Everyone has heard of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Perhaps, the most politicized territorial dispute in modern history, this conflict provides the ubiquitous imagery that fuels human rights activism in the West, and anti-Zionist/Western zealotry in the Muslim world. The cross-fire between HAMAS and Israel today will no doubt be referenced by people on both sides of the debate as proof that their ideological position is even more right than it was yesterday. And back-and-forth it will go, for tomorrow, and for the foreseeable future.
There are many unfortunate aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Not least of which is how it distracts us from other conflicts and unfortunate conditions elsewhere. In terms of its casualties, this conflict is tragic, but it is not the largest ongoing conflict involving Muslims, nor is Gaza or the West Bank where Muslim communities are being most heavily persecuted or denied Human Rights. In other parts of the world, outside of the Middle East, there are dire conditions and conflict zones where innocent people, many of them Muslims, are not only being denied Human Rights, but are dying in large numbers, without anyone seeming to notice or to care.
Myanmar, or Burma, is one of these places. In the past 6 months alone, thousands of homes have been destroyed, tens of thousands of people have been displaced, and hundreds have been killed as a result of inter-ethnic conflict targeted against Myanmar’s Muslim populations.
A medium-sized country in Southeast Asia, Myanmar is home to more than 135 distinct ethnic groups. Buddhism dominates there, having first been introduced nearly two millennium ago by Indian merchants. Further, from as early as the 7th century C.E. (1st century A.H.) Islam has also been present in Myanmar, having either arrived via Muslim sea-merchants or traveling Sufis. But unlike in other areas of Southeast Asia, Islam was not readily adopted by the people of Myanmar because they were already avowed Buddhists.
Today, Muslims comprise about 13% of the population of Myanmar. However, in the last census, the government reported them as only 4%. This is in-part political strategy, a way for rulers to minimize minority opinions that may pose a risk to the status quo. But, there is also an even more blatant rationale: disapproval of the Muslim presence.
To be sure, there are deeply-rooted historical discrepancies between the various ethnic groups of Myanmar, not least of which, at a macro-level, is Buddhist-Muslim conflict. In the modern era, this conflict intensified during World War II, when during the Japanese invasion of Burma (Myanmar), the Muslim populations opposed the popular opinion toward independence, and instead showed loyalty to the opposing British forces. Soon after, these same Muslims sought the annexation of southwest Burma into Bangladesh (then East Pakistan), further angering the majority-Buddhist Burmese nationalists. And so, like the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, the genesis of the Buddhist-Muslim conflict in Myanmar is political, NOT religious.
Today, Muslim populations in Myanmar are severely mistreated. They are being excluded from not only political power, but the surrounding economy has essentially closed its doors to Muslim customers. Doing business with Muslims is socially punishable, and as a result starvation and related health-problems amongst Muslim populations is rampant.
Myanmar is a country transitioning from dictatorship to democracy. The government, once ruled exclusively by privileged military elites, is now starting to give way to civilian parliamentarians. As part of the new United States foreign policy strategy under the Obama Administration, which is refocusing U.S. efforts away from the Middle East and toward South and Southeast Asia, in light of China’s ascendence, President Obama recently visited Myanmar to acknowledge how far it has come, as well as how far it still yet has to go.
The ongoing inter-ethnic conflict with majority Muslim casualties was a focal point of the President’s message to the country, as he urged Burmese people of all backgrounds “to find strength in their diversity.”
More news is certainly to come from Myanmar in the near future. For the present, though, we can start by acknowledging that Israel-Palestine, however unfortunate, is not the only ongoing conflict involving Muslims, and that there are other dire conditions elsewhere that demand our immediate attention.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/burmas-muslims-lose-homes-and-hope/2012/11/15/0aa5cfe4-2ea2-11e2-beb2-4b4cf5087636_gallery.html?hpid=z13
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