Maybe you think “what is the benefit of wearing black on one day of the year? How will that help the Rohingya in any practical way?”
Well that is a bit like saying that mixing and testing medicines does not immediately cure anyone of an illness.
Look, any solution to the Rohingya issue, ANY solution, is going to have to come from the ground up, not the top down.
The first step is going to be building and demonstrating popular support for the cause. That is precisely what #Black4Rohingya is doing.
The #WeAreAllRohingyaNow Campaign, as many of you know, is adopting a strategy of reaching out to multinational corporations invested in Myanmar, lobbying them to take a stand. An initiative like #Black4Rohingya empowers this strategy immeasurably. If we have a strong turnout of people expressing their support for the Rohingya in an organised, systematic way, it will indicate to corporate power not only that popular sentiment exists on this issue, but that it can lead to disciplined action.
That is a powerful message, and it is more than a message, it is a practical reality of people from all across the world uniting in a single action. That is solidarity, and that is the medicine that can cure any injustice.