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YANGON, Myanmar —
In May, during the Islamic
holy month of Ramadan,
roughly 100 Buddhist na-
tionalists armed with sticks
and stones surrounded
three Muslim prayer sites,
blocking worshipers from
praying.
It was another example
of members of the Buddhist
majority intimidating Mus-
lims in Myanmar, where a
transition to democracy af-
ter half a century of military
rule has been accompanied
by a rise in ultranationalist
sentiment and religious vi-
olence.
The night after the inci-
dent, Thet Swe Win, a long-
time peace activist, con-
vened a group of like-
minded Buddhist friends
and interfaith activists to
brainstorm ways to show
solidarity with the Muslim
minority. He recalled a visit
to Paris in 2015, where he saw
Muslims handing out flow-
ers after a terrorist attack
there, and was inspired by
the gesture of empathy.
That same night, Thet
Swe Win’s group, along with
a Buddhist monk who has
been a vocal advocate for in-
terfaith harmony, Sayadaw
Badata Seindita, gathered
at one of the prayer sites and
handed out white roses to
Muslims.
The “white rose cam-
paign” soon spread from
Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest
city, to more than 20
mosques and Muslim prayer
sites across the country and
has become a potent symbol
of interfaith relations in a na-
tion where few voices speak
out against anti-Muslim
rhetoric and violence.
“I’m doing this work be-
cause only a few people are
doing it,” said Thet Swe Win,
- “I’m trying to mobilize
people to be more respon-
sive.” He has spearheaded a
series of campaigns promot-
ing interfaith harmony, a
controversial idea in Myan-
mar, also known as Burma,
in part because it challenges
the hard-line views of some
of the country’s 500,000 Bud-
dhist monks, who hold a
revered place in society and
can play an influential role in
politics.
Since beginning its
democratic transition in
2011, Myanmar has seen in-
creasing propaganda from
Buddhist and secular lead-
ers claiming that Muslims —
who make up an estimated
4% of the country’s 54 million
people — threaten to “swal-
low” Buddhists, who ac-
count for 88% of the popula-
tion.
Religious riots through-
out the country have at
times turned deadly, while
Yangon, also known as Ran-
goon, has been hit with spo-
radic mob attacks on prayer
halls, Islamic schools known
as madrassasand Muslim-
owned shops.
In 2012, violence erupted
between Rohingya Muslims
and Buddhists in the west-
ern state of Rakhine, forcing
more than 100,000 Rohingya
from their homes.
Rakhine state again saw
violence in 2016 and 2017, af-
ter attacks on military out-
posts by a Muslim militant
group called the Arakan Ro-
hingya Salvation Army. In
2017, the Myanmar army
launched a campaign of
rape, arson and killing
against Rohingya civilians
that sent an estimated
730,000 fleeing into
Bangladesh, and which
United Nations investiga-
tors found was carried out
“with genocidal intent.”
The civilian government
led by Nobel Peace Prize lau-reate Aung San Suu Kyi has
failed to condemn the vi-
olence, tarnishing her
reputation internationally.
But many in Myanmar sup-
port the narrative that the
Rohingya are illegal immi-
grants from Bangladesh and
should be expelled.
Thet Swe Win said he be-
gan speaking out against vi-
olence targeting Muslims in
2012, when he was dismayed
to find many of his fellow
pro-democracy and peace
activists staying silent.
“Not doing anything is
not enough. Civil society are
the front-line defenders of
human rights and human
values,” Thet Swe Win said.
“We have to be proactive.”
The 2012 violence also
marked a turning point for
Thinzar Shunlei Yi, an activ-
ist who joined Thet Swe Winin the white rose campaign.
Raised as a Buddhist on a
military compound where
she had little contact with
Muslims, she said she held
Islamophobic sentiments as
a child. It was only after she
began connecting with
young pro-democracy cam-
paigners from different
backgrounds that she felt
her mind-set began to shift
toward embracing religious
diversity.
Now 27, she said her en-
gagement in interfaith activ-
ism, including the white rose
campaign, draws from her
belief in the concept of “lov-
ing-kindness,” a central ten-
et of Buddhism.
“The philosophy is there,
to love every human being.
There are no exceptions,”
she said.
“We have to stand up forvulnerable communities as a
basic Buddhist principle. ...
As the majority, we need to
use our freedom and power
to defend the marginalized.”
The Buddhist monk who
participated in the white
rose campaign, Sayadaw
Seindita of the Asia Light
monastery in the central
town of Pyin Oo Lwin, said
he participated despite
knowing he might be tar-
geted by hard-line monks —
some of whom did attack
him online — because he
wanted to “show the real im-
age of Buddhism” through a
display of empathy and re-
spect for other religions.
This approach lies in
stark contrast with that of a
group of Buddhist monks
who emerged in 2011 as lead-
ers of the 969 Movement, lat-
er rebranded as Ma Ba Tha,
or the Assn. for the Protec-
tion of Race and Religion.
The movement stoked fears
of Islam as an existential
threat to Myanmar’s Bud-
dhist identity.
After Ma Ba Tha was
banned in 2017, a group
called the Buddha Dhamma
Parahita Foundation soon
emerged in its place. The
group has received financial
donations in the tens of
thousands of dollars from
senior military personnel.
