The situation in Myanmar continues to spiral out of control and there’s more calls for we wee bloggers to say something helpful. I’m not sure there’s anything we can type furiously that will help, but if it does, here’s a post with a wish attached to it that our wretched species would evolve into a semblance of decency already.
Mike the Mad Biologist has a post that’s straightforward and made me tear up a little.
Yet the people of Myanmar still march, only armed with the conviction that their government is unjust and that it can be changed through non-violent means. They are awe-inspiring and humbling, not only for their courage, but for their steadfast committment to dignity in the face of in indignity.
Days like this make me both admire the human spirit towards freedom and despair for our chances as a collective of freedom-lovers to ever truly reach the pinnacle, to really succeed in toppling the ugly side of human nature, the side that craves oppression. Will we ever win? It seems unlikely.
But when I feel like that, I remind myself of this quote from Camus:
The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
Our hearts are with those who struggle in Burma because they must, because you will never be wholly owned as long as you continue to struggle. It’s easy for me to say that, though, isn’t it? Which is why writing this is hard; my awe of those who put their lives on the line is humbling. May we all have the courage of our convictions as those who struggle against the military dictatorship do.
42 Responses to “Impotent blogging in support of the rebellion in Burma”
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
I wonder when the soldiers will get fed up with attacking their own people.
Good question. There are probably a million variables in the answer, though.
I’ve been watching a lot and feeling the same kind of helplessness. As the protests progressed, I wondered how long it would take the military to turn violent…longer than I thought, but, as I feared, it did come.
It is easy from a distance. I know it. It’s something that struck me when i went to the Holocaust Museum and the Versetzmuseum. What would I have done? I want to believe I’d have been one of the people part of the resistance, hiding Jews. However, until in that situation it’s impossible to know.
This article has some information on the troops and their position in society.
The article implies a high level of rank and file association with the power of the military. Which, if true, is bad news indeed. I’d like to know some more of the minds of the monks who take on this task in such large numbers. What gives them courage?
Amanda,
Look also at the protests that brought down communist regimes in Romania, Czechoslovakia, etc. Look at the American labor movement. Look at the college students leading pro-democracy movements in South Korea and Mexico and Tiananmen.
Part of it is the “strength in numbers” aspect. It’s easier to take such action and stand up if you know your friends and colleagues will be standing next to you.
Part of it may be a misreading of the situation (they won’t fire on us, the monks, the holy people…)
Part of it may be, “what the hell, we’ve got nothing left to lose.”
It’s a number of things. I don’t think there’s a single answer, but a confluence of many.
It hasn’t been just the monks, though. It’s also been the populace. They were forming a chain alongside the monks to keep them safe on the earlier marches.
My primary area of research as a sociologist has been social movements. People do amazing things against the greatest of odds.
And that’s why when I ask myself the “what would i do?” question, I’m troubled by my own ability to answer it fully. I want desperately to know I’d be there. But, with a gun in my face, I can’t be sure. I hate that doubt. But I have to be honest that it’s there, and respect those who take the risk even more.
“my own inability to answer it,” I mean
True. I think we may put too much emphasis on individual courage. I don’t doubt that under the right circumstances, most of us would hit the streets. But it’s the right circumstances.
Absolutely. It’s collective action that is necessary to bring about social and structural change. One person does not bring down a system; thousands or millions can.
Individaul courage is necessary, but collective strength can bolster it (and keep you from fleeing if your courage fails you).
I’d buy the “nothing left to lose” variable, but I so admire their tactics just the same. I firmly believe that “nothing to lose” is a strong factor in many of the suicide bombings we see where impoverished “surplus” males in a society see a chance at paradise.
Thousands or even millions of people with nothing to lose is very dangerous for the government in power unless that government can harness the anger somehow (e.g. fascism). They seem to have coopted part of the population into the military, but alienated the more numerous remainder.
Myanmar has been a murderous and dangerous regime for a very long time - shrub may be making the right noises now, but where was he 20 years ago? Oh yeah, they didn’t threaten his daddy.
Everyday I see those monks walking down the street I am deeply inspired and ashamed at my self for lack of activism.
Here’s my favorite Buddhist rapping “What About Me:”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=FDSAAlrqAHM
May the light be upon them.
