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Saturday, June 22, 2013

The "969" movement in Burma

Time magazine's  double standards are vomit inducing.  The rag has  put Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu's face on its cover titling it The Face of Buddhist Terror.  I don't seem to recall them ever titling anything as "The Face of Muslim Terror".   The downfall of the USA started long ago with the willing dhimmihood status taken on by  its media and the brainwashing of its public undertaken by Hollywood.

The Buddhists should never forget what the Muslims did to the world heritage giant statues of Gautama Buddha in Afghanistan....and from what's happening in Burma these days, it's good to see they haven't and they never will.  I wish we Christians were as determined  as the Buddhists in the Face of Muslim Terror.

Tin Aung Kyaw writing at GlobalPost:
Buddhist monk Wirathu leads violent national campaign against Myanmar's Muslims.  
The Buddhist monk arrived wrapped in saffron-colored robes with an entourage of muscular, younger monks who guarded him and hung on his every word at the sprawling monastery he runs and where his divisive, anti-Muslim teaching is gaining a strong following.

The monk, Ashin Wirathu, was unapologetic when asked about his role at the center of a rising tide of Buddhist extremism that has crested in a wave of anti-Muslim violence resulting in the deaths of more than 200 people and displacement of some 150,000 from their homes in recent months.

“Muslims are like the African carp. They breed quickly and they are very violent and they eat their own kind. Even though they are minorities here, we are suffering under the burden they bring us,” Wirathu, 48, said in a rare and wide-ranging interview with GlobalPost on Thursday.

“Because the Burmese people and the Buddhists are devoured every day, the national religion needs to be protected,” he said, announcing that he would push for a ban on interfaith marriage before the next parliamentary session and vowing to continue the so-called “969” campaign that calls for Buddhists to only do business with other Buddhists and exclude Muslims who have a strong tradition as merchants in Myanmar.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, is made of eight major ethnic groups, but 90 percent of the population is Buddhist. About 5 percent of the population is Muslim and the rest are a mix of Christian and Hindu.....

Wirathu has also pushed a ban against interfaith marriage, claiming that the Buddhist majority is diluted by such marriages and reeling off one anecdote after another of forced conversions of Buddhist women to Islam. Many critics here and abroad say Wirathu’s sermons are racist rants against Muslims who he has likened to “mad dogs” and “cannibals” and, in perhaps a more charitable and consistent reference, as simply “troublemakers.”...

.......He heads the Ma Soeyein monastery attended by some 2,500 monks, has an active Facebook page and leads speaking tours that attract thousands of followers. Wirathu is also gathering signatures for a petition to introduce the interfaith marriage legislation which he has titled, “Safeguarding the National Identity.” .......

....Wirathu himself is no stranger to activism; he was arrested in 2003 for political incitement and served seven years in prison before he was reportedly released as part of a government amnesty program. Buddhist monks were also at the head of the 2007 "Saffron Revolution,” in which monks took to the streets in large numbers to protest the rising prices of food and fuel. Images of the military cracking down on the monks with tear gas and batons were carried around the world and served to propel the pro-democracy movement.....

....Wirathu said that theological authorities were “shaping the movement.”

A few days ago in Mhawbi, just outside of Yangon, more than 200 monks gathered at what they called a "peace conference," where this law was given shape, he said.

“Legal experts are now writing up a rough draft of the law,” he said. “And there will be a public announcement of this law on the 27th of June.”....

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