As an American of Bangladeshi origin, I recently visited the refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, where most of the Rohingya refugees from Burma have found makeshift shelter. What I saw defies the imagination: young girls walking as if in a trance, caught between life and death, babies so malnourished they have lost the capacity to even cry. I wrote of my experience in this article https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/01/16/opinion-safe-return-remains-dista...
Surely we in the West can do SOMETHING! How can we allow the Myanmar government continue this slow genocide with impunity? At the very least, teachers and educators can discuss Kristof's report in schools, and a few rallies can be held in our streets protesting the genocide against the Rohingya. Anything but silence. Please.
20
I'm crying just now Nick…
You are a brave and noble man.
You risked your life to report the truth from Myanmar. Thank you and bless you.
I'll do more now.
I'll make waves with my elected officials here in the US. I'll talk to friends and forward your article.
I'll speak up about Facebook and the "Tower of Bable" it fosters and perpetuates.
My father survived the Holocaust.
A Jew in Poland, only he and a brother (out of six siblings) survived.
I watched him cry at times as he reminisced about his town and family, his sweet mother, his wife… all killed.
I listened to him tell of stories he heard about SS brutality. Snatching babies from mother's arms… throwing them into the air and impaling them on bayonets as they fell back down.
The soldiers in Myanmar are no better apparently. Hitler's henchmen… they never cease do they.
Even though it's hard, even though it's Sunday, even though it's planning for the Oscar party… talk about this with friends. Have them read Nick's piece. Make just a few moments for acknowledging these crimes. The Rohingya need that.
Maybe a phone call tomorrow to your Senator.
(202) 225-3121
It's super easy to do. You'll be amazed.
It will take you 2 minutes.
A little time and effort to allow these suffering people to become, for a moment, "the center of the universe."
Call tomorrow.
10
Excellent journalism.
7
How about some solutions instead of the perpetual whine? Aren't there ways to get rich capitalists to lean on Burma? Couldn't there be a way for rich capitalists to help out by bribing Bangladesh into making a permanent home for the Rohingya by giving them a cut? The Rohingya refugees are about to die of starvation and disease while their Bangladeshi hosts drown beneath the tides of rising sea levels. Couldn't some rich capitalists supply some of their engineering and architectural talent to design and build floating homesteads for both groups? I wonder what the NGOs I gave a few hundred dollars to last year specifically for the Rohingya did with the money? All I ever hear is pleas for even more money...and I'm just one crummy pensioner. Maybe we could interest Trump in the problem for 15 minutes and get something at least started....
3
Great Work Mr. Krischof! That was some brave reporting that is so needed in today's world.
I fear there really is nothing we can do unless China agrees. It's just like North Korea. We don't have much leverage.
The American public is done with wars for any reason. I think another 9/11 could happen and the public wouldn't support war. I'd say the only thing we can do is be angry and watch this slaughter from afar and make sure that everyone knows that China allows this to happen.
4
I feel so helpless when I read of the atrocities committed against innocent civilians and children; these are the ones who are suffering, and for what? It seems that Bashar al-Assad and Aung San Suu Kyi will permit/enable anything and everything in their own countries to be destroyed to hang onto power. When I see/hear coverage of the destruction of Syria and watch the columns of Rohingya attempting to escape, it causes me despair, but I don't know what I can do. I send some money to Doctors Without Borders and I have emailed my Member of Parliament, but I know this is massively ineffective and amounts to less than a drop in a bottomless bucket.
5
To all those asking the Dalai Lama to do something - why? Myanmar is not his country. And who among them have been speaking up against genocide by the Chinese against Tibetans?
5
Sad, but not our responsibility
5
Thank you for continuing to report on this. I can't imagine what it must be like to witness this tragedy. Mr Kristof, do you have any suggestions for what we in the US can do to help?
5
Ask any Arab or Muslim person and they will wax about how Spain used to be "theirs", as was Hungary even though these lands were lost 500 and 300 years ago respectively.
To this day they dream of expanding the Islamic movement all over the world. I fundamentally feel that anyone's freedom to worship stops when they deny me my freedom to worship.
Islam and Islamic societies have NEVER made that adjustment.
Just look at what Bangladesh did in the Chittagong Hill Tracts that were 90% Buddhist when East Pakistan was created in 1947. They have been relocating the Rohingya's cousins and changed the demographics to be 49% Muslim today.
This illegal Bangladeshi migration has even changed the demographics of neighboring Indian states such as Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Manipur. Shame on Indian political parties that have ignored so that they can claim the Muslim vote.
I do not condone ethnic cleansing.
I do not support genocide.
I do support freedom of worship, separation of religion and state, and equality for men and women.
When adherents of the Islamic faith believe the above, I will be on your side.
Clearly the Rohingyas are a long way from this.
17
When I was a little girl reading the Diary of Anne Frank, I asked my mother "How could this have happened?" Her answer was tempered by my innocence, but Elie Wiesel says it best, “Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion or political views, that place must — at that moment — become the center of the universe.” I thank the author for his courage.
7
What statistic is common to all the persecuted racial and/or religious groups around the world? The birthrate of the persecuted, who often try to emigrate in desperation, greatly exceeds the birthrate of the prevailing culture/government. Both minority and the majority birthrates exceed the carrying capacity of local natural resources for health and prosperity. Those in the prevailing culture (whether in Arizona or Myammar or Israel) do not want to be overrun by the heavy breeders. The Rohingya have lived in Burma for hundreds of years - they were there when the British/Hindus deposed and exiled the last Mogul of India to Rangoon in the 18th century. With more babies surviving to adulthood and growing democracy, the majority Buddhists see Rohingya will outnumber them in the future. Majority Buddists look down on Islamic religious beliefs as favoring ignorance and poverty. The humane solution to overpopulation is education for girls, supporting women's work for pay, and healthcare to improve the odds of all babies growing up to become successful adults. Mr. Kristof's well meaning goal to help the helpless and provide healthcare, food, and justice around the world is well meant. But good works will never have lasting results as long as the root cause of disparate, high birth rates are not addressed and solved. Ditto Africa. Ditto Egypt, South America, Finland. Ditto ditto. All conservative patriarchal religions dictate unlimited births to conquer the world. Change that.
11
More die from lack of healthcare and food....Are you talking about Myanmar or the many more poor in USA?
17
I had the same thought.
5
Go go go Mr. Kristof. Thank you for risking so much to bring us the truth. Heartbreaking & essential that we do more.
3
These are Buddhists doing these genocidal acts to Muslims?
Siddhārtha Gautama would weep if he knew of this.
6
What a sad story! Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do to even try to solve ethnic or religious conflicts all the way on the other side of the world.
6
The inability of any government to deal in a lawful manner with extremists in its own territory does not give it the right to resort to atrocities against them.
Is there a government in Myanmar? Apparently, there is one and then again there isn't one. Mr. Kristof's travel there and the manner in which he moved around Myanmar testifies the non-existence of any short of organized state...and all hell brakes loose.
Let us not kid ourselves believing that the governments in many states around the world control 100% of their territory. The Middle East, Latin America and South East Asia have many countries with their Central State Administration controlling only a portion of their territories. And those out of control areas are not members of the UN.
3
I'm not sure we are getting the entire story here. Buddhists by and large are a peaceful people. Also, this writer did not feel compelled to use tourist visas and cover the genocide of Christians in Muslim countries. Maybe he can write a piece about the living hell Coptic Christians go through in Egypt.
But I suppose it wouldn't fit the leftist narrative.
17
So true.
I'm from India and we support the Buddhists because we know the other side of the story
12
Nicholas, why isnt this genocide designated a Crime Against Humanity with interference from the UN and some sort of punishment for the government of Myanmar?
6
Because it's not a genocide, it's a retaliation after non-stop Islamic agression against Buddhists and Hindus for the past 1000 years.
9
It is sad that Mr. Kristoff, who apparently knows only about 10% of the history of the region, writes these gut-wrenching stories about these Rohingya people and influences the NYT-reading intelligentsia who, for obvious reasons, are not that well-versed either in the 1000-year-old history of the Islamic invasions and forced Islamisation of the Indian subcontinent and make them rise in a fury against Myanmar and Aung San Suu Kyi!
Sad.
10
Remarkable, courageous reporting of a terrible disaster with no clear or immediate solution. Embedded within the story is one of the most telling pieces of information, that Mr. Kristof was told that he could visit Myanmar if he didn't report on it and he felt that the depth of need required him to violate his agreement and write this report. That is putting moral issues ahead of l procedural ones and I applaud him for making that decision, as well as risking his life to circumvent police and military to delve into the personal stories of these refugees within their own country. I hope he gets an award for this.
5
I suppose "buddhists" can be just as bad as everyone else.
Thanks for restoring my faithlessness in humanity.
6
Myanmar is looking east to the Philippines where a small Muslim minority population has hosted terrorists for over 100 years.
8
Hitler and Pol Pot were never awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. There is no difference between the genocide happening now in Myanmar and the Warsaw Ghetto of the 30's and 40's and the killing fields of Cambodia in the 60's just to name two. Genocide is an international crime against humanity. If all the great free, industrialized and democratic nations of the world are powerless to intervene in this crisis and offer some assistance and comfort to the desperate Royhingya population, we have to, at least to save what's left of our souls, strip Aung San Suu Kyi of her very ill thought out Nobel Peace Prize. NOW!
6
Can the Nobel award be rescinded?
10
It was only recently Aung San Suu Kyi was hailed as a savior who overcame a brutally suppressive regime.
How ironic. It makes me wonder how the Dalai Lama views all this. Has he spoken out on the brutality of the Buddhists? It all seems very unBuddha like.
5
Didn't Pres. Clinton apologize for not intervening to prevent genocide 1994 in 2006?
"Clinton has said that one of his biggest regrets as president was not intervening in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Administration officials knew of the potential magnitude of the genocide but chose not to send troops to support the relatively small and ineffective United Nations peacekeeping force.
In 2006 while on a trip to Rwanda, he was blunt in his assessment of how he handled the situation. “The United States just blew it in Rwanda,” he said.