One thing to keep in mind, as you ponder what makes the monks go, is that Theravada Buddhism doesn’t require a Catholic-style vow. Some of the guys in those saffron robes were planning to leave the monastery at the end of the rainy season, head home having cleared out the old karmic debt, and marry their girl.
The diesel price crisis affects them enormously, just like everyone else, because the vows that require them to leave behind the generator and the moped are temporary.
Add to the mix that while they’re wearing the robes and shaving the heads, they are under the protection of Burma’s only social institution that is respected by all, and you’ve got a pretty powerful combination.
I would like to see the same thing happen in Zimbabwe.
Amanda, MAJeff, give yourselves more credit. I’ve read things from both of you that makes me think otherwise. You’re not Burmese, you’re not even in Burma. The fact that you even know there’s a Burma puts you in the top percentile of Americans. You’re doing your part and believe me it is noted.
As for the ‘ugly side of human nature’ sure we’ll get past it in the next 50,000 years or so. In our own lifetimes? of course not. On the evolutionary calendar we’re the new kid on the block. Hell, we still have back trouble from standing up on our hind legs.
Let the existentialists struggle it is my belief that Americans should boogie. The only being that can carry the whole world was Atlas and he had to ask Hercules to give him a break. Is there more pain in the world than you can bear? Yes! Would a clear vision of the totality of, pain, injustice and vicious stupidity in the world drive any sane person mad? Yes! You’re staring into the abyss, no wonder your stomachs hurt. That hopeless feeling is the abyss staring into you.
Dance to a couple of tunes then sit one out. Smell a rose or a daffodil or your armpit just cut yourselves some slack. The things you are doing now you will be doing thirty years from now. Don’t try to sprint the marathon. Be glad for the Burmese, be proud of them, sing their praises, they have the honor to stand up for something truly worthwhile.
As for courage, once there was a WWII vet who described what it was like to lie behind a French tree stump while a German 50 caliber machine gun slowly chewed it to pieces. It was hot, very uncomfortable and absolutely terrifying. After a while he decided he had to get out of there before there was no stump to be behind. Now he knew if he tried to run away he’d be killed, so he figured that his best bet was to run toward the machine gun nest, because they’d never expect that, so he did and it worked. Once there, he figured he’d better toss in a grenade before someone came out to get him, so he did that too. For his courage in destroying a machine gun nest single handedly, he was awarded the silver star.
Impotent? Pish tosh! The title of this post reminds me of things I have thought and said when I was tired and felt isolated. Get a good night’s sleep and tomorrow go out and kick fascist butt.
Jennifer Cascadia, the situation in Zimbabwe is alot like the race situation in the US, actually. Mugabe and his ruling coterie are one ethnic tribe, and they oppress everyone else, whites, the other major ethnic tribes, so forth.
What keeps Mugabe in power is the familiar rationale of “I’ll live in this wretched cardboard box, so long as the other guy doesn’t even have a box.” This will end when the ruling Shona elites fail to intimidate other Shona, and fail to get much out of repressing Ndelebe and other groups.
As far as Myanmar goes, this is mostly a peak oil issue. Myanmar had to raise petrol to reflect the increased cost of imported oil. It destabilized what was always a pretty fragile country. Myanmar has quite a few ethnic groups within its borders. SLORC, the name of the junta, has very little credibility, or prescence in most people’s lives. They get most of their income from various mostly illegal trades like guns and prostitution, and from resource harvesting like hardwoods and oil. They also moved their capital deeper into what was once jungle and rural, much in the way Brazil and Nigeria has their capitals. Therefore, most natives of Myanmar have very little good interaction with the government, from what I understand. Order is kept by having a large army, with privileges given to its members.
This protest has a better chance of surviving instead of what happened in 1988, because most of the lower rank and file soldiers have issues as well. The relative lack of violence is probably because of that, kinda like in the early days of Tienamen Square when the original general refused to fire on the demostrators, and the hardliners brought in countryfolk soldiers to do the task in the end.
