Countering Buddhist radicalisation: emerging peace movements in Myanmar and Sri Lanka

Abstract

Violence and hate speech endorsed by Buddhist monks against Muslim minorities in South and Southeast Asia have attracted global attention in recent years, and been the focus for a growing academic scholarship. This article turns the attention to peace activists, religious – including Buddhist – leaders and other civil society actors seeking to counter anti-Muslim agitation in Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Drawing on theories about social movements and countermovements, it analyses the diverse counter-forces, their activities and the obstacles they face. Doing so, the article contributes to an understanding of peacebuilding in religiously framed conflicts, and of the conditions for peace movements in an age of radicalisation and online activism. Based on interviews with civil society representatives and religious leaders, complemented with secondary sources, the study finds that although the peace movements are weaker and largely reactive to and restrained by the radical Buddhist nationalist movements, they constitute important counter-voices. The article also argues that the struggle between hate speech and counter speech in social media constitutes an important part of the movement–countermovement dynamics. Finally, the article suggests that theories on opposing movements can usefully be developed to enhance our understanding of mobilisation in different arenas in conflict-affected societies.

Keywords:

• Civil society
• peacebuilding
• religion
• resistance and activism
• South Asia
• Southeast Asia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the three anonymous reviewers, as well as Maj-Lis Follér, Gustaaf Houtman, Carolina Ivarsson Holgersson and Bart Klem for constructive comments on earlier versions of the article. Special thanks also to Dhammika Herath for comments and collaboration.

Notes

1. Observations by the author, Pyin Oo Lwin and Galle, 2016.

2. Such counter-forces have so far received scant scholarly attention (however, see Schonthal and Walton 2016, 86, 102–104; Walton and Hayward 2014, 30–34; Bauman and Ponniah 2017, 74–75).

3. Two interviews with individuals who actively opposed anti-Muslim violence in 2018 in central Sri Lanka conducted by a colleague, Dhammika Herath, in early 2019, were also included in this study.

4. https://coconuts.co/yangon/news/85-percent-myanmar-internet-use-smartphones-survey/, accessed April 2, 2019.

5. https://www.facebook.com/supportflowerspeech/, accessed March 7, 2018.

Additional information

Funding

Research funding from the Swedish Research Council (grant number 2014-05962) is gratefully acknowledged.

Notes on contributors

Camilla Orjuela

Camilla Orjuela is a professor of peace and development research at the School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Her research has focused on diaspora mobilisation, peace activism, identity politics, corruption, post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation. Her research experience in Sri Lanka goes back to the 1990s, while more recently she has also worked on Rwanda and Myanmar. Her current research deals with memorialisation and accountability in the aftermath of famine.