“If we’d gone in sooner, I believe we could have saved at least a third of the lives that were lost,” he told CNBC in 2013. “It had an enduring impact on me.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bill-clinton-is-sorry_us_55a83397e4...
I just searched The Clinton Foundation website for "Rohingya" and got "Your search yielded no results" I guess Pres. Clinton got over genocide.
3
Or maybe more nuanced thinking is at play? If the Clinton's take up a particular cause through a foundation, how much can they really accomplish to end a genocide as opposed to the U.S. government? And of course the right wingers in charge will never take it up if the Clinton's push intervention. Give it all a rest. She lost and we are supposedly saved from neo-liberalism. Yay.
2
I'm glad you are back safe and sound! Your work will surely help to stop this genocide. It is a complex situation when the world is suffering from Islamic terrorism and there has been a Rohingya terrorist group. Even Bangladesh, a Muslim nation appears wary of taking in these poor people. It would be best if Malaysia and Bangladesh could absorb them with financial aid from other countries. How can they possibly stay in Myanmar?
1
Thank you, Mr. Kristof. Be safe. We need you another 30 years.
5
Here is yet another failure of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy.
3
I believe Mr. Trump is president. Where is his help?
4
There are about 4% Christians and 1% Hindus in Burma, yet why only Rohingya are being “targeted”? It’s something to ponder about.
7
It may be a fear of muslims that isn't felt with the other two?
2
Where are the UN resolutions of condemnation? Where are the calls for boycotts or other action among worldwide intellectuals and college students? It seems their Israel-bifocals have blinded them to everything else.
3
Kristof and his flock should drink a gin tonic, calm down and ponder a bit what their neo-liberal "white savior" humanitarianism has done to Asia, Africa, and Middle East.
Let's reverse the perspective in a fictional story. If legal and illegal Chinese immigrants together with Americans of Chinese descent would claim that they are an indigenous Californian tribe called Cali-Han and demanded their own state carved out of California, how would the US treat them? The Cali-Han have also a militant arm, the California Cali-Han Salvation Army CCSA, launching attacks on police stations, officials, and state agencies in California.
The US as a (still) functioning, rule-of-law state with a professional army would take the terrorists out in surgical strikes and charge the political leadership with terrorism and treason. The common Cali-Han would probably be free to call themselves Cali-Han, as a cultural but not as an official political designation. Most illegals would be deported, others would stay as US citizens and could go on with their lives as long as they weren't engaged in separatist and terrorist activities.
Nothing like that in a poor, still military dominated country like Myanmar. Local troops just go into villages and do whatever they think it will take to destroy the supporting ground for Rohingya militants. From their perspective,the Rohingya have caused nothing but trouble.
Genozide? Think of comprehensive solutions and drop big words for sensational effect.
15
This is another Kristof report that leaves me with tears streaming down my face. How can we stay so silent in the face of so much suffering? Please tell us where to make a donation that actually has a chance of reaching those who need it most. If there are any steps an average US citizen can take, via petitions, letters to government officials or otherwise, please spell it out for your loyal readers. As a mother, I can not stay silent or be complicit by inaction.
3
Thank you, Nick, for this heartbreaking article, most valuable to anyone who cares about these afflicted people. It is unfathomable to me, a Buddhist practice guy, how Aung San Suu Kyi can live with herself, after allowing such horrible conditions in her country. Is she afraid to stand up to her military? Is she pro-genocide? She should turn in her Nobel Peace Prize. I remember seeing the Brit movie about her and admiring her courage, her commitment. No more. I'm seeing her as a criminal, just like her marauding military. But these suffering people should be the focus, not her, and you've provided that in great measure here.
4
Just how has the world become so twisted that someone like Aung San Suu Kyi wind up with the Nobel Peace Prize?
4
An excellent article and courageous reporting! It is, however, only part of the story of the Burma army's atrocities. While you were visiting the Rohingya, the Burma army engaged in daily, offensive actions against the Kachin, Shan and Pa'laung ethnic groups in northern and north-eastern Burma. In addition, the army using the same genocidal techniques of isolation to inflict a slow strangulation of the people there. I don't say this to diminish the suffering of the Rohingya...but elevate the brutality and inhumanity of the Burman leadership.
There are options though. One is supporting community-based organizations. We support backpack medics. The medics are recruited from the people they serve, trained, equipped with medicine and return to their villages to care for their own. We have recently added Rohingya people to the training, with 3 teams and growing. Three is not enough, but it's a start. We have a total of 114 teams deployed throughout eastern and northern Burma. These teams serve despite the risk. Sadly, on January 27th, a Burma fighter aircraft bombed Wara Zup village and killed one of our medics, 29-year old Maran Seng Ra.
In response to bullets and brutality, Maran and others offer compassion and commitment to their people.
Thank you for highlighting an underserved people far from the media spotlight!
Michael Isherwood
Chair of the Board, Burma Humanitarian Mission
5
The Nobel Committee should revoke Aung San Suu Kyii's Nobel.
The Dali Lama, the closest thing Buddhists have to a living prophet, should travel to Myanmar and instruct the Buddhist population in compassion and forgiveness.
Mark Zuckerberg should attend to the monster he created, making sure his platform is not manipulated, has balanced truthful content, and is not used to advocate violence.
And presidents Trump and Xi, with all your getting, could you get some help for these people?
13
Thank you for telling their stories. We need to do more.
5
Mr. Kristof, I recognize that this is extraordinary reporting, and having read your work for years, I understand why you did it. But there must be a point at which the danger in which you place yourself does not warrant the story. What would happen if you were arrested? If the Myanmar government cares as little about international opinion as you say, then diplomacy might not get you out. The current U.S. administration would probably prefer to show "the awesome power of our military" by bombing Yangon than by airlifting humanitarian supplies, as the previous commenter proposed. Is the risk always worth it?
4
What should we do in addition to pressuring our political leaders?
4
So when critics point to Obama for not doing enough about Syria and Clinton not doing enough about Rwanda, please remember that Trump was sort of friendly to Myanmar several weeks ago and did nothing to stop the genocide that has already occurred there. Rohingya are not wanted in Myanmar, but also not wanted in already crowded, poor Bangladesh. They need a third party to help them like UN or US.
5
One cannot understand this situation without acknowledging the realpolotik Myanmar is seeing. Everywhere in the developing world that there is an embedded, minority Muslim population, that population harbors deadly Islamist terrorists. Minority Muslim populations are now the locus of Islamic violence in some European countries. It may be a slow motion genocide but it is rational, not based on myths. That is why it will coninue. Myanmar is not likely to risk a century of Islamist terrorism, like the Philippines has, to appease U.S. and European human rights interests.
16
“It may be a slow motion genocide, but it is rational...”
Speechless.
7
You're comment that the slow motion genocide is rational is chilling. How can genocide ever be rational?
2
I completely agree. Another comment above pointed out that the same action isn't being taken against the Hindu and Christian minorities. Clearly, this is a fear that in some respects may be considered rational given the observations made by the government of muslims in neighboring countries.
4
Thank you, Nicholas Kristof for your courage and humane reporting about the atrocities against the Rohingya. If not for journalists like yourself we would all be less informed and unable to call out our leaders to take a stand against genocide. Once again, I am reminded of the urgent need for courageous clear-sighted journalism.
3
Instead of dropping bombs all over the place, and sticking our nose in where it doesn't belong; we should head a United Nations force, go in and give these people a safe haven. Work out a political solution later. We could use our military for good for a change. I salute Mr Kristof for going into a dangerous situation and reporting. This is what he does best.
2
That is how it always starts. Lets use our military for good. Our military is not trained to do good things for civilian populations. They are trained to kill. They are not an occupying police force and they are not a humanitarian organization.
There are other conflicts in Myanmar. In 2011, the Tatmadaw broke a truce with the Kachin people and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and war has ensued since then. Currently there are over 100,000 people in the Kachin IDP camps. There is an ongoing man made humanitarian disaster that has been engineered by the Tatmadaw for 46,937 of these civilians, half of them children. The Tatmadaw has been blocking access to readily available food supplies for those in the Kachin controlled areas of IDP camps since May 2016 in direct violation of international law. There has been no main stream media coverage at all of this needless tragedy.
The Tatmadaw claims the food supplies for the IDPS would go to the KIA. There is a protocol in place to ensure this does not happen. Instead, the civilians and children in these Kachin IDP camps are paying the price through malnutrition and hunger.
There are nine non-governmental humanitarian organizations that form the Joint Strategy Team. They want to deliver the desperately needed aid to those civilians in the IDP camps in the Kachin controlled areas.
This situation has been going on since May 2016 with no main stream media coverage. The Kachin IDP camps being denied readily available food and other humanitarian must be made known to the world to pressure the Tatmadaw to allow those relief supplies to go through in conformance with international law.
Reading your explanation of the treatment these people are receiving, my first thought is what a comparison it is to the USA.
The Republicans are decreasing (taking it away) the medical aid to the poor Americans by taking away Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act from many states (Florida included). Some lower middle class are having their insurance subsidies taken away, which leaves them without proper medical care. I had a girlfriend that let her breast cancer go due to lack of insurance and money until she was almost dead.
Now they are messing around with SNAP to starve the poorer population including the children and the elderly.
The Republicans are trying to make it a criminal offense to practice birth control (contraception) by allowing employers and churches to take it out of their medical insurance (Hobby Lobby) and teaching practical birth control methods that Planned Parenthood supports. They are trying to take maternity care out of a lot of insurance, so we will have more Americans dying of childbirth complications due to no doctors, and no money.
This is nothing short of genocide against the Non-Rich.
Mr. Kristoff, you need to write about this also.
9
It's time to get jobs to pay for things.
None of this is similar.
1
Once regarded as an exceptionally exemplary face of strong, patient democratic moderation, unflinching under malificiently authoritarian pressure, Aung San Suu Kyi now deserves not only to be stripped of her Nobel Peace prize, but also to charged with crimes against humanity at the ICC.
