{"id":108927,"date":"2018-04-09T12:00:31","date_gmt":"2018-04-09T11:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=108927"},"modified":"2018-04-07T14:37:38","modified_gmt":"2018-04-07T13:37:38","slug":"burmese-dissident-speaks-frankly-about-his-countrys-persecution-of-the-rohingya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/04\/burmese-dissident-speaks-frankly-about-his-countrys-persecution-of-the-rohingya\/","title":{"rendered":"Burmese Dissident Speaks Frankly about His Country\u2019s Persecution of the Rohingya"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a recent Canadian tour, Maung Zarni talked about the need for truth. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Photo: Ivar Andersen<\/p><\/div>\n

April 2018 – <\/em>Human rights activist Maung Zarni has been exiled from his native Myanmar (Burma) for speaking out against the military\u2019s ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims.<\/p>\n

***********************<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong> For people from Myanmar, or Burma as you often call it, being politically active comes at a high cost. You, for instance, were unable to visit your dying father and can\u2019t return to see your mother. What values do you hold that made you willing to pay that price?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

A<\/strong> It was my upbringing by my parents. If I did something they disapproved of, that was bad behaviour. But if I denied what I had done, that was worse, and that\u2019s when I would be punished. I just absolutely cannot stand blatant lies.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong> How has this value influenced your activism?<\/em><\/p>\n

A<\/strong> In Burma, we\u2019re dealing with the type of lies that destroy millions of lives. For me, speaking out on the Rohingya issue wasn\u2019t as difficult as getting involved politically in the first place, three decades ago. In those days, I had concerns about whether the Burmese embassy knew about the activism I was doing as a student at the University of California. Would they harass my parents? I was living with those concerns for a long time. Gradually, I found myself doing more daring things. Then, finally, you cross a line and oppose the regime publicly, and you cannot go back.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong> You founded the Free Burma coalition<\/a> in 1995 to oppose the military dictatorship. There have been significant, nominally democratic political reforms in recent years, but the military continues to hold tremendous sway. How do you feel about Myanmar\u2019s leadership today? <\/em><\/p>\n

A<\/strong> There was a period [beginning around 2004] when it seemed to me that there were good elements within the military who wanted the same things as I did for the country. For a window of three or four years, I attempted to work with the generals. I helped them meet foreign diplomats and officials [to start normalizing Burma\u2019s relations with the rest of the world], but I expected something in return. For instance, they would need to remove the restrictions on the internet \u2014 a little indication that they were prepared to allow the people a greater degree of freedom. I saw few gifts from them; it was just take, take, take. I finally knew it wasn\u2019t going to work after they blocked emergency aid to cyclone victims in 2008. The Americans, the British and others had sanctions on Burma at the time, and the Burmese suspected that the Americans would launch an attack if their aircraft were allowed in. An estimated 140,000 people died. When that happened, I stopped interacting with the military. The contacts I had at that time are now shoo-ins for the number-one positions in the administration.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong> So you personally know a lot of the people in power in Myanmar?<\/em><\/p>\n

A<\/strong> I do, and on the civilian side, I also know the people who write articles justifying the atrocities against the Rohingya. Some of them were like younger brothers to me when we were studying together in the United States. They were activists, like me.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong> How exactly are people justifying the military atrocities, which include killings, widespread rape and razed villages? Apparently they\u2019re using Buddhism to do so?<\/em><\/p>\n

A<\/strong> There are very elaborate justifications drawn from Buddhist theology and philosophy. [Last October], one of the most influential monks gave a three-hour sermon, about 20 minutes of which he devoted to justifying the killing of infidels. This monk would say that non-believers are only half-human, so even if you kill them by the millions in defence of your faith, that does not amount to bad karma. The venue and audience for his sermon were significant: it was to a group of hundreds of special commanders at a military training school, in a massive hangar.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong> Isn\u2019t Buddhism supposed to be a peaceful religion?<\/em><\/p>\n

A<\/strong> Westerners are often disturbed when they hear that Buddhists are doing this, and that\u2019s because of Orientalism. There are two versions of Orientalism: one of them romanticizes the Other, and one demonizes and dehumanizes the Other. We Buddhists are subject to what I call \u201cpositive Orientalism.\u201d Religion is both an individual and a social practice. When something becomes social, it always has latent political potential.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong> Since the violent military crackdown began last August, more than 600,000 Rohingya civilians have fled to refugee camps in Bangladesh. When you went there to meet with refugees, one man burst into tears to see a Burmese Buddhist who cared about Rohingya Muslims. Is it important to you to build religious bridges like this?<\/em><\/p>\n