“Throughout the politi-
cal changes in the country,
Buddhism has been used as
a tool,” said Sayadaw Sein-
dita. “If we [Buddhists]
don’t speak up for religious
minorities or share a mes-
sage of loving-kindness, the
image of Buddhism can be
destroyed.”
Zaw Min Latt, a Muslim
business owner who was at
the prayer hall that night,
praised the white rose ges-
ture, saying it established aconnection between the
members of the two faiths.
“The roses represent
peace,” he said. “As a citizen
of this country, I also want
Myanmar to be peaceful. I
saw that we have the same
intention.”
The white rose campaign
has since shifted toward an
awareness campaign using
billboards and music videos
promoting interfaith
themes.
Its participants have
often faced harassment.
Thet Swe Win’s friends
have received phone calls
from unknown numbers, ac-
cusing him of infidelity. In-
ternet rumors suggested
that his wife’s spa business
was funded by Muslims.
Once, nationalist monks
showed up unannounced at
his office, asking for him.
Photos have circulated
online of the activists and
their family members, along
with offensive comments.
“Whenever you are pic-
tured with Muslims, it can be
misused on different plat-
forms,” said Thinzar Shunlei
Yi. “When you are young,
when you’re a woman, when
you talk about unpopular
ideas, like interfaith har-
mony or understanding
towards minorities, you are
targeted.”
She said that being tar-
geted has only strengthened
her resolve, and she hoped
Myanmar’s youth would
come together to promote
unity.
“The younger generation
is changing. I myself have
changed; I am proof to the
world,” she said. “We need to
have our own narrative, our
own way.”Fishbein is a special
correspondent.Buddhist dissenters try flower power
Interfaith advocates
face risk in seeking to
bridge Myanmar’s
religious divide.
By Emily Fishbein
BUDDHISTShand out roses to Muslims in Mandalay, Myanmar, in May, a gesture of interreligious harmony begun during Ramadan.Photographs byYan Moe NaingFor The TimesTHE “WHITE ROSE CAMPAIGN”has spread across Myanmar, where few
majority Buddhists speak out against anti-Muslim rhetoric and violence.SAO PAULO, Brazil —
Cheers and chants of “Lula
livre” erupted as former
Brazilian President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva walked
out of the federal police
headquarters Friday in the
city of Curitiba, where he
had been held since April
2 018.
Supporters wearing the
red and white of his Workers’
Party had gathered at the
building’s gates earlier in the
day following a judge’s deci-
sion to set him free.
Moments after his re-
lease, Lula addressed the
crowd of about 200.
“For 580 days you were
here shouting: ‘Good morn-
ing, Lula; good afternoon,
Lula; good night, Lula,’” he
said. “It didn’t matter if it
was raining, if it was 40 de-
grees or if it was zero de-
grees. Every single day, you
were what fed democracy.”
The decision to free him
came after the country’s
Supreme Court decided lateThursday in a 6-5 vote that a
person can only be jailed
once all appeals to higher
courts have been exhausted.
Lula is still appealing his
2017 conviction on corrup-tion and money laundering
in connection with the pur-
chase of a beachfront apart-
ment in Sao Paulo state.
Lula’s attorney, Cristiano
Zanin, said he expects “theentire case to be nullified.”
Friday’s judgment is in
sharp contrast to the top
court’s ruling in February
2016 that said defendants
whose convictions are up-
held can be jailed while other
appeals are still pending.
The ruling opens a legal
path for the release of some
5,000 inmates with cases on
appeal, including several
other top politicians and
business leaders ensnared
in the billion-dollar corrup-
tion investigation known as
Lava Jato, or Car Wash.
Lula was initially found
guilty in July 2017 of accept-
ing $1.2 million in bribes from
contractor OAS in exchange
for helping the company win
contracts with state-run oil
giant Petrobras, a convic-
tion that was upheld in April
2018 by a group of judges
who ordered his impris-
onment.
Held in a 161-square-foot
room at the federal police
headquarters, the former
union leader maintained his
innocence and said his im-
prisonment was politically
motivated.President from 2003 to
2010, he left office with an
87% approval rating thanks
to drastic reductions in the
country’s poverty rate
through social welfare pro-
grams.
Since his implication in
the Lava Jato investigation,
he has become extremely di-
visive, with many Brazilians
blaming him for the coun-
try’s financial and political
woes, and others standing
staunchly in his support.
Jail didn’t stop him from
entering last year’s presi-
dential race as the candi-
date of the Workers’ Party.
He was favored to win until
he was declared ineligible
under Brazil’s Clean Slate
Law, which bars those con-
victed of a crime from hold-
ing office for eight years
after completing their sen-
tences.
He was then replaced by
a former mayor of Sao Paulo,
Fernando Haddad, who lost
to Jair Bolsonaro, the cur-
rent far-right president.Langlois is a special
correspondent.Ex-Brazilian President Lula is freed from prison
A decision by the
Supreme Court lets
him out, to the cheers
of massed supporters.
By Jill Langlois
LUIZ INACIOLula da Silva leaves prison, where he’s been since April 2018. The
former president is appealing his conviction for corruption and money laundering.Henry MilleoAFP/Getty Images