Haven't We Had Enough Genocides?

Recently, violence broke out in Myanmar and people are being killed simply because of their faith and their ethnicity. Over the period of two weeks, about 125,ooo unarmed people have become refugees. They were forced to flee their home country. Not only that, but in their attempts to flee, they have to pass by the landmines that have been placed on the paths of their unarmed families.

The Rohingya (ethnic group of Muslims in Myanmar) are the world’s most persecuted people. There are 1.1 million of them. Now that 125,000 have been forced to flee under horrific circumstances, and God knows how many were killed on their way out, there won’t be many of them left in Myanmar. Therefore, the very few left in Myanmar will be persecuted even more severely. The militias, supported by security forces, have started what they call a “clearance operation” to “clear” Myanmar of the Rohingya, sounds familiar, right? It’s “ethnic cleansing,” also known as massacring innocent people because of their ethnicity.

Innocent people are being driven out of their homes, bombed and killed because of their faith. Families, and children are stepping into land mines and being blown up. Over a million people are being massacred and their homes burned down on them. Meanwhile, “their” government is claiming that “they” are burning their own villages and houses. Meanwhile, “their” Nobel peace prize winning leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, denounced the terrorists but remained absolutely silent on the topic of the exodus of Rohingya refugees that were land-mined and the innocent lives that were lost.

It is hard to imagine that someone like Aung San Suu Kyi, who has suffered from injustice, violence and seen cruelty, would not condemn such intolerable injustice and not take any action to try and stop it. She doesn’t even think there is “ethnic cleansing going on” for her to condemn. I wonder if anyone ever asked about her definition of “ethnic cleansing” before she won the Nobel prize. In her very famous Nobel prize speech, Aung San Suu Kyi mentioned that “Wherever suffering is ignored, there will be the seeds of conflict.” Therefore, by ignoring the suffering of the Rohingya, she is taking part in planting the “seeds of conflict.”

Hasn’t the world had enough genocides since the very beginning of history? Why add another very dark chapter to this never ending list? The Myanmar government has failed its people, and so did their leaders. The question is, will the world fail them too, like it always did to those who were in need? Will we fail them too? The international humanitarian organizations and the UN are growing more and more “concerned” about the people in Myanmar, but no action has been taken, yet. So what can we do to make sure we don’t fail them?

1. Donate - Donating money and time to this issue can help. The refugees who made it to Bangladesh need shelter, food, and basic necessities to start over someplace safe.

2. Talk about it - Talking about this issue is crucial. It is absolutely necessary to raise public awareness to what’s going on in Myanmar. It is important for people to know what is going on there, so that the world doesn’t turn a blind eye to those in desperate need for help, like it has done so many times in the past. It is imperative for us to be the voice of the helpless, voiceless people fleeing terror who need their voice and their struggles to be heard and understood. Also, talking about the issue is a way to make sure that those who died and those who are still suffering are not forgotten.

3. Take action- As simple the action might be, it can be of great impact. Something as simple as contacting local authorities, congressmen, and expressing your concern about what’s going on, and asking about what can be done can be of great help. People around the world are protesting for Myanmar. Participating in one of the protests is another way to be the voice of the people suffering in Myanmar.

4. Take initiative - Taking initiative of any sort will definitely help those in need. Whether you start fundraising for the cause, or initiate a call for action, it would ease some of their pain.

#journal