The incumbent State Counsellor (PM) of Myanmar might turn out to be civil society's greatest disappointment of the 21st Century, and we're less than two decades unto it.
4
Mr. Kristof,
Thank you, as always, for your courageous reporting and commitment to human rights around the world. Aung San Suu Kyi has disgraced herself by her continuing complicity in the genocide of the Rohingya. She no more deserves the Nobel Peace Prize at this point than Bashar Assad.
5
If Trump is itching to show the awesome power of our military, perhaps he should order an airlift of food, medical supplies, and doctors to the Rohingya. The army could establish a base of operations to provide security, and we could mitigate the worst effects of this crisis. To be sure, we still have to pressure the Myanmar government for a political solution, but we could earn goodwill points around the world in the meantime. Make America Humanitarian Again?
14
We shall have to wait until we elect people who don't hate other people to high public office.
1
That is called an invasion. Worked great in the middle east.
3
Where ethnic cleansing is accompanied by the killing of member of the ethnic group being "cleansed", as what has occurred since the outset in to the Rohingya,that falls within the definition of genocide promulgated by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1948. Hence, contrary to the suggestion in Mr. Kristof's otherwise fine column, genocide has been inflicted on the Rohingya since the beginning of the ethnic cleansing and killing.
Countries like Myanmar, Turkey (circa 1915-1921), and the USA (circa 1776-1890) should not be able to avoid responsibility, legal, moral and otherwise, for genocide when the "cleansing " or removal of a particular ethnic, religious, racial group from their lands involves killing of members of that group. We Americans and the Turks may have avoided legal responsibility for the genocide our and their ancestors committed, but not the moral responsibility. It's time we and the Turks admitted it.
14
Thank you for your brave reporting, Mr. Kristof. It's unfortunate your courage and compassion doesn't extend to our government leaders.
12
Thank you, Mr. Kristof, for taking the risk to bring these atrocities to light. Myanmar must be held accountable; we must not be silent.
14
Thanks for reporting and sharing your articles. Your work gives needed exposure and hope that change can occur.
7
How recently was the Times carrying stories about how tourists should return to Myanmar because, while they may have had problems with a bloodthirsty military dictatorship in the past, things were much better now?
5
We are doing nothing to help the Rohingya's who are being killed because of their Muslim religion. We did nothing to help the massacre of millions in Cambodia when Pol Pot decimated his country. We stood by and did nothing when the Rwanda genocide was in full motion.
Why are we supposed to believe we are on a humanitarian mission in the Middle East? We are there only because they have oil. For this 'cause' we are prepared to spend trillions.
15
We are also in the ME because of its Christianity, Judaism and Islam, all connected at the roots. Woe those poor souls that aren't! So much for a Christian message of love. And I'm an agnostic.
1
Explain why US under UN auspices bombed Kosovo?
1
What i wonder is, where are all the Buddhist leaders OUTSIDE of Myanamar condemning this and pressuring. Where is the enormous Free Tibet community. Where is the Vipassana Movement in USA. Where are the Theravadin monks like Thanissaro Bhikku Ajaan Geoff condemning these atrocities. How can you possibly call yourself a Buddhist if you sit by meditating while this happens?
We in the West always demand that Muslim Clerics and leaders should be condemning terrorism. Why do we not demand that Buddhist leaders condemn genocide done by Buddhists? First Sri Lanka, now Burma. Where are the Buddhists?
46
p.s. I just googled "Buddhist leaders condemn ethnic cleansing of Rohingya" I did not even use the word genocide. I got exactly ONE link, to a rather lukewarm comment made by the Dalai Lama in response to a question asked while getting out of a car in India. Did not call it ethnic cleansing or genocide, simply stated that the Buddha would help the Rohingya and that it makes him "very sad." Nothing, anywhere, on google in response to that search. As a Vippassana practitioner, that makes me very sad.
6
The Muslim fundamentalists around the world have bad PR: why is this? What are the causes and conditions that produce hostility against them? What do they need to do to make themselves more agreeable and lovable? My experience with the fundamentalist Muslims in India was that they either wanted to convert me to Islam or possibly kill me if I resisted their program. The aim of these fanatics appears to to colonize the world. Perhaps the Buddhist clerics in Myanmar have a point when the say that the Rohingya are aggressive invaders who intend to take over and thus need to be purged like a cancer. Will the Muslim fanatics ever be expected to change their aggressive ways?
10
Whatever you want to say about the Rohingya, who are obviously not fundamentalist muslims but simple farmers, they are not "aggresive invaders" but poor folk that migrated from Bengal when both Burma and Bengal were part of one country, British India. That was over 150 years ago. Shall we expel all the German, Irish, Polish English, Jewish, Italian and other Americans back to where they came from too, because they are not Native Americans? Whatever you say about Fundamentalist Muslims is irrelevant. This is an ethnic cleansing not a religious one. There are non-Rohingya muslims in Burma the Burmese dont bother with.
Whether it is Syria or Myanmar, there is little sympathy left for Muslim deaths. Too many Muslim terrorist and Muslim nations not helping other Muslims means the apathy on Muslims deaths will continue for a long time. Muslims need introspection, stop making excuses.
27
Nicholas Kristof does yeoman's work in describing the horror, but he steadfastly refuses to draw the obvious conclusion.
From the nightmare that is Myanmar to the Hell that is Syria, from the ethnic cleansing of the Jugoslav civil war to the ethnic cleansing of the Rwandan carnage, ethnic diversity is an unstable and extremely dangerous social condition.
There is a lesson for America. We need some time to absorb the enormous numbers of highly diverse immigrants we already have. We need a moratorium on immigration.
32
Diversity is a God given gift and one that should be cherished. Diversity and immigrants are what has made our nation great. What keeps us from learning from our neighbors to the north (Canada) where they seem to emphasize a collage of cultures instead of a melting pot. If we can't learn to live together in a diverse culture we will all be the lesser for it. How can we foster the spirit of compassion when there is enough for all?
9
No place or person can remain isolated in our connected world. . The USA is a stew, a melange, a wonderful mix of all the peoples of the world. Be not afraid of the future. We are humans. We can love, think, do.
1
"... ethnic diversity is an unstable and extremely dangerous social condition."
Do you make that statement categorically? As far as I can tell, there are quite a large number of diverse countries in the world (even with large populations) that live in peace.
Malicious tribalism is the real problem here. How is it you can have people who have been in a place since the 1700's being called illegal immigrants?
4
After reading this column again.
Dear Mr. Kristof,
I wish you that you may some day have as much empathy for the victims of these terrorists that you have for the terrorists themselves.
Especially these Rohingya and some of the "victims" in Syria like the A-Qaeda and IS spin offs from Ghouta and Aleppo.
Maybe you should read what companies like Rudder Finn have done in the Yugoslav war and how it actually effected the war nearly as much as things that really happened.
Sometimes I really wonder why people fall for the propaganda of terrorists once they are under threat of retaliation by their victims?
11
Sounds like they are using the same playbook that corporations in America have been using for decades. A nice slow death using passive techniques (taxes, laws, gerrymandering, etc.). They are being Westernized. That's a good thing, right?
8
Partners Relief & Development (www.partners.ngo) has been delivering monthly food aid to Rohingya in an internment camp in Rakhine State since 2012 and were interviewed by Mr. Kristoff in his 2014 video. When I was there a while ago, one village elder told me with tears, "It would have been better if you'd brought us poison so we could drink it and die. They (the military) are killing us anyway." So yes: this is genocide in slow motion and we too have been witnesses to that for years.
9
What is this country doing to stop the genocide. It looks like nothing at all.
Why is the Nobel Committee not revoking the prize it gave to Aung San Suu Kyi whose hands are bloodied? She who was once revered has lost any right to that peace prize.
11
Why are human beings so misanthropic? Perhaps our hatred and mockery of others is a reflection of our self loathing. And yet why in this endless miasma must the innocent suffer?
Forgetting- turning away is such a tempting ambrosia- to be lulled into an unknowing sleep- except there is the inevitable awakening- and then the sleep that never ends.
1
Dear Nicholas,
At this moment in time, I cannot bear to read beyond your first lines. But that is because I am weak and tired. I will try to buck up, so that you will continue your dogged research and writing, which requires a steel constitution and a mind for the good of the human race.....by the grace of God, my prayer is that you continue to find hope in these overwhelmingly hopeless situations.
Respectfully, Patricia Allan
7
Reading your piece, Nick, I realized that you're the greatest truth-teller I encounter these days. Please keep putting it out there. And may God keep you safe as you do your special work.
16
This is a truly multidimensional complex problem, which is not to say that the Burmese majority are not committing genocide.
1. Are the Rohingya ethnically close to the Bangladeshis? Of course they are. Very likely their language is close to the Bangla dialect of Chittagong. Does that mean that they do not belong to Rakhine? Of course not. Borders between arbitrary pairs of countries were fluid until recently, and on top of that there were always people whose ``race'', religions etc were ill-defined.
The Rohingyas have lived in Rakhine for centuries, during which sometimes Rakhine ``belonged'' to what was India and sometimes to Myanmar.
2. Did more Rohingyas move to Myanmar during the British period? Yes they did. But Myanmar separated from British India in 1937! Even the Rohingyas who had come in during the British period had done so 100 years back!
3. Did some Rohingyas think of becoming part of East Pakistan when parittion of India occurred? Perhaps. This was not a longlived full fledged political movement though. There is no evidence that East Pakistan or Bangladesh ever supported such a secessionist movement.
4. Is the birthrate of Rohingya Muslims much higher than that of the Buddhist majority? Yes, child marriages and polygamy are very common due mostly to lack of education.
Does any of the above mass scale murders, rapes and evictions? I hope the civilized world has the conviction to firmly say `no'
7
You are wrong about several things.
1) The term "Rohingya" did not even exist until the end of the 18th century.
The vast vast majority of the so called Rohingya Muslims are immigrants brought from Bengal during the ruling of the British Raj.
