As Myanmar and the Arakan Army the rebel group continue their genocide against the Rohingya in Arakan, global solidarity for the Indigenous Rohingya people is required more than ever. The movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction Myanmar and the Arakan Army is an effective strategy to turn solidarity into real impact. To make your RSC campaign successful, focus on advocating for targeted sanctions, pushing for divestment from companies supporting Myanmar’s military and Arakan Army, and rallying international support to hold Myanmar and Arakan Army accountable for its actions against the Rohingya.

Targeted-versus-untargeted-boycott

As the global community continues to witness the Rohingya people in Myanmar are trapped in a dehumanising system of state-sponsored discrimination and racial segregation. This is apartheid – a crime against humanity as defined by international law. Myanmar security forces have conducted a vicious ethnic cleansing campaign, killing Rohingya people, torching whole villages to the ground and forcing more than a million men, women and children to flee as refugees to nearby Bangladesh.

So horrific has this situation become that the UN has described it as a ‘textbook example of ethnic cleansing

A new wave of oppression and ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people is growing by the Arakan Army the rebel group. Many people are learning for the first time about the the longstanding issues surrounding Rohingya persecution, particularly since the 1962 military-led ongoing violence, and are now seeking ways to take action. The Rohingya Solidarity Campaign (RSC) draws inspiration from past successful resistance movements, such as the Bangladesh Independence struggle and  the South African anti-apartheid movement, and is rooted in the belief that justice and accountability for the Rohingya can be achieved through collective action. In this guide, we lay out the campaign’s basics, best practices, and some helpful tips and ideas for strategic RSC movement. 

RSC: A Campaign for Rohingya Freedom, Justice, and Equality

The Rohingya Solidarity Campaign (RSC) was established by the global Rohingya diaspora and international civil society organisations to bring attention to the genocide, human rights abuses, and systemic discrimination faced by the Rohingya people. The movement seeks to address these ongoing atrocities and works towards justice, accountability and freedom for the Rohingya people.

  1. An end to the genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya, with a demand for the restoration of their citizenship, safety, and rights in Myanmar;
  2. Full equality for Rohingya refugees in host countries and an end to their persecution and systemic marginalisation; and
  3. The right of return for displaced Rohingya with guarantees of safety, reparations, and the protection of cultural and civil rights.

The RSC advocates for various strategic campaigns to apply pressure on governments, corporations, and institutions complicit in the ongoing oppression of the Rohingya. It believes that justice for the Rohingya can be achieved through sustained pressure and action, particularly through international boycotts, divestment, and sanctions.

RSC is the most effective way for us to put your solidarity with the Rohingya people’s freedom into action. We believes that boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) are to take concrete action against the systemic oppression and ethnic cleansing our people continue to face. The Rohingya people are enduring atrocities in Myanmar, with over a 1.3 million Rohingya refugees displaced since the military crackdown in 2017, and the violence continues unabated by Arakan Army the rebel group. The international community’s complicity, including through state, corporate, and institutional support for Myanmar’s military junta and the rebel groups, allows these abuses to persist without accountability.

A Campaign for Collective Action

While individual acts of solidarity, such as boycotting companies that support Myanmar’s military and Arakan Army, are important, the RSC emphasises that a more effective approach involves collective action within organisations, unions, and communities. It’s not just about consumer boycotts, but about organising strategic campaigns that can create meaningful change. Success lies in targeting specific institutions, corporations, or government entities and working together to build power that forces policy change.

There are many different kinds of RSC campaigns to choose from, and you can select the most strategic and achievable targets in your own local context. Consider these examples:

  1. Corporate Boycott: Encouraging the public to stop purchasing products or services from companies doing business with Myanmar’s military, such as those involved in arms trade or extractive industries.
  2. Divestment Campaigns: Targeting institutions such as states, universities, churches, trade union or pension fund withdraws its investments in corporations and banks complicit in Myanmar apartheid and oppression of the Rohingya people.
  3. Municipal Boycotts: Encouraging cities or municipalities to cease contracts with companies supporting Myanmar’s regime, such as construction firms working on projects that displace Rohingya communities.

Strategic Campaigning for the RSC

As the RSC movement continues to grow at a fast pace, many activists around the world, including in Bangladesh, often wonder what institution or corporation to target most effectively and how. Given our limited human capacity, we want to be strategic with the targets we select with the goal of creating real change. Some key principles for selecting campaigns are:

  1. Level of complicity: Identifying the companies or institutions most directly complicit in the genocide and ethnic cleansing. For example, corporations supplying arms or providing infrastructure to Myanmar’s military and Arakan Army are top targets for divestment campaigns.
  2. Potential for coalition-building: Joining forces with other movements or groups with intersecting goals, such as climate justice or human rights organisations, strengthens the impact of the campaigns.
  3. Media appeal: Targeting corporations or institutions that are high-profile and can generate media attention, which in turn spreads awareness of the issue to a wider audience.
  4. Likelihood of success: Campaigns should be chosen based on the realistic possibility of achieving concrete outcomes, whether it’s stopping a specific company from profiting off the persecution of the Rohingya or forcing an institution to withdraw support from Arakan and Myanmar.

Steps for Success

Once a target has been carefully selected, the next step is to build a strategy that includes careful research, coalition-building, and a clear action plan. Here’s how you can organise an RSC movement:

  1. Engage in Due Diligence: Before publicly launching a campaign, privately engage with key decision-makers or institutions to gauge their response. This can involve sending letters to investment bodies or university procurement departments to ask them to stop supporting companies linked to Myanmar’s military or Arakan Army.
  2. Build Coalitions: Partner with organisations that can amplify your campaign’s reach. For example, human rights organisations, student groups, unions, and refugee support organisations can all play an important role in advocating for the RSC’s demands.
  3. Power Mapping: Identify the decision-makers at the institutions you are targeting. Who can influence change, and what strategies will help apply pressure? Prepare for opposition by researching potential challenges to your campaign and how to address them.
  4. Strategic Media and Public Education: Use media strategies to highlight the plight of the Rohingya and the companies or institutions that support their persecution. Hold public events, such as rallies, teach-ins, and informational sessions, to educate the public about the issue.
  5. Escalate Pressure: When initial engagement doesn’t yield results, escalate the campaign. This can include organising protests, petitions, or even boycotts of certain brands. Make sure that there is a clear timeline for escalation and a specific date for public actions.
  6. Keep the Momentum Going: To success in campaigns requires persistence. Often, the most successful campaigns have taken years of effort, but with the urgency of the ongoing genocide against the Rohingya, the time to act is now.

Conclusion

The RSC is a movement rooted in the principles of justice, equality, and the protection of human rights. It seeks to apply strategic pressure on government, institutions and corporations that are complicit in the oppression of the Rohingya people. By building a broad coalition, engaging in strategic campaigns, and using the power of collective action, the RSC can create real change and bring the world closer to achieving justice and freedom for the Rohingya. The time to act is now—together, we can demand accountability and stand in solidarity with the Rohingya people.