aim to ‘capture’ the country in the end.40 Not only does this create mistrust between groups, but it suggests that there is an agenda within the Muslim community to attain more power in Myanmar. For the Buddhist majority, particularly those with the same desire for a Buddhist nationalist identity as Wirathu, this would be a significant clash of interests. The fight to maintain a Bamar-Buddhist identity opposes the interests of the ethnically diverse remainder of the country. As one participant of focus group one pointed out, this may be worse for Muslims: ‘Hindus and other religious minorities face little discrimination because of the belief that the Buddha is from Hinduism, they therefore understand their religion more than Islam.’41 Islam is less familiar than Hinduism and is therefore more likely to be marginalized. It must be noted that the Bamar ethnic group are by no means universally against Muslims or supportive of the persecution of them. Colcanis discusses how his contacts in Yangon told him many Buddhists were willing to harbor Muslim friends in the city when dangers arise and, in some cases, even stand with and protect them.42 Campaigns that could be described as connectors in conflict will be addressed in chapter three, and these will highlight the efforts to promote peace and tolerance between religious and ethnic groups. Levinger argues that these dividers and connectors are merely potential sources of polarization or cohesion, rather than root causes in themselves, and are only made possible when political leaders seek to persuade and mobilize their constituents to either escalate or de-escalate conflict.43 For example, global climate change has caused environmental conflict in Sudan, and though this may lead us to describe the environmental changes as a root cause of conflict and a major divider, it is the exploitation of these problems by political leaders that provokes violence between 40 Hodal, K., (2013) ‘Buddhist monk uses racism and rumours to spread hatred in Burma’, The Guardian, available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/18/buddhist-monk-spreadshatred-burma [November 2015]. 41 Participant, Focus Group One, Interview by Davis, B., (2015). 42 Coclanis, (2013). 43 Levinger, (2013) p.97. - 23 -