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Anti-Muslim Bigotry

French TV Show Pekin Express Simmers Near the Bodies of the Rohingya

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Compiled by our friends at Al Kanz

For the tenth edition of its TV reality game show the French TV channel M6 chose to celebrate by sending the participants of  Pékin Express on an adventure in… Burma, where a genocide of Muslims has been committed for almost two years —the victims both Burmese and stateless Rohingyas, who saw their their citizenship revoked in 1982 by the ruling junta. Read Amnesty Report – Myanmar: The Rohingya Minority: Fundamental Rights Denied .

Burma is a country where the military has continued to use rape as a weapon of war according to the BBC.

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birmanie viol pekin express
 Burma, where crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing  has been practiced for the past one and a half years, as reported by the Human Rights Watch NGO in April 2013.

 

hrw genocide M6
 

Read – Burma: End ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ of Rohingya Muslims

The UNO, which declared several months ago that the Rohingyas constitutes the most persecuted ethnic group in the world, raised the concern about the [brutal] mistreatments of this ethnic minority.

 

un rohingya
 

Lire – UN envoy raises alarm on abuses against Rohingya

Here is the daily reality of the Muslim Burmese and Rohingyas:

Voir l'image sur Twitter
Now here is the reality that M6 is selling its viewers:

à la découverte des mondes inconnus : la Birmanie, le Nagaland, le Bhoutan et le Sri Lanka. Une saison plus dépaysante !

Voir l'image sur Twitter

Pictures from unknown worlds.

So much so that the [administration of] M6 channel chooses to ignore that a genocide is happening; from Jérémy Guyot, Media Relations Director at M6, who is touting viewers on Twitter and Morgane DuPont, the M6 Communications Officer who is always tweeting [sweet] pictures of Buddhist children but cautiously avoids the following Time cover depicting the ‘Hitler of Burma’, to Stéphane Rotenberg who went on a family trip to Burma, with his daughter.

 

Rohingya : le magazine Time met à la une Wirathu, Hitler de Birmanie
 

Lire – Le magazine Time met à la une Wirathu, Hitler de Birmanie

M6 prefers the pictures that would make its viewers dream and the advertisers come. Talking about Hitler, albeit dressed in an ocher robe and having a smooth skull, is just not as glamorous.

 

birmanie moine morgane pekin express
via Morgane DuPont
 


Voir l'image sur Twitter
While the media is celebrating the TV channel’s 10 years of existence, not even uttering a word about the aberration of making a show in the middle of an ethnic cleansing, social media mobilization managed to gather a large chunk of people who do not relate to this unethical production.

The petition formed against this program has met with resounding success. Click on the following link in order to reach the petition: We ask for the cancellation of the 10th edition of Pékin Express, held in Burma.

We have to carry on the mobilization. M6 might not cancel its 10th edition, despite this gigantic mistake. Never mind. We  have,  cumulatively, with this 10th edition of Pekin Express, the chance to tell the whole world that in France a TV show plays and entertains the viewers near the warm dead bodies of women, children and the elderly, murdered because of the their ethnic origins. The world must know, the world will know in sha Allah. We owe it to Burma’s oppressed.

[Last]Wednesday, less than half an hour before the beginning of Pékin Express Al Kanz uploaded a good practices guide to create a successful tweetstorm. We invite you all to read this guide which is freely available online by clicking on the following link : Tweetstorm against Pékin Express: guide for a successful mobilization on Twitter.

