Religion
Related: About this forumWhat is behind Burma's wave of religious violence?
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Just outside the town centre people stop to look at a blackened patch of ground. This is where at least 20 Muslim boys were taken, from a madrassa, and hacked to death, their bodies soaked in petrol and set alight. Fragments of charred bones still lie in the ashes, beside discarded shoes.
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But what is beyond dispute is the visceral fear and resentment of Muslims, openly expressed these days all over Burma. They refer to them with the derogatory term "kala".
The most prominent exponent of this view is a 45-year-old monk in Mandalay, Ashin Wirathu.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22023830
The monk is spreading classic bigoted hatred:
"We Buddhist Burmese are too soft," he told me. "We lack patriotic pride.
"They - the Muslims - are good at business, they control transport, construction. Now they are taking over our political parties. If this goes on, we will end up like Afghanistan or Indonesia."
Practically indistinguishable from inter-war German antisemitism. They are giving out stickers for Buddhist stallholders to display, so that they can get Buddhists to boycott Muslim businesses.
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)it usually comes down to either power or money in most of these cases. There may be a few nuances, but it's usually power and/or money.
muxin
(98 posts)I just saw some pictures of Meiktila, it's worst than Afghanistan right now
I can't believe ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) haven't done anything about this
Iggo
(47,487 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,154 posts)The monk is talking about religion, not xenophobia. He thinks that Islam will become the dominant religion in the country, like it did in Afghanistan and Indonesia.
rug
(82,333 posts)Why Bloody Sunday?
Why antisemitism?
Why segregaion?
Why South bashing?
Why reservations?
It goes on and on. Any trait handy, including religion, will be used to dominate and divide.
IMHO.
Phillip McCleod
(1,837 posts)..in the list of things which make men wage war on other men. the authors of the 1st amendment certainly seemed to think so. for what other arena of non-military and very traditional human endeavor is there such an explicit carve-out to avoid conflict?
they were acutely aware of the *special* history of religious wars, and made an effort to avoid it moving forward. it seems to me worth recalling this fact in these discussions.
rug
(82,333 posts)But it pales in comparison to the cold bloodless deliberate wars for economy and power. Even when wrapped in the shrouds of patriotism, religion or freedom.
Phillip McCleod
(1,837 posts)i think both are reprehensible and it's not a zero-sum game.
nor does it change the fact that religious issues hold a special place in secular democratic republics precisely because of that history of religious warfare. religion is special because of the death it leaves in its wake, when not separated from the political processes that govern mundane affairs.
rug
(82,333 posts)This is a bizarro version of the argument that ateheist communist governments killed millions. "No it isn't, it was not done in the name of atheism." "Yes it was." "No it wasn't." The links are right on this page.
Phillip McCleod
(1,837 posts)in fact i'm not even sure what you garbled.
rug
(82,333 posts)backscatter712
(26,355 posts)struggle4progress
(118,039 posts)dimbear
(6,271 posts)It's hard for me to see the attraction of any of their systems. Who was it who said "The only thing wrong with eastern religion is that it produces Asia."?
backscatter712
(26,355 posts)The biggest problems are when the Islamic fundies get into clashes with the Hindu fundies.
The shit really hit the fan in India when the Babri Mosque was destroyed. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babri_Mosque). That was a major event almost like India's 9/11. The rioting & clashes between the Hindu fundies and the Muslim fundies killed 2,000 people.
Show me any major religion anywhere in the world. Any religion anywhere, and I will show you some of its adherents going batshit and behaving badly.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,154 posts)A policeman told the BBC that the eight dead were Buddhists and that 21 Muslims were also injured during the clash.
Local reports say the centre, in North Sumatra's Medan city, is overcrowded and holds Rohingya asylum-seekers as well as illegal fishermen from Burma.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22036808
pinto
(106,886 posts)But the rising level of reported violence is disconcerting, to put it mildly. I hate to see this and note your update from Indonesia...
muriel_volestrangler
(101,154 posts)includes people standing around after they've set a Muslim on fire, and watching him die (the body is blurred out), and men, including a Buddhist monk, beating a Muslim with sticks, before a man with a sword steps up to kill him (the BBC cuts before that point).