A<\/strong> Of course, although I actually just use Buddhism as a marker [of my ethnicity]. I\u2019m essentially a humanist.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong> Do you see any role for interfaith activists in helping with the situation?<\/em><\/p>\n

A<\/strong> I don\u2019t know. Interfaith activism sounds rather soft, but actually, I think we\u2019re talking about intellectual revolutionaries, people who can think across civilizational or faith lines. If Buddhist monks or Christian or Muslim clergy come with an attitude of \u201cWe want to have interfaith dialogue, but we\u2019re still the best,\u201d then that\u2019s not going to work, because you\u2019ve got to be able see through to the essence of the other person.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong> You don\u2019t have much hope in the United Nations Security Council<\/a>, which you\u2019ve called \u201cparalyzed.\u201d Do you see hope anywhere?<\/em><\/p>\n

A<\/strong> I have hope in people in general. I think that institutions can only mobilize through individuals. There are so many people with something to contribute. Maybe they can mobilize wider public opinion as church communities or filmmakers or whatever their background may be. At the same time, I\u2019m not romantic about the prospect of seeing this resolved. I mean, we\u2019ve got over 40 foreign ambassadors sitting in the capital of Burma where all the genocidal decisions are made, and no one is able to bring themselves to confront the government. No one is saying, \u201cThis must stop, and here\u2019s how we think it could be done.\u201d And many of the embassies, instead of talking about the survivors and the victims, refer to the region. They talk about \u201cthe crisis in Rakhine State\u201d rather than \u201cthe Rohingya people.\u201d They comply with the Burmese government\u2019s demand that these people not be addressed by their own name.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong> Because to call them \u201cRohingya\u201d would give them legitimacy?<\/em><\/p>\n

A<\/strong> Yes. The Rohingya were officially recognized as part of the Burmese ethnic tapestry, with full citizenship rights, from the time of independence from the British in 1948, well into the 1960s. What we are hearing today from the Burmese government, including [State Counsellor] Aung San Suu Kyi, is that they\u2019re actually illegal Bengali migrants and that there is no such group as the Rohingya.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong> Like other minorities in Myanmar, the Rohingya have some antigovernment militants among them. You\u2019ve argued that Myanmar\u2019s leaders are trying to use this to pull the wool over the eyes of the international community, by claiming to target an organized terrorist threat. What makes this narrative effective?<\/em><\/p>\n

A<\/strong> They\u2019re saying they\u2019re defending a sovereign state, and everybody understands that, especially their main audience of sovereign governments. Throw in \u201cnational security\u201d or \u201canti-terror effort,\u201d and they\u2019re given a huge benefit of the doubt. But look at the facts on the ground. If the militants were really linked to any major terrorist network, they would be carrying AK-47s or better, not machetes and bamboo spears.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong> It sounds as though all of this offends the sense of truth your parents instilled in you. <\/em><\/p>\n

A<\/strong> It\u2019s an insult to common sense.<\/p>\n

_________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

A Buddhist humanist from Burma, Maung Zarni is a member of the <\/em>TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/a>, <\/em>former Visiting Lecturer with Harvard Medical School, specializing in racism and violence in Burma and Sri Lanka, and Non-resident Scholar in Genocide Studies with Documentation Center \u2013 Cambodia.\u00a0 His analyses have appeared in leading newspapers including the <\/em>New York Times, The Guardian and<\/em> the Times. Among his academic publications on Rohingya genocide are <\/em>The Slow-Burning Genocide of Myanmar\u2019s Rohingyas (Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal), <\/em>An Evolution of Rohingya Persecution in Myanmar: From Strategic Embrace to Genocide, (Middle East Institute, American University), and <\/em>Myanmar\u2019s State-directed Persecution of Rohingyas and Other Muslims (Brown World Affairs Journal, forthcoming). He holds a PhD (U Wisconsin at Madison) and a MA (U California), and has held various teaching, research and visiting fellowships at the universities in Asia, Europe and USA including Oxford, LSE, UCL Institute of Education) , National-Louis, Malaya, and Brunei. He is the recipient of the “Cultivation of Harmony” award from the Parliament of the World’s Religions (2015).<\/em><\/p>\n

This interview has been edited and condensed.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 ucobserver.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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