Buddhist Religious Right

Articles

• Myanmar: Muslim Rohingyas under “vicious” attack in Myanmar-rights group
  28 October 2012, by siawi3

  The images released by the New York-based Human Rights Watch show “near total destruction” of a predominantly Rohingya Muslim part of Kyaukpyu, one of several areas in Rakhine state where battles between Rohingyas and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists threaten to derail the former Burma’s fragile democratic transition.

• India: Hate Speech; Hate Crimes and Communal Polarization
  22 April 2016, by siawi3

  Communal violence is the violence in the name of religion and is targeted at the religious minorities or ‘other’ religious communities in general. It is a major phenomenon in South Asia. This worsened during last three decades in particular. We have witnessed the Christians, Hindus and Ahmadiyas being the target in Pakistan, Muslims and Christians in India and Buddhists and Hindus being major victims in Bangla Desh. Also Muslims in Myanmar, Christians and Muslims in Srilanka have similar plight.

• Not In Our Name: Against Religious extreminism in Sri Lanka
  28 April 2012, by siawi3

  There is a real danger that unaddressed or if simply glossed over, this militant religious extremism can very quickly and very seriously undermine Sri Lanka’s post-war reconciliation, and contribute to new, more geographically dispersed violent conflict. Extremists from both the Sinhala-Buddhist community and the Muslim community can also use this incendiary incident in Dambulla to stoke up communal tensions, leading to heightened fear and anxiety.

• Despite Concerns Raised By Lankan Muslims, The “Butcher Of Burma” In Sri Lanka
  30 September 2014, by siawi3

  "Everyone must keep in mind that this is a Sinhala Buddhist country.”Despite concerns raised by Sri Lankan Muslims over the visit of Burmese monk Ashin Wirathu who has been held responsible for spreading racial hatred that led to the murder of thousands of Burmese Muslims, the monk has arrived in Sri Lanka last night to participate in the summit of Buddhist monks tomorrow, organised by the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS).

• In Burma, the violent side of Buddhism
  28 September 2014, by siawi3

  Especially dispiriting is the near-total silence on these events from the leader of the movement for Burmese democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi. It should be a simple matter of decency and justice to oppose religious persecution and violence, whether Muslims (or any other group) are the perpetrators or the victims.

• Sri Lanka: A Study of Online Hate Speech
  28 September 2014, by siawi3

  A considerable amount of social media hate speech in Sri Lanka occurs on Facebook. The degree to which hate speech exists on social media is often undetected by platform, domain or app owners (e.g. Facebook’s own hate speech monitoring mechanisms) due to the expression being predominantly in Sinhala.

• Burma: Fresh religious bloodshed rocks Myanmar
  7 June 2013, by siawi3

  Some monks — who were among the most vocal pro-democracy supporters during Myanmar’s repressive junta era — have been involved in the violence, while others are spearheading a move to boycott shops owned by Muslims.

• Sri Lanka: Island of the Pure - How Sinhala extremism turned against Sri Lanka’s Muslims after the civil war
  8 August 2014, by siawi3

  The furious swell of Sinhalese nationalism that had closed out the war with such brutality is now poisoning other relationships in Sri Lanka: monks started the Sinhala Ravaya (the Sinhalese Roar) and the Bodu Bala Sena (the Army of Buddhist Power), the Buddhist right developed a taste for straight thuggery.

• Myanmar: Hatred as politics
  8 August 2014, by siawi3

  International diplomatic and public opinion circles have tended to portray Myanmar’s anti-Muslim violence as an unfortunate social consequence of transition from authoritarianism to democracy. Such misconceptions not only ignore the reality of decades-long persecution of Muslims in the country, but they also absolve authorities of their historical responsibility for manufacturing, endorsing and permitting such violence, both directly and indirectly. They also ignore the role played by Myanmar’s generals and their cronies in manufacturing Burman-Buddhist nationalist ideology. In the 1960 general election, Prime Minister U Nu published in his manifesto a promise to declare Buddhism as the state religion if elected. A public declaration of anti-Muslim persecution was made on September 10, 2012 after a meeting between monks from all Buddhist sects in Karen State organized by the Alliance of Buddhism Custodians. Tolerance of anti-Muslim violence was also apparent during the Meiktila pogroms in March 2013.

• Sri Lanka: The Fascist Danger Of Buddhist extreme-right monks
  29 June 2016, by siawi3

  The failure so far to curtail the extremist Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) activities against the Muslim community is a major black mark on the Yahapalana government as it promised to bring peace and reconciliation to the country. There should be some constraints within all religions or religious denominations of their clergy men or women getting involved in extremist politics. Even non-Muslims have started to call for the arrest of Buddhist extreme,right monks.

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