On this day, 25th August, 9 years ago, the most brutal genocide against the Rohingya people of Burma saw more than 1 million people flee by road, across rivers and through the seas to Bangladesh. Thousands were killed by the genocidal military of Burma – whole villages burned to the ground, rape used as a tactic of destruction and the world stood still, as it often does. We witnessed the creation of the largest refugee camps in the world.
Genocide doesn't happen accidentally or suddenly. It's the manifestation of a generations-long desire to eradicate a land of its people. It is deliberate, multi-pronged and in most cases legalised by the state enacting the genocide. But this wasn’t the first genocide against the Rohingya.
Their citizenship rights, marriage rights, birth rights, national identity, land rights, education rights have all been systematically stripped away since the 60’s.
The Rohingya have sought help and refuge in Bangladesh most often and in the largest numbers. Others have sought safety in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and India often risking their lives just to get there. And in almost all cases they have faced pushback after pushback.
In the camps in Bangladesh, a temporary refuge has turned into a permanence. Afterall, 9 years spent in incredibly dense, incredibly under resourced, heavily restricted for education, heavily restricted for food rations, heavily restricted for employment or opportunities, constantly facing a crisis of fires, flooding and landslides, is no longer temporary – it’s a permanence that is suffocating, that in itself, is destroying the fabric of the community and is prison-like in its grip over the futures of the 1 million Rohingya in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has done the best it could do, but elsewhere in the reaches of Malaysia and Indonesia and especially in India, the Rohingya are often targeted for hate campaigns.
Those who have escaped Burma perhaps no longer face the threat of the various military and militias that hunted and killed their families. But a genocide is the destruction of an identity, of a people. The camps and all the hate campaigns continue to destroy the people and their identity. And in Burma, the Rohingya that remain, face violence and brutal conditions daily. Without any legal rights they struggle to defy the numerous violations and violence that they face from a country and a population that want to erase their history and their future.
So today, 9 years on, please re-educate yourself on the Rohingya and their struggle. 9 years and generations into this genocide, please don’t let media narratives or the fast moving nature of the news cycle allow you to forget a community that the world wants you to forget. Please show and keep your solidarity with the Rohingya people as they call for a return to their homeland, in peace, security and with freedom. Until that day, our solidarity, love and commitment remains unshakable and unstoppable.
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Restless Beings
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