20
M. SCHISSLER
Figure 8. Circa 2015. Source: Author’s files.
alleged links to “unlawful organizations,” based upon photos taken while visiting the ter
ritory of a primarily Christian ethnic armed organization as part of large inter-faith del
egation organized by a Buddhist abbot. The arrests came just a few months after posts
on Facebook, and then an article in a prominent nationalist journal, had used the same
photos to allege that one of the Muslim activists was an insurgent and “threat to
Buddhism” (Figure 8). Following their arrest, nationalist monks attended every one of
their court appearances and held demonstrations outside the courthouse. The activists
were eventually sentenced to two years hard labour. Others in the delegation were
never charged.88
Posts on Facebook about the case were not limited to the activists, however. They
often featured collections of photos, which, as in the general pattern in online harass
ment, repurposed photos the activists had posted themselves, to highlight their relation
ships with other activists (Figure 9, at left). Sometimes these posts also singled out specific
women by name. In the image below at right, the young woman can be seen feeding the
Muslim activist who had been labelled a “threat to Buddhism.” The feeding is a show of
friendship that can also be recast as part of a marriage ritual and imply a sexual relation
ship. “Mandalay needs to fulfill its responsibility for these two,” reads its caption. “Elimin
ate it at the root for us.” In the context of such an exhortation, meanwhile, the image of
feeding can also invoke the idiom of a death threat: the activists have eaten their last
meal.
Conclusion
In Myanmar, Facebook was used to cast those who contested narratives of BuddhistBurman dominance or signalled solidarity, even empathy, for the Rohingya as traitors,
88
Fortify Rights, “Drop Charges Against Human Rights Defenders Zaw Zaw Latt, Pwint Phyu Latt, and Zaw Win Bo,” Press
Release (Bangkok, 17 February 2016); Wade, “Myanmar: Burma’s Hateful Hard-Line Buddhists.”