Is Burma’s Anti-Muslim Violence Led by “Buddhist Neo-Nazis”?

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Yangon, Myanmar -- When most Westerners think of Buddhism, they think of smiling men with potbellies and inspirational quotes from Phil Jackson. “Buddhist neo-Nazi” sounds like a contradiction in terms.

<< The logo of the 969 group.

But in Burma, vicious anti-Muslim sentiment has been on the rise, and Buddhist extremists are responsible for attacking Muslims and burning down their houses and mosques, a state of affairs that was largely ignored until Anonymous launched a Twitter campaign to teach the world about the genocide against the Rohingya people, the officially stateless Muslims who many believe will be massacred if the world does not respond.

According to Dr. Muang Zarni, a Burmese human rights activist and research fellow at the London School of Economics, much of the blame for the current situation in Burma can be laid at the feet of the 969 group, which he describes as an neo-Nazi organization of hatemongers who are using Hitlerian tactics to “purify” the country by getting rid of the Muslims—it’s also, he says, one of the fastest-growing movements in the country.

I spoke to Dr. Zarni to find out more about what’s going on in Burma and how a Buddhist can be a "Nazi."

VICE: Who are the 969, and what does the number mean?

Dr. Muang Zarni: The 969 leaders are Burmese men in monks’ robes. It’s a bit difficult to describe them as genuine monks because they are preaching a message of anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia that is completely incompatible with the Buddhist message of universal kindness. The 969 number stands for three things: the 9 stands for the special attributes of Buddha, the founder of the religion; the 6 stands for attributes of his teachings of dharma; and finally, the last 9 stands for special characteristics or attributes of the clergy.

You’ve described the 969 group as “Burma’s fastest-growing neo-Nazi ‘Buddhist’ nationalist movement.” What makes them neo-Nazis and why are they targeting Muslims?

I use the word neo-Nazi because their intent is genocidal in the sense that the Muslims of Burma—all of them, including the ethnically Burmese—are considered leeches in our society the way the Jews were considered leeches and bloodsuckers during the Third Reich when Nazism was taking root.

There is a parallel between what we saw in Nazi Germany and what we are seeing today in Burma. The 969 movement and its leading spokespersons call for attacking the Muslims of Burma—not just the Rohingyas in western Burma who were incorrectly framed as illegal migrants from Bangladesh, but all Muslims from Burma. Buddhist people who try to help Muslims or buy groceries from Muslim businesses are either beaten up or intimidated or ostracized by other Buddhists.

Also, the military is involved with this movement. At best, the military authorities are tolerating the message of hatred coming from the Buddhist preachers. At worst, and I believe this to be true, elements within the military leadership are passively backing this movement. Over the past 50 years since the military came to power, there has been a consistent pattern of the military leadership using proxy organizations within Burmese communities across the country to incite violence against targeted groups, be they dissidents, Chinese, or now, Muslims.

What does the Burmese government have to gain from this violence?

There are three goals, as far as I can tell. One is, the military leadership has swapped their generals’ uniforms for civilian clothing, but at heart, they still remain irredeemably authoritarian and dictatorial. They are security obsessed and some of them feel the reforms that are unfolding in the country are going too far. So they want to slow it down and roll back the reform process. In order to do that, they must create social instability and use volatile situations as an excuse to say, “The people can’t handle freedom of speech, freedom of movement, and freedom of organization. Therefore, we need to have a strong handle on the situation to make sure people stay in line and don’t kill each other.”

Secondly, when all these waves of violence against Rohingya Muslims started last year, the military and the proxy political party of the military was in a worrisome situation because it lost by a landslide in the elections. So within two months of their defeat, they decided to create this very powerful anti-Muslim communal sentiment around the country. And now, [activist and political leader An San] Suu Kyi is in a difficult situation because she can only speak the liberal language of human rights and democracy, which is not as powerful as the ideology that the military and these neo-Nazi monks have whipped up. When it comes to fighting this kind of abnormal religious movement, the language of human rights is never enough.

Thirdly, I think the military is not leaving anything to chance. They have another round of elections in 2015, and they want to make sure that they have a new proxy political movement that they can use to square off Suu Kyi’s party. As a result, the 969 neo-Nazi movement is the most popular movement in the country.

In a YouTube video of a sermon given by Wirathu, one of 969’s leaders, he says that Muslims are taking over the country and destroying the Buddhist way of life. Is this way of thinking only popular in extremist circles, or are everyday Burmese buying it?
The reaction is mixed. We Burmese tend to be prejudiced against people with darker skin color. And that’s typical among Far East or Southeast Asian countries where lighter, paler skin is considered more prestigious and desirable. This 969 movement is preying on the historical and cultural prejudices we have as a society towards darker skin color.

Also, when you have a country that is the poorest in Southeast Asia, the language of economic nationalism is appealing, and that’s what the neo-Nazi movement is using. They tell people they are poor because their wealth is taken away by the “Islamic leeches.”

What role, if any, do Western governments have in this?

