining nationality as the core of his Hindu nationalist platform. India's take on a Nazi like state still needs the issue of nationality, often associating Islam with other ethnicities outside of India, to drive the fanaticism behind making a state based on radical Hinduism. But take a little trip over to Malaysia and you find Nazism alive and well in a nearly perfect transplant of the German version. That is because Malaysia’s nationalists have a very diehard focus on race that, like Germany, uses religion as a prop. When Malaysian Nazis speak about their brand of nationalism, they are solely speaking about the white supremacist style “blood and soil" brand of it.

Malaysia as we know it today was formed on the racist belief that the dominant Malay ethnicity had a right to all of Malaysia. This was in spite of the fact that Malays are not the Indigenous Peoples of Malaysia but rather, given a more accurate and much longer timeline, relatively new to the migration of peoples who have swept over the lands that currently comprise Malaysia and Indonesia. Yet with the focus of nationality being the present, and only on the states formed out of colonial maps, the justice for Indigenous Peoples who have been made second class citizens by Malaysia is not of concern for the nationalists of today. The Malaysia they know is one where the Malay is king and all others are either to be subjects or driven out. That not so pleasant aspect of post-colonial Malaysia, one intentionally overlooked by racists like Malaysia's PM Mahathir, gives the roots of radical nationalism like that seen among Malaysia’s neo-Nazis. It is the racist foundation of society that feeds the “fringe" by allowing them to tap into what the rest of society has conveniently ignored but so frequently benefited from.

Mahathir’s own written works could be dissected to show how political power in Malaysia has only ever been harnessed through the deliberate and skillful manipulation of Malay privilege as well as both overt and outright racism towards other ethnic groups. Mahathir gained much of his influence via grievance politics and promises of securing the privileged status of Malays while offering justification for the discrimination faced by minorities in Malaysia. While Malaysian politicians have often pretended to be working on behalf of all ethnic groups in Malaysia, they more often than not have served the interests of the dominant ethnic group at the detriment of minorities. This persistent pandering to the racist views of the majority has engendered a climate in which the most depraved of extremists can find fertile soil and feel comfortable growing without fear of being cut down. From jihadists to Nazis, Malaysia’s problem with radicals is one of its own making and a direct consequence of society’s willingness to look the other way.

Malay Power

(Hitler salutes at a Malaysian Nazi concert)

In the early 2010’s the political movement Perkasa was compared to the American Tea Party by Malaysian commentators as the Malaysians watched their own far-right take to the streets. One striking indication of how little Malaysians wanted to deal with their own racism was in how commenters repeatedly whitewashed the blatant racism of America’s Tea Party movement in hopes of diminishing the equally Nazi-like racism of Perkasa. While political commentary did often admit that Perkasa had racist motivations behind its fascist politics, the comments were always immediately followed up with explanations for why Malays could magically not be racists. Around the same time the Nazi music scene in Malaysia was kicking off as far-right groups found a soundtrack for their Nazi inspired movements. The band Boot Axe, taking direct inspiration in its name from white supremacist terminology and references to Nazi “jackboots", rose to the forefront of the skinhead style scene. Swastikas, deaths head emblems and the Nazi SS were all on clear display as the skinheads ignored the fact that they were all far too brown to have ever been accepted as Nazis by the originals. Hate filled lyrics showed that they irony of their Nazi fetish didn’t matter much to the Malay supremacists. Hate was all they had and all they needed.

A hatred of minorities among the Nazi scene in Malaysia uses events like the pogroms of Chinese communities in Malaysia during the 13th of May, 1969 ethnic violence. The racism of Malaysian society as a whole was on full display on that day in 1969. The Malaysian majority used ethnic Chinese communities as scapegoats for a political loss suffered by the politicians who had spent their time race baiting the ethnic majority. Nazis in Malaysia today view themselves as the next batch of storm troopers prepared to dish out the same violence upon any and all minorities in Malaysia, regardless of the fact many ethnic minorities they hate are the actual Indigenous Peoples of Malaysia. Their belief that they are defending the socioeconomic interests of their race (which technically is a hodgepodge of ethnic groups that passed through the region over time) shows the racially inspired hatred of the movement. But there is another aspect to Malaysian Nazism… religion.

(Malaysian Nazis, note the SS death's head shirt)

When Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir calls Jews “hook-nosed” and “the source of all the world’s problems" he is not just appealing to the anti-semitism that is so prevalent in Malaysia but is directly appealing to Malaysia’s neo-Nazi movement. His hate filled literature and speeches are lapped up by Malaysia’s Nazis because their brand of Nazism uses a view of Jewish people that is filtered through German Nazism as well as less than moderate interpretations of Islam. Just as how Mahathir views Malay identity as being intertwined with Islamic identity in the Middle East, Malaysia’s Nazi movement views Hitler’s Final Solution as a key part in dealing with the people Mahathir claims are “the source of all the world’s problems.” Largely due to the fact that this view of Malay identity does not limit Malaysia to its borders but extends it to Jerusalem and all of the Islamic world. The irony of including Muslims on the basis of their faith, ignoring their racial diversity, as allies while excluding minorities in Malaysia solely on the basis of ethnicity is not lost on the Nazis though. Many of Malaysia’s neo-Nazis bridge the gap here by tweaking Malay identity to include the jihadist mantra of defending the ummah as something of their sacred duty. 

