5/23/22, 2:21 AM May flowers - New Mandala May flowers MATT SCH ISSLER , GUEST CONTRIB UTOR - 17 MAY, 2014 May flowers About a year ago, a friend in my neighbourhood put stickers on his van that said: “I will not be the cause of racial or religious conflict.” A little later, he peeled them off. “I was worried people would be angry or violent towards me when they saw the sticker,” he said. “The van is for business.”[1] Who would I be to disagree? The stickers were from a campaign organized by youth groups opposing the spread of religious violence following the riots in Meiktila. My friend supports his family by driving that van. The other day, I bumped into another friend. I hadn’t seen her in a while but on Facebook I’d been seeing regular photos of her at public speaking events. She is young and articulate and Muslim. Great job, I said. “I’m worried about my security,” she said. “I’m worried that other Myanmar people may misunderstand me. I’m not worried about the government. They already put me in jail one time, what more can they do?” There are others that are more frightening. Aung San Suu Kyi has drawn criticism and ire from erstwhile international supporters for failing to speak out, properly. Last year, western media outlets lampooned her[2] when she told the BBC, violence has occurred on both sides.[3] She’s no champion of human rights, they said. A politician that knows which way the wind blows, they said. Both sides feel fear, she said. She is right, though. Each side feels fear. The language of existential threats to nation and religion that I started noticing in neighbourhood conversations a year ago are still there[4], and not just in west Yangon.[5] It’s hard to talk about religion without this spectre in the background. A prominent religious leader may say, simply, “My religion is peaceful,” and the audience may understand this as a generalized call for peace. Or they may understand it as proof of superiority and a call to arms, against non-peaceful religions next door.[6] When a nation faces an existential threat, everyone is duty bound to raise the alarm. “Let’s kill with words to reduce the actual killing,” a prominent politician recently posted on Facebook. The most alarming such words have attracted international attention and condemnation. Facebook groups https://www.newmandala.org/may-flowers/ 1/4