Analysis: Current Landscape of Hate Speech in Myanmar Poverty A number of CSOs commented that poverty, stress, and a dearth of jobs have created a volatile envi- ronment and groups like Ma Ba Tha have taken advantage of it.326 One interviewee explained: “Many people don’t have any way out of stress, and listening to those preaching [and] speeches becomes a way of releasing their stress. Slowly, it leads to them to become ultranationalists. Therefore, I believe that the economic vulnerability of the people is the source of making the ultranationalists stronger.”327 The interviewee also stated that “the daily struggle of people leads them to rely on religion. In our country, you can see that many farmers pay respect to gods; this is kind of a way out for stress that they have to go through every day in their lives. Let’s say if we can improve the living standard and the daily life of the people, we will definitely be able to reduce the issue of ultranationalism.”328 Ironically, it has often been the most impoverished communities that borne the brunt of the effects of hate speech. As one interviewee observed, “now because of nationalist movement, people at the bottom class have divided in groups, they don’t like each other and they get into fights. Some people become jobless, and some stopped buying things from Muslim’s shops. There are some impacts too for the high class rich people. But the impacts are so small for the rich people.”329 Another interviewee similarly noted that the 969 encouraged Buddhists to put 969 stickers on Buddhist shops and only buy from them.330 This practice has caused some Muslim shop owners to suffer because “people stopped buying their products at the local market, betel nut shops, and even taxi drivers.”331 Systematic Discrimination in the Education System A number of CSOs said that systematic discrimination in the education system has been one of the contributing factors facilitating hate speech. From openly discriminatory practices at school against ethnic and religious minority students to curriculums that focuses only on the Buddhist Bamar experiences, to learning via rote memorization rather than critical thinking, a range of policies and practices have affected how people in Myanmar absorb and evaluate information.332 An interviewee said that school curriculum is woefully outdated.333 For instance, the na- tion-wide University of Distance Education has been using textbooks with articles written by Myan- mar Alin editor and nationalist monk Ledi Pandita U Maung Gyi from the colonial era.334 These books are rife with inaccuracies and derogatory excerpts about ethnic and religious minorities.335 Ethnic minorities are often demonized in them for their past collaboration with British colonialists.336 De326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 FGD (December 2019); See, e.g., 002-R1-01; MS-R3-01. 001-R2-02, 3. Ibid. 002-R3-02, 2. 002-R3-01, 5. Ibid. 001-R2-02, 3; 001-R3-01, 4; YGN-R1-01, 2, 5; 002-R3-01, 1, 5–6; 002-R3-03, 3; 002-R4-04, 2. YGN-R4-04; 3. Ibid.; Su Myat Mon, “Civics Education in Primary Schools Is a Lesson in Discrimination,” Frontier Myanmar, February 5, 2019, https://frontiermyanmar.net/en/civics-education-in-primary-schools-is-a-lesson-in-discrimination. Ibid. Robert Taylor, “Do States Make Nations? The Politics of Identity in Myanmar Revisited,” South East Asia Research 13, no. 3 (2017). 59