Burma is a crucial element in Obama’s new foreign policy of rebalancing American interests and power. It sits in between two major powers: India and China. And we’re also next to Thailand, which is the United States’s strategic hub for diplomatic, economic, and intelligence operations in Southeast Asia.

American and EU businesses are looking for new markets to get out of their economic decline and Burma has massive resources of oil, gas, uranium, timber, you name it. So they’re not going to frame their new business partner in an emerging market as genocidal.

If the West portrays what is happening in Burma accurately as genocidal, the international community will demand action and demand the perpetrators be brought to justice. That’s why I

think the international community is going very easy on the Burmese military.

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Follow Ray on Twitter: @RayDowns

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Authorities Nurture Burma’s Buddhist Chauvinism, Analysts Say

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BANGKOK, THAILAND -- Burma’s Buddhist monk-led demonstrations this week against the Muslim minority Rohingya surprised many observers.  Analysts say the country’s Buddhist chauvinism was shaped by authorities’ attempts to form a national identity.  But there are worries it could get out of control.

<< Burma's Buddhist monks stage a rally to protest against minority Rohingya Muslims in Mandalay, central Burma, September 2, 2012.
 
This week’s protests were the first large monk-led demonstrations in Burma since the 2007 uprising against military rule. But they were a stark contrast to that earlier movement.
While the 2007 Saffron Revolution called for love and democracy, hundreds of monks marching this week in Mandalay called for the expulsion of one of the world’s most oppressed minorities, the Rohingya.
The monks were supporting a suggestion by President Thein Sein that the Muslim minority, numbering close to a million, should be segregated and deported.

The extremist calls follow violent summer clashes between Buddhists and Rohingya in western Rakhine state that left 90 people dead.

Sectarian tensions are so high they overshadowed the fact that President Thein Sein was Prime Minister in 2007 when the military government violently cracked down on Buddhist monks.
Maung Zarni, a visiting researcher at the London School of Economics, says authorities are harnessing Buddhist nationalism.
“These generals are considered monk killers," he said. "And, you know, the world [has] seen images of like troops shooting Buddhist monks in the Saffron Revolution.  Now, they have successfully refashioned themselves as defenders of Buddhist faith, protectors of Buddhist communities in western Burma.  And, it’s actually extremely brilliant, if dangerous, you know, political calculation.” 
Burma’s monks have taken lead roles in times of popular unrest, earning them the reputation of being champions of democracy and freedom. 
The 2007 Saffron Revolution takes its name from the color of monks’ robes.
Buddhist monks were also key supporters of a 1988 student democracy uprising that the military similarly put down by force.
But while those struggles were noble, analysts say historically Burma’s Buddhism has been influenced by a racist nationalism that occasionally re-surfaces. 
Juliane Schober is a scholar studying Burma’s Buddhist traditions at Arizona State University. 
“In this particular instance it seems to be a case where there is a lot of debate about what constitutes Burmese identity.  And, the saying, you know, ‘to be Burmese is to be Buddhist’ is one that was first articulated in the early 1910s when the initial struggles for independence became and it was a way of asserting Burmese identity vis-à-vis British colonial rule,” said Schober.

Burma’s first prime minister after independence, U Nu was a devout Buddhist. He eventually steered a bill through parliament that made Buddhism Burma’s state religion in 1961.

Burma is about 90 percent Buddhist and majority ethnically Burman, but the remaining people are a diverse group of over 100 ethnic and religious minorities.
Ethnic groups along the border make up most of the armed rebels that have been seeking some form of autonomy, leading some to question the loyalty of minorities.
Rachel Fleming is Advocacy Director for the Chin Human Rights Organization.  She says the Christian Chin in western Chin state were viewed as such a threat to national identity that monks were dispatched to try to convert them to Buddhism.
“The significance of that is those monks were primarily loyal to military rule and Burma army soldiers exacted forced labor from Chin Christians to build Pagodas and monasteries for those monks,” she said.
Fleming says while Buddhism is treated as the defacto state religion, with a special recognition in the constitution, authorities tear down unauthorized Christian churches and crosses.
While authorities have at times emphasized the country’s diversity, the Buddhist Burman majority was singled out as the trustworthy pillar of national identity.
Aung Thu Nyein with the Vahu Development Institute says authorities have long sought to impose the Burman majority views on the population by keeping minorities out of power.
“They don’t have any written laws and regulations, but practically, in the military if you are a Christian or if you are a Muslim you won’t be promoted up to major ranks.  You won’t be a senior leader in the military,” he said.
Analysts and rights activists worry Burma is fostering a xenophobia that, if left unchecked, could get out of control.
Phil Robertson is Deputy Director for Asia with Human Rights Watch.  He says if more people fail to speak up, Burma could be headed towards a Buddhist xenophobia similar to the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka.
“And that’s the concern that we see today in Burma that if this continues, if the Burmese monkhood continues to come out and press against the Rohingya in this way, will we be on the road to a kind of Sri Lanka situation with the Rohingya where you have Buddhists across Burma raising their hands against Rohingya,” he said.
Burma media reports say while authorities allowed the monks’ three-day demonstration to take place, as it got bigger, they tried to discourage it.

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