Riots in Myanmar

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/10/20121026202244902583.html

Lately there has been a lot of violence in Myanmar due to the tensions between the Rohingya Muslims and the majority of others, who in Myanmar are Buddhist. 64 people were left dead and over 100 were wounded from this violence, with a startling 75,000 people displaced according to this article. This is a really sad story because the government of Myanmar doesn't view the Rohingya as an ethnic group, but rather classifies them as Bengali. However, Bangladesh also denies their citizenship. Essentialy, the Rohingya are a group of 800,000 people who don't have a home where they are accepted. There is discrimination and hatred against them in both Myanmar and Bangladesh.

What is amazing about this story is the clarity with which it relates to two theories we learned about in class. Firstly, it illustrates the clash of civilizations because the violence here has been caused by religious and ethnic distinctions. Secondly, it illustrates how resource scarcity can lead to conflict because at the end of the article it states that many people in Myanmar view the Rohingyas as as intruders from Bangladesh who came to steal scarce land.

Jon Kingzette