Genocide in Burma
~Mass Violence, Genocide, and Human Rights

The Union of Myanmar, a.k.a. Burma, is a country in Southeast Asia. This country is a developing nation, which has a current population of approximately forty-three million.
~ Please enjoy the complementary music. I choose to post this song, because as one is going through the information of Burma, I believe this beautiful melody will provide a strong foundation of which to reflect upon.


Left: Map of Myanmar (Burma) Right: It shows the 14 states of the country.

Burma is ruled by a repressive and murderous military regime, that has ruled the country since 1988. It has bloodily broken up pro-democracy demonstrations, subjected Burmese to often-lethal forced labor, and has savagely warred on its rebellious ethnic minorities. It has also forced prisoners and drafted civilians to do dangerous work. Many die through maltreatment, or are murdered when too sick or weak to work. Here is shown a photograph of a dead porter floating down the Salween River from Saw Hta.



Here is a picture of a dead porter floating down the Salween River from Saw Hta. Many people are seen like this (most with their hands tied behind their backs), as this is not an unusual sight on the river.

Why the Genocide is going on…

A genocide has currently been going on in Burma for over 40 years under military government. People get arrested, tortured, and killed on a daily basis. So why has it not been stopped?

The Burma genocide has been going on since the 1960s and still, international organizations have not been doing much to stop it. Although there are many small communities trying to alert these organizations, we still need more people to support the Burma genocide and to do our best to stop this massacre of innocent people. Burma is divided into 15 major ethnic groups, made up of the Burmese, Shan, and Karen languages. More than half of the estimated population of Burma is made up of Burmese people, followed by the Karen and Shan ethnicities. One of the reasons why this genocide is still happening is because the international community has not declared it genocide and still wrongly perceives it as a civil war.

History

The history behind this genocide started around the early 1900s, when the British took over what is now Burma, using their land as a warzone. Back then they wanted to influence other countries about their religions, such as Christianity, Baptists, Catholicism, and still let the people keep their traditional movements. The Europeans brought great pleasure to the Karen, Karenni, Kachin, and Shan people because they taught different forms of development, which included some education. However, the Burmese administrations were not fond of the Europeans and wanted them out of their country. As a result, Aung San, a leader of Burma, collaborated with the Japanese army to convince them to overthrow the British and rid them of their country. After successfully overthrowing the British, they retreated towards India, leaving those people (i.e., Karen, Shan, etc.) who sided with them. While the British were away, the Burmese armies were basically in charge of the civilians and to take revenge, they committed atrocities towards the non-Burmese civilians. Convinced that the non-Burmese civilians had enough of the military atrocities, they retaliated and fought back. Additionally, in 1944 the allies of the non-Burmese people returned and helped fight the Japanese armies out of the country and in return, the civilians asked for independence for their states. Unfairly, Aung San won independence from the British as their leader, and so they were still under his controlling power.

In 1948, Aung San was assassinated by Burma's political rival and in that same year, U Nu was appointed leader. Immediately, he was faced with communist and non-Burmese rebellion towards the government, but somehow maintained his political power. The following year, U Nu then collaborated with General Ne Win, who would be the head of the army. His leadership proved to be a dictator, stripping everyone of their rights. During the 1970s preceded by two decades, the army controlled most of Burma's landmass. U Nu introduced the civilians to socialism: state control, which meant U Nu controlling people's rights. He then introduced the "Four Cut Policy" which General Ne Win initiated. These policies were made up of a strategy, designed to cut off food, funds, intelligence, and recruits. In 1988, General Ne Win stepped down and picked a new military rule that assumed power called "State Law and Order Restoration Council" (SLORC). In that same year, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Aung San's daughter, go pulled into politics to help citizens get rid of SLORC. They created an election process in which the congress had the ability to vote. As a result, Daw won the election; however, the junta ignored it and continued power throughout 1990. Currently there are 17 of 18 opposition groups, and only 5 groups are still trying to overthrow the regime. This whole issue started with a civil war, which has turned into genocide.

Eight Stages of Genocide

1. Classification- This is when the ethnicities or different tribes are categorized in groups. For example, the difference between a Jew and a German. The genocide basically targets those people who are fighting for their independence and who are rebelling the Burma regime.

2. Symbolization- This stage is when the top leader gives names of symbols to represent their ethnicity. Symbols are used to identify the difference is military versus non-military or civilians between ethnicities. A lot depends on the demographics in which areas they live in, whether the army thinks you're a rebel against the regime or not.

3. Dehumanization- This is when the victims start becoming literally nothing. Basically their leaders in charge dehumanize the people; by cutting their human rights and treating them like that have nothing to live for.

4. Organization- This is when the government start taking the rights away from the people legally.

5. Polarization- This is where activist drive the groups apart and start scaring the victims so they will cooperate with the events going on. This is when the military can take any rights away from the villages face to face, such as a person fighting back against the junta; they will automatically be arrested or killed.

6. Preparation- This is when the junta sends notes to the leader of the village, stating that they will overthrow their village in a certain amount of days to displacement, and most of the time they do not give the people enough time to evacuate with their primary resources. This is a warning that the junta is taking over your village and usually this is the time when the civilians try to escape, or either stay to work at labor camps or be killed. Usually the handicap stays behind, having disabilities to travel far distances and those are the people left to die.

7. Extermination- This is the stage when the military commits these acts. The people of Burma know what is going on, but many other countries have no idea. This is the point in time when the junta kills those people who are against the regime, in the past who have been trying to fight back. Once the military come to your village, you either chose to stay alive and work as forced laborer or you try to escape without getting caught.

