Two false narratives about the Rohingya: that Suu Kyi is silent & that Rohingya terrorists incited genocide

Rohingya fleeing Sept 8 2017 (Bernat Armangue:AP)

There are two false narratives about the Rohingya that we need to drop like hot potatoes:

(1st) that Aung San Suu Kyi has been silent whilst the military conducts genocide. On the contrary, she has been voluble as all get-out diplomatically & in public interviews & speeches for about five years ridiculing, denying, scoffing at allegations of genocide.

(2nd) that the Burmese military was provoked into this current genocidal onslaught when Rohingya terrorists attacked police posts on August 25th. In fact, the military had hardly cleared out since the last onslaught which started in October 2016 ended after nearly four months. This is an allegation by the Burmese government & by no means proven since nothing they report can be believed. Other reports claim the military was preparing for this onslaught by moving troops into the area & by arming, training, & inciting Buddhist nationalists.
(Photo of refugees by Bernat Armangue/AP)

The humanity of the Rohingya refugee toward the vulnerable, especially the elderly

Rohingya elderly man being carried (Bernat Armangue:AP) Sept 8 2017

Imagine traveling days hunted by death squads, without food & water, carrying this elderly man on a pole? The Rohingya people fleeing for their lives have demonstrated a profound humanity towards their vulnerable, especially the elderly. They could have made much better time without them & were more likely to be captured & killed by caring.

Stand with the Rohingya against genocide & for human, democratic, civil, & refugee rights.

(Photo by Bernat Armangue/AP)

Thousands of unaccompanied Rohingya kids crossing border

Unaccompanied Rohingya refugees (Bernat Armangue:AP) Sept 13 2017

This is a succinct & cogent report on the large number of unaccompanied Rohingya children coming across the border. When it speaks of the dangers they face as refugees without adult guardians, keep in mind that thousands of refugees from African countries who were processed by immigration authorities in Italy disappeared–probably in a pipeline direct to sex & labor traffickers.

These children are in grave danger & we need to demand our governments provide vetted professional humanitarian assistance that the kids will find asylum & not another hell on earth.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/37074629/hundreds-of-rohingya-children-arrive-in-bangladesh-alone/?cmp=st

(Photo of unaccompanied children by Bernat Armangue/AP)

Listen up, Assad supporters: when you post those articles about Saudi Wahhabism fueling Rohingya Muslim terrorism & you don’t post in solidarity with the nearly 400,000 Rohingya refugees, you show what Islamophobic swine you are. There’s no nicer way to put that. Amen.

Posting so much about the Rohingya means posting almost nothing about the Kashmiri & Palestinian struggles when the occupying armies have not ceased brutalities in respect to genocide in Burma. There is no way to avoid that. Kashmiris & Palestinians who stood alone for so long understand better than anyone how important it is to stand steadfast with the Rohingya during this apocalyptic genocide.

BBC reports today that nearly 400,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh. Hard to keep up their narrative that it’s communal violence when there is no flight of Buddhist nationalists from Arakan state. According to a Burmese government spokesperson cited by the BBC, 176 Rohingya villages–more than 30% of the total–are now empty. These are the dimensions of genocide.

Rohingya elder fleeing (Getty) Sept 13 2017

Consider the hell for this elderly woman too weak to cross the border on her own feet. Consider the extraordinary spirit of the Rohingya refugees who will not leave their elderly behind in flight for their lives.

(Photo from Getty)

We’re expected to accept half-hearted, half-assed expressions of pity for the Rohingya from politicians, journalists, humanitarian icons. Why should we hold them to a lower standard of human solidarity than we hold each other? In a time of genocide, there is no middle ground.