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Buddhist, Rohingya and Christian lives matter

By Spencer Gear - posted Thursday, 25 June 2020


The extent of Rohingya sprawling camps near the Bangladesh border for those fleeing Myanmar's violence has been captured by a camera on a drone (BBC News 2017).

The Australian Government has explained its position but it hasn't been updated since 14 June 2018. The Sydney Morning Herald (2017) reported: 'Australia must act on Rohingya genocide' which relates how 'Almas saw her seven children and husband murdered during a wave of massacres in Myanmar. She and thousands of other survivors now face new threats as they languish in refugee camps'. ABC News, Brisbane Qld, 'Aung San Suu Kyi denies genocide, says Rohingya Muslims caught up in armed internal conflict'.

Why don't the people take to the streets with this slogan: 'Rohingya Muslim lives matter'?

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Why do I need to go to alternate media for other deaths?

George Floyd's death is in the news, and rightly so. Have you heard much on the following?

Release International Voice reported on Indian Christian believers who were 'taunted, beaten and forced to pose "like Christ on the cross" in police custody when extremists accused them of "forced conversion"'.

"Pastor Indresh Kumar Gautam and four others were arrested after 30 Hindu extremists broke up their Sunday service in Pratapgarh district, Uttar Pradesh". Australian mainstream media gives this persecution a flick pass as it doesn't seem to have the worldwide implications of a George Floyd murder.

Why haven't we heard a media campaign, 'Indian teens' lives matter', following the death of a 16-year-old by stabbing and stoning? What was his crime? He was a Christian and wouldn't renounce his faith. What was the crime he committed?

If it were not for alternate news' sources I would not know of this persecution to death by Hindu extremists.

He refused to abandon his faith in Jesus Christ. Where were Australia's news outlets to report this with catchphrases such as, 'Indian Christian lives matter'?

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It's time for the ABC, SBS, Fox News, Sky News, Channels 7, 9, and 10 to wake up to international news' responsibilities. I commend The Guardian Australia edition for reporting in February 2020 on the Australian ambassador's meeting with the Myanmar military chief who was accused of Rohingya genocide. 'Human Rights Watch has said Australia's decision to take the meeting risked giving legitimacy and credibility to a military accused of mass atrocities'.

Other Australian news sources may have given limited coverage to some of the examples which follow. However, as a regular news reader and watcher, I have not seen any kind of uprising like 'black lives matter' in association with the deaths of other ethnic minorities – except Rohingya Muslims.

According to The Gulf News (01 March 2020) in Pakistan, 22-year-old Saleem Masih was 'tortured to death for taking a dip in a village tube well in Pakistan, his fault was that he was a Christian' and 'polluted' the water he bathed in.

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About the Author

Spencer Gear PhD (University of Pretoria, South Africa) is a retired counselling manager, independent researcher, retired minister of the The Christian & Missionary Alliance of Australia, and freelance writer living in Brisbane Qld, Australia.

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