A Look At Burma's Forced Famine

As Burma prepares the Rohingya for "citizenship" the order of the day appears to be starvation and police brutality. Thein Sein has publicly claimed that any Muslim who is a citizen of Myanmar will be treated as such under the newly formed democratic regime. Yet Rohingya and other Muslim ethnic groups in Burma have been subject to ethnic cleansing since June of 2012. This sort of violence occurred under the old Junta control and prior to Colonial power in the region. However this time around the threat of a total genocide against the Rohingya appears more plausible than ever before now that neighboring countries are developed enough to prevent escape. 

In the months that followed the massive influx of ethnic violence in the region the Junta style authorities reappeared in the Rakhine region of Burma. Police and military leaders immediately began rounding up Rohingya and in some incidents mass executions have taken place. Rohingya who were able to fight back were dealt with through systematic roundups and disarming by government and Buddhist militia like mobs. Those who survived were forced into camps that greatly resemble the small concentration camps used by the Japanese during World War Two. 

For those who were taken to police run camps and prisons the stories of torture became a very real situation. Boys as young as their early teens have been taken to these "safe houses" and prisons where they have been subjected to torture without ever once being convicted of any crime. Piles of bodies have been reported near or behind these facilities so as to leave the Muslim bodies out and unburied well past the time allotted for such ceremonies given by the Koran. 

Yet now that the outside world has shown even the most minimal amount of interest the Burmese government has pulled back on outright slaughter of the Rohingya. Instead of the mass executions that immediately followed the outbreak of violence, the Myanmar authorities have turned to their Communist teachings for inspiration in implementing the Rohingyas' "final solution". Following in the footsteps of Stalin, Thein Sien's government has begun expanding upon their original goal of starving out the Rohingya who they claim hide in the "illegal refugee camps". This method is meant to recreate Stalin's infamous "forced famines".

The goal of this barbaric method of warfare is to force submission or extermination of a selected group by withholding the basics all humans need to live. In the case of the Rohingya the Burmese have decided to blockade the camps and keep all sources of food, water, and medical aid out of Rohingya hands. Police and military have been recorded going into the camps to fetch any source of food or water that the Rohingya may scavenge. The blockades also serve as a way to keep the Rohingya in the camps so that they have no hope of escape. In affect, the refugee camps within Myanmar have become death camps. 

Starvation is the new reality for the Rohingya who hoped this wave of ethnic cleansing would pass like all the rest. Their children are dieing at an alarming rate as malnutrition claims the weakest members of their community first. Without some form of help soon the Rohingya within Burma may face total hell at the hands of their tormentors. 

There are stories leaking out of Burma that the government is growing tired of waiting. That the regime wants the "final solution" sooner than later. Military personnel have been reported to have been growing in number in regions further away from where Western media normally has access too. These soldiers, as usual, carry only more ammunition and absolutely no aid for the Rohingya they are now harassing. Even with starvation claiming more lives every day... it appears the Buddhists in charge are looking to cleanse their land of all other religions once and for all. 

This is the face of genocide in the modern age. This is the face of genocide in Myanmar. How long till we act? How many more times do we have to watch this before our hearts begin to beat?