Religion is frequently used as a intoxicant among extremists regardless of political leanings, ethnocentric views or outright hatred of their targeted victims. The love and peace of the faith itself is discarded in favor of cherry picked verses that would otherwise justify the violent ends of the radicals when interpreted as they wish. Malay Nazism is no exception. By relying on Islamic verses that profess less than tolerant views of homosexuality and non-Abrahamic faiths, Malay Nazism draws a hard line that mirrors that of Islamic extremists of any other background. Taking a page from their Christian Nazi comrades, the Malay Nazis use scripture to justify their hatred of LGBT communities by claiming homosexuality threatens their view of a “pure Malay race". Many of these deviate along the same lines that white supremacists do by once again circling their hate for LGBT people back to their hatred of Jewish people by claiming Judaism is the root of homosexuality (yet Judaism is equally intolerant of LGBT people). This illustrates rather well the method in which religion, all religion, is frequently used to insulate the group and encourage the otherizing of groups deemed unworthy or outcasts. Which is why Nazism, everywhere, so often relies on religion as a method of securing its prospective followers and hardening its existing extremists.

How Can Asian Nazis Even Exist?

(Nazi tattoos in Malaysia)

This question has been asked by many articles written by Malaysian authors wishing to push the notion that Nazism is a whites only problem. That somehow Malaysians are incapable of being rabidly racist to the point of adopting one of Europe’s worst sins as their own. Yet Nazism does not grow out of nowhere. This brand of extremism needs specific conditions to be met before it can spring up like a weed that can never fully be exterminated. Neo-Nazism thrives when society’s majority decides to secure their own interests at the expense of all others. It takes root in a climate of hostility towards those perceived to be outsiders, when nationalism dictates who is a member of the group and who must go away. Nazism is a byproduct of the indifference society shows towards the most vulnerable and the most easily scapegoated. When Malaysia permits the ethnic majority to dictate who is and is not Malaysian, it feeds the growth of extremists like the Malaysian Nazis. When Malaysia goes looking for minorities to blame for the ineptitude of its government, it raises a generation of potential skinheads. Mahathir’s time as Prime Minister has been a godsend to the growing Nazi movement in Malaysia. But no one politician is to blame. Instead it is Malaysian society as a whole, the same as American society shares collective blame for Nazis on its streets, for the rise of Nazism in Malaysia. Malaysians have tolerated and frequently coddled its extremists because these skinheads are no threat to the Malay majority. And yet Nazism in Malaysia is no less a threat to the global community than White Supremacy is. When Americans ignored neo-Nazis during the 1980s and 1990s the consequences were felt in Oklahoma City and later around the world. Malaysia’s neo-Nazis are not isolated. Their music, their symbols and their chants are shared with their white counterparts. The internet has made the world smaller in a million ways and one of those has been that hate can spread from fingertips on iphones and be around the world in a blink of an eye.

Patriotism As A Drug

The Addict:

It is part of human nature to want to belong, to be accepted, and even to have a purpose. We long for this from birth and strive for it even at an early age. Those desires lead us to seek out friends, join social activities were we believe we will find it and to work hard to gain acceptance from our peers. It is baked in to every culture and every society the world over. It can especially be seen in the rabid nationalism of our times.

Nationalism is a manifestation of our inherent need to belong. It gives us a community to which, we assume, we cannot be removed and will be accepted within. It fills that need we have as human beings. But it comes at a cost. Nationalism requires us to define the group in such a way that distinctions between who 'belongs' and who is presumed to not belong must be made. It is exclusionary and tribalistic. And in many cases, nationalism when defined by race and ethnicity, is flatout racist.

But nationalism works because it comes with a drug. It comes with the addition of patriotism. And patriotism is meant to make those who believe they belong in the group feel good about having gained that acceptance they crave. It fills the desire for a purpose as well since it becomes a necessity that must be maintained rather than a happy little byproduct of nationalistic fervor. It imposes upon the "patriot" a demand to show it, to exhibit it arrogantly, and to further exclude those who alledgedly don't belong.

As society rachets up nationalistic rhetoric the demand for obscene displays of patriotism goes up. To continue belonging to the crowd, the user has to up their dosage. In doing so, the user becomes less likely to focus on other issues, no matter how important they might seem, and begins to reject aspects of their daily life that contradict their ever growing desire to fit in with the crowd of their choosing. The rhetoric gets amped up again, the user repeats the cycle and focuses more and more on being a 'patriot'. No matter how detestable, or despicable even, the image of patriot becomes, that desire to belong remains and the drug they have found helps them feel accepted. The high is worth all the downright vile things that comes with it.

The Dealer:

Our world currently has a host of strongmen and neo-fascists who are more than willing to sell their poison in a nice easy to swallow form. People like Trump are more than aware that the target of their rhetoric have already dabbled in it before and can easily be baited with just the right pitch. It is the hook that only needs to be set.

The "us vs them" narrative is an age old part of populist rhetoric. It is used to make the distinctions between those who belong and those the dealer wants removed. It works because those who think they are the in-crowd feel accepted by the message as well as having found a purpose within it. It bestows on them a sense of pride, a sense of selfworth that might have been otherwise missing, and a sense of superiority. All they have to do is maintain their place in the exclusive circle that their prejudices have carved out for them. And this is where the drug comes in.

Patriotism can be used as both a sedative and a stimulant... given you know how to use it. Dealers like Trump know how. And as was seen in his latest klan meeting, with the chants calling for an 'outsider' to be "sent back", it is clear how the stimulant portion works. This aspect of it just requires massive doses of patriotism, such as rallies. That creating of spaces where the dealer's targets can feed off each other's energy, creating a desire to one up the other, is exactly how Trump targets his cultish klan with the drug of their choosing.

