Has anyone ever seen a TV news report in the US on the Rohingya genocide? I have yet to see even one although there have been reports in other media.

Nihilism is the philosophy of neoliberalism, the barbaric phase of capitalism. All is naught. There’s no point in anything. Surrender to defeat. Struggle is for fools. Suck it.

Such an endearing philosophy. Medications may be required.

You can measure the distance one is from actual political organizing by the enthusiasm one has for punching a fascist in the face. Our political power comes from numbers, not from how well some of us throw a punch. Those numbers will be reduced by tens of thousands if the elderly, children, disabled, & peaceful activists have to worry about protecting themselves from violence.

We have nothing to fear from free speech for extremists if we out-mobilize them & drive them back under their rocks. We seriously jeopardize the struggles against war, occupation, genocide if we reduce our numbers by making our protests fisticuff free-for-alls.

Kofi Annan declined an invitation to attend the Permanent People’s Tribunal on Burma’s human rights crimes against the Rohingya because of a “previous longstanding commitment in his schedule.” By which he must mean continuing to denounce Rohingya terrorism in Arakan state whilst neglecting to mention genocide or the 410,000 Rohingya refugees.

To my post “Afghanistan stands with the Rohingya,” Junaid Kathjoo asked “But who is standing with Afghanistan?”

Powerful testimony to Buddhist racism against the Rohingya people by Kyaw Kyaw Win:

“When I was in Burma, Buddhist people openly called us “Kalar” (means migrant nigger), openly tell us we are ugly, & used to mock our skin color.

It is very usual & we did not even understand it was racism. Even my childhood Buddhist friends, classmates used to call me like that, used to mock my physical appearance & skin color, even school teachers call us Kalar.

We did not mind for that, I used to be laughing, agreed that I am ugly Kalar, & did not feel that their behaviour was rude. When we go to meet new people, they ask “Are you Kalar” we say “Yes” because this racist word is very common & we can say that it is an official usage to describe Muslim in Burma.

We did not have anti-Muslim movement & hate speeches that time, but the situation was like that. You can imagine how worse situation nowadays because of hate rising against Muslim.”

(This racist, ruthless, xenophobic cartoon appeared in The Irrawaddy, a newspaper started by 1988 activists in exile who have now become enthusiastic bloodthirsty supporters of the Rohingya genocide. It mocks the thousands of Rohingya refugees who have drowned fleeing from genocide.)

Some people don’t think you have anything worthwhile to say unless you have advanced degrees. I get that–I’ve lived with such snobberies since I entered political life over 50 years ago–but I don’t respect it. I come from the political tradition committed to egalitarianism & listening to the voices of the oppressed who often haven’t finished grade school. Elitism gets on my nerves & I don’t let that hang around me too long.

The thousands of unaccompanied Rohingya children crossing into Bangladesh are an urgent humanitarian & child welfare concern. Most of them lost parents in the genocide & are grieving as well as traumatized by being hunted like animals by military & nationalist death squads. During such crises, predators & traffickers come out from under their rocks to sell them & to pipeline them to sex & labor traffickers. The traffickers pose as members of a charitable foundation, as relatives or foster parents & gullible or corrupt officials let them walk off with thousands of kids. Some human beings can only be described as scum. This was an issue for children orphaned in the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka & Indonesia & is still an issue for African child refugees processed by immigration in Italy. One estimate a few years ago is that over 10,000 African children had gone missing after being processed. There is still no accounting of their whereabouts.

We have to demand that humanitarian aid & personnel vetted up to their eyeballs be immediately provided to Rohingya children so that they are protected from traffickers & find save haven. We have to demand the immediate reimposition of human rights sanctions against the Burmese government that has wrenched these children’s lives apart.

Stand with the Rohingya people against genocide. Stand with their children.

(Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)