To my mind, the proposal for UN troops in Arakan state, Burma to protect returning Rohingya (even without the near-moronic proposal that Indian & Chinese troops be included in the UN force) is not a solution, based on the experience of UN troop deployments elsewhere–most notably in the Democratic Republic of the Congo & Haiti. They become an occupying army, not a force for security from harm. Massive rape rates are part of their ignominious legacy in DR Congo & a cholera epidemic in Haiti for which the UN denied culpability or reparations.
As long as Suu Kyi & the military regime remain in power, the Rohingya & other oppressed nationalities in Burma remain in danger. Burmese capitalism is a unique form of capitalism, bound with & controlled entirely by the military. Most industrial projects like mining are joint ventures with the generals, including the mining & other industrial projects with India & China. The military allowed the neoliberal investment boom to overcome not just economic sanctions imposed after their repression of the 1988 revolution against military dictatorship but the utter stagnation of the Burmese economy. Foreign investment in Burma combined with the Rohingya genocide are artificially holding up the Burmese military & creating a temporary reprieve for them from political unrest.
That makes the boycott of Burma called by Rohingya activists & supporters extremely important, even pivotal to the future freedom of the Rohingya & other oppressed nationalities in Burma. It would necessarily involve pressuring our own governments to outlaw investments in Burma & has the potential to undermine & weaken the military dictatorship & reenergize the now repressed forces of democracy. In the long run, the only permanent solution in Burma is the end of military rule & their prosecution, along with the Suu Kyi government, for human rights crimes, war crimes including the use of rape, & genocide.
#BoycottBurma