An Appeal to United States to take “Responsibility to Protect”(R2P) Rohingya for a Permanent Solution
Introductory context I have been receiving multiple emails per day for the last several months from Mohammed Husson Ali, a 71 year old Rohingya man now living in the United States. Daily, Mohammad scours Internet for any news relevant to his people and, in a soulful act of witnessing, he forwards these news items to those who he knows will be interested. He added me to his mailing list -now 170 people long- after reading an article I had written about the plight of the Rohingya. Born in Myo Thu Gyi village, Maungdaw Town, Arakan, Burma, he earned several degrees and worked in various capacities including with the UNHCR and the World Food Programme. Fleeing violence in Burma, his family is part of the Rohingya diaspora. He has 3 sons, 2 daughters, 3 grandsons and 2 granddaughters now living in Kutupalong refugee camp, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. His single son who…
Read More
FollowTrump, Putin, and the Tatmadaw
[Below is a note to a colleague on his way to Bangkok for discussions regarding the Rohingya situation.] My esteemed colleague, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men…” -Lord Acton I am keenly aware that quoting the words of a colonialist -let alone a British colonialist- to begin this message is perhaps the height of irony. Acton’s words, though, are relevant to my observations below. I read the document you sent to me [as background for your high level meeting in Bangkok to discuss the situation in Maynmar regarding the Rohingya]. Thank you. I have been thinking a great deal about the situation in Myanmar and what can be done to create a different political narrative in that country. Enlarging my scope of attention, I see my own country, the United States, being very much influenced by the…
Read MoreStatus array exercise using the Hydra model
Status array exercise using the Hydra model [Trigger warning: Inherent in the nature of the material covered in this post are topics and exercises which may be triggering.] [Updated 10-10-23] Introduction As with all of the exercises designed to explore critical Hydra theory (CHT) there needs to be a skilled facilitator to guide participants through each step, clarify definitions and usages of words, and insure all aspects of each step are explored thoroughly. Exploring and understanding your status set though the lens of the Hydra model starts with a quick and simple status count and, using some basic tools from sociology, ends up by discussing the concept of master status. The exercise below will be helpful in understanding the concept of positionality discussed here. This exercise must be seen as the beginning of many discussions about power, privilege, and status arrays and as part of a larger and even more…
Read MoreConfronting toxic othering exercise
[Updated 8-7-23] Confronting toxic othering exercise ‘…the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world… -from the first sentence of the Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [Note: This exercise is an example of how to employ critical Hydra theory (CHT). For additional context the reader is invited to explore various other posts on this blog.] Overview This exercise builds on the insights and methodologies of Critical Race Theory (CRT). The purpose of this exercise is to generate examples of how toxic othering has been confronted at all levels, local, national, and global. One of the most important wisdom‘s from CRT is that we must interrogate the history of racism and how racist ideologies have been entrenched into laws, policies, norms, and general expectations of behavior. In CRT…
Read MorePositionality and the Hydra
‘…the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world… -from the first sentence of the Preamble to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights [Updated 3-16-23] [Trigger warning: Inherent in the nature of the material covered in this post are topics and exercises which may be triggering.] Positionality and the Hydra In my continuing journey to expand on what I have been calling ‘critical Hydra theory’ and to better understand privileging forces I have been thinking a good deal about positionality. Dimensions of our identity influence how we both see and are seen by others. This exercise is a companion to and should be done after exploring one’s status array. Positionality can be defined as “… the social and political context that creates our identity in terms of race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability…
Read MoreBook of poems published by genocide survivor
The Painful Life of Rohingya by Roshidullah Kyaw Naing published by Evincepub Publishing A must read It has been my honor to write about and in some cases to partner with many Rohingya poets over the last few years, and I have written many posts about these poets. I invite you to click here to read about some amazing young Rohingya women and men who have chosen writing poetry as one way of responding to the agonies of being a genocide victim. Early this summer I was contacted by Rohingya poet Roshidullah Kyaw Naing. After reading -and re-reading many times- his collection of poems I agreed to write a foreword for his book. His dream of having this book of poems is now, fantastically, a reality. I encourage anyone who wants to learn about the struggle of the Rohingya people to order this book now on Amazon or directly from the…
Read MoreFive long years seeking justice
[Note: this post was intended as an op-ed. Mohammad Azizul Hoque of the Centre for Peace and Justice in Dhaka, Bangladesh contributed to this essay. Hoque and his colleague Tasnuva Ahmad wrote an excellent article on this important five year anniversary.] Five long years seeking justice August 25, 2022 marks the five year anniversary of the Rohingya genocide. This ethnic and religious minority has spent five long years seeking justice. The facts are both clear and stark. Five years ago the Rohingya people were the victim of a genocide by the military junta controlling Myanmar. Beginning August 25, 2017 nearly 800,000 Rohingya fled across the border into Bangladesh. Some 140,000 Rohingyas were internally displaced in the melee and herded into IDP camps, where they have remained ever since. Though the Rohingya diaspora nearly global in reach, most are concentrated in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and India, with the vast majority…
Read MoreHans Rosling’s book Factfulness and critical Hydra theory
“The problem of the poor is not the problem, the problem is the rich.” -Miles Richardson [Note: This and other posts will become part of a revised edition of Confronting Toxic Othering] Hans Rosling’s book Factfulness and critical Hydra theory More on critical Hydra theory My quest to more fully understand the genealogy of privileging forces continues, and below I present my less-than-optimistic view on why confronting toxic othering and systemic marginalization is perhaps a Sisyphean task. In brief, an ethos of privilege -based on gender, class, race, religion, i.e, that some people are inherently superior to others- permeates all cultures at such a deep level that world-wide change may be impossible. Common Reading Not unlike many other educational institutions, every year my university assigns a common reading intended for all incoming students. The expectation is that ideas presented in this book will be talked about in a wide…
Read MoreChrys Stevenson reviews Confronting Toxic Othering for The Australian Humanist
Book review I am excited to post a review of Confronting Toxic Othering: Understanding and Taming the Hydra by Australian author and critic Chrys Stevenson. Her review was published in the Winter 2022 edition of The Australian Humanist and is being used below with permission. Work on a revised edition of Confronting Toxic Othering: Understanding and Taming the Hydra is currently in progress with plans for re-publication in September, 2022. Power and Privilege: the ‘Hydra’ Model of Intersectional Discrimination Chrys Stevenson reviews Confronting Toxic Othering: Understanding and Taming the Hydra by Dr Tom Arcaro “Intersectionality is a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects.” – Kimberlé Crenshaw Tom Arcaro is a professor of sociology at Elon University with a special interest in humanitarian aid. Arcaro has made it his mission to understand how power and privilege function to…
Read MoreOn World Refugee Day 2022 let us remember that education is a basic human right
On this World Refugee Day 2022 let us not forget that all refugees have a right to an education Listen to a poet As a sociologist I am fully aware of how complex social reality is. In this ever globalizing world where cultural histories are now blending together, the task of capturing all the detailed nuance of one’s life is a daunting undertaking. Poetry is a time honored tool women and men from all over the world have used to artfully articulate observations about their lives and about the culture(s) in which they live and act. Poets are lay sociologists using an alternate language structure to share powerful insights. My goal with this essay is to comment on education as a basic human right and I can think of no better way to start than to use poetry. Below are two poems by Rohingya refugee Roshidullah Kyaw Naing, soon…
Read More