M.MAS 7/22/15 Religious conflict Religious conflict Livelihoods/ economy Religious conflict Livelihoods/eco nomy Religious conflict Electricity 2015 Elections/ democracy 2015 Elections/ democracy Health Health Rule of Law Corrupted values of youth Environment Food Housing Religious conflict was regularly emphasized by narrators in every city except Pathein. Nonetheless, in Pathein nearly all narrators included religious conflict within those issues that concerned them for the whole country or the Pathein area, though they did not choose it as their central concern. Yet, when people across all six cities told us that something like religious conflict caused them to feel concern, this could mean different things. For some, this related to concerns about the way that the spectre of additional riots might be used to postpone elections in 2015 or legitimate a resumption of military rule. For others, this was empathy and distress at the suffering of people from both religious communities. For many, it was a feeling of threat, to the narrators as individuals and to their religious, ethnic, and/or national communities. And for many, it was a sometimes contradictory set of feelings that combined and exceeded the above. In Mawlamyine, for example, a Buddhist man we interviewed spoke articulately and at length about the importance of the 2015 elections and the ongoing ceasefire process. Eventually, however, he decided to identify religious conflict as his primary concern for the whole country: A: I’d like to say that religious conflict is the biggest issue. Q: Since when do you feel like this religious conflict is the biggest issue for the country? A: Since the incident happened in Rakhine State, and as the tension has grown recently, the hatred towards Islam has grown. I have concerns for the actions upon [Burma] that will be taken by the middle part. Q: What do you mean ‘by the middle part’? A: ISIS from the Middle East. If they declare Jihad on Burma, that can be a problem for us as well as the whole ASEAN community. I am worried about it.28 He had previously stated his commitment to peace and progressive social action; he had also expressed concern for hatred against another religion; and he identified a genuine fear. Muslims as threat Many of the people we spoke with articulated a narrative about Islam in general and in Myanmar, that posits Islam as an intrinsically violent religion and Muslims in Myanmar as potentially dangerous. This dominant narrative can be loosely grouped into two interrelated conceptions of threat. Firstly, Muslims were presented as an existential threat to race and religion. Narrators repeatedly referenced the 28 Man, 26, Buddhist, Myanmar, Mawlamyine, March 2015 MSPT MLM 2. 7