Willful Ignorance

Turning A Blind Eye To Religious Savagery
(part of the PLUCK series)

(Joseph Goebbels and Wilhelm Frick with Catholic clergy)

There are few things that modern society leaves off-limits when it comes to polite conversation. For the most part, however, religion happens to be one of those last topics for debate that we tend to shy away from. It is, for lack of a better analogy, the sacred cow even when it comes to human rights. We are supposed to accept that religion is a sensitive subject and that all of mankind is entitled to their own views on it. As a society we tend to even take this view to the most obscene stance so as to ignore religion when it is the root of some of the worst atrocities in history. Thus allowing ourselves the opportunity to overlook it's ongoing role in such crimes as genocide.

It is no secret that some of the worst genocides in history were driven by the hatred that organized religion can be used to manufacture within a society. The Ottoman Turks capitulated to the aggressive abuse of Islam under The Young Turks during the genocides of the Greeks, Assyrians, and Armenians. 60 million Germans permitted their government to hijack their churches during the Nazi's genocidal effort to annihilate Judaism across Europe. And yet we as a society still tiptoe around the issue of religious fervor when it comes to genocide?

Was it not Christianity that was abused when the Europeans set out to make the Native Americans "civilized"? And yet we still celebrate the colonization of America under the justification of religious zealotry (example: Columbus Day)?

If ever we are to make any ground in combating genocide then we must first recognize one of the roots from which it has historically arose. And that is the willingness of the pious to turn a blind eye to the dramatic misuse of their faith in attempts to destroy members of another race, religion, or ethnicity.

Mixing Islam And Nationalism

"Turkey belongs only to the Turks."
~ Talat Pasha

For almost 100 years the "best and brightest" minds have tried to explain the rise of the Young Turks in the Ottoman Empire by linking their violence to blind patriotism. While the explanation of radical nationalism may be accurate to an extent, it is woefully inadequate to explain how the Young Turks targeted their victims. The very core of their battle cry, that of an Islamic state, points not toward a secular version of nationalism but rather religious pandering for political gain.

The main area in which the Young Turk's "revolution" promoted religious bigotry was the it's insistence upon the implementing of "Ottomanism" across Turkey. This process readily classified members of society into "millets", or classes based upon religion and race. The process also, though argued to create unity and equality, allowed a for radical leaders within the Young Turks to selfishly promote their given religion as superior. Therefore, Ottomanism permitted the three Pashas the power to lift Islam above all other religions and create the possibility to force out other faiths from the Ottoman Empire and all it's territories.

Many Muslims did oppose Ottomanism. But by the time they dared to make their voices heard it was already too late. The Young Turks had been given power by pandering to the religious and nationalistic fervor that they themselves helped to cultivate. In areas the Young Turks didn't have popular support they manufactured it with propaganda. And when that didn't work... muscle always did.


Where Ottomanism, in it's original political packaging, had be presented to promote equality amongst Muslims and non-Muslims alike the implementing of it was drastically different. Young Turk members readily gave into corruption from their own making and from social influences. Their treatment of the non-Muslims across the empire never seemed to truly reflect the ideas they promoted in Istanbul. And for the non-Muslims across the empire, the changing of power in Istanbul often appeared to be the swapping of one evil for another. The lives of these less fortunate subjects of the Ottomans never really changed... or at least until the Pashas' next stage of "Turkification".

By 1914 the Three Pashas had found their opportunity to begin what would later go on to be named genocide. In their time these acts were labeled as massacres, pogroms, deportations, and often just called "unfortunate consequences of war". When the Pashas ordered the outright slaughter of Assyrians and Greeks the Muslim populace of Turkey appeared to accept the culling of Turkey's population based upon religion. When the Turkish military was presented with the opportunity to punish Muslim citizens for looting and killing of Assyrians and Greeks the government readily looked the other way. For the Pashas it was their way of declaring it legal for "true Turks" to reclaim Turkey.

In 1915 Talat Pasha got his chance to go after the Armenians as well. The man who would become known to many as "the Turkish Hitler" readily began deportations of Armenians. During this drastic abuse of even the most basic of human rights, Talat Pasha rewarded Muslims with stolen Armenian goods and land. Talat went as far as to permit his military, along with local Muslim volunteers, the "right" to rape, pillage, and kill Armenians as the Ottoman Empire carried out the deportations. Rape camps and sexual slavery became a common way for the Turks to suppress Armenian society and target the women within it. Thus giving Talat his end goal of destroying Armenian culture by removing half it's population with rape and killing the other half outright.

Throughout the Armenian Genocide, as well as during the Greek and Assyrian genocides, the Pashas made a point of labeling the targeted communities as "indigenous Christians". Their goal of distinguishing between Muslims and Christians was a clear attempt at classification, the first stage of genocide, through which they could isolate the targeted victims. When this was accomplished the Young Turks went to the third stage of genocide (dehumanization) by characterizing Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians as traitors to the Ottoman Empire. In carrying out these two stages of genocide the Young Turks were able to mobilize an entire nation behind religious and nationalistic motives for the ultimate goal of annihilating the victims.

Had the world responded to the use of religion and nationalism to commit such horrific crimes it is plausible that Germany would have been more hesitant to recreate the Pashas' crimes on an even larger scale.

Industrialized Murder And The Church

“What we have to fight for…is the freedom and independence of the
fatherland, so that our people may be enabled to fulfill the mission
assigned to it by the Creator.”

~ Adolf Hitler, 'Mein Kampf'

The connection between the church, both the Protestant and Catholic, and the Nazi party in Germany is one that was at times rocky... to say the least. Yet the willingness on behalf of Germany's Christians to accept the antisemitism within Hitler's message cannot be ignored. Like the Turkish Muslims, the Christians in Europe were sold a message that lifted them above an enemy they were far too willing to accept. Though there was no real reason to hate their Jewish neighbors, the Christians of Germany collectively can be seen as giving into social pressure to do just that. It became far too easy for the church in Europe to accept the hatred of a few over the love they claimed to have for the many.

One of the main reasons given for the acceptance of the Nazi's politically backed persecution of Europe's Jews is that of well ingrained antisemitism in Europe at the time. Christians in Europe had been raised with interpretations of the Bible that depicted the Jews as the "killers of Christ". Their hatred was further spurned on by the continual preaching that came from Europe's pulpits. When the Great Depression spread across the globe it was the Jewish population that was demonized for causing it. And the church, or a large portion of it, was far too willing to preach this exact message from their position of religious authority.

"The Church has realized that anything and everything can be
built up on a document of that sort, no matter how contradictory or
irreconcilable with it. The faithful will swallow it whole, so long
as logical reasoning is never allowed to be brought to bear on it."

~ Adolf Hitler

In 1920 the Nazi Party's platform reflected this antisemitism as it promised Germany that it; "upholds the point of view of a positive Christianity without tying itself confessionally to any one confession. It combats the Jewish-materialistic spirit..." This pandering to an antisemitic culture already well established allowed for the Nazis to get the "faithful" to swallow what Hitler had in store for Germany next.

When Hitler started the Holocaust with the euthanizing of "socially undesirables" and the "non-productive elements" of German society it was the Church's first chance to speak up. Yet the German people accepted that the mentally handicapped, the antisocial, and the repeat criminals were a "burden upon the state". This was once again also presented to the Church in the Nazi's 1920 platform when the Nazis stated, "a permanent recovery of our people can only be achieved from within on the basis of the common good before individual good." It was a decree that gave the state the authority to decide who lived and who died. Yet the Church was willing to "swallow it whole".