On Twitter, we are a bunch of motivated people that strive to support the voice of the oppressed in Burma. Join us! If you do not have a Twitter account, this is the perfect opportunity to create one. If you already have one please post as soon as today to inform people about the situation in Burma. Every user that will click on the hashtag #PekinExpress – and the number of users is huge as the show is streamed and can be watched later online – will have a chance to learn that M6 has filmed its show while men, women and children were dying under the violence of extremists.

village birmanie rohingya
Tweetstorm to support these children – © Barakacity
Additional Information: The picture  has been taken in 2013 during a humanitarian mission of the charity Barakacity. These are Rohingyas and other children that the extremists of Wirathu want to eliminate. Let’s tell this truth to the world. Let’s not be silent. Let’s mobilize. (Translated by @MuslimFast from French version : J-4 pour la tweetstorm contre Pékin Express en Birmanie and Niyou from French version : Lire – Pékin Express pendant le génocide en Birmanie : 12 000 signataires en 24h )

Keep supporting MuslimMatters for the sake of Allah

Alhamdulillah, we're at over 850 supporters. Help us get to 900 supporters this month. All it takes is a small gift from a reader like you to keep us going, for just $2 / month.

The Prophet (SAW) has taught us the best of deeds are those that done consistently, even if they are small. Click here to support MuslimMatters with a monthly donation of $2 per month. Set it and collect blessings from Allah (swt) for the khayr you're supporting without thinking about it.

Hena Zuberi is the Editor in Chief of Muslimmatters.org. She leads the DC office of the human rights organization, Justice For All, focusing on stopping the genocide of the Rohingya under Burma Task Force, advocacy for the Uighur people with the Save Uighur Campaign and Free Kashmir Action. She was a Staff Reporter at the Muslim Link newspaper which serves the DC Metro. Hena has worked as a television news reporter and producer for CNBC Asia and World Television News. Active in her SoCal community, Hena served as the Youth Director for the Unity Center. Using her experience with Youth, she conducts Growing Up With God workshops. hena.z@muslimmatters.org Follow her on Twitter @henazuberi.

15 Comments

15 Comments

  1. John Howard

    April 30, 2014 at 7:51 PM

    I understand your concern about Burma but where is your rage about what is happening in Nigeria, the Sudan, Kenya and other African countries where there are similar pogroms being enacted by muslims against the innocents here

    • Irfan

      May 1, 2014 at 1:39 AM

      Uh oh, shame grenade?

    • Mahmud B.

      May 1, 2014 at 3:19 AM

      Brother John,

      Suffering of innocent men, women and children is unacceptable regardless race or religion.

      But a human being has only finite amounts of attention and time and energy

      You have some people fighting for clean water for poor people in africa, while others are fighting to save the homeless on the streets of new york

      You have some people who spend their whole lives protecting and promoting the cause of animal extinction while others have taken up another cause

      human attention and ability is finite. you just pick up an issue and do your best to bring some positive change.

      it doesnt mean that the author of the article above doesnt care about human suffering in countries other than burma

      but let us ask ourselves what we are doing to bring positive change to the world

      So John…what cause/project have you taken up?

      • Umm.Esa

        May 1, 2014 at 2:31 PM

        “So John…what cause/project have you taken up?”
        :)

    • Umm ZAKAriyya

      May 1, 2014 at 12:57 PM

      Just because she likes biscuit , does not mean she hates cakes.

  2. ZAI

    April 30, 2014 at 11:38 PM

    Two comments:

    #1 The stupid savagery our “brothers” from extremist groups are carrying out against non-Muslims
    in Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq or wherever has made the rest of the world cynical when it comes
    to Muslim suffering. Many non-Muslims see us as hypocrites who cry about Muslim suffering…but blasphemy laws in Pakistan, no protests, no real concern, nothing. In short, they see us as self-absorbed hypocrites who don’t care about anyone but ourselves, so why care about us…and I’m not even talking about the grotesque, Islamophobe trolls here…just regular people. When certain segments of the Ummah has bought into interpretations of the faith that teach that treating non-Muslims rudely, arrogantly and even denying them their rights is some kinda virtue..then yeah, we shouldn’t be surprised when non-Muslims don’t care about us.

    #2 I dunno how we’re supposed to make the REST of the world…non-Muslims…feel guilty and be taken seriously regarding our Rohingya brothers and sisters being slaughtered and having a genocide perpetrated on them…when countries like the UAE are doing freakin’ business w/ the Burmese governent??? I’d reaaaallly like that answered. We have the FIRST responsibility to help these people and if we’re not doing it, infact we’re cutting tele-comm deal with the Burmese govt., yeah..the world is not gonna take us seriously.

