Burma at a Glance • Population 57,000,000 in an area <strong>the</strong> size of Texas • 89% Buddhist, 4% Muslim, 4% Christian • 650,000 internal refugees displaced by military offensives against minority groups. Burma is a major source country for human trafficking and world’s third-largest opium producer. • Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine stripped of citizenship in 1982 and considered stateless persons. State of emergency declared in Rakhine after rioting in 2012 left hundreds of Muslims dead and tens of thousands homeless. • After independence from Britain in 1948, Burma was ruled until 1988 by General Ne Win. RAKHINE STATE Certificate in Mindfulness Facilitation 2015 • Provides training and supervision in mindfulness facilitation for those working with groups, individuals, or institutions • Support to incorporate mindfulness facilitation into one’s occupation • Opposition won landslide victory in 1990 election but military refused to hand over power. State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) placed National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest and renamed country Myanmar. • In 2008 Burma began a gradual and uneven move toward democracy. Economic sanctions lifted in 2013. • Today, Aung San Suu Kyi is a member of parliament but still faces restrictions. Political parties are preparing for a general election in 2015. and “<strong>the</strong> Buddha’s teaching” that sometimes violence is needed to protect <strong>the</strong> nation. This dangerous situation needs some explanation. The biggest source of conflict is <strong>the</strong> unsettled situation of <strong>the</strong> Rohingya Muslims in Burma’s westernmost state. Rakhine is a beautiful land bordering Bangladesh that was for centuries a great seafaring kingdom. But ever since <strong>the</strong> central Burmese kings conquered Rakhine, <strong>the</strong> people <strong>the</strong>re have been treated badly. And over <strong>the</strong> last century, a million Rohingya Muslims, seeking new opportunity or fleeing poverty and mistreatment in present-day Bangladesh, have settled in Rakhine. Today, overpopulated Bangladesh doesn’t want <strong>the</strong>m back and <strong>the</strong> Rakhine natives, already poor and mistreated by <strong>the</strong> central government, fear <strong>the</strong>y are losing land and livelihood to <strong>the</strong> Muslims immigrants, even though many Rohingyas have lived <strong>the</strong>re peacefully for decades. The current economic pressure has made <strong>the</strong> situation ripe for fear, violence, and political exploitation. Muslim homes and businesses have been torched and 100,000 Rohingya Muslims, many of <strong>the</strong>m women and children, have been forced into impoverished refugee camps. When I spoke to Rohingyas from Rakhine, <strong>the</strong>ir eyes got wide with dismay, and <strong>the</strong>re was a palpable helplessness and fear of attacks by <strong>the</strong> Buddhist majority. Recently, <strong>the</strong> drumbeat of violence against Muslims and o<strong>the</strong>r minorities has spread to o<strong>the</strong>r parts of Burma, often with <strong>the</strong> tacit approval of <strong>the</strong> local police and military. I witnessed firsthand <strong>the</strong> results of <strong>the</strong> spreading violence in <strong>the</strong> town of Lashio map © bogdanserban / istock • Year-long program with four 4-day in-person practicums and additional mentorship throughout <strong>the</strong> year • Faculty to include Diana Winston, Marvin G. Belzer Ph.D., Michael Irwin M.D., Susan Smalley Ph.D., and Daniel Siegel M.D., among o<strong>the</strong>rs “The UCLA CMF program was rich and satisfying and ranks as one of my favorite personal and professional development experiences of my life. The program has an excellent balance of didactic information, experiential training, and collegial relationship-building opportunities. Through no o<strong>the</strong>r program have I ever felt so supported and prompted to grow on so many levels.” —Nicholas, CMF graduate 2013 Applications due October 2014 www.marc.ucla.edu • marcinfo@ucla.edu Semel Institute for Neuroscience • Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology