Today, October 4th 2007, over 5000 bloggers from around the world stand together in solidarity with the brave people of Burma. I stand with them.
"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall - think of it, always." - Mahatma Gandhi
"Within a system which denies the existence of basic human rights, fear tends to be the order of the day. Fear of imprisonment, fear of torture, fear of death, fear of losing friends, family, property or means of livelihood, fear of poverty, fear of isolation, fear of failure. A most insidious form of fear is that which masquerades as common sense or even wisdom, condemning as foolish, reckless, insignificant or futile the small, daily acts of courage which help to preserve man's self-respect and inherent human dignity. It is not easy for a people conditioned by fear under the iron rule of the principle that might is right to free themselves from the enervating miasma of fear. Yet even under the most crushing state machinery courage rises up again and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilized man." - Aung San Suu Kyi
On September 22 Buddhist monks marched to the house in Rangoon where Aung San Suu Kyi is kept under house arrest by Burma's ruthless military regime. Burma's legitimate prime minister stepped out to the gate of her house, and with tears in her eyes, prayed with her people. In the days since that moment of prayer the peaceful protests of the Burmese people have been crushed by brutal force. Monks have been killed and disappeared, people have been dragged out of their homes in the middle of the night, and Burmese by the thousands have been thrown into makeshift jails all around the country. Fear rules Burma today.
However, no matter how many of its own citizens the military kills to try to hold on to power, it will never be able to erase the indelible image of a frail and beautiful woman standing with hands clasped in prayer amidst saffron-clad monks.
There is power in that image that the Burmese military cannot buy with the billions it spends on weapons each year. The junta fears her and the people she represents. In their fear they have fled the capital and built a fortress in the jungle for themselves where they hide.
The news reports say that the Saffron Revolution has been crushed. Not so. There are not enough bullets in this world to deny a people their freedom. The Burmese have struggled long for their freedom and they have suffered much. Often they have struggled and suffered alone while the world neglected them. Today that is changing. The world has finally focused its gaze upon the inhumanity being visited upon the brave people of Burma.
Let us today stand with the Burmese people. Let us stand with the Burmese people in the days to follow. Let us stand with them in their courageous march to freedom.
Free Burma!
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I was going to post this as
I was going to post this as a diatribe, but this article is far better. I will make it an in-depth comment instead.
I have been really bothered by the military crackdown on the monks and the People's Protests in Burma or MyanMar.
I am thoroughly disgusted after seeing a CNN video report on the events taking place there.
First a backdrop of pictures arranged to the old Simon Garfunkel song "The Sounds of Silence".
I didn't do this and would prefer a much shorter video to make the point, but the song adds a somberness that is a perfect prelude to what transpires. More
Here is uncut video or peopleful people protesting:
Burmese Propaganda and threat to protesters:
Have some more propaganda:
Japanese Journalist shot down: NOTE - graphic.
Military shooting protesters who refused to back down.
Don't shoot your own people!
I don't have the CNN footage - likely copywritten by CNN so nobody can see what they have without being exposed to ads for products and services people don't need.
However, here is the actual video "footage" that CNN played without the CNN comments I found disturbing. That video was clearly praising the "peaceful protesters" in a way that I have NEVER heard CNN or any other American media outlet talk about people protesting a highly corrupt fascist government...like Bush's.
The CNN reporter has the English accent and I hear him as essentially supportive but it does not have the near-gushy patina that the other CNN talking head provided. It really stuck out.
I have posted all of this to say that the American Media is forever down on antiwar protesters as our media are all held by large corporations which are invested in defense industries, one way or another. So Americans who exercise their right to free speech and freedom of assembly are systematically marginalized, minimized, downplayed and smeared.
When the people in a military dictatorship - the Dream of the GOP - rise up and peacfully do the same goddamned thing people just did HERE on September 15th, oh... they are free people resisting the forfes of tyranny.
It just makes me so sick.
Now, remember the people recently who have been tasered by cops, particularly the most recent episode where a young man is tasered at a Kerry speech.
When 1 person in a crowd is isolated and treated in a way indistinguishable from the mass attack tactics seen in the Burmese video, we see that some Americans try to speak up but, more importantly, many actually SUPPORT the actions of the police. We saw that very clearly right here on the ever-so-liberal Daily Kos.
So currently in the US we apparently do not have to fear a repeat of Kent State or worse, but for how much longer?
What is keeping Team Bush from repeating Kent State?
That's an important question.
Is it REALLY "the Law"? Are there some laws that Team Bush actually are powerless to break?
Team Bush and the GOP have de facto control of the mainstream or "traditional" media - what I call the Old Media Cartel. The one that oppresses any information it doesn't like or is used to smear people it doesn't like. (Can't go swftboating without the media).
With this they can control or influence the available information that Americans use to make decisions. The TV stations in Burma clearly do this blatantly with impunity - just like Chine and the Tienanmen Square Massacre. Just tell bald-faced lies: who's going to stop them?
CNN's commentator's gushy reverence for the freedom-loving people in Burma was jarring because of how severely they pan the anti-war movement here. I see it as blatant propaganda no different than the crap spewing out of official Burmese television.
How long before Team Bush can shoot it's own people? How long before they can kill a few antiwar protesters, air some made-up shit on the TV and get away with it and have little to no protest or criticism?
Not as long as you might think: that's my answer.
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