    It is a shame what is happening to these people, but it is not indicative of only Western hypocrisy and apathy, it is ALSO indicative of the total failure and abject degradation of Muslim sociieties as well.

    • Abu Abdillah

      May 1, 2014 at 9:33 PM

      As for your statement “I dunno how we’re supposed to make the REST of the world…non-Muslims…feel guilty and be taken seriously…” Why should non-Muslims–other than those actually perpetrating the crimes–be made to feel guilty? How many times is the verse “And none will bear the burden of another” in the Quran? And, how is this hypocrisy for the West to ignore the problem but somehow less than that for muslims? And, how is it that someone who clearly states that “I understand your concern about Burma…” is an Islamophobe troll? That seems a rather polite manner of dissent.

      • ZAI

        May 1, 2014 at 9:52 PM

        ” Why should non-Muslims–other than those actually perpetrating the crimes–be made to feel guilty?”

        Guilty about inaction and apathy to an obvious genocide within a global community with institutions like the UN, World Court, and human rights which are ostensibly supposed to prevent such things.

        “How many times is the verse “And none will bear the burden of another” in the Quran?”

        They do not bear the burden of the crime. I never said they did.

        “And, how is this hypocrisy for the West to ignore the problem but somehow less than that for muslims? ”

        I didn’t say it was any less for Muslims, in fact it is even more. See comment re: the UAE’s business dealings with Myanmar/Burma and Re: human rights abuses in the Muslim world.

        “And, how is it that someone who clearly states that “I understand your concern about Burma…” is an Islamophobe troll?”

        I did not call him an Islamophobe troll. I said people in general, even excluding islamophobe trolls who are bigoted, do not feel much sympathy for Muslims nowadays due to the hypocrisy, double-standards, and self-absorbed world views of many Muslims that have no consistency or principled universal standards in regards to human rights.

        “That seems a rather polite manner of dissent.”

        Did you read the comment carefully and understand it whatsoever?

  3. John Howard

    May 1, 2014 at 1:58 AM

    By your rather flippant remark only muslim victims need be the concern?

    • Ismail

      May 1, 2014 at 5:58 AM

      No, that’s only what you want to believe. Read the comment properly.

  4. John Howard

    May 1, 2014 at 9:18 AM

    It is very hard to accept your protestations regarding the situation in Burma when you state that we only have so much time and concern for people Your concern is selective As a non muslim I read your newsletter “Muslim Matters” regularly. The underlying theme that the world is against muslims is to an extent true because for many of us we have experienced the almost total lack of respect for our societies and beliefs by muslims. They are not your laws but they have stood us in good stead over the last 1000 years as we developed them. The rule of man made law justice personal freedom are basic tenets that we have fought and died for over the centuries. We rightly expect that all who come to settle in the west not just obey them but understand that we do not want them changed to suit what we see as a foreign culture. The fact that there is a basic distrust for your beliefs grows more every day and for me the basis is that you are only interested in the plight of muslims and not of the other citizens in the countries you live in. Your commentator Zai has probably come closest to expounding from a muslim perspective how you and you are seen by us . You can call us hypocrites because we deal with muslim governments that don’t conform to your ideal or ours for that matter but where have you as muslims lifted your game to make your homelands better? The west can only deal with the regimes they are confronted with. If we interfere as we have in Iraq or in the support of Israel we are seen as invaders If we try to keep out of wars such as Syria or Burma we are called cowards for not supporting muslims. Is it any wonder that we in the west are tired of muslims because of their insistence on it being their way or else and that when it comes to what is happening in Burma many of us turn around and say to hell with them let them sort it out because what ever we do you can rest assured there will be some muslim group wanting to kill us for interfering.
    I respect your commentator Zai for his words because he has put probably in the most succinct manner what many of us kuffrs feel. It will be interesting to see how many of your readers agree with him. If there are more like him maybe just maybe there may be some way to foil the war of civilizations that many feel is coming

    • Mahmud B.