For those not willing to attend Trump's narcissistic orgy fest, the sedative part comes through passive partaking of patriotism. That sparklers and cookouts on the Fourth sort of addiction to it. It is a form of patriotism that allows the user to pretend the group they belong to is fine, perhaps some rough patches here and there, but otherwise ok. It permits a placid acceptance of evident wrongs in society while still allowing the user to feel pride in belonging to it. It silences the people who are often the same ones repeating lines like "all evil needs to succeed is the silence of good men".

This will not be the part where I tell you something like "but wait, there is still a good form of a patriot". There simply is not. And frankly the world would be a far better place with far fewer patriots.

The problem with believing you can be patriotic while still dissenting from the notion that some people belong and others should be in cages is that patriotism is derived from nationalism. Nationalism is nothing more than our way of deciding who belong where. Therefore there can be no real reason that a patriot is any better simply because they might be more tolerant than the outright racists currently leading many of our countries.

The Canary In The Coal Mine

Laying At The Bottom Of The Cage
(Roma In Europe series)

In every society there is often one group of people whom the rest of society deems it acceptable for the rest of society to discriminate against. For the groups within that society which set just on the edge of the boundary between being acceptable targets of discrimination and not being on that same plane, these are the canaries. Their well being, or lack there of, acts as an indicator for what awaits the rest of society’s vulnerable minorities. If the accepted scapegoat is abused relentlessly the rest of society’s minorities can expect no better treatment in the near future. If however the said scapegoat is tolerated then the rest of society’s minorities can, within reason, expect to be tolerated as well.

In the Arakan state of Burma the canary has always been the Rohingya people. Their song as of late has been that of a warning of their impending death. Many have already passed away. Yet the world ignores their plight as the Kaman and other minority groups in Burma now suffer the same fate. The Rohingya are the scapegoat upon which the aggression, the hatred, and the blame for all of society’s ills can be placed. The sheer weight of this burden lends itself to their sad songs as their women, children, and elderly slip through the grate.

The reason groups like the Rohingya in Burma and the Romani in Europe spend so much time calling out warnings that no one hears is almost unexplainable. Their sorrow can be heard with every passing day if only the world had ears to listen and a heart with which to feel. And perhaps it is in that one aspect of our relationship with these groups that we can see just to what extent these groups are true canaries in the coal mine.

Europe’s Canary 

Prior to the rise of fascism in Germany in the mid 1920’s there was a silent battle that history has all but forgot. It was a struggle that society’s most neglected and abuses minority began on it’s own and would end with millions more by their side. It was a horrific fight for survival that was ignored by the very people who would later end up in the same camps. It was the beginning of the Romani peoples’ “devouring”.

In the early days of the Holocaust the Germans appeared at times pacified with their attempts to simply kill off the mentally handicapped and those deemed to be a drain upon civilized society. While it is debatable as to how the Germans viewed the Roma in regards to the race laws (mostly enacted against the Jews) the results of these actions is not. Soon after the first gassing of mentally handicapped and terminally ill patients the Germans began to clear Roma ghettos around major German cities. Some were moved to camps located near city dumps and other unsanitary locations in an attempt to lower the quality of life to a point where death and disease were inevitable. These smaller ghettos were designed to overcrowd the camps and create drastic shortages in food, water, and other basic necessities of daily life.

The most direct result to the German public however was the sudden disappearance of the “gypsy” community from many German cities. This minor reward to an ethnocentric and bigoted society was enough for most German citizens to overlook the mistreatment of the Roma themselves. Small incentives like this would only serve to prove to the German government that the citizens of their society were capable of being bought off when it came to their moral standards and the treatment of other human beings.

When Roma were soon driven out of camps in forests and community areas the German people nearly celebrated even more. There was little to no public response that would prove to be unfavorable to the deportation and cruel confinement of entire Roma families. The lack of dissension amongst society proved to the German government once again that the songs of Europe’s canary were falling upon deaf ears.

With the opening of Germany’s first concentration camps the only real sound of dissension came when Germans suddenly realized that these camps were not meant just for Jews and Roma. When the fear that they could be next finally arose the German people were awoken to the reality that it was already too late. German citizens, not of Jewish or Roma origin, who would join the minorities they had ignored were said to need reeducated on what being a “good German” really was. The songs the canary had sung for so long were already silent as many Roma already lay dead at the hands of the well rooted fascist regime.

Today in France and across the rest of Europe the song of Europe’s canary is approaching it’s last notes. Warning cries have been falling upon deaf ears for some time now as countries like France have continued to deport and cruelly detain entire Roma families. This has only been added to as countries like Sweden are added to the roster of fascists ready and willing to join the ranks of oppressors. A lesson that history so brutally taught Europe just a couple generations ago is now being drummed back up as these tyrants beat their chest and push their boots upon the Romas’ backs.

The bigotry that had been seen in Europe prior to the World War Two (though doubtful it ever really faded) is approaching the same levels today as it was back then. People who call themselves tolerant and open-minded when it comes to drugs, sex, and religion are now willing to sacrifice their morals when it comes to race. And with this one point, this one area of selling out to power hungry politicians, the liberties of Europe are pushed closer to the edge. For where they give an inch the governments to which they bow will take a mile.

