This article discusses anti-Muslim social mobilization against the people calling themselves the Rohingya in Burma. Resentment against this minority unites all political actors in Burma: the society, the army, and even the currently ruling former pro-democracy opposition. Although persecution of the Rohingya from the perspective of Burma concerns marginal groups in the deep province, due to the media attention it has become the most well-known domestic problem of that country, however wrongly compared to the threat of genocide. Persecution of the Rohingya is, in fact, an example of social mobilization driven top-down in order to stay in power and maintain privileges of the former military regime, not the evidence of the threat of genocide.
Years 2015–2017 witness a series of trouble-causing anniversaries in East Asia that commemorate WW II and its tragedies. Against the background of these anniversaries and the international political situation, China and Japan conduct their policies of memories. Both countries use history in their top-to-bottom nation-building projects based on victimization. In case of China, the anti-Japanese nationalism serves as a tool to legitimize CPP’s rule and to enhance China’s international profile. In case of Japan, state historical revisionism questions Japan’s responsibility for WW II crimes and presents Japan as a victim of US atomic bombs. Thus, both sides use history for their political goals and are unwilling to conduct work on their memories. It makes every anniversary a trouble-causing one.
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