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Violence against Muslims in Burma is instigated by the Military
Red Thai Socialist - March 25, 2013
Divide and rule is a common tactic which was perfected by the British in colonial times. They even had their pet academics, like J.S. Furnivall, who argued that in Burma and other places in S.E. Asia there was a "Plural Society" where different ethnicities never mixed and only met in the "market place". According to Furnivall, different ethnic groups fulfilled different functions in society, with the Europeans naturally born to rule. In fact none of this was "natural". Colonial powers did much to restrict various ethnic groups to different professions and forced them to live in separate parts of the main towns. Fear of a cross-cultural revolt by the local people against the colonial powers was uppermost in their minds.
During the struggle for independence, Burmese nationalists fomented anti-Indian and anti-Muslim riots. During a dock workers' strike by the mainly Indian workforce in 1930, Burmese scabs were drafted in by the British, resulting in violence against Indians where an estimated 200 people were killed. The next year saw anti-Chinese riots by Burmese in Rangoon. The Burmese nationalist movement "Dobama Asiayone", to which Aung San belonged, was created out of the riots in 1930. Their ideology was extreme Buddhism and Burmese nationalism and they argued that the Indians were occupying jobs which should rightfully belong to the Burmese. The nationalists also scape-goated Indian money-lenders for the poverty of Burmese peasants. In fact, there were significant class differences among the Burmese peasants and most money-lenders at village level were Burmese. In 1938 there were further acts of violence against mainly Muslim Indians, fuelled by the racism of the nationalists. "Dobama Asiayone" always believed in Burmese supremacy. According to Martin Smith, in his book "Burma, insurgency and the politics of ethnicity", Aung San's attitude to the aspirations for self-determination among various ethnic groups was that "only Burmans and Shans could really be considered as having a nation". The Burmese Independence Army, headed by Aung San was also accused of atrocities against the Kerens, who fought for the British, during the Second World War.
In 1991, 3 years after the failed mass uprising against the military regime, the police mounted a massive repressive action against the Muslim Rohingyas in Arakan. In 1997 extremist Buddhist monks were mobilised by the military regime to attack Muslim communities in Bago (Pegu).
The recent Buddhist violence against Muslims, which includes armed Buddhist monks, in Meiktila, Mandalay, should be understood in this historical context. The monk "Wirathu", leader of the "969" extremist Buddhist organisation, which targets Muslims, is close to people like ex-General Khin Nyunt, former head of Burma's Military Intelligence.
Given the role of progressive pro-democracy Buddhist monks in mass mobilisations against the military dictatorship in 1988 and 2007, the support for right-wing extreme Buddhist organisations like "969", serves the interests of the military, who are still in power today, although they hide behind a thin veneer of democracy. Anti-Muslim pogroms also serve the interests of the old order, by using racism to divert attention from the real lack of democracy, the political uncertainty in times of change and the widening gap between rich and poor which results from increased outside investment under neo-liberal conditions. Muslims, like the Jews in Europe, are blamed for "controlling" businesses.
There are many examples of despotic regimes in uncertain times using mob violence to create ethnic tensions. In Indonesia, when General Suharto took power in 1965 he unleashed a pogrom by extreme Muslims against the Chinese, while also murdering up to a million communists. When Suharto was finally overthrown in 1998, elements of his regime instigated anti-Chinese violence in order to destabilise the country and provide a possible opportunity for them to return to power. The pogroms of 1998 may not have destabilised the country enough for the military to stage a coup, but it is interesting to note that the present President is Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a retired general from Suharto's old party.
In Malaysia in 1969, as the ruling UMNO party began to lose popular support, it orchestrated ethnic violence against the Chinese and then declared a state of emergency. The Malaysian political system is notoriously designed to use ethnicity in order to try to prevent the emergence of class politics.
The Cambodian regime is also known to have used ant-Vietnamese mobs and the Vietnamese government has used racism against the Chinese, expelling thousands to become Boat People.
In the former Yugoslavia, as it slid into economic crisis, local politicians whipped up ethnic tensions to serve their own interests. The result was a series of bloody civil wars.
In the case of Burma, it is a not surprising, but it is still a tragedy that Aung San Su Kyi, daughter of Aung San, has sided with the military on the issue of violence against Muslims. She even claimed that the Rohingyas were not citizens of the country. Su Kyi is the key figure in providing legitimacy to the bogus democratic "reforms" taking place in Burma. She is also a firm supporter of neo-liberalism and the multinational companies. She was recently heckled by angry villagers who face the loss of their land to a big mining project.
The ethnic violence in Burma is not the result of some natural antagonism between communities with different religious beliefs which somehow has to be defused by a neutral state. It is a direct result of elite sponsored racism. The Burmese state is not some "necessary Leviathan". It is weapon of the ruling class and an obstacle to peace and democracy.
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