One root of violence is alienation. When a minority has an opposing view to the majority, that minority may become marginalized and alienated from the masses.
This has happened in nations previously colonized by the former British, Belgian, French, German, and other European empires prior to the post-modern period of history.
Another kind of violence is when a people are placed in prison camps during wartime. This applies to the Jewish Holocaust, the Japanese internment camps in the Americas during World War2, and even the imprisonment of Ukrainians in Canada during the Great War (1914-1918).
In our enlightened times in the post-911 21st Century (the post-modern era), prison camps will be used only as a last resort. Indeed, in Canada this also happened when the BC government moved children of Doukhabours from their homes into the former prison camps which once house the Japanese-Canadians displace from the West Coast of BC.
Furthermore, home-grown terrorists with no ties to Al-Qaeda are fervently Muslim but wholly radicalised due to their sympathies for their Muslim brethren in Gaza, South Lebanon and elsewhere in the world such as the Palestinian Diaspora of the Americas and the European ghettos of Western, Central and Eastern Europe as well as Eastern Eurasia and Central Asia (e.g. Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Turkey and other Muslim enclaves of Eurasia like Kazakhstan), and so willing to turn to violence for purely ideological reasons.
Most non-Muslim people in the West (the Americas, the UK, the Netherlands and other European nations with large Muslim populations) who mistrust the Muslim immigrants are totally ignorant of the Koran (including the Sharias and Hadiths).
A few of them (especially in the US) have even chosen to slander Mohammed and Islam itself, while calling themselves "God-fearing Christians".
What utter religious hypocrisy!
Even Sri Lanka fell into this religious hypocrisy by endorsing Theravada Buddhism as state religion and Sinhalese as state language in 1956. This political act in the mid-20th Century led first to riots and, in the wake of anti-communist fear, finally led to the assassination of the fourth Prime Minister, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, a Sinhalese Anglican Christian, of Sri Lanka in 1959 by a radical Buddhist cleric named Talduwe Somarama. In 1962, Mr. Somarama shed his orange robes and converted to Catholicism before dying as a "martyr" when he was executed in 1962.
However, Somarama was part of a conspiracy headed by Mapitigama Buddharakkitha of the Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara, for the Kelaniya Temple was historically a hotbed of trouble for Sri Lanka since its founding circa 500 BCE in south-western region near Colombo.
Civil unrest due to oppression by the Sinhalese of the Tamil militants later led to the Hindu militants radicalising when they formed the Tamil Tigers in 1976. After much turmoil over the next seven years, civil war broke out in 1983 and lasted until the Sri Lanka Army assassinated the Tamil Tiger founder, Velupillai Prabhakaran, on May 18, 2009 after over a quarter-century of war.
Violence in the name of God, by Christian, Hindu or Muslim, and even Buddhist militants is religious hypocrisy at its worst. For there is no peace of mind behind any intent to harm others in the name of religion.
This civil war was summed up by Gandhi when he suggested that those who believe that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know religion at all. For religious leaders and politicians have slept in the same bed called warfare since the time of Ashoka.
Originally posted: November 8, 2009 at 10:36 PM
Showing posts with label Sri Lanka civil war. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sri Lanka civil war. Show all posts
20130119
Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Burma and Its Influence on Nationalism
Considering the Theravada stream of Buddhism in countries such as Sri Lanka and Burma, the Buddhist monks wield a lot of power.
Due to their influence in Sri Lanka, the government instituted a Sinhala-only policy which led Sinhala nationalists to attack Tamils and Sinhala people who protected Tamils. This led to civil war and only ended when Sri Lankan army killed the leader of the Tamil Tigers. The Sinhala-only policy was the result of early oppression of Buddhists by Christian and Hindu peoples during the colonial era.
Today, the civil war has ended. The last leader Pathmanathan of the Tamil Tigers was captured in 2009, and collaborated with the Sri Lankan government, exposing the Tamil crime network. Afterwards, Pathmanathan created an NGO to rehabilitate his people.
This year on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, Myanmar Buddhists of Rakhine State are in conflict with Rohingya Muslims. After a Rakhine woman was raped in June, a Rakhine mob killed 10 Rohingya men. Since then, the violence has escalated to the point where both Rohingya and Rakhine leaders have condemned it. Buddhist organizations in Myanmar which supported democracy are blocking humanitarian aid to the Rohingya Muslims. In October, another riot occurred. Myanmar classified the Rohingyas as immigrants and thus not eligible for citizenship
Ironically, Bangladesh claims they are too poor to open up refugee camps for the Rohingya. If this is true, then most likely it is because international bankers have ruined Bangladeshi economy.