3) You are very very very wrong about this. The Rohingya insurgency goes back to 1947 before Myanmar even got independence and it was supported by Pakistan and Bangladesh -Look up the "Rohingya Insurgency". It's stems from the "two nation theory created by the Muslims of South Asia which clearly states that Muslims cannot peacefully live in a kafir/non-Muslim majority and that they must have a seperate country for themselves. this incredibly caustic violent and totalitarian theory is what led to Hindus/Sikhs/Buddhists/Jains being massacred all over South Asia till this very day in order to make room for a Muslim dominated country.
The Muslims of Southern Thailand have successfully done a similar thing to the Buddhists living there but your western mainstream media will never report it.
9
---Thank you for daring...sharing this crucially important journalism, therefore hopefully keeping this tragedy in the news, so that it can get the necessary attention from the international community to be stopped before more innocents are slow-tortured, killed. Humans inhumanity to human is simply astounding. Sickening.
6
Why is the Dalai Lama silent? Why has the world forsaken the Rohingyans?
Is there even any point in asking why the American President is not sanctioning the Myanmar regime?
11
With the everyday dismantling by 45’s administration of so much that has been good in this country, it becomes too easy to forget about the horrific occurrences in the rest of the world. Thank you, Nicholas Kristof, for reminding us that we cannot ignore the “slow motion “ genocide of the Rohingya.
As difficult as it is for us to summon more energy to resist at this time of crisis in our own country, we cannot ever afford to be complacent about genocide.
16
A few facts:
Population density per square mile:
US 33
Myanmar 214
Bangladesh 1114
Population growth rate of all three countries: about 1% per annum.
With higher population density, overpopulation is far more obvious in Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Overpopulation causes shortages and often conflicts over resources. This could easily explain the conflict regarding the Rohingya minority.
When resources are scarce religion is a convenient means of separating people into affinity groups. And discrimination becomes very possible.
But a contributing factor, and maybe the overriding factor is overpopulation.
The Rohingya people are muslim and being persecuted by a Buddhist country and being admitted to Bangladesh, another muslim country.
This is not really a long term solution, because Bangladesh is even more densely populated, unbelievably poor and the country is gradually sinking into the sea because of global warming.
We can demonize the Buddhist majority in Myanmar. And their behavior is indeed reprehensible.
But the real killer here is overpopulation. And deferring death by starvation is not really a solution.
There is in fact only one solution. Decreasing population growth in both Myanmar and Bangladesh.
What bothers me is that nobody seems to see this.
Too much population growth makes some form of early death inevitable. People fight others to live a little longer.
Why can NY Times pundits not see the necessity of a full discussion of population growth?
59
No one talks about population because--religion.
21
Interestingly, you mention population and use population density and relative wealth and well-being of resident population to confirm your premise. While I agree that population growth and density play heavily into the creation of 'despicables' and an inability of the nation to feed all, the solution of reducing population growth and density is not something accomplished immediately nor has it immediate results.
What is happening here is the extreme, but it is actually happening in many other places in the guise of civil war. All these displaced persons, and no where to go. It would seem that the US with its very low population density, would be an ideal location for accepting overflow. Our land has a history of this. So combine that with providing reproductive health services, in the form of contraception and education.
In the meantime, Myanmar must be brought into the limelight and must open its doors to receiving aid. What is happening there is lunacy. The subtlety is diabolically brilliant on the part of the ruling class. Almost as subtle as the recent tax reform in the US.
3
We do not need to bring the 'overflow' here but specific individuals who qualify for admission on their own merits (young, healthy, educated, willing to work and enthusiastic about adapting to our culture) would be very welcome.
3
Mr.Kristoff: Thanks for risking your life visiting the Rohingya area and reporting the horrific conditions they are exposed to. Our present government is not doing enough to solve the crisis. I can see their point: the people involved are Muslims, not Christians or Jews. I don’t expect any meaningful action from the Trump administration.
Just couple of questions: Have you changed the names of the persons you interviewed? By exposing their faces in the photos are you putting them in more danger?
3
A good piece of depiction and sign of strong as well as ethical journalism though there are some different opinion. Whatever the incident, the losses already have been occurred. The best way to deal is to take it as a serious issue and find structural solution. Throwing stones to others and enjoying the destruction can not go align with expected peace. Peace lies in peaceful solution.
Thanks for the wiring that could be taken as a starter of solution.
2
Thank you for taking the risk to see with your own eyes. In addition to your efforts, those of the imprisoned Reuters journalists that found the mass graves, BBC teams that saw with their own eyes who was setting villages on fire, despite Myanmar state denials, and the satellite imagery of continuing destruction of villages, there are anonymous and hardworking villagers recording military war crimes with smart phones. Thus technology has made this a very well documented genocide. But at the same time, as you indicate, facebook has become an efficient tool for propaganda and hate.
In fact, facebook has not taken responsibility. Rohingya activists are more likely to have their accounts closed (either because they are denounced by ant-Rohingya interests, or because they post images of dead bodies) while the promoters of hate use facebook live. I have seen some facebook pages, combining military and extremist Buddhist content along with Burmese pinups. Oversight cannot be automated. There need to be experts involved.
The US sanctions bills must move ahead more quickly, and really should be strengthened. At this point they seem to be symbolic and therefore to give false hope. Electeds who continue to cater to the gemstone trade to weaken these bills will look bad in the history books, to say the least.
Beyond Suu Kyi's complicity, we have a small army of "diplomatic "explainers" that willy nilly function as apologists for the current regime. They too will one day be reviled.
4
Dear Mr. Kristof,
I usually agree with a lot of what you write but in here, as so often, you only see what you want to see while you complete ignore the rest.
You do not see that health care in Myanmar is not that good for the rest of the population as well.
And you completely reject seeing that the Rohingya, which are still not native to Myanmar despite all "reports" to the contrary, are running various terrorist groups that attack others in Myanman, not only military and police posts but normal citizens as well.
It was the explicit aim of various Rohingya groups to establish an Islamic state in Rakhine even by force and terrorism.
And they have done that to their non Muslim neighbours.
No, what Myanmar is doing to them is not acceptable, but the story has more sides than just the self styled good Rohingya being the victims and the bad Myanmari government.
It's a war and by far not a one sided one.
And it would do you good to shed a light on all sides.
35
Being a Bengali, ethnically same as the Rohingyas, and having lived in the very area where the Rohingyas live, I do have a somewhat clear understanding of the 'Rohingya problem' of Myanmar.
And having read many articles by Mr. Kristoff about the issue, I always get the feeling that he seems to be less than fully knowledgeable about the problem and seems to bear particular grudge against the Myanmarese and particularly Madam Aung San Suu Kyi.
I would suggest that to get his balance back, he should write some articles about what is happening in Yemen, who is doing what to whom and who is supporting whom, who is preventing assistance to go in, etc. If that comes out as a balanced report, I will have more faith in his reporting from Myanmbar.
14
Must not be any oil, or precious metals, or gas pipeline routes in that area for us to liberate them over. Or from, more the usual.
4
There are too many stories around the world that are like this tale it (in Syria, Yemen, various places and Africa, and even in the U.S. -- specifically the atrocities associated with assault weapons and their 2nd Amendment advocates) that need to be stopped. Hopefully, the consciousness that Mr. Kristof is elevating leads to some effective action.
1
Thank you Mr. Kristof for making us all more aware of this tragic situation. Sounds like another case where Russia has meddled its way in making a very bad situation worse and ultimately resulting in disasterous consequences.
2
Thank you ,Mr. Kriistof for shocking our conscience. Before we lose our leadership in the world by Trumps actions, we need to push our government to pressure change.
I am ashamed at our inactions in places such Myanmar, Yemen and Quatar but also for our actions such as in Venezuela. Where has our moral leadership gone?
2
"Sometimes Myanmar uses guns and machetes for ethnic cleansing, and that’s how Sono Wara earlier lost her mother and sister. But it also kills more subtly and secretly by regularly denying medical care and blocking humanitarian aid to Rohingya, and that’s why her twins are gone."
This sounds exactly like what the Trump administration is doing to Puerto Rico.
55
It is difficult to rank misery, mistreatment and abuse. It may be a mistake to try.
You took the words right out my mouth. Thank you for being so perceptive.
1
As well as many of us on the mainland, as he reduces medical care, food, education, and housing programs for the 99%.
1
Another in a series of Times articles which laments the Rohingya situation in Myanmar while, as usual, conveniently neglecting to mention the long running Rohingya Islamist insurgency which claimed thousands of Buddhist lives and was notable for the brutality which is a hallmark of the worldwide Jihadi movement. The Myanmar Buddhists are a remarkably peaceful and tolerant people but the insistence of the Rohingya, like muslims everywhere, to carve out their own Islamic state within the nation pushed relations to the breaking point.
53
Mr. Handelsman, your ignorance simply must be called out for what it is, ignorance born of nothing but hatred. The hatred and brutality toward the Rohingya absolutely comes from those who call themselves Buddhists and betrays the essential corruption of their own professed belief.
All this shows is the bankruptcy of hatred that can possess anyone no matter who they think they are, or what they call themselves. I don't care where you come from or who you think you are, you have no justification for treating any group of human beings as described by Mr. Kristof, who is one of the most remarkably sensible and courageous seekers of fact and truth that I know.
2
C'mon. There is no way in hell for justifying denying medical treatment to the civilian population and kicking out Doctors without Borders. The peaceful Buddhists are out to exterminate the Rohingya, and if you have any doubts, go there and see it with your own eyes.
Thank You.
I am from India so I know exactly what you are talking about. The Muslims living in India succeeded in doing the exact same thing to us Hindus/Sikhs/Jains in the 1940s after deciding that they no longer want to be part of a kafir/Hindu majority country. And they succeeded in doing a similar thing to the Buddhists of Southern Thailand as well.
It's amazing how fast western liberals are so quick to demonize Buddhists just to defend Islam with just one sided bias knowledge.
5
It’s not the article, it’s the people who read it. They (mostly) don’t care.