Some have depicted this willingness by the Church to appease Hitler's genocidal ambitions as a mere survival method. And it is true that this strategy of following closely behind party ideology did permit the German Church the ability to survive in a state that officially did not recognize any given faith. By cooperating with the Nazis the Church was able to keep it's infrastructure largely intact throughout Nazi rule. Yet the goal of appeasement cannot be written off by merely depicting it as a survival strategy alone.

During Hitler's rule of Germany there were large chunks of the Evangelical Christians who willingly set out to achieve the Nazi goal of creating a "Judenrein" Europe. The Deutsche Christen movement within the Evangelical Church went as far as to push for the "nazification" of the Church itself. Their willingness to cooperate in Hitler's "final solution" to the "Jewish question" could be seen in their willingness to fight for the Nazi ideology itself. Many of these radicalized Christians went as far as to rat out other Christians who dared to stand up against the Nazi party (even those who just tried to be pacifist).

“I believe today that I am acting in the sense of the Almighty
Creator. By warding off the Jews I am fighting for the Lord’s work.”

~ Adolf Hitler, Speaking at the Reichstag in 1936

This willingness on the part of the Church to help fuel Hitler's industrialized slaughter of Europe's Jews, Romani, homosexuals, and other socially undesirables can also be seen in areas like Croatia.

On the 10th of April, 1941 the Ustase proclaimed Croatia to be an independent state with the protection of Nazi Germany. These radical supporters of a fascist state, one centered around Catholicism, had almost overnight made a lasting split with the rest of Yugoslavia. Their hatred for Serbs, Bosniaks, and Jews had given them a bond with Hitler's race based state. Yet it was that hatred for Judaism that proved to be the strongest bond between the Ustase and Adolf Hitler (also a Catholic).

During the Holocaust in Croatia the Germans were relieved that they would not have to commit troops to the Ustase cause. Instead the Croatian fascist, acting upon the common religion of their supporters, were able to rally an unbelievable amount of support for their genocidal ambitions. This led to the creation of some of the largest concentration camps in all of Europe, some of the largest death tolls in all of the Holocaust, and a lasting legacy of genocide in the Balkans. Croatia's genocidal efforts would leave wounds that would later create fertile ground for the Bosnian Genocide. And all of this was done through Croat loyalty to the religious hatred found in Nazi ideology.

Ironically, and rather tellingly, Adolf Hitler would go on to depict his devotion to the wholesale slaughter of entire races as something of a "commandment of God's will". In his book, Mein Kampf, Hitler made it clear that he believed God had dictated to the "Aryan" race (Germans in his mind) to kill off the Jews and create God's kingdom upon the earth. Of course this was heavily mixed with political philosophy and tainted ideology that was flaunted as "science". But it was clear from Hitler's own words that he believed his actions as leader of Germany were in line with his god's will.

"For God’s will gave men their form,
their essence and their abilities. Anyone who destroys His work is
declaring war on the Lord’s creation, the divine will.”

~ Adolf Hitler, in one of his more ironic quotes.

This embrace by the Church of the Nazi philosophy raises the question of whether or not Europe's church had already been on that path before Hitler or if Hitler had put it on that path when he arrived? It is clear that Hitler had gained much of his religious views from the Church in his upbringing. And it is clear that Hitler had used the teachings of the Church to formulate his genocidal ambitions. But it is up to the reader to decide if organized religion in Europe had been the source or just a pawn in the Nazis' crimes against all of humanity.

The Promised Land

 

“It would be my greatest sadness to see Zionists do to Palestinian Arabs much of what Nazis did to Jews.” 

~ Albert Einstein

And this, my friends, is where we fast forward to religion's role in the genocides of our time. 

In Israel there are many reasons to claim that the brutal repression of indigenous peoples for the political advancement of a religiously based state warrants the label of genocide. It is arguable that the creation of a Palestinian controlled territory (complete with walls to divide the areas) in and of itself could directly reflect the creation of the Warsaw Ghetto. It is arguable that the race based segregation that occurs within Israel (both legally and willfully by Israeli society itself) could directly reflect the race laws imposed by the Nazis. It is arguable that the exiling of Palestinians upon the creation of Israel itself could be directly reminiscent of the deportations of Jews from their homes in Nazi occupied Europe. Yet none of these are considered viable arguments due to the insulating layers that Israel's defenders have wrapped themselves in... the blood of my ancestors and the religion of my forefathers. 

I may not be a "good Jew". Hell, I may not be a very good anything. But like Albert Einstein, it is with great sorrow that I watch bigots and supporters of genocide use my faith, my heritage, and my ancestor's plight for their defense. 

The Christians who took part in the Holocaust killed their Christ six million times over when they committed themselves to their "holy deeds". I'll be damned if I would turn my faith over to the crucifying of another soul in that same perverted manner. 

Judaism, and those who truly follow it, cannot be permit such atrocities as those committed by those who would pursue land over the service to their fellow man. After all, wasn't that what our prophets (of all three faiths) were preaching all along? Or should we follow in the footsteps of the Turks, the Nazis, and the Church by picking the verses we want and applying them the way we see fit? 

But Israel is far from the only place we can find religion being used to either justify or encourage genocide today.

Religion Of Peace?

"Hatred does not cease through hatred at any time. Hatred ceases through love. This is an unalterable law.”

~Buddhist Quote

Myanmar is, and for the foreseeable future will remain, a Buddhist country. It has a long history of diversity and more races and cultures wrapped up under one flag than most it's neighbors. Yet the majority have one thing in common and that is their common faith. It is for this reason that the government has largely been composed of men and women who claim to be faithful practitioners of the Buddhist teachings. So with that being said, one is left to wonder just how Burma became one of the worst offenders of human rights in our time?

 

Religion has played a very vital role in Myanmar's development. Some of its largest monuments and national treasures focus around it's rich heritage of Buddhist beliefs. However, outside the heart of Myanmar, almost forming a ring around the country's edges, are cultures that have rich histories of Christianity, Islam, and indigenous beliefs. These cultures have often been excluded, persecuted, and even driven out of Burma by those who claim to practice the peaceful teachings of Buddha. And it is for this reason that religion so often plays a central role to the conflicts that plague Myanmar. 

The leaders of Myanmar (the old junta) have often rallied their support through force. This muscle has been made more tolerable by their willingness to mask their atrocities with the guise of protecting Burma's Buddhist heritage. When the government targets groups like the Rohingya they are often seen to be readily playing upon the image of fending off Islamic invaders. Through the use of religiously based, and heavily nationalistic, propaganda the state is able to offer some form of rationalization for it's atrocities.

As with all other genocides where religion has been used to support the murderous ambitions of the perpetrators, Burma's Buddhists hold much of the responsibility. Their faith is often used as a tool both for and against them. And in this case it is used to offer them a reason to support that which they have often feared their government could or would do to them. While there is room to claim they are doing what they are told or fearing what will happen if the don't, there is no justification for this cowardice (just as with Germany's Christians). 

When one's religion teaches them to value every life it should be clear that it also is teaching them to cherish those their government tries to depict as their enemy. The individual can not be permitted the right to hide behind their faith. The individual can not permitted to hide behind the fear of persecution for their faith. And the individual can not be permitted to tolerate the abuse of their faith. All of which is far too often offered as a defense for members of societies like that of Myanmar's. 

"The tongue like a sharp knife … Kills without drawing blood.”

~ Buddhist Quote 

In The Service Of Others

“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.”