In both cases though, British colonialism appears to have been the facilitator of oppression against Buddhists which led to later strife in Sri Lanka.
In the case of Myanmar, British colonialism led to Burma being taken over by Indians, mostly Muslim. By the time British authorities realized the danger of ethnic rivalry between Rohingya and Rakhine peoples Japan had invaded Burma.
After WW2, much of the seeds for strife was sown when mujahids were formed for holy war, first to separate Mayu frontier from Arakan province in Burma and annex it with East Pakistan. When that was suppressed, mujahideens then rose up during Bangladesh independence in 1971. In recent years, the mujahideens wish for an independent or autonomous Mayu.
Sadly though, because the British Empire became no more after WW2, its subsequent decolonization and decline means that the UK no longer is obliged to undo what it has done to Sri Lanka and Burma prior to WW2 i.e. allowing free migration of Indians. Nationalism has helped alleviate resentment in both Sri Lanka and Burma, as most Indians returned to the newly formed India.
In both nations, the Theravada Buddhists are biased against non-Buddhists. When Buddhism is combined with nationalism, it sometimes results in sectarian violence against a minority of a different religion (Tamil Hindus in Sri Lanka and Rohingya Muslims in Burma.
References:
Sri Lanka Civil War: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lankan_civil_war
2012 Rakhine State riots: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Rakhine_State_riots
Rohingya history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohingya#History
Due to their influence in Sri Lanka, the government instituted a Sinhala-only policy which led Sinhala nationalists to attack Tamils and Sinhala people who protected Tamils. This led to civil war and only ended when Sri Lankan army killed the leader of the Tamil Tigers. The Sinhala-only policy was the result of early oppression of Buddhists by Christian and Hindu peoples during the colonial era.
Today, the civil war has ended. The last leader Pathmanathan of the Tamil Tigers was captured in 2009, and collaborated with the Sri Lankan government, exposing the Tamil crime network. Afterwards, Pathmanathan created an NGO to rehabilitate his people.
This year on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, Myanmar Buddhists of Rakhine State are in conflict with Rohingya Muslims. After a Rakhine woman was raped in June, a Rakhine mob killed 10 Rohingya men. Since then, the violence has escalated to the point where both Rohingya and Rakhine leaders have condemned it. Buddhist organizations in Myanmar which supported democracy are blocking humanitarian aid to the Rohingya Muslims. In October, another riot occurred. Myanmar classified the Rohingyas as immigrants and thus not eligible for citizenship
Ironically, Bangladesh claims they are too poor to open up refugee camps for the Rohingya. If this is true, then most likely it is because international bankers have ruined Bangladeshi economy.
In both cases though, British colonialism appears to have been the facilitator of oppression against Buddhists which led to later strife in Sri Lanka.
In the case of Myanmar, British colonialism led to Burma being taken over by Indians, mostly Muslim. By the time British authorities realized the danger of ethnic rivalry between Rohingya and Rakhine peoples Japan had invaded Burma.
After WW2, much of the seeds for strife was sown when mujahids were formed for holy war, first to separate Mayu frontier from Arakan province in Burma and annex it with East Pakistan. When that was suppressed, mujahideens then rose up during Bangladesh independence in 1971. In recent years, the mujahideens wish for an independent or autonomous Mayu.
Sadly though, because the British Empire became no more after WW2, its subsequent decolonization and decline means that the UK no longer is obliged to undo what it has done to Sri Lanka and Burma prior to WW2 i.e. allowing free migration of Indians. Nationalism has helped alleviate resentment in both Sri Lanka and Burma, as most Indians returned to the newly formed India.
In both nations, the Theravada Buddhists are biased against non-Buddhists. When Buddhism is combined with nationalism, it sometimes results in sectarian violence against a minority of a different religion (Tamil Hindus in Sri Lanka and Rohingya Muslims in Burma.
References:
Sri Lanka Civil War: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lankan_civil_war
2012 Rakhine State riots: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Rakhine_State_riots
Rohingya history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohingya#History
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