{"id":1950,"date":"2025-07-15T12:45:35","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T12:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/?p=1950"},"modified":"2025-07-15T12:45:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T12:45:37","slug":"religious-riots-the-trump-cards-of-dictators-and-dirty-politicians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/2025\/07\/15\/religious-riots-the-trump-cards-of-dictators-and-dirty-politicians\/","title":{"rendered":"Religious Riots: The Trump Cards of Dictators and Dirty Politicians"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Throughout history, the most potent and dangerous rhetorical weapon has been ultranationalist patriotism<\/strong>\u2014especially when laced with fears of racial, religious, or national extinction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dirty politicians and authoritarian regimes routinely exploit this rhetoric during times of instability or elections. They stoke fear by painting a picture of \u201cothers against us.\u201d<\/em> And in that narrative, they always need a convenient scapegoat\u2014often foreigners<\/em>, migrants<\/em>, or religious minorities<\/em>\u2014to blame for society\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Religious minorities are typically cast as outsiders: alien, untrustworthy, disloyal. They are marked as \u201cforeigners\u201d even when they\u2019ve lived on the land for generations. This branding sets the stage for religious riots<\/strong>, engineered not by accident, but as a deliberate political strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samuel Johnson put it best:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cPatriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

From General Aung San: On the Dirty Politics of Ultranationalism<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u201cReligion is the trump card of dirty politicians and dirty governments.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

They say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Politics is dirty.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Politics is religion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    They say these contradictory things in the same breath\u2014because confusion is their strategy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Their goal is to bewilder the public<\/strong>, blur real issues, and cloud judgment<\/strong>. What they do is not politics, but opportunism<\/strong>. Real politics is a science of human society. Religion, by contrast, is a matter of individual conscience.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Of course, a just political system must protect the freedom of religious worship<\/strong>. But we must draw a firm line<\/strong> between religion and politics. Mixing the two is not only politically irresponsible\u2014it betrays the spirit of religion<\/strong> itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Religion concerns the soul, the hereafter. Politics concerns worldly affairs. It is secular by nature<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    Religious Freedom and National Unity<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    General Aung San addressed the monastic community with a profound call:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    \u201cReverend Sanghas!
    You have a tremendous role to play. This is the highest form of politics you can do for your country and people.
    Go among the people.
    Preach unity and love.
    Carry the message of higher freedom\u2014
    freedom to worship,
    freedom to preach,
    freedom from fear, ignorance, and superstition.
    Teach our people to rely on themselves,
    to rebuild spiritually, materially, and morally.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    What Is Politics, Really?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Some still cling to the idea that politics is inherently \u201cdirty.\u201d But that is a myth. As General Aung San clarified:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    \u201cIt is not politics that is dirty\u2014but the people who choose to dirty it<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    We are all political beings. As Aristotle said, \u201cMan is a political animal.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Politics is not some distant activity\u2014it\u2019s your everyday life<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • How you eat, sleep, work, and live.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • It\u2019s the worker seeking fair wages.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • The farmer improving his land.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • The clerk and official seeking dignity and security.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • The trader wanting fair chances.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Even if you try to ignore politics, politics never ignores you<\/strong>. It\u2019s in your home, your office, your fields, your daily struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      And what is it all about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n

      Livelihood.
      Dignity.
      Opportunity.
      Freedom.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

      We fight for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • Freedom to live.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Freedom to grow\u2014individually and nationally.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Freedom that uplifts us without oppressing others<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        That is what real politics is about.
        It is not dirty<\/strong>.
        It is not dangerous<\/strong>.
        It is not mystical or beyond understanding<\/strong>.
        It is human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n\n\n\n

        Let us reclaim politics from scoundrels and return it to the people.
        Let us reject religious hatred, fear-mongering, and scapegoating.
        Let us remember what General Aung San stood for: unity, reason, and justice.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Throughout history, the most potent and dangerous rhetorical weapon has been ultranationalist patriotism\u2014especially when laced with fears of racial, religious, or national extinction. Dirty politicians and authoritarian regimes routinely exploit this rhetoric during times of instability or elections. They stoke fear by painting a picture of \u201cothers against us.\u201d And in that narrative, they always […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1436,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6,16],"tags":[119],"class_list":["post-1950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-history","category-opinion","tag-general-aung-san"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1950"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1951,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950\/revisions\/1951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}