Friday 20 July 2012

#SaveTheRohingya Action 2

Whilst the world media obsessed over the distraction of Aung San Suu Kyi, quietly ignored back in Burma 90,000 people were displaced from their homes, which were burnt to the ground, in a mass act of genocide (disguised as sectarian strife) against the Rohingyan Muslim people.

http://www.genocidewatch.org/myanmar.html
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/05/burma-mass-arrests-raids-rohingya-muslims

The whole world it seems can't wait to get into Burma, to do business, and a major new gas pipeline is being built from the Bay of Bengal across to China due to be finished by 2013, which may or may not be adding to the excitement.

Many of the Rohingya tried to escaped with their lives by taking to sea, only to get turned back at the Bangladesh border. Some boats disappeared. Others were reported to have been shot from  helicopters and destroyed.


Now we have a source on the ground who told us everyone had run out of food. Good news is that as of today, 20th July, we have learnt that some food is now getting through to the Rohingya, distributed by the WFP, but many thousands are still hungry and in desperate need. In addition our source says more medical assistance is urgently required as there are many injuries and sick people. We have been told that there is some medical help but more is required since people are dying every day from injuries and disease.

These people desperately need protection, food, medical care and homes rebuilding, as quickly as possible. This requires money. We would like to be able to help raise funds for the Rohingya so we have been writing to DEC to ask them to launch an emergency appeal. The problem is that DEC will not launch an appeal until the main stream media has been reporting the crisis for a number of days.

On Monday 23rd July Restless Beings are holding a press conference on behalf of the Rohingya people to raise awareness of the current crisis. It is important that all the UK press attend. Please write and tweet to them all, and ask them to send someone to the press conference to give this mass act of genocide the urgent coverage it should be getting. We have listed some news sources below for you to contact, but you may wish to contact more.

Please also write and tweet to the UK government who should also be sending someone to the press conference to find out more and voicing this issue as a matter of urgent and grave concern. We have listed some details below but if you live in the UK please also contact your own MP.


Press Conference 23rd July London: http://www.restlessbeings.org/events/rohingya-the-human-story


#SaveTheRohingya Action 2.1


Update: The BBC finally gave a bit of online coverage to the crisis on 20th July here but it was sadly lacking in detail of easily verifiable facts (such as 90000 displaced and hungry, and thousands of homes burnt to the ground).

Write to the BBC ask for urgent detailed television coverage on the Rohingya genocide and ask them to attend the Restless Beings press conference in London 23rd July.

Contact BBC News channel here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_3950000/newsid_3959100/3959111.stm
Find more departments to contact here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_3950000/newsid_3959100/3959111.stm
General:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_4030000/newsid_4032600/4032695.stm
Radio:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_3960000/newsid_3964500/3964513.stm
Twitter:
@BBCNEWS


#SaveTheRohingya Action 2.2


Write to the Sky News ask for urgent coverage on the Rohingya genocide and ask them to attend the Restless Beings  press conference in London 23rd July.

Email: news@sky.com
Twitter: @SkyNews
More: http://news.sky.com/info/contact-ushttp://news.sky.com/info/contact-us


#SaveTheRohingya Action 2.3

Write to the the Daily Mail ask for urgent coverage on the Rohingya genocide and ask them to attend the Restless Beings  press conference in London 23rd July.

Email: news@dailymail.co.uk
Twitter: @MailOnline @DMAILnews


#SaveTheRohingya Action 2.4

Write to the Independent and ask for urgent coverage on the Rohingya genocide and ask them to attend the Restless Beings press conference in London 23rd July.

Email: newseditor@independent.co.uk
Twitter: @Independent @IndyWorld
Independent Journalists on Twitter
More: http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/contact-us-759589.html



#SaveTheRohingya Action 2.5

Write to the the UK government ask them to voice urgent concerns about the genocide of the Rohingya in Burma and ask them to attend the Restless Beings  press conference in London 23rd July to find out more about the current situation on the ground.

Prime Minister's Office 10 Downing Street
Twitter: @Number10gov @WilliamJHague
Email Secretary of State Mr William Hague: haguew@parliament.uk
Email Foreign Affairs Committee: foraffcom@parliament.uk
If in the UK, contact your MP.


When you have completed these tasks please tweet to the #SaveTheRohingya tag to tell everyone and also paste to Facebook to ask others to do the same. Please also tweet @SaveTheRohingya with your progress.

If we all act together we may be able to get the Rohingya the help they desperately need!

Please help to #SaveTheRohingya

Please check back tomorrow for day 3 of actions.
If you missed action 1.5 it is here - please do that too!
Wondering what this is all about? You can read about the launch of the campaign and what we are doing here.

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