A few years ago though I read an associated press news item about a gropup in Burma known as the "Rohingya." They were described as "The most friendless people in the world." U had never heard of them before, and Until recently I never heard of them again. Now they are back in the news.
The Rohingya are a persecuted minority living under a brutal regime that is unfriendly even to its citizens, and these were people who, while they had been living in the country for centuries, were not considered citizens and had no rights under the law. Furthermore, there is no place for them to go, because they have no other home country and no country seems all that thrilled about taking them in.
Even undocumented immigrants in the United States, the Palestinians and other stateless ethnic minorities have advocacy groups and friends in governments around the world. The Rohingya have virtually nobody troubling themselves on their behalf.
This article in Time Magazine rbought them back to my attention:
Horror at Sea: Adrift for Months, Starving Asylum Seekers Threw 98 Bodies Overboard
Upon further searching it seems the Rohingya have quietly crept back into the news cycle, although they are hardly front page, above the fold. The term "genocide" is being used now, and like Rwanda, like Sudan, the major media outlets have been largely silent. That will probably change when the calamity escalates. I shudder to think of how bad ethnic violence has to get before it gets noticed.
The Rohingya are a persecuted minority living under a brutal regime that is unfriendly even to its citizens, and these were people who, while they had been living in the country for centuries, were not considered citizens and had no rights under the law. Furthermore, there is no place for them to go, because they have no other home country and no country seems all that thrilled about taking them in.
Even undocumented immigrants in the United States, the Palestinians and other stateless ethnic minorities have advocacy groups and friends in governments around the world. The Rohingya have virtually nobody troubling themselves on their behalf.
This article in Time Magazine rbought them back to my attention:
Horror at Sea: Adrift for Months, Starving Asylum Seekers Threw 98 Bodies Overboard
Upon further searching it seems the Rohingya have quietly crept back into the news cycle, although they are hardly front page, above the fold. The term "genocide" is being used now, and like Rwanda, like Sudan, the major media outlets have been largely silent. That will probably change when the calamity escalates. I shudder to think of how bad ethnic violence has to get before it gets noticed.
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