have been subject to what many describe as attempted ethnic cleansing, and Muslims generally, have legitimate grievances regarding their treatment at the hands of the Bamar-controlled state.60 Though there are many factors that have driven the protracted conflict in Myanmar, hate speech, which I will expand on in chapter two, manifests itself in religious terms. Hate speech primarily targets Muslims, and in doing so furthers the polarization of religious and ethnic groups whose tensions have existed since the failure of the Panglong agreement. The politicization of religion emphasises the existence of boundaries between Buddhist and Muslim communities, which promotes discrimination and exclusion. Through this chapter I have shown how religion is used to position members in society, with the Bamar-Buddhist identity group maintaining their sense of superiority in the state at the top of the hierarchal spectrum, and Muslims struggling to be acknowledged as legitimate citizens of Myanmar at the bottom, though many of them have resided there for over a century. 60 Coclanis, P., (2013) ‘Terror in Burma: Buddhists vs. Muslims’, World Affairs Journal, available at: http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/terror-burma-buddhists-vs-muslims [November 2015]. - 29 -