The Rohingya Struggle

Mohamed takes us on a journey through the history of Burma (now Myanmar), the Rohingya people and his own seventeen years of life. Sharing the memories of carefree days, living simplistically with his family and recalling his harrowing escape from genocide Mohamed's unimaginable trek is filled with gratitude for finally landing in America as a refugee. Telling his story in a new language, Mohamed clearly conveys the struggles of the Rohingya people, his inconceivable encounters, his love for learning and his lifelong goals.

The Rohingya Struggle is a biography about a teenage boy from Myanmar. Mohamed takes us on a journey through the history of Burma (now Myanmar), the Rohingya people and his own seventeen years of life. Sharing the memories of carefree days living simplistically with his family, to his harrowing escape from genocide Mohamed's unimaginable trek is filled with gratitude for finally landing in America as a refugee. Telling his story in a new language, Mohamed clearly conveys the struggles of the Rohingya people, his inconceivable encounters, his love for learning and his lifelong goals.

'Born to Struggle' is the journey of a young man, born as a stateless refugee to the world's most persecuted people, the Rohingya. Muhammad Noor's escape from the limbo of statelessness to chart his own path is a rare untold story of the Rohingya and a testament to the indomitability of the human spirit. Beginning from his birthplace in the hills of Makkah in the eighties, we witness Noor's battle to receive a basic education, his stay in a hellish detention center and his later contributions to the cause of his people. But amidst the trials, we also hear the heartwarming tales of his forefathers and daily acts of kindness given and received within the community of the Rohingya. 'Born to Struggle' gives us a special view into the world of a people suffering from the everlasting effects of genocide through the lens of a special Rohingya. It is a story of hope and of finding a way to persevere through life's worst challenges.

The plight of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims has made international news in recent years. Reports of genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity are commonplace. The Rohingyas have been denied citizenship and are widely discriminated against. Hundreds of thousands have been internally displaced by violence, or have sought refuge in neighbouring or friendly Muslim countries. This conflict has become a litmus test for change in this country in transition, and current assessments are far from positive. Whitewashing by the military, and a refusal by Aung San Suu Kyi's government to even use the name 'Rohingya', adds to international scepticism. Exploring this long-running tripartite conflict between the Rohingya, Rakhine and Burman ethnic groups, this book offers a new analysis of the complexities of the conflict: the fears and motivations driving it and the competition to control historical representations and collective memory. By questioning these competing narratives, offering detailed sociopolitical analysis and examining the international dimensions of the conflict, this book offers new insights into what is preventing a peaceful resolution to this intractable conflict.

The Rohingyas are one of the most persecuted ethnic minorities in the world. They used to live in the Arakan/Rakhine State of Burma/Myanmar for centuries, though it is a predominantly Buddhist country. Being victims of persecution as a result of ethnic cleansing and genocide, they started migrating to neighbouring countries from 1978, and after the massive migration August 2017 onwards, about 1.3 million Rohingyas now live in the south-eastern part of Bangladesh. This book offers a comprehensive portrait of how the state becomes instrumental in producing 'stateless' people, wherein both Myanmar and Bangladesh alienate the Rohingyas as illegal migrants, and they have to face unemployment, mental and sexual abuse, and deprivation of basic human necessities. The Rohingya proposes a new framework and theoretical alternative called 'subhuman life' for understanding the extreme vulnerability of the people as well as the genocide, ethnocide, and domicide taking place in the region. With several concrete ethnographic evidences, Nasir Uddin, apart from reconstructing the Rohingyas' regional history, sheds light on possible solutions to their refugee crisis and examines the regional political dynamics, South and Southeast Asian geopolitics, and bilateral and multilateral interstate relations.

For the first time, a Rohingya speaks up to expose the persecution facing his people. ‘I am three years old and will have to grow up with the hostility of others. I am already an outlaw in my own country, an outlaw in the world. I am three years old, and don’t yet know that I am stateless.’ Habiburahman was born in 1979 and raised in a small village in western Burma. When he was three years old, the country’s military leader declared that his people, the Rohingya, were not one of the 135 recognised ethnic groups that formed the eight ‘national races’. He was left stateless in his own country. Since 1982, millions of Rohingya have had to flee their homes as a result of extreme prejudice and persecution. In 2016 and 2017, the government intensified the process of ethnic cleansing, and over 600,000 Rohingya people were forced to cross the border into Bangladesh. Here, for the first time, a Rohingya speaks up to expose the truth behind this global humanitarian crisis. Through the eyes of a child, we learn about the historic persecution of the Rohingya people and witness the violence Habiburahman endured throughout his life until he escaped the country in 2000. First, They Erased Our Name is an urgent, moving memoir about what it feels like to be repressed in one’s own country and a refugee in others. It gives voice to the voiceless.

For decades Myanmar has been portrayed as a case of good citizen versus bad regime – men in jackboots maintaining a suffocating rule over a majority Buddhist population beholden to the ideals of non-violence and tolerance. But in recent years this narrative has been upended. In June 2012, violence between Buddhists and Muslims erupted in western Myanmar, pointing to a growing divide between religious communities that before had received little attention from the outside world. Attacks on Muslims soon spread across the country, leaving hundreds dead, entire neighbourhoods turned to rubble, and tens of thousands of Muslims confined to internment camps. This violence, breaking out amid the passage to democracy, was spurred on by monks, pro-democracy activists and even politicians. In this gripping and deeply reported account, Francis Wade explores how the manipulation of identities by an anxious ruling elite has laid the foundations for mass violence, and how, in Myanmar’s case, some of the most respected and articulate voices for democracy have turned on the Muslim population at a time when the majority of citizens are beginning to experience freedoms unseen for half a century.

The Rohingya are a Muslim group who live in Rakhine state (formerly Arakan state) in western Myanmar (Burma), a majority Buddhist country. According to the United Nations, they are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. They suffer routine discrimination at the hands of neighboring Buddhist Rakhine groups, but international human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) have also accused Myanmar's authorities of being complicit in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya Muslims. The Rohingya face regular violence, arbitrary arrest and detention, extortion, and other abuses, a situation that has been particularly acute since 2012 in the wake of a serious wave of sectarian violence. Islam is practiced by around 4% of the population of Myanmar, and most Muslims also identify as Rohingya. Yet the authorities refuse to recognize this group as one of the 135 ethnic groups or 'national races' making up Myanmar's population. On this basis, Rohingya individuals are denied citizenship rights in the country of their birth, and face severe limitations on many aspects of an ordinary life, such as marriage or movement around the country. This expose of the attempt to erase the Rohingyas from the face of Myanmar is sure to gain widespread attention.