Make a list of all the places in the world where injustice and squalor is in place...you’ll tip over in a spasm! The truth is, the moment, I mean the very second we pledged to never allow horrific tragedies like the holocaust of WW2 to happen again we became numb to all of it and did the very minimum which wasn’t much...and unless something big happens we’re going to continue doing the very minimum...which sounds something like, “We are very concerned...”
12
William,
it's not that people don't care, it's just that there is so much more to the story and telling only one side does not help understanding or caring.
One sided media reports simply create an instant rejection and thus lowering empathy for the people presented as victims.
6
Small and large depredations recur and persist throughout human history with the Rohingya a most recent example. Reporting such as this op-ed is part of a moral bulwark against it. Art also makes a contribution as John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath did with its protagonist, Tom Joad, closing the movie version in the following way:
"I'll be all around in the dark - I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look - wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready, and when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they build - I'll be there, too. "
And thankfully, Mr. Kristof will be there as well.
14
Syu Kii, racist and genocidal, carries a Nobel Prize for Peace. What is wrong with this picture?
23
A lot.
It just tells you that the Nobel Peace Price has become an instrument of politics just like the one they gave Obama for things to come while in reality he was the US president with the most and longest wars in history.
4
No one knows genocide was done to Rakhine people by those Bengalis. Those journalists got paid by many organisations. Rakhine state has only 10% of original people killed by those so called Rohingya. No one mentioned about Ro killed and burned villages of Rakhine Buddhists and Hindus. The whole world believing those idiots jokes. Immigration officers were beaten by those illegal invaders. They want to claimed land of Burma. Who started??? Many villages wiped out and killed by them. Mostly they all terrorists.
19
Thank you for such an honest article. It really is an eye-opener and a damn shame that this still happens in this day and age.
It is also a damn shame for a Nobel Peace rep to be complicit cultivating the exact opposite to peace.
12
No question it is horrible but what is going on - but lay the blame where it belongs.
Aung San Suu Kyi has NO legal control over the military. And if she spoke up loudly she would be back in house arrest or much worse. Few outside of Myanmar seem to now this.
The military has made a profitable living abusing Myanmar citizens.
7
It concerns me that so many comments for this article talk/compliment/focus on the author, Mr. Kristof instead of addressing the issues that he writes about. Isn't that why he wrote this stunning piece of reporting?
To educate us, to broaden our knowledge and to engender empathy about this unimaginable horror? I believe Mr. Kristof would prefer that we focused on the Rohingya and Myanmar and at the very least, educate others about what is happening, even though it seems impossible that we can do anything about it. "Seems' impossible, however, does not mean is impossible.
11
One wonders. Just today, the NYT ran a piece on what it takes to buy a gun in 15 countries.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/02/world/international-gun-l...®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
Myanmar isn't on the list.
What's your guess on what the government thinks about the population owning guns? (If they couldn't repel an attack by people wielding machetes, the answer to that question is pretty clear.)
The one thing about you can be certain when you write about genocide is that the population lacks the means to fight back.
You can write all you want about evil people committing horrendous crimes on a massive scale against defenseless people. It won't stop until force is applied.
Michael, dear brother on Earth,
India used nonviolence to win independence, with a few hundred dying. Algeria used violence to win independence, with 900,000 dying.
You've learned force is the only way to counter force. Question that learning. Obstructive nonviolent methods, including offering dignity to attackers, civil disobedience, mass nonviolent resistance, and unarmed civilian protection end oppression without force. We must guide the violent, not imitate them.
Michael, dear brother on Earth.
2
Do you seriously thin that the population would be "fighting back" to defend the Rohingya, rather than more efficiently slaughtering them, if they had more guns?
"Congratulations to Aung San Suu Kyi on being released in Burma. She should be president ... She's truly a great woman ..." -- Nicholas Kristof, November 13, 2010
"... Aung San Suu Kyi ... is now the effective leader of Myanmar’s government and has emerged as ... complicit in [genocide]." -- Nicholas Kristof, March 2, 2018
One's assessment of others can change rather rapidly. ...
Aung San Suu Kyi doesn't care for the Rohingya, nor do the majority of Burmese. Though she doesn't like what's transpiring, her political situation is such that she feels incapable of speaking out in a despised minority's defense. She's in a difficult situation. But at this point, it's evident that she values being president more than the lives of the Rohingya; otherwise, she would have renounced the army's actions and, if all else failed, resigned. The Rohingya aren't entirely faultless angels, but that's beside the point: They're being collectively punished for the actions of a minority of their members.
Some in the Tatmadaw surely feel they're taking necessarily harsh measures to snuff out Islamic terrorism, but this is mostly an excuse to do what they've long wanted. Today, Muslims around the world are protesting the treatment of the Rohingya. The army has made the terrorism situation worse by engendering desperation and giving jihadists easy propaganda with which to recruit. Radicalism is spreading in Bangladesh; this will only aid its growth.
6
Yes, we all celebrated when Daw Suu was released. No one thought she would show such disregard for human rights abuses in her backyard. Kristof is not the only one whose assessment of her has changed rapidly and deservedly. I see no purpose in your quotes.
1
The world needs more Nick Kristofs to shine flashlights on injustice. This is what good, real journalism is all about.
9
It is time to invite Aung San Suu Kyi to come before the International Court in the Netherlands. There is probably sufficient evidence for her conspiracy to commit genocide. Give her a chance to defend her actions and inactions in a court of law.
7
The anarchy that has befallen the Rohingya is a heartbreaking catastrophe; thousands exterminated with guns or machetes, victims of murder and mayhem, followed by "a slow motion genocide."
I was taught in school that to solve the problem of anarchy, we need government -- it protects the weak from the strong, solves the problem of negative externalities, establishes the rule of law, and prevents life from being "nasty, brutish and short."
Yet, here is anarchy perpetrated by government.
"Things are not as they tell us."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/rohingya-crisis-death-toll-...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-14/rohingya-death-toll-in-the-thousan...
5
Mr. Kristof,
Thank you for your report. Needless to say that this is an outrage!!
An injustice such as these will have to be dealt with from symbolic and practical approaches. In that vein, why hasn't the Nobel committee stripped off of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, if not yet done so. If she was so tough toward injustice before her election, why hasn't she done to correct these genocides now? Powerless is just an excuse.
Why hasn't the other countries exert the economic and political pressures yet? You think that North Korea is a world threat? Wait until "Killing Fields" happens again.
3
This article is very much needed! We are organizing a conference on Rohingya on March 28th. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rohingya-crisis-human-rights-and-the-intern...
2
This is so horrific! World leaders must step up and stop this from happening.
1
Thank you for doing this important reporting. It is because of your story that ran a month ago or so, that I became connected with one of the organizations helping provide relief to the Rogingya.
2
The most surprising part of this is that the Myanmar government granted a tourist visa to Nick Kristof. Did they not… Google him? Writing about genocide is like his big thing.
What really scares me about this situation is that there are basically zero firsthand accounts on the Internet of what it is like to be a member of the Rohingya ethnic group. These people -- though they number about a million -- have either no Internet access or no English fluency. They are invisible.
9
The author seems to think he was invisible. Even I knew where you were Niki.
It's entirely possible that the government is allowing his work so a solution can begin to be discussed and implemented. No country welcomes this sort of disruption and when it happens the first thing they do is call the cops. After their work is done, the burials over, eventually fatigue and disgust sets in and solutions are at least attempted. The leadership of the Rohingya?
I feel sick to my stomach when I think of some Myanmar youth, checking his facebook feed, and clicking "like" on some fabricated news story about how these evil Rohingya deserve what they are getting, and then Zuckerberg's monster duly notes that like, and his algorithms steer yet more murderous and malicious content that reader's way.
Facebook is a scourge.
7
Nick, I am an enthusiastic reader of your column. But, I am curious why the mass detention of Uyghur people in China doesn't get your attention. Prof. Jim Milward of Georgetown wrote in your paper that about 5% of the Uyghur population have been either detained or sent to re-education camps in recent moths. Don't you think it's odd that you don't write about the Uyghurs in similar passion that you have shown about the Rohingyas, Sudanese, and Kurds?
9
Bad comparison. Uighurs are being asked to be pretend Han. They are not being asked to leave China. They also have equal rights in China as long as they do not question the Han character of China,
1
Dear. Mr. Kristof,
Just because a person is a martyr does not make them a saint.
The western world is an easy sucker for romantic presentations of underdogs, inclined to label folks heroes for merely surviving calamity. Anyone with a lick of sense could have suspected that Aung San Suu Kyi is a hypocrite per excellence. It was even more galling to see the Nobel Peace prize bestowed on Aung San Suu Kyi in the first place!
1
800,000 immigrants to Bangladesh would represent a 0.4% increase in its population.
Perhaps we should ask why Muslim countries refuse to allow their own to immigrate.
Your next trip should uncover this phenomenon.
31
Are the Rohingya forbidden to emigrate to Bangladesh?
2
"Their own"?
Why is it necessary for nations to be divided by religion?
Is the American principal of freedom of religion an impossibility?
1
I appreciate Mr. Kristof's compassion for all people. What's happening to the Rohingya is horrible and is incredibly sad. Ensuring these atrocities stop will not be achieved by "naming and shaming," if that was the case, their would be progress at this point. Instead you have misguided individuals like Bill Richardson who go in, cause a commotion and completely take the US away from where we need to be - at the table. Asian countries do not respond well to being called out. This is especially true in Myanmar where the concept of "ana" - not wanting to embarrass another or make them feel bad - is a very important part of the society. You can say that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the military don't deserve us to respect their culture, but that means a conversation never starts and that we are no closer to solving the crisis than we were before. It's easy to look at this situation and give in to the emotional response, but it won't solve the problem and it will prolong the suffering of the Rohingya. What matters is finding a solution. Myanmar is a country that was isolated for decades, they don't follow international law, they will not be taken to the international court. We have to live in a realistic world where we recognize that the bad guys often win and innocent people die. We need to look for "second best" solutions that will solve the problem.
"...outside protests about the Rohingya have been largely ineffective, sometimes counterproductive..."