"Stockholm City Kept Roma Registry Until 1996"

- The Local

"Majority Of French Believe Roma Should Leave France"

- France 24

"French Police Clear Roma Camp In Centre Of Roubaix"

- BBC News

"French Minister Calls For Roma To Be Sent Home"

- Irish Independent 

What is even more surprising however is the sheer rate of speed at which governments like France's have been able to capitalize upon their citizens' bigotry and callousness. Two short years ago the French government was risking everything when they sent wave after wave of Romani families off to Eastern Europe. Now the French public seems to be just as heartless as their government as they quickly begin to cheer the government on in it's new round of deportations. There is little to no empathy in the sounds of France's collective voice as it bids farewell to the Roma who have called France home for countless years.

So what lay ahead for France's remaining minorities now that the canary has been ignored?

Muslims in France, and rapidly across the rest of Europe, are filling in the role that the Jewish population had played during fascism's last march across the continent. In an eerie manner, the Muslim population has begun to feel the same level of discrimination that Jews had felt in the late 20's and early 30's. Where the Germans had created laws to increase the level of violent oppression the Jews had felt, France refuses to uphold laws. Where the Germans had forced the Jews to wear yellow stars, France strips the Muslims of their religious clothing. Yet no matter the small differences in the approach; society at large has vastly ignored the sudden increase in discrimination against a group they quietly deem to be the "new comers".

This of course is not factual since Mosques and Muslims have been part of Europe for countless generations. Yet it is the same bigoted response that Jews faced in Germany as their leaders and government encouraged the discrimination that these such accusations encourage. By clarifying the line of demarcation between "us verses them" the society takes the next step and government gets to increase it's control.

Where we should had seen this with the Roma over the past couple decades we are now approaching the point of being too late to see it with the rest of Europe's vulnerable minorities. By allowing the French (and other governments as well) to deport and harass Romani citizens we give the green light for those same leaders to do equally depraved acts to the rest of society. If a group can be singled out for unjust and inhumane acts of oppression and discrimination than any other group can be made the scapegoat as well.

If the portions of Europe's minorities that set on the fringe of society are to be spared, the rest of society must decide to take a stand against the oppressors. For it is in their silence that fascism is fed. It is in their ignorance that tyranny plants it's seed. And it is in their apathy that the roots of future dictatorships take hold.

First They Came For The Hijab

France's Religious Freedom Failures

When the last wave of fascism spread across Europe the socialists who spread their banner of intolerance across the nations of Western Europe wasted no time targeting religious freedoms. Conservative Judaism suffered immediate harassment as the French brown shirts took up the German jackboots' cause. Beards were publicly desecrated as the peyos locks were sheered off. To add insult to injury these same Jews were then forced to adorn their clothing with a yellow star to identify themselves ironically in much the same way their religious customs had. However this time their sense of religious identity was upon the terms of the fascist and not in accordance to their religious customs.

For the Muslims of France the first step in reestablishing these very sins committed under, and often blamed upon, the Nazis. Yet in modern France there are no foreign fascist to blame these modern denials of religious freedoms upon. Today the French have only themselves and their own bigotry to blame for the denials of religious practices to a distinct religious group.

Once again the French strip away one of the most precious practices of their victims in an attempt to humiliate their victims. It is no more an attempt to preserve "French values" than it is an attempt to impose higher values upon the targeted portion of their society. For if religious intolerance is a French value than the victimized community should not be expected to practice religious tolerance anywhere on the planet. Once shown that their faith is given less value than that of their oppressors', how can France expect a social standard be shown toward them that they deny to others?

The idea of forcing a new set of standards upon a small portion of society is not only counterproductive but also goes completely against the ideals of liberty and equality. In a free and open society there can be no room made for intolerance of our basic G-d given rights. Let alone when it is the government applying such double standards upon society at large. For if any portion of our society is not allowed to practice their basic human rights; none of us are truly free.

The main excuse for the "burqa ban" has been the blatantly false concern for public safety. When politicians run out of things to blame their biases upon these days they turn to the mind-numb masses and screams danger. And in a modern world where the masses are just about gullible enough to drink the kool-aid these scare tactics somehow still have an affect.

But what are we really risking by allowing our Muslim sisters to be abused by the legislators of Europe?

Small Steps Toward Tyranny

When Germany began it's march toward totalitarianism in the late 1920's the German public was not well aware of what was awaiting them over the next two decades. Their flirtation with a national sense of pride and the promises of a politicians was a poison that would rot their sense of self worth. Their own identities would have to be sold to the state if they wished to obtain the prizes that their new leaders dangled just out of reach. And sure enough, the Germans took the bait. 

In France Europe watched as deviant leaders dangled lofty promises of "restoring French pride" in a society that never really had any. Slowly the seed took root and the people of France began to sell off their own self worth for the promise of a new and better France. Their own identities as liberal and free thinking individuals has slowly decayed as France inches it's way toward fascist socialism. The lie of what a person must be to be truly "French" has already be swallowed by the masses. The cookie cutter image of what a "good French citizen" should look like has already been supplanted in place of their own self image. No longer is the model citizen allowed to freely and openly practice their faith, but rather is expected to pay homage to a godless state. 

With the removal of publicly displayed Christian symbols the French were expected to show that they were cutting ties to their Christian past and moving toward a free and open society. However, once the public accepted that the church and state were separate the state began to cross the boundary and play the role of church. Where the idea of limiting the role of religion in politics had been so keenly imposed the rationalization of limiting the state's role in religion was not. 

This is where the hijab battle in Europe is best displayed. 

