The roots of genocide in Burma are not in Buddhism, including in Theravāda, the current of Buddhism practiced by nationalist Buddhist monks led by Ashin Wirathu, by civilians in Arakan state functioning as death squads against the Rohingya, & by a majority of Burmese. The hatred for Muslims in Burma, & for the Rohingya Muslims in particular, is rooted in ethnic conflict fostered by British colonialism & perpetuated by the founders of Burma under the leadership of Aung San, the assassinated father of Aung San Suu Kyi & founder of the Burmese army.

The Rohingya are an ethnic group who are primarily Muslims. The persecution, pogroms, & now genocide against Rohingya is part of a military policy to maintain the Bamar (Burmese) as the dominant ethnic group. It is a system of social control over other ethnic groups–who are Muslims, Buddhists, & other religions–which the Burmese army is at war with in Burma. To suggest that the roots of genocide in Burma are rooted in Theravāda Buddhism is as politically debased as claiming the roots of terrorism in the Middle East are rooted in Islamic Wahabism.

The military of Burma prepared this genocidal assault, including by arming, training, & inciting Buddhist nationalists in Arakan state to function as paramilitary death squads. That’s the very nature of nationalism, supremacist ideology, & the divide & conquer strategy as practiced in Burma.

The Dalai Lama has finally spoken out about the Rohingya genocide in the most unflinching terms, calling the genocide “sort of harassing some Muslims.”:

“Those people you see who sort of harassing some Muslims, then they should remember Buddha; in such circumstances, Buddha helping. Definitely help to those poor Muslims. So still, I feel that. So very sad. Very sad.”

Good to know Lord Buddha would stand with Muslims. The Dalai Lama’s cowardice & pity in response to an apocalyptic genocide doesn’t represent the highest traditions of Buddhism. Generations of Buddhists who do, have put their bodies on the line to oppose war, as in Vietnam, & have fled into exile from Burma to denounce genocide against the Rohingya.

The two Rhodesian Ridgebacks now jump the fence & roam the neighborhood day & night, including barking in the wee hours of the morning. Neighbors are up in arms, reporting that they chased the ice cream lady twice & she had to be rescued; that they entered a neighbor’s yard with small children; & that some won’t allow their little kids to play outside for fear of the dogs. I get that.

The shelters are over-capacity because of Houston flood rescues & none will take them. The available shelter is a kill shelter. Since both tested heart worm positive, it’s likely they won’t be put up for adoption even though one is treated for them until next year & one is on treatments. They will either be euthanized or sent to labs for research.

The other option is to try to return them to the place of business where they hung out as abandoned dogs & work on getting them adopted. I’m asking dog lovers what they think is the best option since shelters will not take them & I cannot keep them.

In defense of vigilantes using brickbats & punching fascists in the face, Counterpunch published an article proclaiming protests are not enough anymore. Some people just prefer to operate in small bands hiding behind masks so we can’t identify which ones are agents provocateurs. They eschew large crowds because the democratic character of social movements stifles infantile macho impulses.

The debate has been falsely framed because Chris Hedges & Noam Chomsky compared anarchist vigilantes to the fascist right. They’ve now become persona non grata to libertarian rednecks though their support for Assad’s dictatorship didn’t rattle any cages. Go figure. What seems peculiar is that some anti-Assad libertarians also support the brickbat approach to politics. An alignment that makes sense when you understand that libertarianism is a rootless ideology, the refuge of lost souls.

The issue is not the moralistic comparison Hedges & Chomsky made but whether anarchist vigilanteism is an effective strategy. It isn’t. Not when the real character of fascism is state & military power. Fascism is not what you see on the Berkeley campus. Fascism has the character of what we see in Arakan state & Syria & you can’t take that down with brickbats.

In defense of protests, especially of the massive kind, that’s how revolutions are made. Counter-revolutions are made using artillery. That the millions protesting in the Arab Spring did not succeed does not make protest a powerless strategy but speaks to the many problems of social transformation, including political weaknesses, the leadership, the democratic control of movements, & the massive propaganda & military efforts of counter-revolution.

Jakarta, Indonesia stands with the Rohingya.

What is so significant about solidarity protests for the Rohingya people is that they are spreading across Asia, the Middle East, & in many Muslim countries & are not going away. Ethnic cleansing & genocide against Muslims is one of the most constant, unreported & undocumented human rights crimes in the world & has been for a very long time. That was legitimized & has crescendoed to a fever pitch since 9/11 & the US-NATO war against Afghanistan using Islamophobia as a battle cry. We see its catastrophic consequences in Syria, Burma, Palestine, Kashmir, India & so many other countries, including in Africa. A factor of the greatest importance is the Arab Spring uprisings which shook the foundations of the old tyrannies sustained only through arsenals supplied by the US & European countries & former colonizers.

Burma is attempting the “final solution” for the Rohingya people & our imperative mission is to stand with them in every way we can. As Haseeb Rahman said, someday we will be judged by what we did in response. Let the judgement on our humanity be that we stood together to defend our Rohingya brothers & sisters until this genocide is decisively defeated.

(Photo from CNN)

Bangladeshi volunteers have defied the criminality of their government by extending a helping hand at the border to refugees but there have also been massive protests in solidarity with the Rohingya people. This man at a Dhaka protest speaks for all of us as we stand steadfast with our Rohingya brothers & sisters.

Stop the genocide of the Rohingya people & stand with them in their struggle for human, democratic, civil, & refugee rights.

(Photos from CNN)

Came across this quote from 87-year-old Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani last September 9, 2017. He has long been under house arrest & was going to hold a press conference but Indian forces put up a cordon around his house to prevent it. He emailed a statement to media which included this powerful & stirring passage:

“…between us & our freedom stand half a million Indian guns only. Never before have we been so close to freedom with such clarity as we are now. We have reached this stage because the people of Jammu & Kashmir have not only resisted the brute military occupation of India with exemplary courage & sacrifices but also repeatedly shown that the people would not be defeated.”

“The greatest sign of our victory is that the mighty army of our occupier has to shoot dead middle-aged women, a 21-year-old girl & beat to death a teacher. If after 70 years of military control, a soldier has to kill an unarmed woman & a schoolboy with a stone in his hand to forcibly keep Kashmir under Indian control, what bigger proof do we need of who has been defeated & who is victorious? The bullets of Indian soldiers are merely the symbols of their cowardice.”

The indomitable solidarity of Kashmiris at a massive protest in solidarity with the Rohingya people.

(Photo from Documenting Oppression Against Muslims (DOAM))

There’s a genocide going on of apocalyptic dimensions & socialists are still posting selfies with their pancake breakfast or ragging on liberals. Are you ready to follow them to the new society?

My eyes fell out of their sockets when I read this contemptible statement about Aung San Suu Kyi in a politically atrocious article in Counterpunch titled “Rohingyas: a Humanitarian Crisis in Search of a Political Solution”:

“It’s pointless & unproductive to blame ASSK for not speaking out against the atrocities committed by the military. She is powerless to stop it; & she is a politician, not Mother Teresa. It’s political suicide for her to speak out on the atrocities against the minorities, especially during the election campaign last year.”

It’s true she has no control over the military who really run Burma. But she has deliberately chosen to front for them in genocide against the Rohingya people & in neoliberal scorched earth economic policies. Tens of thousands of principled Burmese are in exile because of their opposition to the politics of the junta & to the genocide. If she, as the holder of countless human rights awards, can’t speak out, then she ought to leave. But she won’t speak out because she wholeheartedly agrees with their policies in politics, economics, & genocide. Enough with the shameful apologetics.