~17th Dalai Lama 

As screamers, those who witness genocide and refuse to be silent, we also believe that when it comes to genocide it doesn't matter what your faith is. If you are to be in the service of those who have been made voiceless then you have to be willing to help all mankind. That means reaching beyond those within your own faith or a faith to which you feel some kindred spirit with. It means that you come alongside the downtrodden of this world and partner with them. It means that you make whatever sacrifice you have to to make sure that the less fortunate are, at the very least, given back their voice. 

Your words have more power than you might give them credit for. When you speak on behalf of those the world has turned it's back upon you are telling their story, their plight, and their hopes. It is a wonderful opportunity to experience the essence of what it means to be human. It is also an opportunity that should never be taken lightly. For it is you chance to put their lives ahead of your own. 

Religion, the spiritual life of man, is something that should be personal to each of us. It is a part of us that nobody else will ever experience in the way you do. It is a part of you that the world, no matter how hard it tries, should ever be allowed to take away. It's this part of you that we wish to appeal to. For we believe that faith, no matter which one you choose, teaches us to show compassion and love for those around us. So if you believe... believe that you have the power to make a change for the better in this dreary little world of ours. 

Recognize the power of your faith. 

Recognize the power of your voice. 

Scream.

Source Documents
(note: not all are listed)

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005206

Rutgers University
http://www.ncas.rutgers.edu/center-study-genocide-conflict-resolution-and-human-rights/genocide-ottoman-greeks-1914-1923
http://www.ncas.rutgers.edu/center-study-genocide-conflict-resolution-and-human-rights/assyrian-genocide-1914-1923-and-1933-pres

Raised By The System

Now It's Time To Rise Against Them
(The Darkness Visible series)

''They are nationalists, fascists. No one wants to hear it, but it's true."

~ Kyaw Kyaw, lead singer of Rebel Riot.

When nobody else will speak out against an apparent wrong there is always someone that will do something out of the ordinary. Crossing the lines that we in society draw between what we know is right and what we will actually do to stop evil, this individual is the misfit. They trample upon the status quo without regard for their own image. Standing up for what they know is right, this one person refuses to follow societies lead. In the West these people, the ones that rock the boat, are often referred to as punks.

In the 80's this rebellious spirit was harnessed by a musical movement that would give punks their fashion. Spikes, leather, studs, and chains all replaced the soft resistance to conformity that had followed the 60's and 70's. Like a fire, the spirit of the punk movement burnt away that which held us to a system that robbed us of everything that made us unique. For this desire to be free at last we turned to anarchy.

30 years later the punk is still alive within the hearts and minds of those who shrugged off the image of what society wanted them to be. Now new generations of punks replace those who came before them. The music, the fashion, the spirit is still fast, violent, and loud.

"All I can really say is, people should look at the teachings of Buddha and ask themselves, is this what he meant?"

~ Ye Ngwe Soe, lead singer of No U Turn

This spirit of anarchy can be seen in Burma amongst a brave few. These punks live under one of the most oppressive governments the world has to offer. Their society is as tightly wound as it can possibly be with police given almost complete impunity. The military still has every right to round up any citizen at any time and simply make people disappear. Yet the punk spirit rises out of Burma like a phoenix.

In a country where the national religion, Buddhism, is considered an integral part of national identity the willingness to speak out against Buddhist extremist is shocking. It is even more shocking to Burmese society when someone is willing to speak out against the most revered members of Burmese society... the monks. And that is exactly what the a handful of punk in Yangon have done.

Crossing the line between society's accepted norm and over into the realm of dissent the punks choose to speak out against the monks who have spread the 969 movement. This has put the punks of Burma in the same situation American punks faced during the 80's with a resurgence of American hate groups. Yet for Burma's punks it is a stand against the oppressor, an oppressor that they very recently knew all to well, it is a fight to the death with a system that embraces the hate group while rejecting them.

"No fear! No indecision! Rage against the system of the oppressors!"

~ Rebel Riot

The main issue the punk movement faces in Burma is that there are many more 969 supporters and very few "punks". Burma after all is a traditionalist society. It has a long history of rejecting new aspects of social behavior. Conformity is king in a society where fear was the law of the land. Those who act out, those who behave differently, are considered outsiders. All the while those who would divide society so as to conquer it are treated as idols.

Perhaps this is the aspect of Burma that the punk scene has highlighted most. In a country where religion is given the authority to segregate there can't really be freedom. In a country where hate is fed to the masses under the guise of love there will never really be unity. Chaos and anarchy aren't likely in the streets of a police state. But they will always reside in the hearts of disenfranchised youth as long as the government clings to the chains of previous oppressive regimes.

If leaders like Aung San Suu Kyi are going to promise the everything from democracy to the moon they will find it hard to maintain the repression that has long ruled Myanmar. They will not be able to keep the influences of the free world out of their children's headphones and off the computer screens of their students. Once the images and sounds of freedom leak into the minds of the youth they become fountainheads. The tide that flows forth from this cannot be held back. It is a catalyst in societies that refuses to surrender to the will of tyrants.

This desire... this, the most natural yearning of the human spirit... for liberty is alive in the hearts of the few punks in Yangon. It prompts them to speak out when no one else wants to. It is a fire that cannot be stifled by the threat of a jackboot's heel.

For 969 and the nationalist in Myanmar's government it is a threat. Just as with all oppressors, liberty is seen as anarchy. For the fascists freedom is perceived as chaos. Proof of this can be seen in how the regime in Myanmar has responded to the Rohingya support (both in Burma and around the world).

“I also use a laptop secretly, everybody uses a laptop secretly..."

~ Rohingya Activist in hiding.

In an effort to stop the flow of information out of concentration camps in the Arakan state the Burmese government during the last week of July raided countless camps. They weren't looking for papers or letters. They weren't looking for particular individuals per say. These stormtroopers were after the new age version of Anne Frank's diary... laptops and smart phones. Like the SS looking to seal off the ghettos in Poland, Burma's military set out to confiscate electronic communications that could possibly reach foreigners. 

This practice fits Burma's old junta style government well. In the past the Burmese military had pushed refugees right out to the border only stopping when foreigners could see their soldiers' atrocious behavior. The confiscating of computers and laptops shows the desire to keep the outside eyes from seeing what is going on inside camps that the UN called "inhumane". It shows a desire on the part of Burma to silence the already voiceless Rohingya people. And even more sinisterly it shows a government prepping camps for liquidation. 

This is the government and it's actions that the punks of Yangon so boldly spoke out against. Though just two years ago they would had all been rounded up and taken to prison without question, they spoke out anyway. Even though nobody really knows where the line between the old regime's censorship and the new regimes patience is really drawn, they spoke out anyway. They spoke out against the savaging of Rohingya women and children by Myanmar's military. They spoke out against the pogrom of Rohingya villages in the name of Buddhism. They spoke out because no one else would. 

In a world where nobody is willing stand up to jackbooted thugs it is at very least reassuring to know that a handful of punks will. 

Want to learn more about the Rohingya and their plight at the hands of Burmese nationalist?

Follow us on Twitter: @Alders_Ledge

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Source Documents
(Note: Not all sources listed)

Bangkok Post
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/363116/punk-rockers-break-myanmar-silence-on-religious-attacks

Post Bulletin
http://www.postbulletin.com/entertainment/music/punks-break-myanmar-s-silence-on-religious-attacks/article_8a71a907-1fd3-514f-a33b-cdce950b0969.html

SBS News
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1793794/Punk-is-alive-and-well-in-Myanmar

Irrawaddy
http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/40864

Beneath The Black Flag

Myanmar's Military Not Prepared To Give Up The Fight
(The Darkness Visible series)

(Image via Irrawaddy News, June 2013)

When the Shan people practice drills to defend their homeland against the aggressive Burmese military they practice with wooden rifles. In a war for survival the only bullets the Shan are able to obtain are saved for the Myanmar soldiers who stalk the Shan forests. In many cases the Shan people hug the border in hopes that the pugnacious Burmese military will avoid conducting their attacks in view of the outside world. In a war for survival the Shan civilians are left with only a remnant of their homeland upon which to live.

