(part of The
Darkness Visible series and Screamers series)
Alders Ledge:
April 24, 2013
Almost a year ago
the pogroms of the Rohingya in the Arakan began in earnest. After months of
Nazi style propaganda being pumped into the region the murmur of hatred erupted
into violence. We were told that the "ethnic violence" went both
ways. We were told that the Rohingya started the ethnic clashes and therefore
could not be considered the victims. This all came from countries that had just
previously lifted their sanctions upon Myanmar and were suddenly interested in
doing business with the second most reclusive country on the planet. Of course,
with Burma opening up the country did jump up in the Rankings leaving North
Korea alone once again.
Yet with all the
talk about how horrible (code in the West for inconvenient) the slaughtering of
Rohingya men, women, and children; the supposedly civilized world did nothing
to stop the bloodshed. European leaders welcomed Suu Kyi and Thein Sein to
endless events and even awarded the two architects of death with the Nobel
Peace Prize. When Thein Sein's military establishes concentration camps and
converts Rohingya neighborhoods into ghettos... automatically nominated for a
Peace Prize. When Suu Kyi tells the West that the Rohingya "question"
can only be answered by Burma and that her country will decided who gets
citizenship or not... pat on the back and oh yeah, Peace Prize.
Then there is
Obama. The great supporter of democracy. The anointed leader of a failed agenda
to get the world to love America once again. And yet all he can afford the
Rohingya is a short speech and some hollow promises about America's support for
equality and justice. But to be fair, this was another Nobel Peace Prize winner
who did nothing to earn it. So it only makes sense that Obama, like Suu Kyi,
shouldn't have to denounce the murderers and admit that Myanmar is committing
genocide.
On April 22nd, 2013
Human Rights Watch once again released a report in which they spell out just
how the government of Myanmar is committing "crimes against humanity"
and "ethnic cleansing". Once again the human rights organization spells
out the long list of sins the leaders of Burma have committed and just where
and when these crimes were committed. The report is aptly named "All You
Can Do Is Pray" (link:
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2013/04/22/all-you-can-do-pray-0 )
Time and time again
Alder's Ledge has recorded events from the Arakan without much help from our
usual supporters. We have reported on the attempts by the Burmese government to
force Rohingya out of Burma by driving them into the sea or over the border and
into Bangladesh. This was then followed by reports of Burmese officials helping
Buddhists "Burmese" to immigrate from Bangladesh and take over the
suddenly unoccupied Rohingya neighborhoods and villages. Yet with the striking
similarities to past and other present cases of ethnic cleansing the world
remains silent.
For the past year
Alder's Ledge has made it a top priority to highlight the plight of the
Rohingya people. Now we are asking our old followers and our new ones to join
with us and help spread the news about the Rohingya genocide. This is a simple
act that helps break the silence surrounding the genocide and raises awareness
of it. We here at Alder's Ledge call it "screaming".
All you have to do
to take part is to share these articles here and the reports we share such as
this one by Human Rights Watch. By posting the links on your Facebook, Twitter,
Pinterest, or even Instagram you allow these articles a wider audience than
they would otherwise receive. Reports like this one from Human Rights Watch are
only usually given blips in news reports and short articles by media around the
web. Your sharing them allows this important topic to be seen by people who
might never hear about it otherwise.
Help Alder's Ledge
bring some form of recognition to the plight of Rohingya people. Let us not
fall into the mindset illustrated by Joseph Stalin. May we never believe for
even a moment that the death of one person is somehow more of a tragedy than
the deaths of thousand of innocent people.
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