This is completely true.
7
Thank you Nicholas Kristof. You have been a champion of hapless everywhere.
I hope your article will move the leadership in US Congress to do the right thing and impose sanctions against the military regime.
God Bless!
From what I’ve read, the Rohingya were one of the various ethnic groups who traditionally moved and lived somewhere between Bangladesh and southern China. A small number moved into Myanmar. In the 1800’s, when the British controlled India and Myanmar, they allowed many more Rohingya into Myanmar.
The indigent population of Myanmar have always looked at the Rohingya as interlopers who have taken their land. They see the Rohingya as having multiple wives and children, and fear that they will need an ever increasing amount of land to support themselves. The Rohingya have battled the indigent population ever since they arrived, and have tried to create their own break-away country.
The Rohingya population grown. There is not enough farmland or other means of employment for all of the men. Some paid smugglers to get them into Malaysia to find work. A few years back, the world condemned Thais for participating in the smuggling, in which some died. This pretty much ended the smuggling network, leaving the Rohingya without a way to get to Malaysia.
More recently, a few Rohingya went abroad for training with Islamic militias, and then returned to quietly organize (with their cell phones) hundreds of men to practice and then carry out very-well coordinated murderous attacks on the Myanmar police. The Myanmar military overreacted, but I wonder how the Islamic militias were expecting it to respond?
23
Sovereignty is a beautiful concept. It's their right and it's their problem.
2
As I understand it the genocide of the Rohingya is a relatively minor part of the entire genocide project that the Burmese Army is committed to. Most of it is aimed at the tribal peoples in the mountainous regions who don’t want to be subjects of the State. Kristof alludes to this very briefly but doesn’t bother to condemn it. I think it is shameful that genocide doesn’t count unless it is of people who are already “civilized”’. We have learned nothing from the genocide of Native Americans. We still think it is proper to kill the “savages” off, even though their culture is probably much wiser than ours is.
For background on this see the book “The Art of Not Being Governed” by James C. Scott.
1
Me. Kristoff, thank you for your bravery and excellent reporting especially in the face of the arrests of journalists for similar work.
I am not sure why this is considered an “Opinion” piece it is as well researched and contains first hand accounts and on-the-scene reporting as good and indeed better than most.
Yet another reason America - and the world -need strong, morally incorruptible leadership to take a stand against these horrors and be a shining light on the hill for the oppressed and weak, especially children, around the world.
Please vote for compassion and leadership this year, the world’s innocents depend on us.
1
A surprising fact in the Rohingya genocide is that a number of Buddhist authorities support it as a defense of Buddhism and country and have abandoned their usual pacifism. An example is Sitagu Sayadaw, a well-known monk in Myanmar. In October 2017 he told members of a military training school that Rohingya were less than human, so killing them resulted in no negative Karma. [See "Foreign Affairs" Nov. 6, 2017]
I have also wondered if this is an example of neoliberal economics wherein genocide appears far cheaper than providing them with a social safety net?
The world waits for Trump to act, but it does not. It is only concerned with hiding its collusion. Sad.
high praise for your effort...the immediacy is striking, something we lose with "perspective," historical, sociological or, of course, political.
if only we could reconstitute our own sins against humanity, re-VIVE them, so to speak, in their grim details, under the leadership of our own esteemed figures....not a film, not a faux documentary, just a reporter with camera and canoe, paddling through the reality of say an annotated recreation, rather an account(ing) than an indictment...
the passions stirred as they were by this piece would be instructive and perhaps redemptive.
again, thanks.
Mr. Kristof...Always, my Thanks for your depth and the Gift of your Sharing
Of it. Many years ago, while publishing a Book by a Holocaust Survivor, I was able to spend a brief afternoon with Ellie Wiesel. In awareness of this
Pain you share with us, I repeat an incongruous phrase I expressed long ago: Sometime the sanest reaction to an insane situation...is Insanity.
It is not an exaggeration to say there is an incipient genocide being created by the Trump Administration’s proposed slashing or eliminating HIV-AIDS benefits programs to Africa and other under-developed countries. Without explanation or justification, Trump's 2018 proposed budget cuts PEPFAR by 17 percent, and eliminates global health programs overall by $2 billion. It also downsizes the National Institute of Health's National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which funds HIV/AIDS research, by 23 percent. On the home front, the Trump budget would cut about 17 percent from the overall federal research anti-disease effort: The National Cancer Institute budget cut by $1 billion cut, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute cut by $575 million, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases cut by $838 million. The overall National Institutes of Health budget is cut from $31.8 billion to $26 billion. The only realistic outcome of these proposed budget cuts, if enacted, will be more disease and more death. Please publicize these irrational cuts in your impressive writing.
3
Thanks for reporting on this. Medical Teams International (and other organizations) has been working in refugee camps in Bangladesh since September. The people are living in horrible conditions; the UNHCR and aid groups are trying to make a difference. People outside need to understand that these refugees are people escaping horrific violence, and many have suffered unspeakable trauma, as you have pointed out. I do hope we don't look back and regret inaction in the face of genocide (as with Rwanda in 1994).
A cruel twist to this story is that Facebook is helping perpetuate this genocide, albeit indirectly. I was in Myanmar last year as a tourist just prior to the escalation of events in August. When I took cabs around Yangon or Mandalay, I asked several of the drivers (who had some fair English ability) if they were aware of the problems in Rakhine state (I deliberately avoided saying Rohingya). In multiple cases they eagerly pointed me to Facebook videos (always, Facebook) on their smartphones that purported to show various atrocities committed by Rohingya against the Buddhist population (these cartoons/videos were all captioned in Burmese, but the vitriol was clear from the images). I asked them if they believed this was all true, and generally they expressed no doubts.
Compounding the problem, Facebook continues to allow military leaders such as Senior General Min Aung Hlaing -- who currently has 1,345,912 likes -- to remain on the platform, despite his role in the violence. Giving him such prominent space only lends him more legitimacy.
Facebook--if you are listening--you are clearly earning revenue from advertising linked to popular pages such as General Hlaing's, but is this really worth the ongoing spread of misinformation in Myanmar, and the deadly consequences that often follow?
For my part, I clearly won't be going back to Myanmar anytime soon. And I was so disgusted with Facebook after that trip that I'm off the platform permanently.
2
Dear Mr. Kristof,
Yes, your narrative is different. You reach people emotionally not rationally. You provoke outrage, not doubts.
I am in Myanmar. Most people I deal with are very well aware of the humanitarian crisis and the suffering of the Rohingya. However, they also know of the historical and political complexity something that your reports are lacking.
Why not asking more questions?
How come that the Rakhine problem escalated after 2009 when activists outside(!) Myanmar got money from OIC to organize the Rohingya?
Who is financing the terrorist arm of Rohingya ARSA, and why is ARSA never mentioned in your articles? How come that you and other Western journalists portray Rohingya as if they had no agency, no organization, no politics?
How come that all countries bordering Bangladesh have a recognized problem with illegal immigration from Bangladesh but Myanmar is not allowed to have one. People who speak a Bengali dialect in Myanmar are according to you and other activists by default Rohingya and thus natives of Myanmar. Would I object, you, Mr Kristof, would declare me a fake news believer or worse. There are rigorous studies explaining how the Rohingya identity developed in Rakhine over the last six decades (sorry, the 1799 document does not corroborate your claim, better research is recommended).
Yes, your narrative is different, but the people in Myanmar are better informed. A complex reality does not sell. Outrage and the claim of "slow motion genocide" does.
22
There are people of native American-Hispanic mixed race origin in the USA who were always here, aside from the recent arrivals from Mexico. the former are not Mexicans. For the same reason the Rohingyas belong to Myanmar.
Ms. Suu Kyi studied in Kyoto ... and a British national was the father of
her children. Just prior to visiting her country in 1999, she was in my mind
as I underwent a compulsory interview in Bangkok in order to receive
a tourist visa. I held her in the highest regard and considered her a martyr
for her country, suffering the slings and arrows and lonely detention on
behalf of her people against the nation's military dictatorship. I am truly
dumbfounded now to learn that this woman is not at all what she seemed
to be ... not an internationalist, deeply committed to the dignity of all
those suffering around the world but, instead, merely another government
leader whose animating force is hate. She now deserves only scorn.
And I wonder : what do her sons make of their mother today?
1
Great and necessary reporting. Stay safe.
2
Where is the rest of the world-building nuclear weapons and destroying the environment.
1
Many here commend your bravery, and I join them, Mr. Kristof. Now I worry for your safety, while I am grateful you have brought this to light in the Times. The two journalists should be supported by the international community calling for their release. I read the Reuters article, saw the pictures, and cried. They, too, did a phenomenally brave deed by reporting.
It would seem at this point that Aung San Suu Kyi is more likely to be heading to the international court at The Hague than remaining long in her position. This is a vivid lesson for us here in the US as we combat hatred on our own shores. Let's be vigilant in keeping this unfolding atrocity in view so that the Rohingya may not perish and justice be brought.
But also, please stay safe so that you can keep writing.
There are times--very few times--that I believe the application of U.S. military power is fully justified. Preventing this unfolding humanitarian disaster for the Rohingya is one of these times. Perhaps even the threat of military action against the government of Myanmar would be enough to make a differnce. Instead, the people of the U.S. will wring their hands while our government does nothing. The last time I felt the U.S. was justified in taking military action for humanitarian reasons was in Rwanda in the 1990s. There too, we did nothing. Apparently, neither of these cases were/are thought to be in the security interests of the U.S. But I would take the cynical and longterm view that helping the Rohingya might very well buy us some goodwill from the Muslim world.
1
Every time I read about the Rohingya I am nearly brought to tears. It shakes me out of my middle class comfort zone and challenges me to do something. I just learned that Medical Teams International is helping them medically, at least in Bangladesh. Their HQ is down the street from me and I have heard a lot of good things about this group.
Maybe this issue is more complicated that it seems -- it probably is, but there seems to be some gross injustices. I hope our elected officials will hold the leaders of Myanmar accountable.