This is the "war on drugs" in the far north of Myanmar. Utilizing cheap excuses that will buy themselves favor in the West, Myanmar's generals commit ethnic cleansing against the Shan people. There has been no real effort on the part of Burma's government to actually end the transportation and growing of opium. Instead the excuse is simply kept alive so as to give the Burmese military a reason to maintain their genocidal campaign against the Shan people. This is a war fought beneath the black flag... no surrender, no ceasefire, no peace. 

Where ever the boots of Burmese soldiers go in regions populated by ethnic minorities they raise this black flag. Taking what they want from the ethnic states before burning what they can't carry off as plunder. Villages that are razed are turned into "black zones" as the Burmese military plants landmines around their victims' homes. There is no right to return to normality for those who are unfortunate enough to live in the path of this cannibalistic military. These victims are turned into fodder for future exhibitions by Burma's legions. 

Life Within The "Black Zones"

(Image via Irrawaddy News, April 3 2013)

In World War One there was the "no-man's land". A long stretch of scorched earth that separated hostile enemies. Over the years of conflict this stretch of land became filled with craters from artillery and barbed wire, both meant to slow advancing troops. It was on either side of this wire and blackened ground that the opposing forces dug their way into deep (and complex) trenches. From these hellish gashes in the earth the two sides launched failed attack after failed attack. And yet the war dragged on and on. With each side "going over the top" and out into no-man's land only to die. 

For the ethnic minorities in eastern and northern Burma there is little land that they could dub "no-man's land". However there are plenty of places that are openly refereed to as "black zones". For the ethnic minorities these were once places that they had called home. Kachin villages, Karen homes, and Shan fields... all planted with landmines. This tactic is meant to keep the targeted ethnic group on the run. It keeps those from the village and any refugees within it from returning. And at the same time prevents migration of minorities back into lands claimed by the invading Burmese forces. 

In a world that claims to be for the downtrodden and the underdog we once again see the failure of the world community in securing the right to return for internally displaced peoples living on the edges of these black zones. Despite murmuring by NGOs and UN secretaries, the Burmese military continues to actively lay new mine fields. These anti-personnel mines create the tragic images like that listed above. Yet all the world can afford these victims is lip service? 

For those trapped in the black zones there is little hope for life or liberty. When trapped behind these lines the civilians in the Kachin and Shan state are hunted like animals by ever diligent barbarians (Burma's Army). They face coordinated assaults that often involve aerial bombardment or artillery strikes just before the machine gunners lay siege to villages and camps. Advancing Burmese soldiers then sweep the village in hopes of finding only women and children. Those caught in the dragnet are systematically tortured then slaughtered. Anything that can walk or ever hold a weapon is killed. For those trapped in the black zones every day is a struggle to survive. 

Yet like Mr. Rogers once said, "look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." 

Traveling into the areas that appear to be kill zones, the Free Burma Rangers put their lives at risk when they infiltrate enemy lines. Once in the black zones the Free Burma Rangers are open to reprisals and ambush by an enemy that is determined to cleanse the state of "inferior" ethnic groups. And yet these brave souls cross over the land of the damned to bring the innocent to safety. Standing in the gap between the beast and it's prey the Free Burma Rangers document the atrocities and save those left behind.

In stories that echo those of the American Underground Railroad, the Free Burma Rangers lead refugees out of areas that appear to be next in line for the Burmese army. In other trips the Free Burma Rangers bring food, water, and medicine to the IDP camps nearest to Burmese military activity. It is in these trips that the Free Burma Rangers provide aid and training to the refugees that have been victimized by Burma's brutal campaign of genocide. 

This is the little glimmer of hope in a land blackened by a military far from willing to lower it's black flag. 

The Penis As A Weapon Of Genocide

(Image via Burma Campaign UK)

What is the one thing every Burmese soldier carries into the field that doesn't need replaced or reloaded in order to ruin lives? 

Rape has long been a trademark of war. It has plagued the fairer sex every since the first testosterone fueled army took to the field. Yet for all our time affiliated with such sins, for all the time that we have spent fighting against it, this crime has only increased in as our hatred for one-another has grown. It allows the savage an opportunity to dehumanize their victim. It offers the soldier an outlet for the rage that their master has put in place. And yet there is no justification one can present for this horrific act of violence. 

In Burma the use of rape as a weapon of war and genocide has been prolific, to say the least. Myanmar's military leaders readily look the other way as their minions utilize this most perverse weapon to implement Burma's campaign of "Burmanization". Thus utilizing one perverse weapon to bring about a perverse ideology. 

Like the Turks of the Ottoman Empire, Burma's soldiers are given free reign when entering an ethnic minority's village. Men who flee into the forest to evade slave labor therefore risk leaving their wives and daughters open to rape and mutilation. Any woman who attempts to flee makes themselves an almost certain target for rape and torture. Once the Burmese soldiers enter the village they become the law... their words, their actions, their crimes... this is the reality of what "Burmanization" means to those it most directly affects. 

In the Kachin this method has been used both to demoralize the targeted population and in an attempt to destroy the families within the victimized community. Raiding IDP camps, the Burmese rape women in front of their husbands and children so as to make the violence blatantly clear to the Kachin community. In the black zones of the Kachin State the Burmese army uses rape to motivate women to stay away from the claimed territories. 

For the Rohingya of the Arakan State the uses of rape is specifically utilized by Nasaka and Burmese military members in an attempt to isolate Rohingya women. Rohingya girls are known to be rounded up and taken to Burmese military installations where soldiers use the girls as sex slaves. This is used as a way to permanently scar the Rohingya girls both mentally and physically. On the Burmese side it permits the soldiers a rather perverted moral boost that can keep soldiers motivated and in the field longer. 

In the end the use of rape as a weapon of genocide is viewed through the perverts' eyes as way to "pollute the blood" of the targeted community. It doesn't matter that the children that are bore out of this violence will be viewed with just as much contempt as their victimized mothers. It doesn't matter that Burma will never accept responsibility for their soldiers' actions. In the eyes of the perverted architects of these genocides, the weapon's damage is justified due to it's effectiveness in destroying cultures, communities, and the very fabric of the minorities' societies. The only desire and rationalization for this horrific act is that of destruction. 

For the victims these weapons of genocide... this black flag... will forever be lifted above their heads. As long as the perpetrators of these crimes are allowed the impunity currently given to them by both the West and Burma alike, there will be no peace. There can be no surrender, no ceasefire, nor any hope as long as criminals are allowed to walk away from the fight unmolested. 

Cutting Down The Black Flag

We here at Alder's Ledge don't claim to have all the answers. Post like this one are not meant to offer a clear path to the end of this wretched darkness. They are only meant to shine a light on the darkness so as to make it visible for all to see. We don't want to tell you what to think, we just want to make you start thinking... thinking critically... questioning why. 

With your help, your voice, we can continue to shine a light upon this darkness that has for far too long masked the ethnic minorities of Myanmar. With your help we can show the world what they have been so willing to ignore. Forcing those in a position to end these things, dragging the fight back to those who tolerate this evil, we can create a noise that the world cannot tune out. A scream, if you will...

We need you to scream with us. The victims of these genocidal campaigns need you to scream for them. Their voices have been silenced for decades. The voice of their ancestors has been muted by the heels of oppressive tyrants. The voice of their children is threatened by our silence. 