8. Denial- The denial stage is basically after the killings have been committed. The murderers try to cover up the dead bodies, and deny that they have committed these atrocities. They block the territories that have been affected and continue to govern the country until the government is driven out by force. When the junta is finished with their needs, they burn the villages, food, and anything the villagers would come back for, so that there is nothing left to supply. This is part of the reason why the civilians that have escaped don't have any shelter or food to live off, because the junta destroyed the supplies. This issue is still going on in the world today, and so the last stage of genocide is not complete.

Bringing Reality to Life (Story Summarized)

The true Burma death toll may never be known, on 1/10/2007 reporter Graeme Rangoon along with a crowd of 3,000 Burma civilians stood at the edge of a barb wire trying to free their loved ones from the pain, torture, and eventually death that would soon be bestowed upon them from the military rule of that camp.

But then within minutes, 3 trucks showed up, firing gun shots at random into the sky. As, the crowd began to run, civilians were being shot down left to right…

Later, Burma soldiers could be seen dragging dead bodies into their facilities, which later have been thought to be dumped into a swimming pool type structure as big as or maybe bigger than a football field…

There were more reports listed later that day, and the violence is nowhere close to finishing…



Sandals and blood trails were evidence of the violence that occurred on the streets later that day.

Check out the whole story at: Telegraph.co.uk

Follow the link at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/28/nosplit/wburma128.xml

New Approaches

With the media today, almost everything is being covered. From Global Warming to Genocide, people are starting to realize the devastation in the form of movies. So, when Silvester Stallone (came out with Rambo) it grabbed peoples attention:



In the End...

The people who are victims of this genocide continue to need desperate help. They have been fighting on their own for a while now, but the junta appears to be gaining more power day by day and the people are growing hopeless and weak. Starting off as a civil war, many people outside of the country still perceive the same views, and not thinking that it is a form of genocide. The people living in Burma continue to fight for independence and are not gaining help from other important organizations that could actually put a stop to it and give the people their human rights. Stated before, many people in the world do not know what is currently going on in Burma, which is a reason why not many people have been helping to put a stop into this civil war. The victims are fighting for their right and in return the junta turns around and kills them just because they are against the regime. This is not right and would not be tolerated in the United States. Although this civil war, which has turned into a form of genocide, does not follow the eight stages of genocide completely, it is still not fair to those who have the freedom of speech and the freedom to stand up for what they believe is right.

How to Help (any little thing can, and will go a long way...) The Burmese government has asked United Nations agencies and foreign governments for assistance in emergency relief efforts. Many countries are funneling disaster aid through U.N. agencies and the Red Cross.
Different Organizations:

• The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is assessing what kind of aid is most needed and how to distribute it. Click here to make a donation.
• International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is distributing drinking water, plastic tarps to cover roofs and blankets, and other relief supplies. Go to www.ifrc.org to make a donation.
• World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization, is distributing food, clean water, blankets, temporary shelter and cooksets. Contribute via www.worldvision.org.
• UNICEF has field offices positioned throughout Burma. Go to unicefusa.org to donate and learn more about UNICEF's emergency response efforts for children in Burma.
• Save the Children is distributing emergency relief supplies to children and families. Go to savethechildren.org to contribute to the Children's Emergency Fund.
• International Medical Corps is working with local organizations in Indonesia to deploy an emergency response team to Burma. Make a donation through www.imcworldwide.org.
• Americares is delivering medical and other humanitarian supplies to victims of the cyclone. Contribute via www.americares.org.
• GlobalGiving is providing grassroots aid through funding of projects that are on the ground in Burma. Donate at www.globalgiving.com/myanmar.
• Doctors Without Borders, a medical humanitarian organization, is distributing food, fuel and plastic sheeting. Contribute via www.doctorswithoutborders.org/.
• Mercy Corps is accepting donations to help partners on the ground aid storm survivors. Donate via www.mercycorps.org.
• Baptist World Aid, part of the Baptist World Alliance, is contributing to relief efforts through its Emergency Response Fund. Donate at www.bwanet.org/bwaid.
• International Rescue Committee sent an emergency team to Burma May 7 to assess needs and mount relief efforts for survivors. Contribute via www.theirc.org.
• CARE, a humanitarian aid organization, will provide emergency food aid, shelter materials and household equipment. Contribute via www.care.org/.
• CRWRC, a Christian nonprofit organization, will provide funding for emergency food aid in Burma. Donate at www.crwrc.org.
• The Salvation Army is providing food and water for locals in need in Burma. Contribute via www.salvationarmyusa.org.
• PACT, an international nonprofit organization, has local staff working on the ground to distribute immediate assistance in Burma. Donate at www.pactworld.org.
• International Relief and Development addresses relief needs in Southeast Asia, and is working to lend its regional expertise to support local Burmese organizations responding to the disaster. Donate at www.ird.org.
• Latter-day Saint Charities, the humanitarian organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is assisting with tarpaulins, blankets and medical supplies. Contribute via lds.org.
• The Adventist Development and Relief Agency is committed to providing emergency assistance, which is expected to include food, water, medical supplies, shelter and clothing. Donate at www.adra.org.
• Islamic Relief USA has launched a $6 million emergency appeal to help those affected by the cyclone. Make a contribution at www.irw.org.
• The U.N. World Food Programme has sent aircraft loaded with food aid and other relief items for victims. Donate at www.wfp.org.
• Air Serv International, a nonprofit humanitarian aviation organization, has helicopters ready to deliver supplies and relief workers to Burma. Donate via www.airserv.org/.

Works Cited:

http://www.netcharles.com/orwell/articles/col-burma.htm

http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/

http://students.hightechhigh.org/~fburila/Burma%20eight%20stages.htm