Shift from Afghanistan to Burma for opium

[Magda Hassan]

Rohingya massacres: Myanmar president to get peace prize (no joke!)

Posted on April 24, 2013 by admin

Myanmar president Thein Sein is to bepresented with the In Pursuit of Peace' award by the International Crisis Group "in recognition of the democratic reforms and peace efforts that he has introduced", thus adding insult to injury (literally). Meanwhile Anonymous have launched another campaign to highlight the fate of the Rohingya people, releasing a very graphic video that shows the violent attacks the Rohingya people have suffered. [Parts 1 - 4 of the video are below, with an extra video at end] Anonymous hope the campaign will mean the peace award to Thein Sein will not go ahead.
Around a month back, online news sites such as Darker Net reported on the series of massacres that were taking place or were being warned of in Myanmar against the Rohingya people and Muslim minorities in other parts of Myanmar. We provided evidence as well as photos and videos. Anonymous also intervened by promoting awareness of what was happening and also to block Myanmar Government sites. The Myanmar Government, at the time, was undergoing delicate negotiations with Western powers to get the economic blockade lifted. Myanmar democracy leader Aung Sung Suu Kyi was party to these negotiations and when asked about the plight of the Rohingya and other Muslim groups in Myanmar was dismissive. Now four weeks later the mainstream press are finally taking an interest in what is happening to the Rohingya (see below). Had the mainstream press reported on this when the blogosphere did and Anonymous intervened, perhaps there would have been less casualties and far less people displaced.
Maybe this is a sign of things to come: news in the mainstream appearing suitably late to allow over-cautions media proprietors to dot all the i's and cross all the t's before going ahead with a story and ensuring the usual balance' is adhered to, leaving more immediate commentary or news reporting to the blogosphere, which, despite its often amateurish nature, dares to jump in and convey a fairly up-to-date if sometimes flawed presentation of what is happening in the world.
Here is the recent report by Human Rights Watch on what has been happening with the Rohingya people in particular last October's massacre.
Here are details of the people who run the International Crisis Group (the body awarding the prize).
So, let's see what we previously reported re the plight of the Rohingya (followed by what some of the mainstream media are now saying)…
A. Darker Net
March 25: Genocide of Rohingya happening right now no bullshit' Initial report plus photos about how a third wave of massacres of the Rohingya people was happening.
March 26: Leaking of planned Rohingya massacres (plus cautionary tale)' . In case anyone had doubts, we included a leaked report plus other evidence that a massacre was planned for today.
March27: Rohingya massacres: you want verified photos here! (lots)' . Photos of attacks on Rohingya people that took place between March 20-22.
March30: Myanmar: violence escalates, president calls for deportation of all Rohingya (muslims), Anonymous re-engaged…' . This article describes how the genocide of the Rohingya people was taking place over months, involving attacks on Rohingya villages and towns, the dispersement of Rohingya people into concentration camps (where many are dying from poor health, starvation etc) and the exiling of Rohingya people by forcibly dispatching them to sea into small, crowded boats, never to be seen again. We also included a day-by-day breakdown of attacks/massacres that took place over the previous 10 days.
B. Mainstream media
With the exception of an earlier article in March article in the New Statesman, there was been scant coverage of the Rohingya massacres of that point in time (March 2013) in the Western mainstream media.
21 April 2013: From The Economist When praying is not enough' . This article is mainly about last year's massacres. Referring to the Human Rights Watch report the article adds: It points out that the government since the massacres has done nothing to punish the guilty, nor to reverse the ethnic cleansing of parts of the state, nor has it done enough to allow aid into the Rohingya camps. Thein Sein, the president lauded for his democratic reforms, last year called for the Rohingyas to be given a home overseas. Most are stateless, denied Burmese citizenship, even though many have been in Myanmar for generations.'
22 April: From The Independent: Burmese government accused of complicity in ethnic cleansing' of Rohingya' . This concentrates on a damning report by the New York based Human Rights Watch on an earlier massacre that of October 2012. No mention is made in the article of the attacks in March or of the June 2012 massacre.
22 April: From Al Jazeera: Report documents Rohingya persecution" . Same as above.
22 April: BBC: Burma riots: Video shows police failing to stop attack' . Finally we get an article and video coverage of the March massacres, albeit three weeks late. It documents how 43 people were killed in Meiktila, though does not mention the other massacres/attacks.
23 April: The Independent: The Rohingya of Burma are on the edge of disaster. Why won't the world act?' . Clearly, prompted by the Human Rights Watch report, this article starts to delve. It says, "The international media, with a few honourable exceptions, has shown scant interest in conveying the suffering of this persecuted people…" Also: "It is fair to say that both the international community and the global media have been shamefully unresponsive to the Rohingya's plight. This is something they may regret in the coming months. Indications are that the Rohingya face a triple threat from starvation, violence and disease that will result in a devastating but preventable humanitarian crisis; a calamity of such proportions that it will make their previous travails look minor by comparison. The signs are already there. At present the threat of mass starvation due to confinement is growing by the day in the towns of Maungdaw, Min Pya and Mrauk , according to a source within Burma. Those that have tried to flee or collect food and goods by boat were drowned by hostile ethnic Rakhine locals…"
23 April: BBC TV report, syndicated around the world. Includes video clips from the March 20-23 massacres, showing police officers standing by while Buddhist rioters attacked minority Muslims in the Burmese town of Meiktila. A man is seen on fire. It also includes a brief interview with Aung Sung Suu Kyi, who says that the problem of violence should not be linked to the lifting of sanctions against Myanmar.
Meanwhile, the warnings are still there. The danger has not passed. The mainstream media or certain sections of it are taking note. But in the West's zeal to appease a government in Myanmar where big bucks are at stake, will these attacks remain largely ignored, or will it be the blogosphere and Anonymous who once again take the lead in intervening?

http://darkernet.in/