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Sign up todayFirst, They Erased Our Name
A Rohingya Speaks
Narrator
Sunil Malhotra
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Translator
Andrea Reece
Length
7 hours
Language
English
“I am three years old and will have to grow up with the hostility of others. I am already an outlaw in my own country, an outlaw in the world. I am three years old, and I don’t yet know that I am stateless.”
Habiburahman was born in 1979 and raised in a small village in western Burma. When he was three years old, the country’s military leader declared that his people, the Rohingya, were not one of the 135 recognized ethnic groups that formed the eight “national races.” He was left stateless in his own country.
Since 1982, millions of Rohingya have had to flee their homes as a result of extreme prejudice and persecution. In 2016 and 2017, the government intensified the process of ethnic cleansing, and over 700,000 Rohingya people were forced to cross the border into Bangladesh.
Here, for the first time, a Rohingya speaks up to expose the truth behind this global humanitarian crisis. Through the eyes of a child, we learn about the historic persecution of the Rohingya people and witness the violence Habiburahman endured throughout his life until he escaped the country in 2000.
First, They Erased Our Name is an urgent, moving memoir about what it feels like to be repressed in one’s own country and a refugee in others. It gives voice to the voiceless.
Habiburahman, known as Habib, is a Rohingya. Born in 1979 in Burma (now Myanmar), he escaped torture, persecution, and detention in his country, fleeing first to neighboring countries in Southeast Asia, where he faced further discrimination and violence, and then, in December 2009, to Australia, by boat. Habib spent thirty-two months in detention centers before being released. He now lives in Melbourne. Today, he remains stateless, unable to benefit from his full human rights. Habib founded the Australian Burmese Rohingya Organization (ABRO) to advocate for his people back in Burma and for his community. He is also a translator, social worker, the support service coordinator at Refugees, Survivors, and Ex-Detainees (RISE), and the secretary of the international Rohingya organization Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO), based in the UK. The hardship and the human rights violation Habib has faced have made him both a spokesperson for his people and a target for detractors of the Rohingya cause.
Sunil Malhotra is an actor and voice artist. His film credits include Dude, Where’s the Party?, Call Center, 24, ER, Cold Case, and The West Wing. On stage, he has performed on Broadway and at East West Players. He has also worked as a writer, producer, and director, and his audiobook narrations have won three AudioFile Earphones Awards.
Andrea Reece is a translator of novels, short stories, and works of nonfiction from French and Spanish.
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Reviews
“The book is written in simple language and tells the story without embellishment. There is no need for flourishes; it is relentless.”
“Written in a simple style appropriate to the childhood it records, the memoir is a devastating testimony of persecution.”
“Habiburahman is a vivid storyteller…It is a book that should be read the world over until the Rohingyas get justice.”
“A harrowing first-hand account of the decades of prejudice, intimidation and violence that shaped the life of a Rohingya growing up in Burma.”
“The gripping, chilling inside story of the incubation of a genocide…Habib’s moving family history emerges as a powerful and, to my knowledge, unique historical document. His compelling storytelling relates how playground prejudice against the Muslim Rohingya of Arakan escalated into pogroms, terror, and apartheid…Incredible.”
“Do not be indifferent to this urgent, humane book. Read it, share it, talk about what has been happening―and in so doing safeguard the humanity of Habiburahman, the Rohingya and all asylum seekers, as well as the imperiled humanity of this country.”
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