Bob Geldof announced his decision to return the Freedom of Dublin on Sunday in protest of Myanmar’s de factor leader Aung San Suu Kyi holds the same honour.
In a statement, Geldof called Suu Kyi, once a cause célèbre of U2 while under house arrest in Myanmar (formerly Burma), “at best an accomplice to murder and a handmaiden to genocide.”
The accusation refers to Suu Kyi’s silence over the treatment of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim population by the country’s armed forces. Rohingya Muslims have been barred from attaining citizenship in Myanmar since, meaning that they are unable to access healthcare, education and cannot move freely from state to state.
More recently, the Rohingya have been violently persecuted by the Myanmar military — which still has control over several government departments in the state. Suu Kyi has been criticised for her silence on the matter, and her perceived refusal to curtail the military’s activities and provide relief for the Rohingya people. She currently also holds the Freedom of Dublin.
However, Lord Mayor of Dublin Mícheál Mac Donncha lashed out at Geldof’s decision, saying that it is “ironic that he [Geldof] makes this gesture while proudly retaining his title as Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, given the shameful record of British imperialism across the globe.” Geldof was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1986.
Mac Donncha’s statement also noted that he has “condemned the persecution of the Rohingya people and their expulsion from their homes by the military in Myanmar and the failure Aung San Suu Kyi to acknowledge, let alone condemn, what the UN has described as ethnic cleansing.”
Statement from Ardmhéara Micheal Mac Donnacha of Dublin City Council, who reckons there's a whiff of hypocrisy from Sir Bob Geldof KBE pic.twitter.com/59hFg1IJtK
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) November 13, 2017
Geldof returned his Freedom of Dublin on Monday morning.
He doesn’t like Mondays, etc pic.twitter.com/Lv2cpib4gp
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) November 13, 2017
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