In the last few weeks Burma (renamed Myanmar by the military government) has been having protests against the military government. Yesterday was the largest protest demanding democracy since the 1988 uprising when the military killed thousands of civilians, mostly students, and monks. Today the military took to violence again to stop the protesting. This time I hope they do not succeed. I don't know if my writing will help in any way but I feel the need to do something. In the comfort of the western world we pay very little attention to what is happening in parts of the world that are not so lucky. I guess it is easy to feel unconnected with people when they are from far away lands. I know that my interest in Burma has mostly come out of having travel there. Now it doesn't feel so far away to me. In my opinion, the largest factor contributing to the lack of interest in far away places is our news media. It tends to breeze over a serious story with too light of a tone and on to the next. Could you imagine if they did that with 9/11? Of course not. Those were 3000 innocent human lives that were lost. That was serious news. Well, it's pretty serious news that Burma is close to having a repeat of what happened in 1988 when thousands of innocent civilians were murdered. Media and technology can now be what saves these people.
See article: http: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070926/ap_on_re_as/myanmar_media?submit=Done
With a world becoming more and more global every day I think it's time we stop saying, 'oh that's so sad about what is happening over there' and actually try to do something. I am still trying to figure out exactly how that idea can be spread, but I guess it would be a start to realize that they are just people that love their families as much as you love yours.
A little background of how Burma got to where it is today:
From 1962 until 1987 Burma had been ruled by the regime of General Ne Win. In late November 1985 students gathered to boycott the government's decision to withdraw Burmese local currency notes. In September 1987 General Ne Win announced the withdrawal of the newly replaced currency notes, 75, 35 and 25 kyats. Following this decision, Rangoon Institute of Technology (now Yangon Technological University, YTU) students protested inside their Rangoon campus. The military responded to the protests by killing student activist Phone Maw in front of the main campus building. Following this killing there were large student protests paving the way towards an uprising that started on the 8th of August 1988 and ending on the 18th of September.
The students were quickly joined by Burmese citizens from all walks of life. Government workers, Buddhist monks, Armed Forces and Customs officers, teachers, and hospital staffs. The Burmese people led peaceful demonstrations throughout the Rangoon streets, spreading to other states' capitals. Ne Win ordered that, "Guns were not to shoot upwards", meaning that he was ordering the military to shoot directly at the demonstrators.
The student leaders promoted a set of ten demands for the restoration of a democratic government in Burma. The Ne Win government fell and the military imposed martial law giving absolute power to General Saw Maung, in order to quash the demonstrations. This is when the military killed thousands of civilians, including students and the Buddhist monks. It is claimed that on the so-called Red Bridge the military fired upon a student protest while it was crossing the bridge until the bridge itself was red with the students' blood.
During the crisis, activist Aung San Suu Kyi emerged as a national icon. To be continued...
Visit...
www.avaaz.org
...to support the Burmese people. Also...
www.mizzima.com
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