{"id":56594,"date":"2015-04-20T12:00:55","date_gmt":"2015-04-20T11:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=56594"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:25:50","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:25:50","slug":"scholar-maung-zarni-defines-genocide-in-hhrp-lecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/04\/scholar-maung-zarni-defines-genocide-in-hhrp-lecture\/","title":{"rendered":"Scholar Maung Zarni Defines Genocide in ‘Holocaust and Human Rights Project’ Lecture"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"zarni<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

15 Apr 2015 – <\/em>The word genocide calls to mind events like the Jewish and Armenian holocausts, but according to Maung Zarni, a Burmese scholar affiliated with Harvard and the London School of Economics, smaller-scale killing can also fit the definition \u201cif done in an attempt to destroy a people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such is the case with the victimization of Burma\u2019s Rohingya Muslim ethnic group by members of the Buddhist majority, which has involved explicit violence on a relatively modest scale but also forced birth control, forced relocation, and denial of access to food and medical care, said Zarni, who on April 13, delivered a lecture on the topic, sponsored by the Law School\u2019s Owen M. Kupferschmid Holocaust and Human Rights Project<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How could Buddhists, raised to spare the lives of all creatures, even insects, perpetrate a genocide? The answer, Zarni said, is common to every genocide: the perpetrator learns to see himself as a victim, and a defender of his nation or ethnic group. \u201cWe have to frame the target of the attack as a threat to our livelihood, a threat to our national community, as a virus, a leach, a bloodsucker,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

All genocides have another common element, Zarni said, in that the genocidal acts are orchestrated, not spontaneous. \u201cThis is not like football hooliganism,\u201d he said, \u201cwhere your team lost and you want to express your rage. You always find an organization, you always find leaders who are mobilizing public opinion [in favor of] an act that is otherwise unthinkable.\u201d<\/p>\n

_____________________________<\/p>\n

Dr. Maung Zarni<\/em>, Associate Fellow, the University of Malay<\/em>a, <\/em>is a <\/em>member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment,<\/em> founder and director of the Free Burma Coalition (1995-2004), and a visiting fellow (2011-13) at the Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit, Department of International Development, London School of Economics. His forthcoming book on Burma will be published by Yale University Press.<\/em> He was educated in the US where he lived and worked for 17 years. Visit his website http:\/\/www.maungzarni.net<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Go to Original \u2013 lawmagazine.bc.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

15 Apr 2015 – The word genocide calls to mind events like the Jewish and Armenian holocausts, but according to Maung Zarni, a Burmese scholar affiliated with Harvard and the London School of Economics, smaller-scale killing can also fit the definition \u201cif done in an attempt to destroy a people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-transcend-members"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56594\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}