• #Hong_Kong Finds New Maids to Exploit
    http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content

    Hong Kong recently began recruiting domestic helpers (maids) from Bangladesh, supposedly as a goodwill gesture towards the poor South Asian nation. To many, however, it is an effort to keep down wages and find a source of maids even less liable to complain than Indonesians, who had already overtaken Filipinas by number. They were considered to be less educated and thus less conscious of their theoretical rights and more willing to accept wages and working hours and conditions less than those stipulated as minimums by the government.

    #domestiques #exploitation #inégalités #femmes #pauvreté

  • Burmese Neo-Nazi Movement Rising Against Muslims
    http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content

    When Dr. Maung Zarni, an outspoken activist academic, labeled the ongoing anti-Rohingya and anti-Muslim movement in Burma as neo-Nazi, some Burmese said Zarni was exaggerating. Western commentators have also avoided the term.

    But Zarni has been proven right by emerging photos of an anti-Muslim riot in Meiktila in central Myanmar that broke out on March 20. The riot, which grew from a quarrel between Muslim gold shop owners and Buddhist customers, has taken more than 30 lives, and more than 10 mosques, Islamic schools and houses have been destroyed. Thousands of local residents, both Buddhist and Muslim, have fled the town, leaving Meiktila with ashes, burnt buildings, flames and dead bodies.

    To the campaigners, 969 is about protecting race and religion by peaceful means. In practice, it is explicitly an anti-Muslim campaign, not about preaching people the Buddha-nature of all beings, as taught and practiced by Lord Buddha himself. In many townships across Myanmar, including capital regions, there are local 969 committees that organize events and religious summons and distribute anti-Muslim materials such as CDs, books and leaflets.

    The 969 campaign targets economic aspects by alleging that Muslims are dominating the Burmese economy, and that therefore Buddhists must not trade with Muslims. Instead, the campaigners recommend that Buddhists buy and sell at Buddhist shops that display 969 signs and stickers. In Karen state, Buddhists are even forced to trade only with Buddhists. There are local reports about Buddhists being beaten by members of 969 civilians and monks for trading with Muslims.

    #Birmanie #discrimination #racisme