11
It is so heartbreaking to read this. Mr. Kristof, it's incredible that you can bear witness to it, and document the findings. At great personal risk no less. I don't know how you do it. Thank you for your work. I long for a future where humanity can shed this brutal approach to our neighbors, and all life on this planet.
41
It’s not clear if Doctors Without Borders is allowed to go in and treat the Rohingya. They would at least be able to hold the worst at bay. There must also be some lesson here about those who win Nobel Peace Prizes. Are they vetted in some deeper way, or are they just awarded the prize solely on the narrowly defined strength of their particular contribution? I also don’t understand why the distinction between ethnic cleansing and genocide...the ethnic cleansing in the Balkan states resulted in thousands of deaths but while it was called genocide, it was also called ethnic cleansing at the same time. Either way, the result is the same...death.
7
Giving voice to the voiceless. Shining a light on the darkest parts of our world. Holding the powerful accountable. Truth to power. Always seeking the objective truth. Extraordinary courage. Treating each human with compassion, dignity and equality. A call to action. An appeal to our conscience and morality.
That’s what true journalism looks like. There is simply no better journalist than Nick Kristof - the very best of NYT.
That’s what a true humanitarian does. Nick Kristof is a true humanitarian - representing the very best of America. A true great American. A great human being.
Unlike the Evangelicals who worship Trump, money and power, Nick Kristof leads his life by the true message of Jesus (or Buddha or Muhammad): love, compassion, truth, justice, the ethical and moral treatment of every human being.
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very well said. I couldn't have described of "A humanitarian" better than what you wrote about Mr. Kristof. He genuinely is and I sincerely wish that world hears the cries of these persecuted Rohingyas.
Mr. Kristof reports that scholars at Yale and U.N. officials have declared that the Myanmar government’s mass murders of the Rohingya carried out by the regular army and the intended effect of the mass self-eviction by terror of the Rohingya “may” be genocide. “May”?
And then there is the comment of one reader that he is going to boycott the country and deny it his “tourism” dollar until the government of Myanmar stops the killing, quarantine and intentional starvation of the Rohingya. Wow, harsh. Boy, that will scare the government into shaping up.
I commend Kristof for trying to keep this in the news.
37
It pains me to say this, but I think Aung San Suu Kyi needs to be stripped of her Nobel prize. Her government refuses to do anything (perhaps even condone?) while this genocide is happening. Surely a leader like that doesn’t qualify for a Nobel Peace Prize.
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I understand & agree with your sense of urgency for condemning Aung San Suu Kyi, presuming that she is the real leader of her branch of government, as well as the actual leader of her party. She remains a great figurehead, an icon for not only speaking out against totalitarianism, but for also being imprisoned and under house arrest for years while maintaining that one mission. But politics apparently in Burma are such that I'm not sure we outsiders really understand her current role in the divided system, with military control always present. It's just possible that she cannot address the Rohingya issue but wants to very much. If anyone can clarify her position for us, that would be helpful.
[BTW, we can always talk about why did B.Obama deserve a Nobel P.P.]?
2
Your sentiment does not pain me at all. For years I have looked on with vexation to see this woman adored by ever so many people, naive souls promoting her for the Nobel Peace prize.... the latter being bandied about as some sort of great achievement but having been desecrated by careless awarding to any Tom, Dick, & Harry who tickled the public's fancy at the moment (ask a.o. Obama who was awarded one for merely being elected; he recognized this but was adamantly counseled against declining the prize)
1
I have zero reservations calling for the revocation of her “Peace” award.
Looking at the situation more broadly, I'm curious what Kristof's perspective on Myanmar's future is. Can the Rohingya and the ethnic majority of Myanmar ever hope to really live in peace together? Even if the army relents in its ethnic cleansing, the Rohingya's hatred will now run deep for generations. And even before the latest campaign small groups of Islamist Rohingya agitators had launched attacks. It seems likely now that there will be nothing but hatred and reprisals on both sides for many, many years to come. In Kristof's view, how would a lasting peace be maintained?
5
A lasting peace seems especially difficult to maintain given the explosive population growth rate of the Rohingya minority. That is a highly destabilizing factor, and very important to acknowledge in searching for a lasting solution to this problem.
5
Myanmar Buddhists view the Rohingya as a poor minority group, with little education, but a high birth rate. The Buddhists fear the Rohingya community's growth will result in its taking an increasing share of the country’s limited land and and resources. The government has tried limiting some Rohingya areas to 2 children per family, with little success. A 4/12/16 article on the blog New Security Beat, titled “Myanmar’s Democratic Deficit: Demography and the Rohingya Dilemma”, by Rachel Blomquist & Richard Cincotta, estimates that a Rohingya woman has 3.8 children over her lifetime which leads to a population growth of 1.5 percent per year.
The PEW Trust has a web site titled "Total Fertility Rates of Muslims by Region, 2010-2015" with a table showing that in every region of the world, Muslim women had more children than non-Muslims.
Our planet is over-populated. Muslims and other ultra-religious groups need to limit their family size so everyone has enough resources. Otherwise, people will fight over the resources, as has happened in Myanmar.
5
Mr Kristol is honest and thoughtful, as well as warm-hearted. He should have mentioned the big role played by the extremely fast population growth rate of the Rohingya. This has frightened the Buddhist majority, worried about demographic replacement. This phenomena of a Rohingya population explosion does not justify the actions of the Buddhist majority, but certainly is a major factor in explaining the situation and how it came about. Pretending otherwise is fake news, and should be avoided by honest observers like Mr. Kristol.
21
All those dead babies doesn't look like a population explosion to me.
2
Dear Nicholas Kristof, thank you for this important article and for going to Myanmar. The treatment of the Rohingya people is a terrible evil. I hope the senate Republicans approve the sanctions bill very soon, perhaps TODAY.
23
Not answered -- what did the Rohinga do to force Budhists to accept that genocide was necessary for survival.
24
No true Buddhist would ever be forced to accept genocide as "necessary." If you read the history of Tibet and the Chinese takeover, you find that there was armed resistance, but also pleas from the Dalai Lama to leave aside violence as a response. That ethnic cleansing is also still going on.
The global Buddhist community has condemned what the Myanmar government, army, and Buddhist population is doing to the Rohingya. We are aghast at this behavior. It goes against every teaching of Buddhism. It shows that Buddhists also are human beings, and human beings are capable of atrocity, as we have seen again and again throughout history. It's a stain on a noble religion.
If the UN, joined by major powers, can put a stop to this and get inside the country, we may be able to find out what the true story is. It is hard for me to believe the Rohingya asked for this by doing something to their Buddhist neighbors. It may be that a few turned to terrorism (as a few in this country have done--Boston bombing for one) and then the government and army responded with violence and, basically, counter-terrorism. Or maybe the Rohingya did nothing but exist as Muslim neighbors, and a campaign of hatred stirred the fires of persecution against them. To assume the Rohingya did something, and to presume Buddhists are forced to react violently is dangerous territory. Best to keep the unfolding story in view, and call your reps and senators urging help.
3
Setting aside that these people did nothing except be an ethnic minority... Genocide is never "necessary". You are a failure of a human being if you think it ever can be.
3
Tsultrim,
You emphasize my point while missing it. Something unreported happened of such an incredible magnitude that it pushed Buddhist to genocide. You're absolutely correct that this is completely antithetical to Buddhist teachings, which means that something dramatic must have occurred.
2
This is the kind of article to avoid. But, read it we must.
All of us are still rightfully haunted and tormented by our "tragedy" here created by the rise of POTUS 45. But our deeper grief and sadness is found with the possibility of more war(nuclear?), a damaged planet's climate, and the ongoing human rights violations and genocide going on in the world. In Myanmar and other areas, this is when AMERICAN leadership and government normally would address the situation in multiple ways. A President would focus on these larger issues, have diplomats and agencies there to directly help and bring pressure on the offending nation, and speak forcefully in the UN for action to stop these atrocities. As others here have noted (and the NY Times has published and commented on over time), the Nobel Committee ought to rescind the prize awarded to Aung San Suu Kyi.
16
Great reporting. THANK YOU!
It is precisely these type of reports can help to give American and European diplomats and decision makers a better picture of the situation and a moral compass to act to stop the genocide. Hopefully there are more brave journalists who get inspired by this reporting and continue to document the state.
Given the fact that China calls the shots, the outlook for improvement is dismal. As long as the concept of human rights and its benefits isn't clearly understood by the Chinese elite, they will generously overlook the crimes and keep expanding their sphere of influence.
Bosnia, Syria, Congo, Rohingya... The world (UN) urgently needs better ways to stop crimes timely and massively increase the price perpetrators can expect to pay.
Editor’s note: This comment has been anonymized in accordance with applicable law(s).
16
China is doing much the same thing in a distant province. These are people who have lived in China but are they're own sect and are Muslim. China and Burma are in lock step on how to treat ethnic minorities.
1
This is the kind of courageous and significant reporting Mr. Kristof has become known and praised for. The situation in Mynamar is just one example of countless where the world is slipping into increased instability, anarchy, brutality and oppression. International organizations and cooperation are overdependent on leadership from the US government, and the US government has become willfully dysfunctional under the principle-less Republicans and the feel-good-about-always-losing Democrats.
9
Nick Kristof embodies everything that is good, decent, brave, and important about a concerned, engaged, progressive-minded person. With his keen intellect and through his intrepid travels, he reminds us all of how a human being who devotes himself to the greater good can make a big difference in the world by potentially helping legions of forgotten, oppressed, impoverished, and downtrodden people have a voice.
19
Mr. Kristof is lucky to be alive. And the Rohingya are lucky that he is alive. And we Americans are lucky he is alive.
Citing a poster below: "Nick Kristof embodies everything that is good, decent, brave, and important about a concerned, engaged, progressive-minded person."
