NGOs that simply issue appeals to the government to take action on the Rohingya issue are basically superfluous. It does not require an organisation to pass on responsibility to the authorities. One does not need an NGO in order to do something futile.
When supposedly “grassroots” organisations claim to be “taking action”, but are in fact doing nothing but asking the government to take action; then all they are doing is actually just reinforcing the notion that the people themselves are powerless.
The fact of the matter is, we have a very limited ability to directly influence the government; not much beyond saying “please”.And our “please” will be weighed against the far more influential directives of the business community.
We do have, however, considerable power to influence business. We can do it directly, we can do it anywhere, and we can do it every day.
It is within our ability to pressure companies to act, and it is within their ability to pressure governments to act.
If we want to help stop the genocide against the Rohingya, we need to direct our efforts towards private sector power; that is where we can truly have an impact.