8/12/22, 11:06 AM Everyday ethnic tensions in Myanmar - New Mandala My adoptive auntie followed me upstairs. “Today they were stealing things from houses on the other side of our township,” she said. “They caught twenty people taking things. Half of them were Muslim. The other half were Buddhist.” Really? I asked her. “Actually I don’t know. But there are ones who want to take things. They are causing all this.” I spent the rest of the evening sitting on the corner at the top of my block. I try to spend a few evenings a week there, talking with my neighbours, drinking rough tea or beer. Usually we talk about girls, or sports, or work or lack of work. Often we talk about politics and history, too. They are all electricians, carpenters, trishaw or van-for-hire drivers (not owners), wage labourers, seamen on container ships. One of my closest friends in the group, Htoo Lay[9], doesn’t work but gambles, mostly on himself as he plays caneball in the evenings against challengers from other neighbourhoods. A few years ago he toured competitions in Thailand. But now he’s a little older and less quick, though he still wins enough to win enough. How else he makes his income I’m not sure.[10] Last night we sat around our low plastic table and talked about the violence in Meikitalla. Mostly, we debated about relations between Buddhists and Muslims. Htoo Lay and I have had this debate a lot, and tonight he served as my surrogate; the conversation was quick and I could barely keep up. He alternated between commanding the group to slow down so I could follow. Or interrupting me and finishing my sentences so the group didn’t leave me behind. We disagree on many things, but by now he and I at least know what we each mean to say. The others I’d never heard talk about the issue in as much detail, though I’d heard them talk about it enough not to be surprised by what they said. Right away, we all agreed that the violence in Meikitalla has been horrible. But we didn’t spend very much time discussing how or why it happened. Htoo Lay and I had learned from discussing violence in Rakhine State last year that the who-did-what-to-whom conversation wouldn’t lead us anywhere worthwhile. Because, really, none of us were there. And, really, none of us 100% trust the media, our own sources, or the information others have heard and are sharing. Without a trump-card phone call to an eyewitness, no one was going to agree on anything. But regardless of how we thought the violence started, no one was celebrating the bloodshed. This is important to note; I had other conversations yesterday in which I did hear the bloodshed celebrated. The point is not to highlight those kinds of conversations, but to highlight instead the views of ‘moderates’ – and how they are also concerning – but in some cases have roots in everyday conflicts. These views need to be understood, because they are views I believe commonly held by many Burmese Buddhists who constitute the ‘moderate’ mainstream and who, though not necessarily ready to condone violence, are nonetheless deeply disconnected from Muslim communities. Where that leads I do not know. https://www.newmandala.org/everyday-ethnic-tensions-in-myanmar/ 3/6