Now Buddhists and Muslims Going at it

[longknife]

The Times article is actually a slam against the once peaceful Buddhists retaliating against Islam but it shows a growing problem in Asian nations that isn't going to go away. Read this piece and links @ When Buddhists Go Bad: Photographs by Adam Dean - LightBox

 

[Osomir]

The Times article is actually a slam against the once peaceful Buddhists retaliating against Islam but it shows a growing problem in Asian nations that isn't going to go away. Read this piece and links @ When Buddhists Go Bad: Photographs by Adam Dean - LightBox

"Buddhists retaliating against Islam" is a pretty poor characterization of the domestic problems within Burma. The religious divides are merely part of a greater ethnic division between majority Bamar peoples and minority ethnic Rohingya peoples. The Rohingya tend to practice Islam, but they are also viewed as ethnic outsiders by some Burmese, and are accused of being foreign to the country having supposedly migrated to Burma under British colonial rule from India / Bangladesh.

Their minority status and lack of government intervention (until starting recently) has allowed them to become currently one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.

They aren't the first ethnic minority within Burma to face such troubles either. Other ethnic minorities though tend to be better organized into armed militias and control swaths of semi-autonomous breakaway territories such as the Karen (who are largely Buddhist, but with a significant Christian minority) and the Kachin (who are majority Christian with Buddhist minorities).

 

[Unkotare]

And there is a very small group of Amish, located in a tiny, isolated patch of jungle in Burma. Boy, do they have it rough!

 

[Osomir]

And there is a very small group of Amish, located in a tiny, isolated patch of jungle in Burma. Boy, do they have it rough!

That part of Asia has long had a lot of ethnic disputes / conflicts.

 

[Unkotare]

And there is a very small group of Amish, located in a tiny, isolated patch of jungle in Burma. Boy, do they have it rough!

That part of Asia has long had a lot of ethnic disputes / conflicts.

Oh yeah, and wearing those big hats and heavy wool suits in the heat of the jungle and all...just brutal. Plus, try doing a barn raising on terraced rice paddies while under automatic gun fire.

 

[Osomir]

And there is a very small group of Amish, located in a tiny, isolated patch of jungle in Burma. Boy, do they have it rough!

That part of Asia has long had a lot of ethnic disputes / conflicts.

Oh yeah, and wearing those big hats and heavy wool suits in the heat of the jungle and all...just brutal. Plus, try doing a barn raising on terraced rice paddies while under automatic gun fire.

If you have an opinion, you're welcome to share it. I'd rather not write a response based on assumption as to your beliefs on the issue. Tongue in cheek is fine, but it can only take discourse so far.

 

[Unkotare]

You're a fun person.

 

[Osomir]

You're a fun person.

I know.

 

[waltky]

UN checkin' the situation out...

UN Envoy Meets With Displaced Rohingya in Burma
August 13, 2013 > A U.N. human rights envoy has toured Burma's Rakhine state following another round of violence in the area.

During a tour of camps for displaced Rohingya Muslims, Tomas Ojea Quintana called for the residents to organize to help find a peaceful solution to the violence. "You, [the] Muslim community, you also have a responsibility. You have to organize yourself to pursue peace," he said. "I really hope that the situation will improve. I know it is very difficult. I know how difficult it is to live now, but you have my commitment to find solution." He also met with members of the Rakhine Buddhist community as well as senior officials in the state government.

Tomas Ojea Quintana (C), United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation, walks with Rohingya Muslims as he visits Aung Mingalar in Sittwe, Burma

State government spokesman U Hla Thein said there is a plan in place to rebuild trust between the Buddhist and Muslim communities. “[The] Prime Minister [of the Rakhine State Government] told Mr. Quitana that they have implemented some points of the recommendations made by the Central Government's Inquiry Commission for the Rakhine Conflict," he said. "At first, a committee [established by the government] holds separate meetings with community leaders from both sides - Rakhine and Bangali [Rohingya]. Then, trust building activities, including meetings between the two communities will be planned.”

Violence between Muslims and Buddhists in Rakhine state last year killed more than 200 people and left 140,000 homeless. A clash between police and members of the Rohingya community last week left at least one dead and several injured. After his visit to Rakhine, Quintana traveled to Rangoon for a meeting with The Civil Society, an umbrella organization representing human rights and pro-democracy groups.

UN Envoy Meets With Displaced Rohingya in Burma

 

[Sallow]

Now?

What do you mean by that.

This has been going on for a pretty long time.

Peaceful Buddhists?

 

[Unkotare]

Human beings are not 'peaceful' creatures by nature.