Exodus is the new photography book by the documentary photographer Erberto Zani. The book displays photographs of the arrival of thousands Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, their sufferings, and also their situation inside the camps of Balokhali and Thangkhali. Rohingya’s story is another genocide of our time, with minimal international actions to stop the violence.
The Rohingya population come from the Rakhine region, a small state in Myanmar. The majority are Muslim while a minority are Hindu. Described by the United Nations in 2013 as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, the Rohingya population is denied citizenship under the 1982 Myanmar nationality law, reducing their status to that of a stateless group. They are denied the right to own land or property and are exposed to forced labour and routine violence, including rape and killings. The military wants the complete control of entire land for new forms of economic ventures, mining, timber, geothermal energy.
Fleeing for survival since 2017, more than 800,000 Rohingya crossed the border to Bangladesh. This is not an event from the past, It’s happening right now, under the indifference of the rest of the world and the heavy silence of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
The darker skin of the Rohingya population, compared to most of the Myanmar population has provide scope for racist attitudes and discrimination. Also religion is used by the military of Myanmar to justify their motives. Religion and ethnicity are only part of what explains this forced displacement, larger than other earlier expulsions of Rohingya (in 1978 and 1991).
Images by Erberto Zani
The book “EXODUS” is on sale on Amazon.com and on Blurb.com.