      May 2, 2014 at 2:39 AM

      John,

      Your comments and views seem to be all over the place. You have made the issues very black and white.

      The notions of “east versus west” are from the Cold War era of the 60’s. I am sure you agree that a lot has changed since then. The world is not black and white. In fact it never was. Through its history, the United States government has preached a doctrine of “us versus them”.

      That was the case when Europeans first settled in this land we call The United States, when the “us versus them” ideology was used to massacre countless Native American lives. The same ideology was used during slavery and then during the World Wars up until the recent invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

      But I know that there are millions of Americans who oppose the atrocities committed by their own government. There are millions of Europeans who also also stand for justice, peace and compassion for all.

      Its important stop stop painting everyone with the same brush.

      There is good and bad everywhere. The main thing to note is that there are those who are doing something positive to change the world for the better and there are those who are essentially consumers of products and entertainment and not making too much of a difference in the world.

      There are Muslims and non-muslims in each group.

      Forget about “east” and “west”. What good are you and I bringing to the world?

      Your anger at all muslims is misplaced. Direct that anger towards injustice and oppression, because injustice and oppression has no race or religion.

  5. Umm ZAKAriyya

    May 1, 2014 at 1:13 PM

    It’s so upsetting to watch the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya. Why can’t all the muslim nations simply bring them into their countries or send troops to defend them ?

  6. Muna

    May 2, 2014 at 8:37 AM

    The comment by Zai is so on point here. Our first and foremost aim, as this article suggests, should be for us as Muslims to take responsibility and do something ourselves so the twitter storm is definitely positive action.

    However as Muslims we do have an image problem that we need to tackle opif we want others to moblise and join us. Of course there are the conscientious non-Muslims that are disgusted with what’s happening in Burma because suffering is suffering irrespective of who the victim is. For others however, they might find it difficult to join the fight for the Rohingyan’s because the image of Muslims as perpetuated by the media is not a good image. And we all know there are some of us out there that don’t seem to grasp the importance of treating others (irrespective of religion) with respect. Treat people as you would like to be treated. What we need to be doing is going back to the sunnah of the prophet Mohammad (saw) and treating people the way he told us to do so. Once we start doing that, maybe more people will be inclined to see us as humans too.

  7. campacola

    May 3, 2014 at 11:15 AM

    In western papua new guinea which was illegaly annexed by indonesia 1969, a silent genocide of 500,000 tribals was done by muslims and till today, muslims are raping, dislocating west papua un-armed tribals, who never wanted their country to be sold to indonesia. WHERE IS HUMANITY IN MUSLIMS? When prophet muhammad himself ordered the killing of 900 jews in Banu Quraish and raped the wife of the warlord same night he killed her husband, why no muslim raised his voice.

    Completely biased article against buddhists. Where is humanity today when Nigerian christian school children are hacked to pieces by muslims? The question is simple, if rohingya are dying because they`re muslims, then how difficult is it to leave islam? When muslims attacked India, they gave a choice to hindus, convert to islam or die, why not apply the same to rohingya and see if they really want burma citizenship or islam. If answer is islam, then indonesia has already said they are happy to take rohingya.

    Coming to USA, which country gave terrorist status to muslim brotherhood? Was is USA?
    when saudi arab is responsible for killing 150,000 muslims in syria, why is french TV putting the entire blame on a few buddhists?

    Muslims should stop interfering in burma`s internal affair, because once the chicken is pregnant, no air water or food can change the color of the egg. If a christian defames prophet muhammad in pakistan, he is immediately hanged by blasphemy law. This entire fight was started by the muslims, when they beheaded buddhist monks in thailand and defamed lord buddha. Why should I pay my hard earned money to amnesty to stop a flood of violence which is going to hit the houses of those who started it.

    if muslims are complaining about rohingya, they should know, bangladesh, pakistan, qatar have refused to help the rohingya muslims. So dont complain to non-muslims for double standards.
    Even the peaceful buddhists know that muslims preach peace when in small numbers, but massacre every non-muslims once they reach majority.

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