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destruction and expulsion of Rohingya Muslims.32 With a history of persecution, Myanmar’s Muslim community are already at a disadvantage and lack what Waldron (2012) describes as a right to dignity - their social standing that entitles them to be treated as ordinary members of society and protected by human rights standards.33 Levinger’s Four Step Assessment Framework To critically analyse the situation in Myanmar further and get to grips with the main factors that drive the conflict, Levinger’s four step process of conflict assessment will be used, though I will limit my use to the first three. These steps are: dividers and connectors, actors or parties, drivers of conflict and peace, and indication of the conflict trajectory.34 Dividers and connectors Dividers are sources of polarization between groups in a region; one example of a divider that Levinger gives, which relates closely to the situation in Myanmar, is the ‘horizontal inequality along ethnic or geographic lines, with certain groups facing systematic marginalization.’35 There are around 135 ethnic groups in Myanmar but the Bamar ethnic group makes up about two-thirds of the population and controls the military and the government.36 The Panglong agreement of 1947 which was set out to defend the rights of minorities has not been respected by Myanmar’s government or military; ethnic and religious minorities, such as the country’s Muslims, still have no real protection within the constitution, which many believe will lead to the 32 Zarni, M., (2012) ‘Buddhist Nationalism in Burma: Institutionalized racism against the Rohingya Muslims led Burma to Genocide’, Tricycle, available at: http://www.tricycle.com/feature/buddhistnationalism-burma [November 2015]. 33 Waldron, J., (2012) The Harm in Hate Speech, Harvard University Press, p.5. 34 Levinger, M., (2013) Conflict analysis: understanding causes, unlocking solutions, United States Institute of Peace, pp.95-106. 35 Levinger, (2013) p.98. 36 Oxford Burma Alliance, ‘Ethnic Nationalities of Burma’, http://www.oxfordburmaalliance.org/ethnic-groups.html [November 2015]. available at: - 21 -

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Religion, hate speech and social media in Myanmar: Analysing methods of intervention

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English

Topic

Hate Speech
Rohingya Crisis

Author(s)

Bethany Davis

Date Published: Dec 1, 2015

Abstract: Myanmar is home to one of the longest running intrastate conflicts in the world, involving a series of ethnic and religious clashes that have caused harm to all parties involved. The ideology of a homogeneity based on Buddhism and the Bamar ethnicity has marginalized minority groups, which make up a third of the population, and has particularly affected the Rakhine state’s Buddhist and Muslim communities, the latter of which are subject to what international human rights organizations are calling an ethnic cleansing. Since the government relaxed restrictions to the access of foreign websites, the social media site Facebook has become a popular means to disseminate misinformation and rumours, and this has created mistrust and hatred against Muslims across the country, heightening the polarization between Buddhist and Muslim groups. This study will combine conflict analysis with the assessment of different approaches of countering hate speech to propose which methods of intervention are most suitable for this situation in Myanmar. Lederach argues that to counter hatred and avoid reoccurrence of violence, deep alterations of the parties’ relationships is needed. This idea forms the basis for chapter three which examines educational methods, interfaith projects and social media campaigns to both prevent and change negative attitudes towards the religious ‘Other’. It argues that education and awareness campaigns are more effective than the implementation of legal regulation as we need to combat the underlying issue. In addition to secondary sources, this study involved field research to collect information about how the youth are influence by hate speech and counter hate campaigns in Myanmar.

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Religion, hate speech and social media in Myanmar: Analysing methods of intervention

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