RISING MA BA THA

This series is part of a long term project I started in 2013 together with Ruom’s photographer Nicolas Axelrod, when we started looking into the origins of Buddhist extremism in Myanmar, and the consequent effects on the Burmese muslim population.

Violent clashes between Buddhists and Muslims erupted in March 2013, in the town of Meiktila, leaving at least 40 people dead, with parts of the town destroyed by the riots.

Two years later, at the dawn of the first historical democratic election, littlle has changed. Many of the muslim people in Meiktila and Mandalay, who still live in temporary shelters or refugee camps, were unable to vote as authorities would not issue them the correct documentation. Unable to reopen the mosques and schools that were damaged during the riots, they still pray in small rooms, whilst living in fear of new violences.

After the elections, the landslide victory of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, offers no comfort to the muslim population, with the NDL party deciding to exclude all their Muslim candidates. Recent events seem to leave little hope for a better future.

Rising Ma Ba Tha

September 1st, 2012 - Yangon (Myanmar). Monks walk around Shwedagon pagoda, the most sacred of Buddhist pagodas in Myanmar. The country has a population of some 54 million people of which 89% are said to be Buddhist predominantly of the Theravada tradition. The government is actively promoting Buddhism, putting pressure on religious minorities and excluding them from positions of power within the government and military. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

June 12, 2013 - Meiktila (Myanmar). One of the areas of the city destroyed during the violent clashes erupted between Buddhist and Muslim ethnic groups that took place on March 20, 2013. At least 40 people lost their lives during the 3 days of conflict. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

June 14, 2013 - Yangon. More than 200 Myanmar Buddhist monks gathered to discuss how to solve inter-religious conflicts between Buddhists and Muslims. The conference, held in a monastery on the outskirts of Yangon, was dubbed by local and international media less as a resolution to conflict but more as an opportunity to discuss the inter-faith marriage law that the 969 movement (now Ma Bha Tha) is hoping to present to the government. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

June 9, 2013 - Mandalay. Muslim prayers at the Mogul Shia Jamay Mosque in central Mandalay. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

June 23, 2013 - Mandalay. Wirathu and his entourage leave after ending an anti-muslim sermon in front of hundreds of supporters, just four blocks away from the Dhamma Tharlar Hall (Mandalay), in which several local organizations and civil society activists organized a peace event to prevent future riots. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

June 11, 2013 - Meiktila. A woman, who returned to her destroyed home in Meiktila, recovers pieces of a burnt Hindu book explaining the teachings of Islam. The Muslim community had started that week a 7 day clean up program escorted by armed police. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

June 7, 2013 - Mandalay. Muslim wait for prayer time at the Joon Mosque in central Mandalay. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

June 12, 2013 - Meiktila (Myanmar). Families are escorted by police back to a refugee camp that holds Muslims who have been displaced by the interfaith violence that took place at the end of March 2013. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

June 15, 2013 - Yangon. Buddhists in front of a shop in Downtown Yangon. The owner has chosen to display the 969 sticker (that it is sold and distributed through out Myanmar to label shops and business as being Buddhist own and run). © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

June 7, 2013 - Mandalay. A young muslim girls enters the Madrasa in front of the Joon Mosque in central Mandalay. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

June 15, 2013 - Yangon. Wedding ceremony of a young couple of Muslims in the Cholia Jam-e Mosque's Trust Hall in Downtown Yangon. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

June 22, 2013 - Yangon. Members of the National Patriotic Saturday Youth Association, wrap up their flag, minutes after the end of a meeting held by U Thaddhamma, one of the leader of 969 movement, in a monastery 20 km outside Yangon. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

June 20, 2013 - Yangon. Members of the Patriotic Youth Nationalistic Network - one of the 70 different civil organizations that support the 969 movement all over the country - during a meeting with U Thaddhamma in Yangon. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

June 17, 2013 - Mawlamyine. Monk Wimala, one of the founder of 969 movement, shows a propagandic map in his Monastery in Mawlamyine. They believe that some arabs countries are financing the Burmese Muslims in order to overcome the Buddhist majority. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

June 22, 2013 - Yangon. Young Buddhist nuns board the ferry crossing the Hlaing river over to downton Yangon. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

Nov 03, 2015 - Meiktila. A family walks through one of the areas of the city destroyed during the violent clashes that erupted between Buddhist and Muslim ethnic groups in March 20, 2013. At least 40 people lost their lives during the 3 days of conflict.© Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

October 26, 2015 - Mandalay. Daw Win Mya Mya is the vice-president of NLD in Mandalay. She wasn’t able to be a candidate in the upcoming elections because she is a Muslim. Daw Win Mya Mya was one of scores of NLD members injured in an attack on Aung San Suu Kyi's convoy in 2003.© Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

October 26, 2015 - Mandalay (Myanmar). A young print shop employee cleans a screen used to make t-shirts of the NLD party inside Anoud Udchode, a Muslim compound in Mandalay. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

October 27, 2015 - Mandalay (Myanmar). A young Muslim girls holds her identity card stating that her race is "Burmese Indian". In the last years thousands of Burmese Muslims were forced to being labelled as “Pakistani” "Bangladeshi" or “Indian” in their ID cards. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

October 27, 2015 - Mandalay (Myanmar). Monks light candles during the Thadingyu festival in Masoeyain monastery. The monastery is home to Ma Ba Tha monk U Wirathu. The ultra-nationalist Buddhist group of monks has been whipping up anti-Muslim sentiment ahead of the polls, holding huge rallies to celebrate the passage of laws that place restrictions on interfaith marriage. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

October 31, 2015 - Meiktila. Children in a makeshift Madrasa in one of the areas of the city destroyed during the riots in 2013. After 2 years, only 3 of the cities 16 mosques have been reopened. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

Nov. 03. 2015 - Meiktila, Myanmar. Refugees from the religious violence that took hold of the city in March 2013, they lost their documents and land titles in the fires. Two years on they are still living in shelters by a football pitch on the outskirts of the city. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

October 25, 2015 - Mandalay (Myanmar). Customers eat in a street restaurant in front of Mogul Shia Jamay Mosque in central Mandalay. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

Nov. 03, 2015 - Meiktila, Myanmar. Construction workers rebuild one of the houses destroyed during the 2013 violence in a Muslim neighborhood of Meiktila. After two years, just some of the resident have received the permission to rebuild their houses by the government, most of them are still living in temporary shelters. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

Nov. 03, 2015 - Meiktila, Myanmar. An National League of Democracy rally takes places in Meiktila. Meiktila in 2013 saw three days of religious riots that killed some 40 people. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

Oct 31, 2015 - Meiktila. Youth play a board game inside a temporary shelter built in one of the areas of the city destroyed during the violent clashes that erupted between Buddhists and Muslims in March 20, 2013. At least 40 people lost their lives during the 3 days of conflict.© Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

Nov. 01, 2015 - Meiktila, Myanmar. A young Muslim boy prays in a makeshift Mosque near one of the areas that was destroyed during religious violence in 2013. Only 3 of the cities 16 mosques have been reopened. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Rising Ma Ba Tha

November 9, 2015 - Yangon, Myanmar. Supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy (NLD) wait outside the party headquarters as a large TV screen shows the results announced by the Union Election Commission. It is predicted that the NLD will win by Myanmar's national elections. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom