Sunday 30 September 2007

‘Loving kindness’ will beat the generals

Source Almendron, 29 Sept 2007

By Maung Zarni, founder of the Free Burma Coalition and a visiting research fellow at Oxford (THE TIMES, 29/09/07):

As the events unfolded this week in Rangoon, my mind wandered back to the bedtime stories my great-grandmother told me of a bloody encounter in the 1930s in my native Mandalay. It was between the world-conquering power of the British Raj and the soft power of the world-renouncers, the peaceful and unarmed Buddhist monks and nuns, 17 of whom were mown down. How gallantly they had stood up to the British Raj on behalf of Burma’s poor, she said.
Were she alive today, Granny would recognise the instant crackdown, the baton blows, machinegun bursts, pools of blood, public outrage – and perhaps the downfall of the hated regime.

The involvement of monks in politics goes back to before the colonial era in Burma. Buddhism and its monasteries have for centuries been the catalystic force that mobilised the masses against unjust rulers. Buddhism has deep roots in both rural and urban Burma; it is the bond that unites the main groups: the dominant Burmese, the Shans, the Mons, the Karens and the Arakanese; the monasteries are the meeting places where the rich and the powerful meet the poor and the downtrodden.
Because most monks are drawn primarily not from urban elite families but rather from rural Burma, one of the most likely outcomes of the present “monks power” movement is the political awakening of rural communities that had hitherto remained untapped by the Western-inspired, urban-middle-class, pro-democracy opposition.

This coming together of Burma’s urban and rural communities will be deeply significant. The “Metta (or Loving Kindness) Army” of Buddhist monks that we have seen on our television screens snaking through the city streets have posed the greatest challenge to the Armed Forces since their creation in 1941. And to judge from the relatively low number of casualties since the protests began a month ago – as opposed to 3,000 killed in the 1988 popular uprising against General Ne Win – this revolt has proved itself both potent and pacifying.

The vocation of the Buddhist Order is certainly other-worldly. But in their role as citizens, their agenda is unequivocal: democracy. A protesting monk poignantly summed it up: “I’d rather have democracy for our people than nirvana for myself.” For the monks, democracy will mean the right to change the rulers peacefully and to improve the economic conditions of the people.

Since the bloody crackdown of 1988 the great majority of Burmese people have shifted their attention to other-worldly matters. Their immediate realities teach them to be more mindful of Buddhist teaching: all life is suffering. A cursory look at everyday survival would suffice: poverty, oppression, institutionalised abuse of power, endemic corruption and related moral decay, loss of regional standing as a country, malnutrition, ill-health, ineffectual education, ecological degradation and the wasting of natural resources such as timber, oil and natural gas. That is why, crucially, other local ethnic communities of Christian, Muslim, and other non-Buddhist faiths have thrown in their lot with the monks.

Like the Buddhist order, the rank and file of the Armed Forces is primarily drawn from poor farming communities or urban working classes. The greatest tragedy is that the machinegun-toting rural sons in green or grey uniform are shooting and killing their brethren in saffron, brown or orange robes, armed only with Metta Suttra or the prayer for Universal Loving Kindness.

Yet when we hear reports from other protest areas that troops are refusing to fire at their own brethren, one smells a sea change in the institutional culture of the junta’s war machine. This is despite images in the media of the top echelons of the officer corps ostentatiously making Buddhist offerings or paying respect to senior abbots; or the junta’s spin-doctors desperately telling the public that the saffron-robed protesters are “bogus monks” in the service of Western neo-imperialists.

Given Burma’s staunch support from Beijing, with its unquenchable thirst for Burma’s energy resources, as well as the support of the veto-wielding Russia, the international community has so far not been powerful enough to strong-arm the “bogus Buddhists” in power to find a peaceful resolution. But now the monks’ movement has successfully put Burma at the top of the UN agenda.
In the days to come the junta is likely to continue to show restraint and to make sure that people stay at home so it does not have to resort to force. Any shows of greater brutality will persuade China to cooperate more seriously with the West.

No matter how the current crisis on the streets is resolved, one thing is clear. Burma has changed. The public will reject resoundingly any false claims from the junta of “democratisation” when legitimate and peaceful political parties are not allowed to operate freely; or claims of “economic development” when there is no sign of reform. The monks are winning. A new dawn is on the horizon.

 

Saturday 29 September 2007

3,000 rally to support Myanmar protests

Source fromnadir.org, 29 Sept 2007

KUALA LUMPUR: About 3,000 refugees, migrant workers and activists dressed in red marched to the Myanmar embassy here to hand over a memorandum urging the military rulers to settle the current crisis in the country.

Members of the All Burmese Democratic Force Malaysia staging a demostration outside the Myanmar Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. - 28 September, 2007

Led by a group called the All Burma Democratic Force (ABDF), the peaceful demonstration started at about 9.30am and ended at noon yesterday.
The ABDF is an umbrella group of different organisations of different races and religions, including the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingyas Human Rights Organisation Malaysia, National League for Democracy (Liberated Area) Malaysia and Zomi National Congress Malaysia.

Peaceful demo: Protesters sitting outside the Myanmar embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

On Thursday, many Malaysians received SMSes urging them to wear red in a show of solidarity with the protesters in Myanmar.
ABDF vice-chairman Mohammad Sadek said the group’s secretary-general Aung Kyaw Moe handed a two-page memorandum to the embassy’s minister-counsellor Win Myint at 10am.

Myanmar demonstrators fill a street as they hold up placards condemning the violent crackdown by the ruling junta, during a protest in front of the Myanmar embassy in downtown Kuala Lumpur. - 28 September, 2007

Protesters carried placards condemning the regime, with words like “Stop Torture”, “Evil Junta – Don’t Want”, “Don’t Kill Our Monks” and “Stop Fire”.
A police officer said the group did not have a permit to organise the demonstration, but as long as it was peaceful, they were allowed to carry on with the march to express their frustration.

The shadow of Myanmar protesters cast on the ground as they link their hand march through to China’s embassy during the demonstration in Kuala Lumpur. - 28 September, 2007

About 50 policemen and Federal Reserve Unit personnel were on stand-by.
Local non-governmental organisations such as Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram), Youth for Change, Amnesty International and Parti Sosialis Malaysia also supported the march.

Myanmarese demonstrators shout slogans during the protest during the demonstration in Kuala Lumpur. - 28 September, 2007

Mohammad Sadek said the memorandum, among other things, urged the UN Security Council to convene an emergency meeting to examine the deteriorating situation in Myanmar.

He said China and Russia must warn the regime that they would support the Security Council’s evaluation of the situation as well as adopt the council’s resolution.
“Therefore, we also marched to both embassies,” he added.

Mohammad Sadek said they also wanted the regime to release all political prisoners, including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and to alleviate economic hardship and introduce serious reforms that ensured human rights, peace, justice and freedom.
In PENANG, about 70 monks staged a peaceful protest at the Malaysian Buddhist Association yesterday to express their unhappiness over the violent crackdown on monks in Myanmar.


3,000 rally at Myanmar Embassy (updated)
By MANJIT KAUR
KUALA LUMPUR: About 3,000 refugees, migrant workers and activists, all dressed in red, marched to the Myanmar Embassy here to hand over a memorandum urging the regime to settle the current crisis in the country.

Myanmar protesters and supporters offer prayers outside the Myanmar Embassy in Kuala Lumpur during a demonstration Friday.

Led by a group called All Burma Democratic Force (ABDF), the peaceful demonstration started at about 9.30am and ended at noon Friday. The ABDF is an umbrella establishment of different organisations of different races and religions.

ABDF vice-chairman Mohammad Sadek said the group’s secretary-general Aung Kyaw Moe handed over a two-page memorandum to the embassy’s minister-counsellor Win Myint at 10am.
Joining the demonstration were several other groups including the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingyas Human Rights Organisation Malaysia, National League for Democracy (Liberated Area) Malaysia and Zomi National Congress Malaysia.

Several local NGOs also came out in support of the Myanmar people. Among them were Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram), Youth for Change, Amnesty International and Parti Sosialis Malaysia.
Protesters were seen carrying placards condemning the regime, with words like “stop torture”, “Evil Junta - Don’t Want”, “Don’t Kill Our Monks” and “Stop Fire”.
On standby were some 150 policemen and personnel from the Federal Reserve Unit.
A police officer, pointing out that the group did not have a permit to organise the demonstration, said they were nonetheless allowed to proceed as long as it was a peaceful demonstration with no untoward incidences.

According to ABDF’s Mohammad, who has been in the country for more than a year, the memorandum also urged the United Nations Security Council to convene an emergency meeting to examine the deteriorating political situation in Myanmar.
He said, the ABDF encouraged China and Russia to warn the regime that both countries would support the UN Security Council’s full consideration of the situation as well as adopt the council’s resolution.
“Therefore we also marched to both embassies while shouting ‘we want democracy’,” he added.
He said they also wanted the regime to release all political prisoners including democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, and to alleviate economic hardship and introduce serious reforms that ensured human rights, peace, justice and freedom for all races and religions.

Among the protesters was a mother of two Moe Moe, 40, who has been in the country for the past 13 years.
The seamstress brought along her sons Daren and Kang, aged six and one year old respectively, to show support for her countrymen.
Also seen were a few senior citizens. The protesters also pasted newspaper clippings on the situation reported by the local media on their shirts.
The demonstration caused slight traffic congestion at Jalan Ampang, with some people slowing down their vehicles to see what the commotion was all about.