What is amazing is I just pointed out how the Rohingya were being used as a cudgel to apply pressure.
"Exodus of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar tops 100,000" by Robin McDowell | Associated Press October 26, 2014
YANGON, Myanmar — A growing sense of desperation is fueling an exodus of Rohingya Muslims from western Myanmar, with the number who have fled by boat since communal violence broke out two years ago now topping 100,000, a leading expert said Saturday.
Chris Lewa, director of the nonprofit advocacy group Arakan Project, said there has been a huge surge since Oct. 15, with an average of 900 people per day piling into cargo ships parked off Rakhine state.
That is nearly 10,000 in less than two weeks, she noted, one of the biggest spikes yet.
Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation of 50 million that only recently emerged from half a century of military rule, has an estimated 1.3 million Rohingya. Though many of their families arrived from neighboring Bangladesh generations ago, almost all have been denied citizenship.
In the last two years, attacks by Buddhist mobs have left hundreds dead and 140,000 trapped in camps, where they live without access to adequate health care, education, or jobs.
Lewa, who has teams monitoring embarkation points, is considered the leading authority on the number of fleeing Rohingya. But boats are now shoving off from more and more places, she said, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of how many are leaving.
‘‘The real number may be higher,’’ Lewa said.
She said some Rohingya families have received phone calls notifying them that ships from the latest exodus have started arriving in neighboring Thailand, where passengers are often brought to jungle camps, facing extortion and beatings until relatives come up with enough money to win their release.
From there they usually travel to Malaysia or other countries, but, still stateless, their futures remain bleak.
In Myanmar, the vast majority live in the northern tip of Rakhine state, where an aggressive campaign by authorities in recent months to register family members and officially categorize them as ‘‘Bengalis,’’ implying they are illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh, has aggravated their situation.
Oh, this is all about immigration.
According to villagers, some were confined to their villages for weeks at a time for refusing to take part in the ‘‘verification’’ process, while others were beaten or arrested.
More recently, dozens of men were detained for having alleged ties to the militant Rohingya Solidarity Organization, or RSO, said Khin Maung Win, a resident from Maungdaw township, adding that several reportedly were beaten or tortured during their arrests or while in detention.
Being a citizen of AmeriKa, my government has given me no legitimacy with which to criticize.
Lewa said three of the men died.
‘‘Our team is becoming more and more convinced that this campaign of arbitrary arrests is aimed at triggering departures,’’ she said.
Rakhine state spokesman Win Myaing denied any knowledge of arrests or abuse.
‘‘There’s nothing happening up there,’’ he said. ‘‘There are no arrests of suspects of RSO. I haven’t heard anything like that.’’
Every year, the festival of Eid al-Adha, which was celebrated by Muslims worldwide early this month, marks the beginning of a large exodus of Rohingya, in part due to calmer seas but also because it is a chance to spend time with family and friends.
But there seems to be a growing sense of desperation this year, with numbers nearly double from the same period in 2013.
Lewa said a number of Rohingya also were moving overland to Bangladesh and on to India and Nepal.
The United Nations, which has labeled the Rohingya one of the most persecuted religious minorities in the world, earlier this year confirmed figures provided by Lewa about a massive exodus that began after communal violence broke out in June 2012, targeting mainly Rohingya.
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You can decide for yourself what is behind the sudden attention and presentation by the propaganda pre$$.
I did ask the question recently somewhere, and the Globe answered:
"Repair, retraining needed in Bangladesh factories" October 19, 2014
WHEN A factory building collapsed in Bangladesh in 2013, killing more than 1,100 garment workers, the aftershocks rippled through the retail world in the United States and Europe. Retailers worried that Western consumers would rebel. Working on thin margins to begin with, garment manufacturers in Bangladesh feared a “doomsday scenario” of mass closures that would leave workers unemployed.
This week, a consortium of 189 retailers, led by such European firms as H&M, Carrefour, Marks and Spencer, and Primark, released a comprehensive report
on the working conditions in the factories that sew their clothing. The
consortium, called the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety,
issued a report documenting the results of inspections of 1,106 garment
factories and found a mixed picture: There were some signs of
improvement, along with a host of unresolved issues affecting worker
safety. The report recommended shutting down 17 Bangladeshi factories at
least temporarily. The consortium is working intensely with factory
owners, brands, and labor colleagues to ensure that the safety findings
are corrected through more than 400 agreements between factories and
accord members.
The disaster also prompted top American retailers and brands to conduct their own inspections. The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety says it has inspected all 587 factories that produce merchandise for its members, which include Walmart, Target, Gap, and Macy’s. That report found 10 factories that needed to be shut down completely or temporarily closed for repairs, but it also found that employee safety training was working. The alliance said that in cases of temporary or complete closures, it would pay 50 percent of worker wages for up to four months.
In a globalized economy, American and European consumers are increasingly aware that many of the brands they wear rely on factories in Bangladesh where wages are low and conditions are onerous. This mission of repair and retraining should not be an isolated effort, but part of a renewed focus on worker safety.
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I'm glad the Globe is looking out for working people.
Related:
"The leaders of Hong Kong’s prodemocracy protests on Sunday canceled a vote on what the next step should be in their monthlong street occupation, saying they had not properly consulted with the demonstrators before calling the referendum. ‘‘We admit that we did not have enough discussion with the people before deciding to go ahead with the vote and we apologize to the people,’’ the protest leaders said."