In a public that was willing to limit and even oppress the rights of it's Christian "bitter clingers" the society cannot expect the state to practice limits. This is why the overreaching of the state in it's relationship with the mosque is not surprising. Had the state been pushed back when it was dabbling in the church it would have been less likely to have reached it's hands into the mosque right afterward. Yet the public said nothing, so now they can do little to stop it. 

The pace at which a state moves toward tyranny is determined by the reaction of those who it governs. If the public remains silent as the state oversteps it's bounds with one group than all the rest have no ability to rely upon the others when the state comes stepping on their toes as well. The old poem "First They Came" is in this sense a warning to all portions of community when dealing with a government that attempts to grow at their expense. 

As for France, the Roma have long been the canary in the coalmine. 

When the government of France began deporting legal Romani citizens alongside newly immigrated Roma from Eastern Europe their countrymen remained silent. The deportations of Roma were looked at as an attempt to bring law and order back to the ghettos of France's cities. The scapegoat, the Roma, were just the objects upon which the French attached their collective sins. And in step with their history with France, the Roma took another one on the chin while Europe covered it's eyes. 

The canary's calls were ignored. And even when the canary fell to the bottom of it's dirty cage... nobody said a word. 

Now the fascist have moved on to another target that they had been eyeballing for years now. 

Prison Or Piety?

"O children of Adam, We have bestowed upon you clothing to conceal your private parts and as adornment. But the clothing of righteousness - that is best. That is from the signs of All-h that perhaps they will remember." ~ Qur'an 7:26

The hijab is to Islam what the kippa is to Judaism. It is yet another way for the observant to show their faith and devotion to All-h. Not publicly, contrary to what the outside world might think, but in a very personal manner that professes their dedication to the path G-d has directed for them. It is only coincidence that this portion of their faith is visible to a world that does not fully understand or appreciate it. 

Contrary to what a non-Muslim might think, the burqa is not mentioned in the Qur'an. However, the word "hijab" is mentioned in the Qur'an seven times (five times as hijab and twice as hijaban). In every occurrence the word hijab is used to mean "a barrier or veil between G-d and the human being". It is at no time mentioned as an article of clothing or a garment with which a female should adorn herself in the presence of a man. 

In this light one should understand that if a woman, especially one in a secular society, chooses to adorn the article of clothing we refer to as a hijab they are doing so under their own will. It is not a compulsory portion of Islam and has not been commanded of them by the mosque or their imam. Thus the decision to wear the headscarf is one born out of their own religious ideals and is not a "prison" with which Islam "enslaves" them (as Western feminists and conservatives have often said). 

This decision on behalf of the hijab wearing Muslim is much the same as the decision of orthodox Jews to wear the kippa (often refereed to in Yiddish as a yarmulke). Not once in the Torah does G-d command Jewish men to wear a a kippa. This is evident by the lack of a blessing associated with putting on the kippa since there is no commandment for Jews to recite (as is custom when putting on articles such as the tallit). Therefore the two garments are a rather personal decision, and though not born out of religious mandate, that should be respected due to the individual's personal relationship not with their religion but with their G-d. 

For me, a conservative Jew who does wear a kippa daily, the decision to wear the kippa is one that reminds me of G-d's will for my life. It is a sentiment that is just as sacred as keeping my beard. And even though it is just a small circle piece of clothing, the kippa is a part of my daily routine that keeps my love, my passion, and my desire to serve G-d at the front of my mind. I can only imagine that for Muslim women wearing the hijab this article of their clothing holds just as much sentiment and significance for them as well.

Who Is Next?

The main reason that the hijab battles spreading across Europe should be worrisome even to those who are not religious is rather simple. In a society where we are willing to deny the rights of a few there is no sense of security for the many. If a government is able to restrict the practices of a portion of society they are more than capable of stripping the rights of every other citizen as well. And where a portion of society is capable of being isolated and set aside for devious intent the risk of crimes against all humanity remain a very real possibility. 

When the first Germans were sent off to be reeducated the rest of Germany remained silent. That silence was a weapon in the hands of the government. It was the ammunition they needed to take the next step toward absolute control. With that silence the governments of man can strip away the identities of every individual and replace it with a soulless, heartless, and numb collective. The very essence of what we are as a society is denied to us as the image of what a faceless regime wants us to be replaces it. With our silence we not only lose our voice but also the very liberties we should be using our voices to defend.

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French Roma Face New Porajmos

Socialism Helping Reconstruct Romani Holocaust

Over the last decade the European Union has been going through a stage of reconstruction. With new member states coming and some flirting with the idea of leaving the trade block has been under incredible stress. For the Roma of Europe this stress has helped increase the hate crimes targeted at them and their children. Yet surprisingly in the land of tolerance and multiculturalism, European authorities have been slow (if responding at all) in helping stem the tide of hate.

Over the years the socialist movement within Europe has often targeted the Roma since most members of society do not emphasize with the Romani. The most notable case would be the Porajmos under the Nazis. However in recent years the socialist have been just as capable of reconstructing the great devouring.

In 2012 France alone was able to deport at least 11,803 Romani. Rounding down, around 80 percent of these were forcibly removed according to the European Association of the Defense of Human Rights (AEDH). Most of these had their possessions burnt or destroyed by local authorities as their homes were bulldozed. President Francois Hollande was the man who pulled the trigger on each and everyone of these deportations... the socialist leader of France. 


