Yesterday, the east Asian country of Myanmar was the site of a sudden military coup that overthrew the democratically-elected government of president Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. As of this writing, the Myanmar military has seized complete control of the government, declared a one-year state of emergency, and has imposed martial law.
Even though information is still murky as the situation develops, it is impossible to underscore the seriousness of these events. What transpires over the next few days in Myanmar poses a serious threat to regional security, human rights, and - most importantly - the safety of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar. And this is a situation which the United States and the rest of the world absolutely cannot afford to ignore.
Since 2017, the mostly-Muslim Rohingya minority of Myanmar has been the target of a systematic campaign of mass extermination at the hands of the Burmese military, as Buddhist nationalists and extremist monks spew vile propaganda, dehumanizing language, and hate speech to spur on the violence. Villages have been burned, over 19,000 Rohingya women and girls have been raped, and countless Rohingya have been systematically massacred by government soldiers and Buddhist extremists. The death toll, as of late 2018, has been conservatively estimated to be at around 25,000, and over 700,000 Rohingya have been displaced from their homes in a massive humanitarian crisis.
And all of this took place prior to yesterday's coup. Due to the structure of Myanmar's government, the president does not have direct control over the military, so there has been little the government can do to stop the genocide. But now - with the military in complete control of Myanmar - the situation for the Rohingya is ever more grim, and the future appears depressingly bleak.
We saw a similar situation arise in Rwanda in 1994, when ethnic Tutsi rebels were pitted against the ethnic Hutu-led Rwandan government in a bloody civil war that turned into one of the worst genocides in human history. And the similarities between the events in Rwanda and the events in Myanmar are, to say the least, frighteningly uncanny.
On the night of April 6th, 1994, in the midst of an uneasy ceasefire, Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana was assassinated when unknown assailants - presumed to be Hutu extremists - shot his plane down over the capital city of Kigali. The following day, Hutu militias executed moderate politicians in the Rwandan government, seized complete power, and installed in their place a genocidal Hutu-extremist regime hell-bent on eradicating the Tutsi minority.
Over the next 100 days - in a campaign of systematic and wholesale slaughter, over 1,000,000 ethnic Tutsis - men women and children - were massacred while the world stood by and did nothing. The genocide only came to an end when the Rwandan Patriotic Front - the Tutsi-led rebel group - finally overthrew the government and forced the extremist Hutu regime from power.
What is happening in Myanmar is reminiscent of what happened in Rwanda. The Burmese military - like the Rwandan Armed Forces in 1994 - is controlled by ethnic extremists, and these extremists have now forcibly taken control of the government and forced the moderate politicians from power. Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi - once lauded for her commitment to human rights and democracy - is now being detained while her own military consolidates total and complete control of the Myanmar government.
Just like in Rwanda, these moderates in Myanmar who once posed an obstacle - if a minimal one - to full-scale genocide have been removed and are in the process of being replaced by an extremist military junta that has already demonstrated no compunction about carrying out systematic genocide against ethnic and religious minorities. It doesn't take a genius to see where this is going. We all know what happened when this scenario played out in Rwanda. And we all know what will happen when this scenario plays out in Myanmar.
America is now under the rule of a new administration, and - contrary to the last one - this administration has vocally eschewed isolationism and nationalism, and has voiced a greater commitment to internationalism and humanitarianism. The unfolding crisis in Myanmar will be the first great challenge to the new Biden Administration.
The new US Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, has been a longtime proponent of interventionism and humanitarianism, and he has already stated that the US plans to "take action" in response to this coup. What that action will be is, at this point, anyone's guess. But, whatever action is ultimately taken, it must not be a merely symbolic gesture or stark condemnation. It needs to be meaningful and immediate action to address a serious crisis where hundreds of thousands of lives now hang in the balance.
There is no question that a genocide is ongoing in Myanmar. We have passed that stage. The killings have been going on for four years, and throughout that time the world has - once again - stood by and done nothing in the face of evil. But now, the situation will unquestionably get worse.
With the military in complete control of Myanmar, the fate of the Rohingya is no longer in question. They will face a full-scale genocide - a genocide far worse than the one that has been ongoing since 2017. If we stand by and continue to do nothing, we will once again fail to uphold our post-Holocaust oath of "Never Again". Countless innocents will be slaughtered while we sit idly by, and Myanmar will join Rwanda on the seemingly endless list of failures that define American - and global - foreign policy.
This is the Biden Administration's chance to make history. This is the chance to define American foreign policy not as a cavalcade of bungled failures and isolationist posturing, but as a force for upholding human rights, for protecting the vulnerable, and for standing up to evil wherever and whenever it takes hold. Genocide is a crime against humanity, and it is incumbent on humanity itself to put a stop to it in any and all circumstances, no matter where it is.
Now is Joe Biden's chance to permanently disavow the horrific debacle of ultranationalism, isolationism, and egocentric populism that defined the foreign policy of the Trump Administration. Let us now, at long last, adopt a humanitarian interventionist foreign policy and demonstrate to the entire world that America will fight for human rights and stand up to those who threaten them. We have the opportunity and the capability to end this horrific genocide, and we should seize it.
For too long, we have said "Never Again". I hope that this administration uses that slogan not as lip service, but as a rallying cry.
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