I was a photojournalist in the camps south of Cox's Bazar (Dec. 2017) and was in 'no man's land'; and, yes, this is *exactly* how bad it is. The Rohingya have been brutalized in a way the world cannot and must not tolerate: their land and villages taken, the women raped, their children burned, the citizenship denied. This is Bosnia, Rwanda, and the Warsaw ghetto all over again, approximately the 25th ethnic-cleansing/genocide after the world said 'never again' in 1946. America alas has no moral leverage anymore, but as moral agents we citizens must speak out. Try and move Senate ill 2060 forward. Contribute to MSF. Don't be silent.
1
Thank you, Mr. Kristof, for your brave journalism. I called my (Republican) senator this morning to urge him to make the sanctions a priority. Thank you again for risking your safety to give a voice to those who are silenced.
37
The Nobel Peace Committee must strip Aung San Suu Kyi of the Peace Prize. This is unconscionable, do something.
43
This certainly isn't the only slow-motion genocide that you have witnessed, Mr Kristof. But it may be an easy one to condemn because Myanmar isn't a major ally of the United States. Nor does it have strong support in either the Washington establishment or the NY Times readership. Its few supporters don't frame or sway the debate with any moral or financial capital they may have. Condemning Myanmar for its rights abuses is the right thing to do, but it's not a difficult thing to do either.
6
Your comment is unfairly dismissive of Mr. Kristof's reporting. Why don't you try sneaking into Myanmar to report genocide, if you think "it's not a difficult thing to do either".
2
For those who praise Mr. Kristof for his efforts, you should consider the whole story. For reasons that are not entirely clear, Myanmar allows many outsiders to visit the Rohingya refugee camp. Just the other day three Nobel Prize winners visited the camp and denounced the government. The willingness of the government to allow such visits is a precious right for the Rohingya. When Mr. Kristof visits the camp under false pretenses he tests the patience of the government and jeopardizes those in the camp. That is a dicey matter. I certainly have doubts about the wisdom of his ruse.
7
Your comments regarding the denunciation of the Myanmar government by three Nobel Prize winners are based on a false premise. The refugee camps that the Nobel Prize winners visited were located in Bangladesh, not Myanmar, as you mistakenly claim. Mr. Kristof is to be commended for his reporting, not condemned.
3
The three Nobel winners visited Rohinga refugee camps in Bangladesh, not a camp in Myanmar. No permission from Myanmar's government was granted or needed.
2
I'm afraid you've confused the restricted villages in Burma (aka Myanmar) with the refugee camps in Bangladesh. He risked his own safety to enter villages in Burma to bear witness and share his findings. I have no doubt (from far less dangerous but similar experience) that the people there appreciate greatly that he came--there only hope comes from knowing that outsiders care about their plight. Acting on that knowledge is up to each of us.
3
Once again, you managed to mesmerize me with your reporting, Mr. Kristof. There are absolutely no words to describe what is happening there. Simply unbelievable that something like this is happening again and nobody can (or is willing to) stop it.
I cannot even express my feelings for these people and their suffering, the stories emerging from their places remind me of the darkest chapters of human history.
Thank you for your reporting, for taking the risks and bringing us the stories of this genocide - there are not many reporters these days willing to do that!
13
Thank you Mr. Kristof for your courage and your writing. We must stand for those who are not able to stand for themselves.
6
The genocide being committed against the Rohingya is sickening. Beyond the obvious murder and torture of the Rohingya, the most disturbing thing is the bland denial and justification for what the Myanmar authorities know is genocide. It makes me think of the thoroughly average Germans who implemented the Holocaust or the crowds of white Americans posing with the hanging and often burnt bodies of African Americans. Evil is carried on most effectively when the people doing have convinced themselves that they are good people and their victims aren’t really people at all. An Sang Suchi is unfortunately standing on the ideological shoulders of her predecessors like America’s Founding Fathers who reconciled their demands for their own freedom with the continued genocide of Native Americans and the enslavement of African Americans.
7
It all comes from the same place—hatred and fear of other. Sickening.
Mr.Kristof you are a gentleman, who gives us correct news and knowledge about different parts of the world. One thing is certain that the whole world is watching poor innocent civilians die in Myanmar., at least now the UN should act and protect the people. I salute you for your courage and next time you visit Myanmar meet the noble prize winner Suu Kyi and urge the world to take the prize away from her.
5
As someone with Armenian heritage, Mr. Kristof knows how important it is for the world to see and acknowledge the reality of genocide. Of course, the perpetrators are usually the very last to recognize the severity of their own deeds, which is why on-site testimony is so important, but it doesn't always work. Even today, despite tens of thousands of pages of testimony, research, plus governmental, media and eye witness reports, Turkey still refuses to acknowledge the genocide it conducted against its Armenian citizens, that murdered 85% of Turkey's Armenian minority of almost 2 million. Unfortunately, the world still has not learned how to stop such horrific events.
9
Thank you for your brave reporting. What you describe appears to be an example of a "Genocide by Attrition." It's a violation of Article 2(c) of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which defines Genocide as "Deliberately inflicting" "conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction in whole or in part," when committed "with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such." The drafters of this section had the Warsaw Ghetto in mind, before it's liquidation, where hundreds of thousands died from starvation and disease, not gas or bullets. There are lots of historical analogues, from the forced marches of the Armenian genocide, the food confiscation of the Holodomor, the forced marches, forced labor and targeted malnutrition of the Cambodian genocide, and even the mass infliction of targeted sexual violence in Bosnia and Sudan. As Raphael Lemkin himself wrote in the very paper where he coined the word "Genocide," : "Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves." (I studied this topic at the Human Rights and Genocide Clinic at Cardozo Law School)
11
As long as people insist on belonging to tribes these problems are going to persist. Anthropologists speak of bonding or bridging, and people seem to have a natural tendency to bond rather than to bridge, which is unfortunate because a bond within a group is a border between groups.
The Rohinga are a minority even within Rakhine Province, so it's hard to see how a separate area could be carved out for them. But there's hope in that Myanmar is peacefully multi-ethnic between Bamars, Rakhines, Karens and several other groups, with only the Muslim Rohingas not accepted.
Once again religion poisons what might otherwise be a peaceful situation.
3
Thank you for your continued and persistent reporting on this ongoing and dire tragedy in Myanmar.
10
I know that Myanmar has become a very popular travel destination in the last decade. I have several very well traveled friends who declare it to be " their very favorite place to travel to". I'm wondering how much effect a travel boycott would have; tourist spending has become a very important source of income for the country. I not going there until major changes are made.
83
I believe that economic boycotts are effective. I also know that it is even more effective to write to the Tourist Board or whatever powers that be and tell them you and yours are not visiting, and tell them why.
6
Do it. Tourism is a critical fuel for national economic engines. Your travels are investments in people and place. Don't invest in places you can't ethically support. And, make certain you make noise about this. Tell everyone you know exactly why you chose not to visit Myanmar. Your impact may be small, but small impacts add up.
5
I lived in Myanmar for three years and have traveled the country extensively. You should still go and visit the country. When you go, make sure that you frequent locally owned small establishments that are not associated with cronies or the military. By going and travelling you are helping to support the local people and not the government. It's important to see the Myanmar people with your own eyes and hear their stories in person because what you read in the Western media doesn't tell the entire picture.
5
Thank you. This article (and your work underlying it) is one of the few that actually provided me with new information about what is going on in Myanmar itself with respect to the remaining Rohingya. It has smelled like genocide for a long time, but this article is the first I have seen (other of course may be better informed) that really nails it. You inspired me to donate to the International Rescue Committee's work for the Myanmar Rohingya; it's a solid organization and one of the few on the ground there. I am sure you won't be able to go back anytime soon, but I would appreciate your updates if you can provide them. Thank you for your work in uncovering genocide in the 21st century.
110
How would that help the situation?
2
In an era when there is a deliberate attempt to discredit the press and even the concept of a free press, it is important that we hear voices like Mr. Kristof’s. Thank you for your work. I am moved and inspired by your courage and your tenacity.
207
You know, Mr. Kristof, this whole process happened in reverse in the region a few decades ago when its Muslim population decided it needed its own homeland with Pakistan (which eventually split to create Bangladesh). Hindus, Christians, and other minorities were forced out.
Is it really such a problem that some of the neighboring countries that bore the brunt of this partition might challenge the Muslim population to live in the countries that they just had to have?
Or is the real question that needs to be contemplated why it is that, just about anywhere in the world, it almost invariably is better for Muslims to be a minority in someone else's country than to live as a Muslim in their own country?
65
Partition was a horror. Millions died. No matter what you think about Pakistan, the people who are being slowly killed in Myanmar now are not people who caused that. Nor are the people of Bangladesh, who have suffered through so much and now are dealing with a crushing refugee problem. No, the "real question that needs to be contemplated" is not the question you pose. Your question is wrongly posed. And what can you possibly mean by "someone else's country" or "their own country"? Ah, Cristobal, what is *your* own country, and how can you tell?
14
"Is it really such a problem that some of the neighboring countries that bore the brunt of this partition might challenge the Muslim population to live in the countries that they just had to have?"
YES, it is, if a whole population is subjected to ruthless campaign of rape, torture, murder, food and medical care deprivation.
"Or is the real question that needs to be contemplated why it is that, just about anywhere in the world, it almost invariably is better for Muslims to be a minority in someone else's country than to live as a Muslim in their own country?"
NO, that is a totally different question and wholey unrelated to the issues and atrocities against Rohingya in Myanmar.
5
Are you just casually brushing off genocide?
4
Thank you for your reporting and your bravery
81
Breaking an implicit agreement/terms of a visa was necessary in this case, and the outside world is better for it. Thank you for shedding light on the situation. But I am guessing that will be your last officially sanctioned visit to Myanmar for awhile.
28
Mr. Kristof always keeps the world and us American honest about what horrors continue to happen all over the world. What he writes about here is no better than use of poison gas in Syria and while that had a (weak) response, yet no word from the American government about this atrocity. The Nobel folks should really consider taking back the prize for the country's leader who leads not, and dishonors all that she did in the past. A big problem is that there is so much in the world to weep about, here, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and looking down the road to those who will die because of climate change.
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