Lokifan

The last twenty-four hours in South Korea have been wild and terrible, but inspiring. I think a lot of the details are still-to-be-confirmed, but in case you missed it:

( the people stopped a coup )

So I’ve been following the situation of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, in desultory fashion, for a couple of years. The UN’s said they’re “the most persecuted minority” in the world, and that’s before the current disaster. They’re denied citizenship in Myanmar, even when born there, so they’re stateless, which renders them unable to leave (no passports) or access basic government services including education and healthcare.

And the situation has devolved horribly.

On the 25th of August, Rohingya militants attacked security services, and are still fighting the army. The army has unleashed a horrifying wave of violence in response - it’s unambiguously ethnic cleansing, and has four of the five identifying signs of genocide. The Myanmar army is trying to wipe out the Rohingyas entirely.

They’re burning villages. They’re shooting fleeing civilians en masse and drowning children. The government is refusing to let aid workers through with medicine, food, and water. There have been convulsions of violence before, particularly last year and in 2012, described by the UN as “crimes against humanity”; there was gang rape and torture, murder and disappearances. This is worse.

I know there’s Brexit and Irma and Harvey and the possibility of nuclear war, but we can’t let a million people get swept under the rug. They’re fleeing for their lives into Bangladesh, but the border is technically closed and border guards have refused hundreds of people trying to get out. Bangladesh has called for an end to the violence but it’s not enough. Thousands of people are now trapped in the mountains, their homes burnt behind them, the borders closed to them, the government refusing to let aid workers in and security forces closing in.

I wrote to my MP yesterday asking her to do something about this. The text is under a cut below - it’s not in any way good, really, but it is text you can use. Amnesty International has an article about the situation, with a a petition to sign, and a link to the Twitter of the Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar’s army, and a suggested Tweet. We’ve got to show we care, and that we’re paying attention. Otherwise the Myanmar government will have no incentive to stop this.

( short email I wrote to my representative )