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their ability to live as ordinary citizens. The hate speech that targets Muslims not only damages the dignity of the group as a whole, but adds to the struggles of the Rohingya Muslims who are losing their rights as civilians. Foxman and Wolf liken online hate propaganda against minority groups like Myanmar’s Muslims to the Nazi propaganda of the 30’s and 40’s, which was designed to make the general population tolerant of increasing anti-Semitic behaviour over time.97 In the case of Myanmar, a steady increase of misinformation online and dehumanising statements against Muslims that incite fear such as: ‘when they are strong they are like a wolf or a jackal, in large packs they hunt down other animals,’98 can have a significant long-term impact on people open to persuasion due to lack of education, youth or ignorance. This propaganda has the potency to make the majority of the general population tolerant of Muslim persecution, just as Nazi propaganda made the persecution of the Jews possible. As Foxman and Wolf argue, whether it is conscious or not, people may think that if they see these ideas everywhere, there must be something to them.99 This is particularly true if they are not educated about that particular religion, as was suggested in focus group one.100 Therefore, human rights abuses - for example in August 2013 when a Buddhist mob of 1,000 people burned dozens of homes and shops down in the region of Sagaing (following rumours that a Muslim man tried to sexually assault a young woman)-101 are ignored by the authorities, and do not receive the indignation they would if it had been another 97 Foxman and Wolf, (2013) p.33. 98 Kaplan, S., (2015) ‘The serene-looking Buddhist monk accused of inciting Burma’s sectarian violence’, The Washington Post, available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morningmix/wp/2015/05/27/the-burmese-bin-laden-fueling-the-rohingya-migrant-crisis-in-southeast-asia/, [November 2015]. 99 Foxman and Wolf, (2013) p.32. 100 Participant, Focus Group One, Interview by Davis, B., (2015). 101 Wilson, S., (2013), ‘Buddhists burn Muslim homes and shops in Burma’, The Telegraph, available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/burmamyanmar/10265942/Buddhists-burnMuslim-homes-and-shops-in-Burma.html [November 2015]. - 43 -

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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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