And the peak oil issue? Not just happening in poor countries, check out the Dakotas’ issues with getting enough gasoline. Refiners are gradually declining in capacity utilization in an effort to keep their stocks high…
Well…our world is pretty much crashing around us, really. It’s just slow-motion. One thing that’s really amazing to me. I always really hated Reagan since I was a kid. Now I’m a grown up, and I get to see just how crucial a role that he and people like Margaret Thatcher played in ruining our futures…
China is in an interesting position here. It can’t afford to see a Buddhist-led rebellion against a hated and tyrannical government succeed (guess why). On the other hand, it can’t afford to be identified too closely with the Burma junta now that it is trying to smell as sweet as possible for the Olympics. Bet you the Chinese leadership is frantically flipping through their Rolodexes looking for a “moderate” general to get behind.
Ah, the joy of having client states. Never anything but trouble.
Nothing interesting to add, just wanted to say thanks for having a more international focus in your past few posts. America is always typified as an insular, ignorant little superpower, so it’s good to see Pandagon taking international affairs, and America’s role in the world, seriously. For all the concern about your economy and such, you still are the dominant power, ,a nd what you do matters to everyone. So, thanks.
The lasting image of that one lone man facing down a tank in Tiananmen will forever show that an individual can change the WORLD. The other hero in that example is the person who managed to capture and release that event to the world.
Not only are the monks and fellow protestors in Myanmar/ Burma heros, but the ones getting the news out are as well. Killing the Japanese reporter made it real for Japan, and with their influence on the world stage, this will NOT be just swept under the radar rug.
51 million people. Ruled for decades under complete oppression similar to North Korea. I can’t imagine the bravery of those resisting, the desperation they feel- but I can certainly discuss their plight, keep their stories alive and in doing so, NOT allow their efforts to be ignored or forgotten.
There is a student on my campus who comes from Myanmar/Burma. I want to ask him what he thinks about this.
The Burmese - rather like the Thai, and others of the Indochina region - have a huge respect for Buddhist monks. So do the generals - which is why it’s such a big deal that the Burmese monks refused to perform rituals for them.
There’s a saying in Burma that the BBC dug up: “when the “three sons” of the nation join hands, the military regime will be in big trouble.
The three sons - a play on words in the Burmese language - are students, monks and soldiers. ”
For more explanation on the Buddhist monks in Myanmar, check out the BBC link. Here
I’m from Singapore, and tension is running high in Little Myanmar. We have quite a few people from Myanmar working here.
I wonder if they know that we’ve been selling the army their weapons..
So, “fighting for democracy” makes a great post-hoc excuse for the war in Iraq, but where there is a national movement for democracy–where people are actually dying for it–we can’t be bothered.
Didn’t Bush make some sort of comic-bookish “wherever democracy cries out for help, we’ll be there” kind-of speech, once?
Please, please, don’t suggest the Bush Administration get involved. The people of Burma have enough trouble without a group of malevolent screw ups armed with yuckles and bombs taking an interest in their beautiful country and the surrounding region.
Too late, STP…
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hYnC27cj6edi7_XCELdXGBnVsejQD8RU4CVO1
From last night.
STP,
We’ll, true, I don’t expect Bush to do anything right (or good). Just pointing out the contrast.
Bush’s “concern” with the Burmese (I refuse to use “Myanmar,” the military-dictated renaming of the country) situation is entirely hypocritical. He doesn’t give a damn about human rights violations since he is the biggest offender. He invades a sovereign nation that wasn’t ruled by a military dictator, (supposedly to promote democracy building) and for the past 7 years has ignored the military control of the Burmese people - a country, incidentally, that literally uses slave labor. Not to mention their home imprisonment of democratically-elected Aung San Suu Kyi.
I, too, am astounded by the bravery of the Burmese people, but they have been living under these extreme conditions since 1962; conditions that were worsened during the “8888 uprising” in 1988. Uprising is inevitable because history shows us that where there is great oppression, there will be vibrant rebellion.
Bush’s “concern” with the Burmese (I refuse to use “Myanmar,” the military-dictated renaming of the country) situation is entirely hypocritical. He doesn’t give a damn about human rights violations since he is the biggest offender. He invades a sovereign nation that wasn’t ruled by a military dictator, (supposedly to promote democracy building) and for the past 7 years has ignored the military control of the Burmese people - a country, incidentally, that literally uses slave labor. Not to mention their home imprisonment of democratically-elected Aung San Suu Kyi.
I, too, am astounded by the bravery of the Burmese people, but they have been living under these extreme conditions since 1962; conditions that were worsened during the “8888 uprising” in 1988. Uprising is inevitable because history shows us that where there is great oppression, there will be vibrant rebellion.
