When I think of the word ‘inequality’ I think of the Rohingya community. In every article that I have ever read, I have observed the UN quote where they are described as being one of ‘the most persecuted minorities in the world’. The very name ‘Rohingya’- a stateless band of people that have lived in the formerly named Burma for generations, some of whom can trace their historical links to the country back to the eight-century, is an ethnic group whose name the Myanmar government, refuses even to recognise.
It was through a casual scrolling through my twitter feed one afternoon, that I was accidentally introduced to Human Rights activist and campaigner, Jamila Hanan. Her short film entitled ‘Rohingya SOS-We just want justice’ was a grim and harsh discovery into just what this persecution actually meant in practice; a still from the video-the image of an emaciated barely-there, upright young girl, and the words ‘passed away’ abruptly caught my attention.
There are around 1.3 million Rohingya living in a total population of 50 million in Myanmar. Their lack of citizenship, denied to them since 1982 means that they cannot access education or basic medical facilities. In February 2014, MSF (Medicines Sans Frontiers) -one of the few major providers of healthcare to the Rohingya treating malaria, HIV/AIDS and TB was expelled from Myanmar amid conflicting UN and government reports that the Rohingya were receiving preferential treatment. The Rohingya must request permission from authorities before they can travel between villages. Their land is regularly stolen, giving rise to forced labour and exploitation. The list of daily restrictions continues to include regulations on even marriage and childbirth. Prior to seeing this video, I had been vaguely aware of the Rohingya’s struggles with regards to the increasingly profitable business that is human trafficking. I had seen images of limp bodies-adults and children wedged against one another on rickety looking boats, somehow arriving intact at ports. A sea of exhausted faces-scouring a multitude of destinations, none of which they were allowed to call home. And these were the lucky ones; many thousands have drowned in their attempts to escape oppression. But I didn’t really understand their struggles; I didn’t comprehend their stories. And truth be told, I doubt I ever will. I can’t fathom the extreme injustices faced by the Rohingya on a daily basis. According to the U.N High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 86,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar by boat since 2012 and these numbers are rising all the time.
The Rohingya’s increasing isolation is in stark contrast with Myanmar’s growing popularity and the rush for foreign investment. Coca-Cola has announced a multi-million dollar investment, and Starbucks also plans to open its chain of coffee shops in this newly emerging Southeast Asian economy. Travel and tourism are being promoted with bubbling enthusiasm, and the luxury hotel industry is expanding rapidly as a fresh image of Myanmar projects itself ahead. The rebranding of old Burma as a future landscape lined with a facade of opportunity, and endorsed by the deja vu of shiny corporate piranhas, represents an irony that isn’t entirely lost on me. Internationally, Myanmar has also been highly praised for its perceived government reform. The country has announced the pardon of thousands of political prisoners (though as I write, many hundreds are yet to be released). The 2010 release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was a genuine highlight in this process, however, the world’s best-known human rights defender and previous Nobel Peace Prize winner has failed in any certain way, to condemn violent abuses against the Rohingya and in this, she too reinforces a default narrative of accepted inequality. It is this assumption of inequality, that has allowed the continued suppression of a community which has already endured decades of injustice, to the extent that oppression has now become a way of life for the Rohingya. The Burmese media frequently use the derogatory name ‘kalar’- a racial slur referring directly to the colour of skin and continues to describe them as ‘Bengali’ thus alluding to the inaccurate allegation of illegal immigration. According to the Human Rights Watch website, Myanmar’s government has recently proposed plans that ‘outline steps for citizenship assessment of the Rohingya, using as its guide the discriminatory 1982 Citizenship Law’. The crux of this is that Rohingya must identify themselves as ‘Bengali’-refusal to do so means that their only realistic alternative is to exist in continued forced homelessness and deprivation.
I think of the light and dark circles of life. I think of the extreme and assumed inequality that leads to continued mass atrocities, and remain forever shocked at the mistreatment of our fellow citizens. Right now, more than ever it seems, the imbalance of inequality reigns. As darkness intensifies and shrouds not only the Rohingya but also many millions across the world to eclipse the very humanity that is supposed to define us, I don’t know how today we can dare claim ourselves to be, the embodiment of civilisation. Of the many painful examples of inequality on our planet, I question which cases become worthy of our attention and which ones don’t. While we see rolling media coverage of the Oscar Pistorius trial, we are not told that 18,000 men, women and children remain under a blockade in Yarmouk, Syria, where water has been deliberately denied to them for just over a month, and where almost a thousand people have already perished. We have known of the 2007 disappearance and subsequent on-going investigation of Madeline McCann, which rightly received global attention, and yet the thousands of children that disappear around the world every year have not received this same recognition. I believe that every life is of equal value. Every life. And I find it a constant struggle to understand which is more disturbing-the realisation that inequality has become such an accepted part of global society, or the indifference and lack of attention that allows inequality to be so easily perpetuated. Allocating another being as being unequal effectively means you think them undeserving of food and water. It means they are not worthy of a warm home in which they may raise their family with any natural aspirations of a secure future. You deem their dreams and desires insignificant. This dehumanisation is a known precursor to genocide. Human rights activists have gathered plenty of evidence to indicate that such revulsion in Myanmar is fuelled directly by its state-sponsored persecution.
However obscure though, the truth remains defiant: A rapidly growing number of activists, journalists and citizens are coming together in amplification of such injustices and creating an increasingly diverse number of forums through which previously untold stories can be transmitted, and through these channels today, more people than ever before know of the name ‘Rohingya’.
More details are available at: http://savetherohingya.blogspot.co.uk Written for Blog Action Day 16/10/2014
Khurshid Khatib 