"This is incredibly worrying and very disappointing given that Francois Hollande made a pre-election pledge to change the way the Roma were being dealt with in France," Victoria Vasey from European Roma Rights Center. "But it just looks like business as usual."

During August of 2012 the UN warned France that its deportations of Roma were in direct violation of the international human rights convention. However since the fall of 2012 the French leadership has ramped up their attempts to deport Romani. They continue to claim that these Roma are illegal immigrants from places either outside the EU or from member states right at the border of the trade block. Most are being sent to Romania and Bulgaria (members of the EU) since the citizens of these two countries are not legally allowed to travel within the EU without proper papers and passports. And since Romania and Bulgaria openly discriminate against the Roma, it is unlikely that the Roma will be given access to passports by local authorities.

To further complicate things the leadership under Hollande has joined with the Netherlands in an attempt to further regulate the terms of membership that Romania and Bulgaria currently enjoy. The long term goal appears to be the permanent ban on customs-free travel for Roma from Eastern Europe. This would allow the socialist in Western Europe to continue shipping off their own Roma to foreign countries from which they could not readily return.

For Roma in Eastern Europe the flood of deportees has only further exacerbated tensions between their community and their neighbors. In places like the Czech Republic these new arrivals have also helped fuel more and more hate crimes against all Romani within the country. These have included rapes, murders, and the burning and looting of Roma homes. Many of the crimes have been linked to the ever growing right wing movement in Eastern Europe.

But discrimination against the Roma does not stop in Europe when it comes to deportations. In recent months the Canadian government has begun its own attempts to deport Roma who arrived in North America due to violent oppression back in Europe. The first step in starting the Canadian deportations has already begun as Canada has openly told Hungarian and Czech Roma to stop applying for asylum. This move was meant to make it clear that Canada will no longer accept Roma who are fleeing violence and possible pogroms within Eastern Europe.

All of this makes it ever more difficult to understand just how France, Germany, and the UK expect Roma to live in countries like Romania and Bulgaria after being deported? The Roma of Eastern Europe have made it very clear that they need somewhere to turn to get away from Nazi style attacks on their homes and community. The wave of immigrants that France claims has occurred should be seen as a call for help rather than another reason to accept the idea of passing the "Roma problem" onto the next country in line.

This situation also leaves us asking why long term members of the European Union in Western Europe are not being pressured to stop deportations? Looking at the numbers of Roma immigrating from Eastern Europe compared to the numbers being sent back it should be obvious that France is deporting Roma who have lived in France for generations. The numbers simply point to the fact that the socialist government of France is deporting French Roma alongside immigrant Romani in an attempt to ethnically cleanse France of its native Romani population.

So where is the outrage amongst the supposedly bighearted Europeans? Or is the issue of human rights only a topic of discussion in Europe as long as it applies to Syrians or Congolese refugees?

The Final Solution In The Modern Era

How Myanmar Is Rewriting History
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

(Victims of Ethnic Cleansing)

For all of written history the Rohingya people have lived in the area now belonging to the Burmese government known as the Arakan state. Their ancestors lived here for centuries. Their fathers farmed these lands and fished the waters along the coast. And though Rohingya live on the other side of the Bangladeshi - Myanmar border nearly a million Rohingya have called Burma home for generations.

Throughout history however the history of the Rohingya has been somewhat rewritten to better suit the will of their conquerors. The modern Burmese dictatorship is no exception to this rule of historic precedent. And like most others who came before them, the Burmese seem far to willing to rewrite the books so as to wipe the Rohingya out of existence. 

The Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) has long exploited the "facts" they claim are the real history of the Arakan state. In their version of history the Rakhine people (a developed term that now refers to all Buddhist people in Arakan regardless of ethnicity) had a rich and vibrant culture dating back to prehistory. At times the RNDP links such claims to actual historical kingdoms such as the Kingdom of Mrauk U, an odd adjustment of history since the Buddhist kings of this kingdom received Islamic titles. Yet even in doing this the RNDP usually alters the dates by only recognizing the kingdoms beginning as of 1531... when the kingdom split with Bengali Islamist.

Messing with history books is of less concern to those now living in concentration camps however. The most effective method of implementing and organizing the current genocide of the Rohingya by the RNDP was enacted in 1982 when the RNDP managed to get a law passed that stripped all Rohingya of citizenship. This was the first step in starting the ethnic cleansing of the Arakan. This was the push that the Buddhist needed to start the genocide. 

In 1935 the fascist were high on power as their Nazi ideology became the political theory of the German state. They had taken full control of Germany in 1933 and had pushed their leader onto the population of Germany. Hitler's antisemitic views were now to become the daily bread of an oppressed nation. His views were to be carried out across and occupied continent. But to start the ball rolling Hitler needed to alter the law of the land. Hitler needed the Nuremberg Laws. 

Among the litany of new demands and restrictions upon the Jews was the most striking of all, the Jewish people were forever to be banned their citizenship to the new German state. With this Hitler had effectively made the Jewish people, German people until that day, stateless. This widened the gap between the "Aryan" people of Germany and the Jewish people. It also opened up the Jewish people to a sudden and harsh reality of servitude to a state that now professed it's hatred of them. 

With the Rohingya stateless the RNDP was quick to exploit the new list of demands placed upon the Rohingya of the Arakan. The Junta had given the racially bias RNDP the opportunity to force the Rohingya into slave labor at beckon call. The Junta also turned a blind eye to the open rape of Rohingya women and children by the RNDP and the Myanmar military. Killing of a Rohingya person was suddenly possible with little to no consequences. And every since 1982 the RNDP and Buddhists extremist have taken full advantage of this political classification of the Rohingya within Burma. 

