Dems float revoking congressional medal for Myanmar leader

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill




BY MIKE LILLIS - 03/11/18 08:00 AM EDT

Some Democrats are wondering whether Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese human rights advocate and Nobel laureate, should be stripped of her Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest civilian honor.

Congress voted unanimously in 2008 to present Suu Kyi with the award. A decade later, lawmakers are questioning whether the honor should be revoked over Suu Kyi's reticent response to Myanmar's brutal campaign against the Rohingya, a minority Muslim group targeted by the country's military.

Suu Kyi, now Myanmar's democratically elected civilian leader, has faced intense international backlash over the violence, which the United Nations has deemed “acts of genocide.” Just this week the Smithsonian’s Holocaust Museum in Washington rescinded a prestigious award named after another Nobel Peace laureate, Elie Wiesel.

“Whether it’s that she’s been complicit, or that she’s just been silent, what she hasn’t done is be vocal enough. So it’s been very, very disappointing, because I had great admiration for her,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, a liberal California Democrat who said he’s hearing concerns from a number of constituents with roots in the region.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/377705-dems-float-revoking-congressional-medal-for-myanmar-leader

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Good! Let's get everyone used to recovation

because once this government cleans house from the stolen election there will be a lot to revoke!

[dalton99a]

2. No one should call her a human rights advocate.

[jrthin]

3. Don't float it; do it! It's the right thing to do. nt

[Lucky Luciano]

4. The Rohingya are Muslims...so republicans probably approve of this kind of genocide. nt

[McCamy Taylor]

6. Russia approves. The ethnic cleansing commited by their allies in the Balkans

was aimed heavily at Muslims.

[McCamy Taylor]

5. Maybe someone should send her this story, St. Francis and the Sufi

True or not, there is a reason the story still resonates. A true saint is willing to take a stand for everyone. I agree that her silence is troublesome. It suggests that she is placing economics and class---the Rohingya are a persecuted ethnic/economic minority and she is a member of her country's elite---above humanitarianism. St. Francis with a member of the elite, too, until he threw off his clothes in public and rejected his family's wealth. A hippie of the Middle Ages.

In 1219 St. Francis and Brother Illuminato accompanied the armies of western Europe to
Damietta, Egypt, during the Fifth Crusade. His desire was to speak peacefully with
Muslim people about Christianity, even if it mean dying as a martyr. He tried to stop the
Crusaders from attacking the Muslims at the Battle of Damietta, but failed. After the
defeat of the western armies, he crossed the battle line with Brother Illuminato, was
arrested and beaten by Arab soldiers, and eventually was taken to the sultan, Malek al-
Kamil.

Al-Kamil was known as a kind, generous, fair ruler. He was nephew to the great Salah
al-Din. At Damietta alone he offered peace to the Crusaders five times, and, according
to western accounts, treated defeated Crusaders humanely. His goal was to establish a
peaceful coexistence with Christians.

After an initial attempt by Francis and the sultan to convert the other, both quickly
realized that the other already knew and loved God. Francis and Illuminato remained
with al-Kamil and his Sufi teacher Fakhr ad-din al-Farisi for as many as twenty days,
discussing prayer and the mystical life. When Francis left, al-Kamil gave him an ivory
trumpet, which is still preserved in the crypt of the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi.
This encounter, which occurred between September 1 and 26, is a paradigm for
interfaith dialog in our time. Despite differences in religion, people of prayer can find
common ground in their experiences of God. Dialog demands that we truly listen to the
other; but, before we can listen, we must see the other as a precious human being,
loved by God. There is no other path to peace in this bloody 21st century.

https://sufipathoflove.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/st-francis-and-the-sultan.pdf