There are reports of military units refusing to fire on protesters. I hope it’s true.
“There are reports of military units refusing to fire on protesters. I hope it’s true.”
That’s what they need Blackwater for…
Andrew Sullivan is following this closely. There’s some good material over at his place.
It looks like there are serious divisions within the military. There’s also some suggestions on Sully’s blog about what you can do to show support. This is genuinely a nonpartisan issue - I hope that we can all come together across ideological lines on at least this one thing.
So you decided to post something after all. I’m very disappointed that you lost your resolve to avoid writing anything about this.
http://jonswift.blogspot.com/2007/09/burma-schmurma.html
The lasting image of that one lone man facing down a tank in Tiananmen will forever show that an individual can change the WORLD.
Really? Where is he now, and what has changed as a result of his actions?
A single person standing as an example only works if there’s an ideological fault-line to exploit - Rosa Parks, for example. There was a contradiction between the US’s image of itself and the reality in the Southern states; by highlighting that contradiction, the civil rights movement got somewhere.
There is no such contradiction in China. The Communist government is squarely in the tradition of authoritarian regimes keeping the country together while slowly increasing economic welfare. Indeed, as far as Chinese history goes, they’re doing pretty well at that.
http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/rebel.html
‘Time’ seems to have a different view of the Unknown Rebel and the importance of his defiance, PoR. But silly me; guess I’ll just got back into the kitchen and away from the computer or any other possible source of information- thinking is for men, after all.
If anyone’s interested, LP have been following Burma politics for a year or two now. Here’s their latest post.
Oh, please, Louise - I’m an equal opportunity insulter, as should be obvious by now. That’s a pathetic response.
I don’t read Time. Last I heard, the odds were said Unknown Rebel had been executed - and Tiananmen Square doesn’t seem to have changed anything.
Yes, it was especially lame- but be fair, I’ve got a rotten head cold! Have felt like hell for days…but I’ll give this another go.
UR’s actions didn’t change China so much as make the world aware of the deception China was trying to portray:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989#Aftermath
Sadly, I think this situation will be another example in the book,
How Nonviolence Protects The State
by Peter Gelderloos
Buddhist monks are respected leaders in a Buddhist community, but their nonviolent protests simply can’t match the brutal violence of the government.
I meant,
another example in the next version of the book…
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:bW7BN3eCfxIJ:sungame.wordpress.com/+burma+three+sons&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us
This is what mezzo9 was talking about and may be the only hope for the 50+ million people of Burma. With the text messaging capabilities and Internet connections out of the region now dismantled by the government, the world will have to wait and see.
I think we should send a delegation of human shields to Burma as soon as possible.
Burma is gone from the internet. Only one site is updating .
I post a short blurb and try to update
(anyway if anybody wants postrock and stuff)
http://www.moteldemoka.com/2007/09/28/black-sky/
Yes, it was especially lame- but be fair, I’ve got a rotten head cold!
You too? I’ve been sitting here for the past two and ahalf days with my throat sore and a feeling of mucus deep in my windpipe.
Um, I’d like to point out to all still reading that me and Louise have not been swapping anything other than internet insults. Although I have to admit, my anti-viral software is a bit out of date…
UR’s actions didn’t change China so much as make the world aware of the deception China was trying to portray:
On reading the link, it still seems to me like it didn’t change a single thing. China’s leaders will never be held accountable, and all the anger the liberals in the West feel about it won’t matter one little bit when put next to the economics of engagement with China.
And, yes, that pisses me off.
As the poet said, mourning:
So get out your pistols
Get out your stones
Get out your knives
Cut them to the bone
They are the lackeys of the grocer’s machine
They built the dark satanic mills
That manufacture hell on earth
They bought the front row seats on Calvary
They are irrelevant to me
And I grieve for my sister
Free Burma!
International Bloggers’ Day for Burma on the 4th of October
International bloggers are preparing an action to support the peaceful revolution in Burma. We want to set a sign for freedom and show our sympathy for these people who are fighting their cruel regime without weapons. These Bloggers are planning to refrain from posting to their blogs on October 4 and just put up one Banner then, underlined with the words „Free Burma!“.
www.free-burma.org