This isn't an activist blog... this is the front line for those who cannot travel to the fields and forests of Burma. It is here that we stand against the complicity of our own governments. It is from this ledge that we bring our voices to the forefront of our own portion of this blackened world. It is with our voice that we do our best to wage a war, if all be it a war of words, against those who would kill in the name of G-d, country, race, or greed. 

Help us. 

Scream.

What to learn more about this issue and others covered by Alder's Ledge? 

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Source Documents 

(note not all sources are listed)

Irrawaddy News

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/38596 - June 26, 2013

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/31344 - April 3, 2013

One Million Bones 

http://www.onemillionbones.org/burma/

Free Burma Rangers

http://www.freeburmarangers.org/

Burma Campaign UK

http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php/burma/campaigns/crimes-against-humanity/142/132

Kachinland News

http://kachinlandnews.com/?p=21797

http://kachinlandnews.com/?p=21125

http://kachinlandnews.com/?p=21164

Nuremberg Revisited

It's 1935 All Over Again In Myanmar
(The Darkness Visible series)

(Burmese Government Encouraging Fascist Lean Amongst Arakan Buddhists)

Myanmar's radicalized Buddhists movement 969 appears to be out of step with Nazi Germany as it jumps around in its systematic plan to eradicate Burma of Rohingya Muslims. What had begun decades ago is now amplified as the 969 movement falls back in line with its rabid leader Wirathu. Where they had instigated liquidations of Rohingya villages they now seek to enact laws that are remarkably similar to Hitler's Nuremberg Laws. So even though the hate group in Burma is out of order in its genocidal efforts, they aren't letting a single step that Hitler took pass them by. 

People in the West will have read that first paragraph and have become offended by the comparison to Nazi Germany with that of a "newly democratic" Myanmar. Let alone the direct comparison of a "democratic" society's laws to that of Hitler's Nuremberg race laws. So if you're still with us, lets take a look at just why and how Burma is revisiting the 1935 Nuremberg Laws. 

 Prevention of Rassenschande

 

"The Laws For The Protection Of German Blood And German Honour

Section 2: Extramarital sexual intercourse between Jews and citizens of the German state or related blood are forbidden."

In Nazi controlled Europe the act of procreation was strictly legislated so as to prevent the "racial defilement", or "rassenschande" (defilement of blood), of the mythical Aryan race. This meant that Jewish individuals were restricted in who they could marry, who they could have sex with, and how many children they could have and with whom they would be created with. Any child that was created out of sexual relations between a non-Jew and a Jewish individual was considered to be "mischling" or a "half-breed". These "half-breed" offspring were thus considered Jewish by default in the eyes of the Nazi law.

For Rohingya in Burma there have long been laws restricting who they could marry, when they could marry, and if they are allowed to marry at all. These laws are then intertwined with other laws that have long regulated the number of children Rohingya families are allowed to have. These offspring are then supposed to be registered with the state so that the children can be tracked and monitored. Any Rohingya child created out of such incidents as rape (a common crime committed by Rakhine and Burmese soldiers) is then considered Rohingya by default in the eyes of Burmese law.

Population Control

On June 10th, 2013 in a discussion with Reuters the Minister of Immigration and Population in Myanmar told the world that he backs a two child law targeting the Rohingya. This was the first of Myanmar's new Nuremberg Laws to be introduced to the West. For the outside world it was shocking that a minister like Khin Yi would back such a racially provocative law as this one. Yet across the board the leaders of Myanmar's government have unanimously supported the two child limit for Rohingya families in Burma. 

This law, fully supported by the more vocal elements of 969, is targeted not only at reducing the number of Rohingya through attrition but is aimed at impoverishing Rohingya even further. With a lack of children to help in daily activities in areas where agriculture still remains the backbone of society, Rohingya are left at a severe disadvantage. Though not practiced as much in the West, children in Burma are put to work to support the family and help grow and harvest the families food supplies. Without the extra hands the food supply diminishes and any extra jobs that can't be completed go undone. Thus showing the intent of this law to both prevent the birth of another generation of Rohingya but to also deprive the currently living of food and security. 

Mixed Faith Marriages Banned

"The Law For The Preservation Of German Blood And German Honour

Section 1: Marriages between Jews and citizens of German or kindred blood are forbidden. Marriages concluded in defiance of this law are void, even if, for the purpose of evading this law, they were concluded abroad."

Nazi Germany had already taken away the citizenship of German Jews prior to the Nuremberg Laws. This meant that marriage between Jews and non-Jews was already hard to achieve in a country where state sponsored discrimination was law. Yet in September of 1935 Hitler's party of devout fascist still saw the need to make the act of marriage between Jews and "Germans" officially illegal. Thus came the ban and annulment of any existing interfaith marriages in Nazi occupied Europe. 

For the Rohingya the threat of a law forbidding the marriage of Buddhists to Muslims now lingers as radicalized Buddhists monks draft a new law stating exactly that. Such a law would leave Rohingya women and girls even more vulnerable as the government still practices a strategy of removing men from Rohingya villages randomly. If mass executions of Rohingya men takes place, for any reason, the women and girls left in the targeted village would be abandoned and vulnerable. Without the ability to seek out support from Buddhists neighbors or other Rohingya villages, these women and girls would be ready targets for rape and exploitation. 

The possibility for rape, and organized mass rape, are very real threats for Rohingya women left vulnerable due to the deliberate actions of Burmese military and police. It has been a long standing practice for boy and men to be called upon for slave labor operations by the Burmese military. Then when rape occurs the victimized woman or women are blamed for the crime and the perpetrators are either let go or even at times rewarded. 

It can only be speculated as to why these 200 monks want this law to be passed. One can argue that they are simply trying to stem an imaginary tide of Buddhists leaving Buddha for All-h. Or perhaps they don't want their Buddhists girls being forced into marriage to Muslim men (once again, imagined threat). Yet the most likely reason is that these 200 monks have been listening to the preaching of 969 organizer and leader, Wirathu. 

Expulsion From Politics 

April 7th, 1933 

The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service

 All Jews Banned From Government Office

Nuremberg made it official yet two years prior the Jewish population of Germany had been banned from holding public office in any German governmental agency. Almost immediately the "Jewishness" of dissenting German politicians came into question. Anyone who dared speak out against the actions of the Nazi party ran the risk of being framed as a "Jude". Thus removing them from the political landscape of Hitler's Europe. 

March 2013

The Union Election Committee orders that Democracy and Human Rights Party expel six of it's members that had listed themselves as Rohingya. The example is established for all other parties in Myanmar. The government makes it clear that if a party is going to allow Rohingya they must list their ethnicity as anything other than Rohingya. This move by the Union Election Committee however only restated the long held legal precedent that allows parties to bar Rohingya from holding office within Burma's government. 

Every since Myanmar became a nation it has banned Rohingya from participating in governmental affairs. Rohingya are not permitted the right to self-determination and are subject to laws created for them (and often about them). Since their collective voice is barred from the "democratic" system they are therefore kept outside the realm of what it means to be a modern day Burmese citizen. 

Stateless 

Nazi Germany's July 14th, 1933
 Denaturalization Law

All of Germany's Jews were officially stripped of their citizenship during the infamous Nuremberg rally. However all Jews in Germany had been denied their citizenship two years prior when Germany passed the Denaturalization Law. This revoked citizenship of any Jewish individual who had recently immigrated to Germany and denounced the citizenship of Jews who had been born and lived in Germany for generations. It was one of Hitler's earliest victories in attacking the entire Jewish population of Germany all at once.

