In case you haven’t been paying attention to international affairs, there is a major protest (estimates of 100,000 people) against the military dictatorship in Burma,which is now called Myanmar. The protest, lead by Buddhist monks, has been peaceful, but tension is rising, and as I writing this post I just found out that 4 monks have been killed by the military.
This dictatorship has been in place for 20 years, and the last major protest ended with the military killing thousands of protesters. You can learn more about the history of Burma/Myanmar in this article.
Here’s a photo of the protest from the AFP.
Caption: “Buddhist monks protest by marching with a banner that reads, “We shall replace (crackdown) unjustice with justice” before police conduct a crackdown in downtown Yangon. Myanmar security forces used batons, tear gas and live rounds Wednesday in a violent crackdown on mass protests against the military junta, killing at least four people including three Buddhist monks.(AFP)”You can also find more info. at Women of Color Blog.
As soon as I saw the first pictures, I wanted to get word to the brave Burmese protesters; I am cheering for them! I want them to gain strength from knowing their brothers and sisters around the world are watching and hoping.
Don’t lose heart, stay the course, you will win! You have the collective power to change your country. This is a very exciting time.
I support them 100%. They deserve their freedom. Even though it’s dangerous, I hope they keep their spirits up.
Every time I hear about this protests, it blows my mind. I can’t imagine it – I can never imagine being in a country and protesting in a place where it could get you “disappeared”, thrown in a gulag, or gunned down in cold-blood. Some family tells me about the hard times in Argentina and Chile, and going out and joining the rallies…
The sheer, mass, suicidal bravery of it all – to risk everything on the mercy of monsters, and the sympathy of an apathetic public stage.
silenced–being disappeared happens in the u.s.–it’s happening on a monthly basis to those who are in the country without documents through ICE raids. The people are kidnapped from their jobs without regard to what family the people leave behind, they are shipped most often to new states (like texas or pennsylvania), and imprisoned indefinitely without charges or access to a lawyer–and if they’re lucky, finally they are deported. If they’re not lucky, they’re held indefinitely, they aren’t allowed to call or speak with their family, they aren’t given a day in court–nothing. there was a long while there were even prominent groups like the ACLU couldn’t legally get access to the *names* of the people who were imprisoned, much less where they were imprisoned.
It happens here–but we’ve justified it in a way we can’t justify what is going on in other countries.
Rachel–you are a beautiful person.
OK, I’m lazy and uninformed…what exactly is it that the monks are protesting? I’ve read numerous articles about this , still can’t figure out the root causes….