The "Burmese bin Laden"

[Tsukasa Buddha]

This:

Buddhist Monk Saydaw Wirathu, the self-styled "Burmese bin Laden", has called for a national boycott of Muslim businesses in Myanmar in a controversial video that emerged on YouTube.

Wirathu, who has led numerous vocal campaigns against Muslims in Burma and was arrested in 2003 for distributing anti-Muslim literature, urges Burmese people "to join the 969 Buddhist nationalist campaign" and "do business or interact with only our kind: same race and same faith".

"Your purchases spent in 'their' (Muslim) shops will benefit the Enemy," says Wirathu. "So, do business with only shops with 969 signs on their facets".

Is what many believe led to this:

Wirathu played an active role in stirring tensions in a Rangoon suburb in February, by spreading unfounded rumours that a local school was being developed into a mosque, according to the Democratic voice of Burma. An angry mob of about 300 Buddhists assaulted the school and Muslim-owned businesses and shops in Rangoon. The monk said that his militancy "is vital to counter aggressive expansion by Muslims". He has also been implicated in religious clashes in Mandalay, where a dozen people died, in several local reports.

Sectarian clashes erupted this week in the central Myanmar city of Meikhtila, where mobs of Buddhists, some led by monks, have attacked a Muslim neighbourhood leaving at least 20 people dead.

Linky.

Which led to this:

A group of Burmese Muslims beat eight Buddhists to death at an Indonesian detention centre on Friday after becoming enraged at news of deadly communal violence in their homeland, officials said.

The Rohingya Muslims launched the attack at the immigration centre on Sumatra island using weapons fashioned from smashed up beds and broom handles after seeing pictures of religious violence in Burma in March, which left dozens dead.

The attack underscores the soaring Muslim-Buddhist tensions that have cast a shadow over political reforms in Burma, where the end of decades of authoritarian military rule has laid bare deep sectarian fault lines.

March’s disorder was the worst since an eruption of violence between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in the western state of Arakan in 2012 that left scores dead and tens of thousands – mainly Muslims – displaced.

Linky.

But more happily this as well:

A group of youth activists began distributing t-shirts and stickers promoting religious harmony in Rangoon and Mandalay on Friday, as part of a grassroots campaign to counter the growing threat of Buddhist extremism in Burma.

Dozens of activists travelled through several townships in the former capital planting stickers on cars, shops and windows in response to the growing anti-Muslim “969” movement – led by the notorious Islamophobic monk Wirathu — which calls for Buddhists to shun the Muslim community.

Organisers say they distributed more than 20,000 stickers and 1,000 t-shirts across Rangoon, carrying the message “There shall be no racial, religious conflicts because of me” and “Burmese citizens don’t discriminate by race and religion”.

Volunteers from the multi-faith group – known as “Pray for Myanmar” – travelled to several townships in the commercial capital, including the Muslim-majority Mingalar Taungnyunt, where locals have lived in terror since rumours spread that the area would be attacked by Buddhist mobs.

Linky.

Others are speculating about government forces and the possibility of genocide:

What’s the role of the Burmese state and military in the current conflict? This is the most important element. After the military proxy party lost by a landslide in the most recent elections, they decided that the time was right to drive out the Rohingya in order to both curry Buddhist majority favor and demonstrate their relevance in reformed Burma. But you know, it's not possible for any state in this day and age to destroy an entire population of 800,000 to one million. Not after Nazi Germany. Instead, the military has created a situation where there would be communal riots. In doing so, the military state has attempted to do what amounts to outsourcing genocide.

Here, I think genocide needs to be understood not simply as an act of overt violence against a population. If you look at the policies toward the Rohingya by the Burmese state over the past 40 plus years, it involves attempts to control their birthrate. If you attempt to control a people through population policies or restricting their movement—in short, creating living conditions so unbearable that the population would rather flee, risking their lives at sea or crossing a border—that is genocide. It is not just about how many people were killed. Of course that’s included, but it's the intent, the intent of the policy. Also, the use of the term “communal violence” between the Buddhist Rakhine and the Muslim Rohingya in the media is completely misleading. Of course there is a communal branch to this violence, but that’s only a small part of the story. The larger part of the story is the centrality of the Burmese military and the generals who have attempted to eliminate this population through different strategies.

Linky.

Horrible news coming out of the region.

 

[Silly Green Monkey]

Hasn't it been Myanmar for some time now?

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Hasn't it been Myanmar for some time now?

Depends on who you ask. English speaking countries and human rights activists think that the name change was illegitimate, due to the government that made them. It is often called both names to avoid the issue.