The Face of Buddhist Terror It's a faith famous for its pacifism and tolerance. But in several of Asia's Buddhist-majority nations, monks are inciting bigotry and violence — mostly against Muslims.. His face as still and serene as a statue's, the Buddhist monk who has taken the title "the Burmese bin Laden" begins his sermon. Hundreds of worshippers sit before him, palms pressed together, sweat trickling silently down their sticky backs. On cue, the crowd chants with the man in burgundy robes, the mantras drifting through the sultry air of a temple in Mandalay, Burma's second biggest city after Rangoon. It seems a peaceful scene, but Wirathu's message crackles with hate. "Now is not the time for calm," the 46-year-old monk intones, as he spends 90 minutes describing the many...
PDF of cover story: http://www.sacw.net/article4903.html
Rohingya Muslims are among the world's most persecuted people, according to the UN. They are officially stateless, as neither the Burmese government nor neighboring Bangladesh recognize their citizenship. There are 800,000 Rohingya living in Burma, mostly in ghettos, slums and refugee camps. In April, Buddhist gangs armed with bricks and sticks set fire to about 100 homes and looted shops and 2 mosques around the city of Okkan — killing 1 person and injuring 10. In late April, Human Rights Watch accused authorities of "ethnic cleansing" against the Rohingya Muslim minority. Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has been criticized for not speaking on behalf of the Rohingya Muslims. Op-eds called this her "blind spot," and said she was on "shaky moral high ground." On May 28, she spoke against the 2-child limit imposed on Muslim families by authorities.
http://cir.ca/story/religious-violence-in-burma
This Buddhist monk was true to the message of the Buddha:
Buddhist clergyman Sein Ni Ta denounces "systematic massacre" in Meiktila
More coverage of communal strife in Myanmar:
Death toll tops 100 in Myanmar ethnic strife
- 112 killed, homes burned as Buddhists, Muslims clash in Myanmar
- Myanmar, Bangladesh leaders 'to discuss Rohingya'
- Aung San Suu Kyi's shaky moral high ground
- Burma's Rohingya Muslims: Aung San Suu Kyi's blind spot
- Anti-Muslim violence hits central Myanmar
- Rohingya people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- 2-child limit for Muslims in parts of Myanmar
- Myanmar government bans Time magazine; more than a thousand rally
- Myanmar bans Time magazine for story about monk
- The Face of Buddhist Terror
- Myanmar's monks accused of fuelling tensions
- Monks’ Convention in Burma Calls for Restricting Buddhist-Muslim Marriage
- Myanmar's monks accused of fuelling tensions
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