Samina Faiz & I have been researching land grabs & development projects in Arakan state, Myanmar focusing on how that relates to the genocide against Rohingya. The country under the military dictatorship has a violent history with many of the 135 non-Burman ethnic groups & with non-Rohingya Muslims but are targeting Rohingya for ethnic cleansing. We’re trying to understand all that.

Both of us had the same reaction after several hours of reading this stuff: the history is very dark. We were both struck that the military which denies them citizenship & won’t call them Rohingya uses them for forced labor, typically one day a week of heavy work on military or government projects & a night of sentry duty.

Another article reminded me of something I had forgotten from the 2012 military offensive against Rohingya. The Thai junta would take flimsy boats of fleeing Rohingya back out to sea & abandon them. In 2015, they would not allow thousands in drifting boats to even land. It’s as horrific to read about now as it was then.

Those dark forces have to be answered with battalions of international solidarity. Aung San Suu Kyi & the military have to be exposed & they have to go. Along with the Thai junta.

Our fullest solidarity with the Rohingya.