When democracy was supposedly on the horizon the RNDP decided to speed up its goal of creating an ethnically and religiously pure Arakan state. Exploiting the rape of one woman the extremist set out to cleanse the land of an entire ethnic group. Targeting Rohingya villages, the RNDP whipped up a virtual army of Rakhine mobs. Looting and torching of Rohingya homes became the summer carnival as the Arakan burned before the eyes of the onlooking outside world. 

(Night of Broken Glass)

On November 9th, 1938 the fascist in Germany and Austria grew tired of waiting for the hostilities to begin. That night the long knives took to the streets and the glass began to break. Kristallnacht had begun. In one night the once civilized people of "Greater Germany" killed nearly 100 Germanic Jews. A further 30,000 were arrested as the pogrom burned seemingly out of control. These 30,000 would be sent to concentration camps that had proved affective just months before in the murders of mentally disabled Germans (Buchenwald being one of the new death camps).

(Rohingya Home Burning Summer of 2012)

In what appeared to be the worse outbreak of ethnic violence in the Arakan in generations the RNDP hid the start of their "Final Solution". When the villages began to burn the world would not nor could not guess that the RNDP and other Buddhist extremists had answered their "Rohingya question". Yet looking back at it now we can see that the RNDP and their cohorts have in fact created the framework in which to work to create and finish their genocide of the Rohingya people. Looking back at it we can now clearly see that this is premeditated murder... this is ethnic cleansing at its finest... this is genocide. 

With the strategic destruction of given Rohingya villages the Rakhine forces were able to isolate larger villages in more remote parts of the Arakan. This allowed the military to create ghettos out of the still standing villages and in turn create ready built concentration camps. The hard work of finding land upon which to put their "refugee" prisoners was already done by the time the smoke had cleared. The next stage was already in motion by the time the world was ready to admit that the Rohingya were at the very least "in trouble" and facing "persecution". 

RNDP sponsored blockades raised up out of nowhere in a police state that has never left its dictatorship past. Food, medicine, and other humanitarian aid was now stopped before it could even start to reach the victims of the summer violence. The starvation of the Rohingya people started the moment the first villages were torched. This war of attrition had been launched the moment the RNDP began its propaganda campaign that summer.

We saw a similar event in 1994 in Rwanda when the Hutu militias staged spontaneous pogroms across Rwanda. Almost overnight the Hutus were able to set up roadblocks where they could butcher the Tutsi who dared to try to flee. It was at this point in the Rwandan Genocide that the UN could have intervened with either military force or the arming of Tutsi militias capable of breaking the blockades.

Similar roadblocks were raised in the Arakan by the Burmese military along with help from the RNDP and the Rakhine police forces. These roadblocks were upgraded to military checkpoints as barbwire was raised around the Rohingya refugee camps and outside the still standing Rohingya villages. The transition seemed almost effortless... too effortless... on the part of Myanmar's government.

(How Many More Need To Die?)

Today the Rohingya continue to face the final stages of ethnic cleansing on the long road to the RNDP's "final solution". Mass starvation is being used to kill off the Rohingya as the extremist wait for nature to claim the remaining Rohingya. In addition the Rakhine Buddhists are using human trafficking as a means to deport Rohingya to neighboring countries while making a profit of their "human cargo". This is further complimented by the tactics used in prior pogroms such as forced labor and arbitrary arrests of Rohingya men and boys. 

In recent days eight "boat people" (Rohingya) were arrested in Pyay township. Among the Rohingya were two of the ages 22 and 23 years old, the rest were below the ages of 16. In Parin, Arakan the military of Myanmar faked an attack so that they could arrest all male Rohingya in the village including a 15 year old boy. In Sandawli the Burmese police arrested 12 Rohingya after claiming that they had burned down their own homes and should thus face 10 years in jail. 

In each of these incidents the Rohingya face the possibility of being killed in police custody or being sold to human traffickers. What they are guaranteed by the RNDP sympathetic police is that they will be tortured for their supposed crimes against the state. Those who live may never see their families again since they will most likely be deported. This is insured by the fact that immigrations officers are often brought in to force the Rohingya to sign documents claiming they are illegal immigrants while the police point a pistol at their head. 

Death by starvation, deportation, or a slow death in captivity are all the Rohingya have left as the Rakhine extremist carry out their "final solution". We on the outside can rest assured that if the genocide of the Rohingya is not stopped the RNDP and their cronies will rewrite the history of the Arakan. This is not a simple war of annihilation, this is campaign to erase the Rohingya from the history books. This is a sickening attempt by an extreme element of society to completely dominate and destroy another. And in the end we will all be witnesses to it in one way or another.

Papers Please?

Nationality More Important Than Ethnicity In Burma
(Part of The Darkness Visible series)

(Rohingya Roundup in Burma)

In the 1930's Jews in Nazi occupied Europe were more than accustomed to hearing the call for their "papers". This demand was a way for Gestapo to identify their targets and place the Jews under police scrutiny. In the end this demand would lead to millions of Jews being rounded up and sent off to death camps. For these victims of the Holocaust the call for one's "papers" was a death sentence. 

