Hundreds of people came together at Chicago’s Federal Plaza on Saturday, September 16, 2017, to express their solidarity with Rohingya refugees who are violently persecuted by the Burmese military. The Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC) and Burma Task Force organized the rally and invited speakers from local advocacy organizations to articulate their support for the persecuted group, including CIOGC Executive Director Abdullah Mitchell.
On Friday, September 22, 2017, at 8:30pm, Islamic Foundation, along with CIOGC and the Law Office of Maaria Mozaffar, will host Dr. Azeem Ibrahim for an open discussion regarding the current conditions confronting Rohingya Muslims. CIOGC encourages all to attend this important and informative event.
On Saturday, September 23, 2017, at 1pm, at the Plaza of the Americas (Michigan Avenue, north of Wacker Drive) the Rohingya Culture Center is sponsoring a rally in support of Rohingya Muslims, to continue to draw attention of Muslims to the genocide if the Rohingya Muslims in Burma. CIOGC also urges the community to attend this event to add to the voices calling for justice for Rohingya Muslims.
In what the United Nations has called a campaign of ethnic cleansing, over 400,000 Rohingya Muslims have escaped to Bangladesh, fleeing the campaign of violence being waged by the Burmese military against Rohingya Muslims. Refugees have fled in the thousands including entire families, infants, and the elderly. According to the Reuters newswire, at least 80 smoldering villages can be seen in satellite images.
While many victims of the persecution still remain in the Rakhine State of Burma, the Burmese government has refused to allow aid workers and reporters into Burma to provide needed medical care and reporting. CIOGC is urging our community members and members of the general public to call and tweet U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to demand sanctions on Myanmar.
Please do your part with this 10-minute action:
• Tweet & call the U.S. Secretary of State. Phone number: 202-647-9572.Twitter: .@Secy_State_US, .@StateDept
• Tweet & call Scot Marciel, U.S. Ambassador to Burma Phone: (95)- (9)-512-4330, Twitter: @USEmbassyBurma, and @scot_a_marciel
Call Aung San Suu Kyi and demand:
• The military must stop attacks on Rohingyas.
• The U.S. ambassador to Burma have all access to Rohingya areas in Burma.
Talking Points:
• Rohingyas are indigenous people living in their ancestral lands
• They were citizens of Myanmar until 1982, when the government rescinded their citizenship
• Stop military attacks against Rohingya Muslims
• Seven Nobel laureates agree that the Rohingya are subject to slow genocide
Sample Tweets:
.@Secy_State_US Please call Suu Kyi asking her to stop attacks on Rohingyas
.@scot_a_marciel Please visit Rohingya area immediately. Your visit will stop attacks on Rohingyas
Copy and distribute this action alert in your masjid
Above photo by Awad Hamdan