Reflections on the journey
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“[Myanmar head general Than Shwe] was saying that after [an election] he will hand over power to civilians. He said when I come back he may be a civilian…That means he’s committed to hand over all power.” –UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
“We are continuing our protest from last month as we have not yet achieved any of the demands we asked for…”
Tip: Polizeros
In (apparently) unrelated news, Burma’s
hardline Prime Minister died today, perhaps leaving an openeing for a more moderate voice.“India supported Burma’s pro-democracy movement until the mid-1990s, when it started improving relations with the junta in an effort to compete with China’s growing influence in Burma. Now it is building roads and railways in western Burma, and its companies are trying to gain access to rich deposits of oil and natural gas.”
Perhaps this is capitalism in action: where there’s a demand, someone will step in to fill it. For better or worse, the international community has isloated Burma. China and India have stepped in. While not agreeing with their actions, in a capitalist world, it might be inevitable that someone take advantage of Burma’s economic opportunity.
These AFP file photos picture a dour Senior General Than Shwe and smiling democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Ironic coincidence, or intentional commentary? I wonder.
This regime has lost any moral authority it ever had. My prediction: once having entirely severed its responsibility to its constituency, it cannot stand for long.
Tip:
Andrew Sullivan, who suggests signing this online petition. The organization is also raising funds to publish the following ad:
My friend at
Polizeros posted on “The Hard Lessons” of the Burmese crackdown:What the Burma monks did was hugely courageous and noble. But they did not have sufficient support to bring down the government… It’s best to pick fights that you can win, especially when dealing with thuggish governments.
The hard question is, though, what if it is over? Were the protests, the lives lost, the present and future suffering of the people, all wasted effort? A failure? Or worse, a lost cause that should not have been tried?
The answer depends on whether you believe a just action is wrong if it’s not successful– and whether anything is more valuable than life itself. In short, whether there is yet room for idealism and hope.
“[W]here the means are Clean, there God is undoubtedly present with His blessings And where these three combine, there defeat is tin impossibility for a satyagrahi, whether free or incarcerated, is ever victorious. He is vanquished only when he forsakes truth and non-violence and turns a deaf car to the Inner Voice· If, therefore, there is such a thing as defeat for even a satyagrahi, he alone is the cause of it.”
“The function of a civil resistance is to provoke response and we will continue to provoke until they respond or change the law.”
In Gandhi’s view of nonviolent resistance, the Burma protests were not only justified, they were successful– but only as one battle in an ongoing quest for change. They focused world attention on the problem, and they have begun to cause the regime itself to question its own actions. And they showed that the people of Burma can unite against oppression.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu reportedly
said of events in Burma,“It is so like the rolling mass action that eventually toppled apartheid. God bless all those wonderful brave people. Victory is assured. They are on the winning side, the side of freedom, justice and democracy.”
With persistence and a little luck, the people of Burma may yet prevail– but regardless of the outcome, the courage and sacrifice of the brave men and women of Burma are not misguided.
“The people are angry but afraid — many are poor and struggling in life so they don’t join the protests anymore.” –Protester quoted by AP.
“People are scared and the general assessment is that the fight is over. We were informed from one of the largest embassies in Burma that 40 monks in the Insein prison were beaten to death today and subsequently burned.” –Swedish Diplomat Liselotte Agerlid, quoted by Daily Mail.
Meanwhile, new information continues to surface. Satellite imagery proves what have been until now only rumors of human rights abuses: entire villages burned to the ground, the people forcibly relocated. Space Wars (turn on your popup blocker for
this site) says the villages were primarily of the Karen ethnic minority. See also National Geographic‘s article on this satellite imagery. Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic links to a short documentary on the SLORC regime’s campaign against the Karen people.Daily Mail also reports that a chief of military intelligence in Rangoon’s northern region has deserted and is fleeing to Thailand. His desertion has given hope to many that others in the army may follow.
“I decided to desert when I was ordered to raid two monasteries and force several hundred monks onto trucks. They were to be killed and their bodies dumped deep inside the jungle. I refused to participate in this.”
The killing of a Japanese tourist by Burmese riot police, shown on Japanese TV (see it on
YouTube), may (says Sullivan) cause Japan to put pressure on China, Burma’s only friend.The best assessment today is that the military regime has gained physical (military) control of the country, but is having to work to maintain political control. There may yet be hope for change, though it will not come from further protests. Now it must come from pressure from outside, as well as pressure from inside the army itself.
“[S]oldiers smashed windows and doors and beat the sleeping monks. Some escaped but hundreds of monks were taken away in military trucks.” –BBC
Today, as an estimated 70,000 people took to the streets, security forces first used tear gas, then fired automatic weapons into crowds of protesters in Myanmar/Burma today. Reports are confused, but indicate that a number of people were wounded. BBC says at least one person was killed.
Governments around the world have called on the SLORC regime to negotiate with protesters. So far, that doesn’t apopear likely.
BBC says technically
both are correct– Burma being a spoken word and Myanmar being the formal literary form of the same word. But these days, each has a particular policial connotation.
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