Today in Burma the military Junta has gone about the call for Rohingya "papers" in a different way. For decades now the Rohingya have not been allowed to claim citizenship in Myanmar. They have however had to go to the local authorities and document their intent to travel, give birth, or even the death of a family member. The paper work that piles up documents the peril of being a Muslim Rohingya in a Buddhist dominated country. It also makes clear that the Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for generations all the way back to the start of the Burmese government. And for that the Burmese Junta must demand the papers of the Rohingya in a different manner than the Nazi Gestapo did in Germany. 

The official claim of the Myanmar government is that the Rohingya are "invaders" that came from Bangladesh. The proof that lay in the stacks of official Myanmar records tells the story differently. Thus the Burmese military and police have come up with a method to alter that past. Instead of relying upon the official paper work, Burmese officials are now relying upon testimony derived through torture and repressive tactics that put the victim in duress. 

Every since the first roundups in June of this year the Junta have used interrogations of helpless victims to force Rohingya to sign documents stating that they are Bengali. This forced testimony and signed document is then used to justify the deportations or the endless imprisonment that the victims now face. It also helps further the genocidal ambitions of ethnic cleansing that Myanmar is currently engaged in. 

In the last few weeks these methods have been ramped up. The victims are never heard from again. If they do not sign they do not get to see their families again. If they do not sign they are lost to the illegal prisons of the Burmese Junta. And if they do sign... they are deported or thrown back in prison. Their signature is simply used as a tool in the arsenal of the Burmese authorities. Their papers are used to justify the extreme measures taken by the Myanmar government to "end civil unrest". 

There is no way of telling for sure where the Rohingya victims of this tactic end up. Some activist have claimed that the Burmese government is simply exterminating those who will not sign. Though hard to believe, it is plausible when one thinks back and looks at how the Burmese military willingly opened fire upon unarmed Rohingya fleeing the mobs. Others claim that the prisons in which they are held are nothing more than concentration camps in which starvation and disease is meant to kill through attrition. Once again, hard to imagine in this day in age... but very plausible when one looks at Burma's human rights record. 

We can not say with any certainty how many Rohingya have been killed in Burma as of today. We can say, however, that the Rohingya in Myanmar now face total annihilation by the Burmese government. Through tactics like this one mentioned here the Myanmar government is pushing for the removal or complete extermination of the Rohingya. The government of Burma is receiving absolutely no pressure from the outside world to end their campaign of genocide. And without that pressure, the million plus Rohingya face certain death.

Left To The Wolves

Preparing for Porajmos
(Part of The Darkness Visible series)

As attacks on Roma continue to escalate in Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Romania the rest of Europe seems complacent as they ramp up attempts to deport their Romani populations. In France it has become evident that the police are more like the SS than civil servants... no longer enlisted to protect and serve but rather harass and deport. In England the Roma live in constant fear that the government's bipolar disorder might switch for the worse. Yet now we watch the rest of the world begins to turn its back on the Roma once again.

Canada and the United States have both recently begun to take steps to deny entry and to deport Roma within their borders. Canada claims that the Roma who came to Canada to seek refuge from Hungarian pogroms no longer deserve to stay within Canada as refugees. In doing this the Canadians must first ignore the rise of violence against Roma communities throughout Eastern Europe, let alone within Hungary itself. Secondly the Canadian government will have to ignore the fact that the Hungarian government may not be willing to allow the Roma back into Hungary.

We are watching as the most abused and neglected people within Europe are once again facing ethnic cleansing. Pogroms have already begun to take shape in Hungary and the Czech Republic. These violent flash mobs are part of daily life for Roma within Romania, Bulgaria, and other Balkan states. Now we have the other hallmark of ethnic cleansing... deportations.

France has been the leader in this deplorable act of fascism. In France today the police wear jackboots and even strap on red armbands. The "democracy" of France no longer recognizes the civil liberties they claim to uphold as they now pick who has the right to live free and who must leave or die.

The bulldozing of camps, burning of caravans, and beatings of Roma citizens can not be overlooked. The bastions of freedom can not be allowed to operate in a manner that mirrors the crimes of their Nazi past. And with that I know I may be pushing the envelope with some...

But was it not the brown shirts in Washington who lobbied for our government to set on the sidelines while Hitler put Roma in the first concentration camps? Was it not the Vichy regime who helped the SS gather up France's Roma for the first Porajmos? And was it not Germany that gave us the horrors of the Holocaust in the first place?

All these governments have had their failures when it comes to the Roma. Now they are slipping into the darkness of their past failures once again. Over the past decade alone we have become apathetic when dealing with the right wing and their anti-Romani demands. We have watched as groups like Jobbik in Hungary have grown out of control. We have remained silent while French president after president has wrongfully deported French citizens....

Again, for those of you who disagree with me.... France's dragnet approach at rounding up Romani who have illegally immigrated to France has been used to deport Roma who have lived and were born in France. It was an inevitable consequence of actions that originated in the radical right wing of France's government. And it continues even as a left wing socialist rules as president.

None the less the West is setting up all the right conditions for another genocide of the Romani people. When we allow people to be loaded up on planes (or cattle cars) and be sent away we condone the first part of ethnic cleansing. When we allow politicians or political parties (Jobbik for example) to publicly push for violence in any manner against a group of people we condone the final solution.

This post isn't meant to blindly accuse any one government. It is meant to blame all the Western world of once again failing to uphold our pledge of "NEVER AGAIN". It is time to wake up. It is time to uphold the rights of all mankind; regardless of their ethnicity, religion, or livelihoods. It is time to start working to set right all the areas of civil rights in which our parents generation and their parents generation failed.

The Porajmos