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muriel_volestrangler

(101,154 posts)
Thu Apr 4, 2013, 06:48 AM Apr 2013

What is behind Burma's wave of religious violence?

Last month more than 40 people died in violence between Buddhists and Muslims in the central Burmese town of Meiktila. Our South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head looks at the causes of the violence.
...
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.
...
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.
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Sherman A1

(38,958 posts)
1. Well,
Thu Apr 4, 2013, 07:14 AM
Apr 2013

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)
2. So they don't want to end up like Afghanistan..
Thu Apr 4, 2013, 08:55 AM
Apr 2013

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

muriel_volestrangler

(101,154 posts)
5. So why the need for religious markers to tell the stores and people apart?
Thu Apr 4, 2013, 10:53 AM
Apr 2013

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)
6. Why flags?
Thu Apr 4, 2013, 11:01 AM
Apr 2013

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)
7. i think interreligious and intersectarian animosity holds a special place..
Thu Apr 4, 2013, 11:24 AM
Apr 2013

..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)
8. It's one of the more volatile traits.
Thu Apr 4, 2013, 11:27 AM
Apr 2013

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)
11. i don't think it pales at all..
Thu Apr 4, 2013, 05:03 PM
Apr 2013

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)
12. If you know your history you know that there are few if any wars that were purely religious.
Thu Apr 4, 2013, 06:12 PM
Apr 2013

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.

dimbear

(6,271 posts)
13. The Burmese might look toward the Indian subcontinent to see the longterm effects of Islam.
Thu Apr 4, 2013, 08:11 PM
Apr 2013

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)
16. India's got plenty of problems.
Thu Apr 4, 2013, 10:53 PM
Apr 2013

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)
17. Burma Buddhist and Muslim detainees in deadly Indonesia clash
Fri Apr 5, 2013, 01:29 PM
Apr 2013
Eight men have died at a detention centre in Indonesia after fighting broke out between Buddhist and Muslim detainees from Burma, police say.

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)
18. I'm really unfamiliar with the history of Buddhist / Muslim relationship in Burma.
Fri Apr 5, 2013, 01:43 PM
Apr 2013

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)
19. Video, largely from Burmese police
Mon Apr 22, 2013, 08:48 AM
Apr 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22243438

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).
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