Officially Rohingya are not citizens of Burma. The government of Myanmar has never recognized the Rohingya as a given ethnic group and therefore often denies that Rohingya even exist. This policy of denial has led to and upheld the policy of forcing Rohingya to denounce their own ethnicity and register as "Bengali immigrants". This permits Myanmar's government the opportunity to ethnically cleanse their country of Rohingya by simply renaming the Rohingya as "Bengali". It also allows for Burma to deny citizenship rights and a clear nationality to the Rohingya by adding the term "immigrant" to the Rohingya.

The process of "denaturalization" may be convoluted in Burma, yet it is happening at an alarming rate. With increasing ferocity, and savagery, the Myanmar government is pushing Rohingya to sign away their heritage. Those who refuse to sign away their names are subjected to beatings, torture, and imprisonment.

In affect, the very act of forcing signatures is ethnic cleansing.

Bringing Burma To It's Own Nuremberg

On November 20th of 1945 the Nazis were dragged back to Nuremberg. Many of the worst of the Nazi leaders would commit suicide before being dragged out before the world at Nuremberg this time around. They knew rather well what they had done. They knew all to well what had come from the laws they had passed on that same spot ten years before. But for those who did face their trial there, this was not the Nuremberg they had left in 1935.

If the United Nations and world as a whole is to seek justice both during and after acts of genocide are committed then we must learn from Nuremberg. We must learn from both 1935 and 1945 Nuremberg. We cannot pick and choose the lessons that history is trying to teach us. The laws that came out of 1935 led us to the trials of 1945. Therefore we must learn from the mistakes of that rally and apply them ever increasingly harshly to the trials we face today.

Burma must be brought to its own Nuremberg. It must be forced to face the sins that have been committed in it's name. The world community must challenge the actions that still come out of Myanmar's hate. We cannot overlook the laws that Myanmar is passing. We cannot overlook the actions that arise from these state sponsored dictations of discrimination. If even a single word hints at the intent to violate the human rights of any minority group in Burma, we must apply the same wrath we showed Germany's criminals.

We must always keep in mind that history does not relent in it's attempts to teach us from our own mistakes. If we fail to learn from Germany, if we fail to learn from Myanmar... we will face these same crimes, these same sins, over and over again.

"So grotesque and preposterous are the principle characters in this galaxy of clowns and crooks that none but a thrice double ass could have taken them for rulers."
~ Officer in the Allied Control Commission, Nuremberg Trials 1945

Source Documents 

(note: not all sources listed)

Irrawaddy

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/37391

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/37063

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007901

Restless Beings 

http://www.restlessbeings.org/projects/rohingya/concentration-camps-and-systematic-rape-rohingya-under-persecution

Democratic Voice of Burma 

http://www.dvb.no/news/burma-expels-rohingya-members-from-political-party/28296

Less Than Admirable, Ashin Wirathu

The Joseph Goebbels of Myanmar
(The Darkness Visible series)

(Note He Opted To Be Photographed Looking Down Upon His Audience)

Joseph Goebbels portrayed my ancestors as rats in his infamous propagandist films. His news reels showed Jews as animals or portrayed us as a plague. This allowed Goebbels to make the quick leap from a disease to the supposed cure. That was why we were the rats, so that he could show Europe it was acceptable to exterminate us. Such is the power of repetitive and persistent propaganda. Through a position of power and influence the insanity of a few can become the reality of many.

The "venerable", or maniacal, Wirathu has become to the 969 movement in Myanmar what Goebbels was to the Nazis. Much like the Nazis in Europe, 969 under the guidance of Wirathu has forced boycotts of Muslim shops and merchants along with an unofficial (yet forced) ban upon intermarriage between Buddhists and Muslims. Wirathu has followed in Goebbels footsteps by portraying the Rohingya Muslims as an ethnic group that is growing out of control and supposedly overpopulating the Arakan region of Burma. At times Wirathu has made the same parallels as Goebbels did when talking about the Rohingya.

"As far as Muslims go, a snake is a snake. Snakes are dangerous, so we shouldn't let them be," Wirathu- As Reported in The Australian

The desire to dehumanize the Muslim population of Myanmar falls in line with the perceived need to rid the country of them. It allows members of 969 and its supporters to accept the neglect and ill-treatment of their Rohingya neighbors without a second thought about it. Through this filter the Rohingya can be seen as an enemy regardless of the shared history the Rakhine and Rohingya have had for generations. It also permits and suggest that Rohingya should be killed if they cannot be dominated by other social and political means. This is why Wirathu calls them snakes when talking to the Western media. 

Goebbels knew that the first step toward the Nazi "final solution" was dehumanization. The Hutu militias knew that the constant use of words such as "cockroaches" would wear at the moderates' collective conscience. It is a part of genocide. It is a requirement if the attacking force wants to engage and the rest of society and justify their crimes. 

In Myanmar Wirathu has long passed this stage. In 2003 Wirathu directly instigated riots that led to the reported deaths of 10 innocent Muslims. It was due to this tendency to incite violence that the old junta had Wirathu thrown in prison in the first place. Yet under the supposed democratic reformist Thein Sein the nationalist hero Wirathu was suddenly released. 

(Desperate to save his shop, owner scribbled 969 on shop door during Lashio attacks.)

Where Goebbels saw himself as the match that would ignite the inferno, Wirathu sees himself as the fire itself. In attacks such as that in Meiktila, Wirathu's 969 stormtroopers were at the front lines of the fight his words sparked. Leading his troops into battle through word alone, Wirathu is able to throw the weight of the Buddhists monks well organized battalions out onto the battlefield. Instead of leading his fellow radicals to the conclusion through imagery, Wirathu instructs them on how and where to attack. 

This difference has led Wirathu to shift his "economic nationalist" movement from boycotts to bombs. Laying waste to Muslim villages and shops, the 969 savages show no mercy to their victims. This is the intended product of Wirathu's teachings. Through a relentless indoctrination of radical nationalism in place of traditional Buddhist teachings, Wirathu is able to set fire to the pillars of Burmese society.

(Mosque Burnt By 969 Fascist In Lashio, Burma)

So how does Wirathu see himself? 

"Do you know the English Defense League? We would like to be like the EDL. Not carrying out violence, but protecting the public," Wirathu -  As Reported in The Daily Mail

The English Defense League is a radical right-wing group that claims to protest the spread of Islam and "Sharia Law" in the United Kingdom. Though they claim to be a peaceful organization that only uses their civil liberties to express concerns over the imagined imposition of Islam upon the West their actions prove otherwise (example as shown here). The group itself leans toward fascism and openly promotes the desire for an "ethnically pure" UK. Yet despite the racial aspect of the EDL this is who the radical nationalist in Burma model themselves after.

Perhaps it is just the "common enemy" that draws Wirathu to the EDL. Maybe he doesn't realize with any real level of certainty that the all white crowd which the EDL is comprised of wouldn't accept Buddhism any more than they do Islam. No matter how pale skinned Wirathu may consider himself, the English Defense League is just as bitter as he is. 

But that is beside the point I'm trying to make here... 

When it comes to his view of what 969 is all about and why they exist in Burma, Wirathu sees his cause as being just as far removed from peace as that which drives the EDL. When it comes to the peaceful teachings of Buddhism this monk has drawn a blind eye. No matter how Buddha might have seen the Rohingya, Wirathu sees them as less than human... less than even the insects or snakes themselves. It is a blind hatred for a perceived enemy that links the EDL to the 969 movement. And it is due to this blind hatred that no compromise can be reached. 

