By Tarek Mahmud
The #Black4Rohingya movement commemorates those Rohingya
who were massacred in Rakhine State in June, 2012.
Protect the Rohingya, a Rohingya rights activist group,
has called a movement to show solidarity with the heavily persecuted ethnic
minority by wearing black on Wednesday, June 13.
Through a poster for the upcoming movement, the South
Africa based rights group also urged global citizens to tweet photos and
messages of solidarity with the Rohingya to @ProtectRohingya on June 13, using
the hashtag #Black4Rohingya.”
“We urge people of
conscience the world over to join our campaign and spread the word about June
13 2018,” said a recent press release from the group.
“As South Africans having lived through a racist, brutal,
and oppressive regime, it is our duty to stand against apartheid wherever it
exists. Burma (Myanmar) should NOT be allowed to continue its genocide of the
Rohingya population,” it added.
#Black4Rohingya is a Protect the Rohingya initiative,
initially held on July 5, 2013 before being moved to June 13 from 2014 onwards.
The movement commemorates those Rohingya who were massacred in Rakhine State in
June, 2012.
Protect the Rohingya has arranged a total of 20 events in
three different cities in South Africa for Rohingyas this month, Nay San Lwin,
a Rohingya activist based in London, told the Dhaka Tribune.
“They launched this movement a few years ago. It is very
simple. One just has to wear black clothing, take a photo and post on Twitter,
to show one’s solidarity with Rohingyas,” he said.
“We, hailing from
Arakan (Rakhine) in Myanmar, have been denied citizenship, freedom of movement,
and access to education and health services, by the Myanmar Military Junta. We
have been subject inter alia to land confiscations, arbitrary arrests, forced
sterilization, extortion, torture, rape, and collective punishment. Our
citizenship was revoked by the state in 1982,” Nay San Lwin added.
Myanmar military ‘clearance operations’ have forced more
than 700,000 Rohingya to flee over the border to Bangladesh since August 25,
2017. Stories of murder, rape, and arson attacks by the military came with
them.
With the monsoon season arriving in recent months, the
situation in the Rohingya camps of Cox’s Bazar has only worsened.