How can you bridge the gap between love and hate? Is it in that space between that we call tolerance? 

If Burma is to take the next step toward democracy, true democracy, the government will have to find a path forward that does not include hate groups such 969. Radicals like Wirathu must be isolated and cut off from the mainstream. Their propaganda must be thrown out and their "economic nationalism" rejected at face value. For if Burma is to accept even a portion of what Wirathu preaches then there is no hope for a true democratic movement within Myanmar's government let alone it's society at large. 

When the seeds of hatred are allowed room to grow the society that tolerated the weed as a seedling cannot be spared it's fruit when it matures. There will be consequences for the crimes that have taken place in Burma. If not through Myanmar's own actions then the world community at large must accept responsibility. Sanctions upon the regime must be a looming threat and the UN's court system must be prepared to prosecute the perpetrators. If we fail here... if the crime is forgiven... then the cycle of this crime will continue. Either way, there will be consequences... we just have to ask ourselves how bad we want them to be.

Source Documents
(not all sources listed)

The Australian
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/man-of-peace-venerable-wirathu-approves-violence-to-rohingyas/story-fnb64oi6-1226654775865

Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/05/31/deep-seated-prejudice-radical-buddhist-monks-fuel-violence-against-myanmar/

Daily Mail UK
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2333858/Right-wing-Buddhist-leading-campaign-force-Muslims-Burma-says-wants-group-like-English-Defence-League.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
-
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1259409/Police-attack-right-wing-group-anti-fascists-clash-violent-street-protests.html

Aljazeera
http://www.aljazeera.com/video/asia-pacific/2013/05/2013531193133115210.html

A Rose By Any Other Name

Why Their Name Is Actually Important
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

As the campaign of ethnic cleansing drags on in Burma the Rohingya continue to suffer from starvation, easily preventable diseases, and forced isolation. When the Rohingya do anything that the Burmese officials dislike they run the risk of prison time, attacks, and possible death. This is all compounded by the fact that according to the government of Myanmar there aren't any Rohingya within Burma to begin with. And it is this aspect of the genocide that shows where Burma has the most success at carrying out their campaign of ethnic cleansing.

For a government to "cleanse" their country of a given targeted community the end result would be exactly what Myanmar's leaders already claim... the complete absence of the targeted community. The act of attacking the very name of a targeted community gives the state the power to attack without impunity. It robs the targeted community of its very core identity thus breaking apart the unity that arise from ethnic and cultural bonds. This allows the wedge to be driven in and permits the state leverage against their helpless victims. This is the very reason Burma has set out to deny the Rohingya the right to their own name, their own identity.

This act of "cleansing" a society of a targeted community not only robs the peoples of their identity but leaves them helpless. A government who is simply attacking its own citizens is clearly unable to be stopped (example: Syria). It is only when the government's attacks can be linked to the identified stages of genocide that outside organizations can claim ethnic cleansing... or genocide. But if the targeted community officially exist, well the term genocide is difficult at best to apply to the government's actions. And complicity to ethnic cleansing is hard to prove if there is no ethnic group recognized in the first place.

In recent months more prominent leaders have come out with documents and public addresses that state that all either claim the Rohingya are actually "Bengali" or never have existed within Burma before. One of the key figures in this long line of government puppets has been Aung San Suu Kyi. Or to be more accurate, a spokesperson that spoke to the press on her behalf.

(Source: Global Post http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/myanmar/130501/suu-kyi-no-rohingya)

Once again the Euro poster child of democracy in Burma upheld the myths that Myanmar has been working so hard at establishing in world history books. Her statement, given through a spokesperson, coincides with the notion that Rohingya are nothing more than Bengali illegal immigrants that either established themselves during British rule or swept over the border as "economic migrants" (a term popular amongst Chinese leaders when talking about North Korean defectors). This once again leaves the world to assume that Suu Kyi truly does believe the propaganda her government has created or is more than willing to help spread it beyond Burma's borders.

However the main theory that Rohingya are immigrants or invaders isn't new. For decades now the Rakhine have been spreading myths like this one to discredit and isolate the Rohingya from the rest of Burmese society. And in an ethnocentric society, like that of Myanmar, the very idea of being an outsider is in ways worse than death itself. Once you have been made an outsider in a society that so desperately craves conformity you have no right to claim any given identity outside that  which has been handed down to you. For the Rohingya this denial of belonging to the Burmese society at large has been a tragic reality since the British left.

For Suu Kyi to come forward with her statements is, in a manner of speaking, an attempt on the part of Burma itself to reinforce the divide between what it means to be Burmese and what it means to be on the outside looking in. It is a divisive step that capitalizes on the fears of Rakhine individuals and the Buddhists population of Burma at large. It is the step that alienates the Rohingya and at the same time degrades them below the level of what it means to be human within Myanmar. In effect, it is the marrying of the first stage of genocide (classification) with the third stage of genocide (dehumanization). A fact that I would believe an intelligent woman such as Suu Kyi could and would understand long before making such damaging statements.

The name, the identity, of any given population is a treasure that cannot be measured. However, as ironically as it might seem, it is also a commodity that is decisively measured when used as a tool against them. Jews, Armenians, Bosnians, and any community who has suffered the tragedy of genocide should be able to understand this. But for the rest of the world it is a tragic aspect of society that they cannot understand until they see it in action. With the Rohingya are sadly showing the world what it means to have the most valuable part of your cultural identity used as a weapon against you.

Enduring a campaign of "begalization" in which they are forced to sign away their cultural identity, the Rohingya are pleading with the world to keep their name. Those who resist the policies Suu Kyi's words lead to are beaten and tortured. Those who resist their tormentors wrath are killed. This is the reality of what it means to be denied the most fundamental rights a community would seek to preserve for its individuals.

If the world was to watch they would see the bravery in the humble resistance. By not signing away their culture, the Rohingya show courage in ways the rest of the world has yet to show. They are already starving as the Burmese refuse them food and water. They are already plagued with disease as the government of Myanmar prevents them access to medicines. And yet the Rohingya hold onto their name.

So what does a name mean? Why would anyone risk their very existence to keep something we in the Western world are trained to overlook?

Shakespeare romanticized the surname in his classic Romeo and Juliet:

"What is in a name? That which we call a rose 

By any other name would smell so sweet;"

~ Juliet

Our surname is after all the first sense of identity that we get beyond ourselves. It is the watermark of our ancestral past that links us to generation after generation of people we often idealize. That name is a point of personal affection and conflict for so many of us. Yet for all the emotions that might boil up within us it is a part of us that most of us could never depart from. It simply has that much of a hold on how we identify ourselves. 

The next form of identity we are often stuck with is also passed down through generation after generation of ancestors. It too has a name. That being the name of our cultural and ancestral past, otherwise known as our ethnic heritage. For many in America it can be as simple as our skin color. For others it could be as specific as the faith our ancestors passed along to us. And for some it is the specific ethnic heritage from where our ancestors immigrated from (ie; Irish, German, Chinese, ext). But wherever the name comes from, it is part of us. We have proven over time in our collective past that is something we are more than willing to fight for. It becomes part of us in ways that we don't realize till it is already too late to change. And at the same time the question remains, why should we?

In that same monologue however Shakespeare gives the reader the essence of what drives us to defend that name. He hints at how others attack that name, and subsequently us as well. 

"Tis' but thy name that is my enemy;"

~Juliet

We aren't built to separate ourselves from the names that are passed down to us. It is part of human nature to cling to the identities we are given from the first breath we take. From those waking moments when we first become aware of who we are and from where we came we find ourselves attached to those parts of our own identity. They are parts of our worth. They are what defines how we see ourselves and how we imagine others see us. So when asked to "refuse our father, and deny thy name" we find ourselves dumbfounded. The most alien of concepts is that of altering our identity to fit the desires of another person (even more alien when it is a faceless figure such as the state). 

For the Rohingya this must be one of the many reasons they find strength to fight for their name... their culture. At the very least I have to imagine that it is a driving motivation, for it is the best way I can describe it; how I can rationalize it. 

In the same monologue Shakespeare's words lead us to a major motivator behind ethnic cleansing. For countries such as Burma it is the name that becomes the enemy. When they are able to isolate the targeted community it becomes the name and not the human being that is subjected to death. By destroying the name of a culture, a community, the attacker can justify their actions without rationalizing their hate. It is that devastating relationship between the first and third stages of genocide that must be made for a government to tolerate the actions it first inspired. 

For this reason alone perhaps Shakespeare had no other way to end his classic play but in tragedy. We aren't capable of making that leap from our identity to betrayal so easily. And that is exactly what it is for those who are faced with this wretched decision. For them it is a betrayal to their own identity. It goes against the long heritage they have with their fathers and their father's fathers. It is a point in time where they are asked to deny their ancestors and take up the facade someone else would forced upon them. It is the cleansing of their name and purges them of some amount of self worth. 

"A glooming peace this morning with it brings;

The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head;

Go hence, to have more talk of these sad thing..."

If you would like to help you can follow the link below and read and sign the petition. Show your support to allow the Rohingya to keep their identity and help fight the Burmese campaign of cultural extermination. 

Petition created by +Jamila Hanan 

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/allow_the_rohingya_to_register_their_name/

A History of Broken Promises

Rohingya Genocide 1942 - Present
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

How long should a people have to suffer before the world decides to act? How often do they have to be killed in senseless pogroms and orgies of violence? Why do they have to grow-up in a culture of oppression and fear? Why do they have to raise their children without food or education? When will the cycle of neglect and abuse end?

Since the days of British colonialism in Myanmar the Rohingya people have been been subject to systemic racism in the governments that have come and gone over the years. The British gave them just enough to keep them alive, to make them useful, but never the rewards for loyalty that the United Kingdom had promised them. The Japanese both paid their murderers for each dead Rohingya and engaged in massacres of the Rohingya themselves. And then there came the Rakhine... the Buddhists... the supposed peaceful monks.

In 1942 the British were forced out of the Arakan state as the Japanese continued to spread out over Asia. Able to hold onto Bengal, the Brits were just near enough to the Rohingya to keep them alive under the horrific rule of the Japanese. Yet this was just the next chapter in a long history of suffering for the Rohingya people. This was the start of the modern genocide of the Rohingya people.

Japanese forces fed the Rakhine peoples' hatred for the Rohingya people. They goaded on the wrath of the Buddhists as they rewarded each passing massacre of Rohingya. And yet the rate of death amongst Rohingya communities was not enough to satisfy Japanese lust for blood. The Japanese decided that their forces had to use the modern weapons of war to annihilate the Rohingya. Bullets were more efficiently distributed from modern rifles rather than those of homemade Rakhine mobs.

Around 22,000 Rohingya fled the Japanese's wrath in the Arakan. Their families and friends had fought the invasion. They had remained loyal to the British. So clearly the old master, no matter how miserable, was clearly better than this new tyrant.

Upon arriving the British suddenly realized what a stroke of luck they had just been given. The Japaneses' excesses had driven a small army across the border. The abuses of the Japanese had given the British a group of people that had lost everything and therefore could be promised everything. And that was just what the British began to do... they promised the Rohingya a "national area" in the Arakan if they would simply fight for the British.

In times of upheaval the Rohingya had fought for the British before. So why should they set this one out? After all, the land they would be going back to was their homeland. This was the place they had raised their children. This was the home where they had been born. And this was the only land where they could ever envision their future generations living for the rest of time.

When the Japanese massacres were ended and the invader was driven out the Rohingya were seen by the Rakhine as traitors. They had once again sided with the British. They had once again gone against the original goal of expelling the colonialist. And thus the genocide of the Rohingya would continue.

So when the British pulled out of Pakistan and Myanmar the Rohingya were faced with few options. They had established an army to defend themselves against Rakhine aggression. But now, as the Arakan was drawn into Burma rather than Bengal, the Rohingya were trapped. Their homeland was once again given away to someone else. Their land was once again taken out from underneath their own feet. Thus in 1947 the Rohingya approached the government of Pakistan and pleaded for a desperate solution to a desperate situation. It was then that the Rohingya asked to be incorporated into East Pakistan (Bangladesh).

From that point on the Rohingya sealed their fate in Myanmar. Pakistan would never allow the Rohingya into Pakistan due to their own innate bigotry. And the Rakhine, along with the rest of Myanmar, would forever see the Rohingya as outsiders. This act of asking to leave Burma and take their homeland with them was another act of treason in the eyes of their Rakhine neighbors.

In response, upon Burmese independence in 1948, the leaders of Myanmar began to impose countless limitations upon the Rohingya. In direct response to the move to leave Burma and join Pakistan the Rohingya were given limitations upon their movement within Burma. Then to add to this the Burmese wrote laws that allowed Rohingya to be used as slave laborers within the Arakan. And those who had fled Burma during the war with Japan, around 13,000, were not given the right to return to their homes after the war.

In effect, the Rohingya were stripped of their nationality and their citizenship to their own homeland.

The next chapter of the Rohingya genocide began with the military coup that led to the Junta rule of Myanmar in 1962. Under the military rule the generals began initiating programs that would "encourage the Rohingya to leave Burma". These included the total withdraw of Rohingya citizenship and severe restrictions upon their freedoms. From the 1970's the Rohingya were forced out of the military and none have been allowed to join the military since. Then in 1974 when the citizens of Burma were required to carry National Registration Certificates the Rohingya were forced to carry Foreign Registration Cards (which few were even allowed to have).  And finally came the Nagamin programs (Kingdom of Dragons) that were meant to increase harassment of Rohingya and allow for their deportation.

In 1991 the Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh from Myanmar began to tell the West about vast human rights abuses in the Arakan. This was the largest migration of Rohingya across the border since the Junta took power. In May of 1991 nearly 10,000 Rohingya fled the Arakan. They told reporters of summary executions, rape camps, vast amounts of torture used by the Burmese military and Rakhine mobs in the Arakan. They told of forced labor in which the Rohingya were worked till they either died or could be of little use once they collapsed. And yet their stories remained muted even as 270,000 Rohingya fled by March of 1992.

The same atrocities continue to this day. The main weapon used to justify the ongoing atrocities is the 1982 race laws (actually called the Citizenship Law) that were designed to restrict citizenship of the Rohingya who fled in 1978. Though today they are still employed to deny all Rohingya their due citizenship. They are also used to clarify that the Rohingya are not Burmese but rather foreign invaders.

Today the Rohingya face starvation as they are forced into concentration camp style ghettos and refugee camps. Nasaka, the Burmese gestapo, kill the Rohingya who attempt to flee the mobs that carry out the massacres of Rohingya. In addition, the government of Burma continues to deny the Rohingya access to food, water, and medical treatment.

All of this leaves me, the main author here at Alder's Ledge, to ask just how much different history would have been if those who have used and abused the Rohingya had simply kept their promise? Would the Rohingya been spared this seemingly endless genocide? Or would they simply been subjected to some other form of neglect and abuse by those who have helped ensure their current plight?

Better yet, the question still remains...

How much longer should the Rohingya be left to suffer before the world acts to save their lives?