ninme

Happy Moon Festival, everyone!

The Times - Burmese Days
Demonstrations are a challenge to the junta’s long and oppressive rule

Burma has been ruled by a military dictatorship for the past 45 years. And though the secretive cabal of army generals has briefly dabbled with democracy, allowing a general election in 1990 that massively endorsed the opposition National League for Democracy, the military refused to concede defeat, placed the party’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest and has since refused to negotiate, share power or make any concession to those inside and outside Burma demanding more freedom. The current demonstrations by tens of thousands of revered Buddhist monks have therefore shaken the junta’s authority as much as they have heartened a cowed populace.

What began as a spontaneous protest against the doubling of fuel prices last month has become an open call for democratic elections, the release of all political prisoners and an end to the junta’s rule. At first, the army reacted with customary force, arresting those few people who dared to speak out. But when their cause was taken up by monks, the Government found itself severely embarrassed. Burma’s 400,000 monks command enormous public respect, and their threatened refusal to perform religious ceremonies for the regime caused considerable difficulty to a superstitious military leadership that has assiduously cultivated the senior clergy. The marches were therefore allowed to go ahead without being broken up, and for the first time in more than four years Ms Suu Kyi was allowed to make a public appearance to greet them.

Emboldened by their success, the demonstrations have grown and students and activists, setting aside memories of the last crackdown that cost an estimated 3,000 lives, have joined the columns of burgundy-robed monks marching through Rangoon, the crumbling former capital. The chants and prayers have given way to more politically explicit calls for national reconciliation and an improvement in the abysmal living standards for most of Burma’s 50 million people.

The junta faces a dilemma. The temptation will be to crack down hard on the protest, fearing that its authority is being underminded. If the rulers do order troops into action against the monks, however, they risk a bloody showdown that might not be supported by the armed forces and could provoke a serious rift in the ranks of the generals. The diplomatic damage would also be significant, with inevitable embarrassment for partner nations in the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations. And, crucially, the junta risks losing the support of China, which has systematically shielded the Government from international opprobrium and sanctions.

Hey, good for China. Anyway:

Times Online - US ‘outraged’ as army moves on Burma protests

President Bush unilaterally tightened sanctions on Burma today as the military junta deployed soldiers and riot police around Rangoon amid rumours that large numbers of soldiers were on their way to the city to crush the massive ongoing democracy demonstrations.

An estimated 30,000 Buddhist monks and 70,000 secular demonstrators marched through the city for the eighth straight day, despite the first hints that the military dictatorship of General Than Shwe was planning to suppress by force the biggest challenge to its authority in 19 years.

The troops visibly deployed on the street were relatively few in number – some 200 soldiers and riot police in eleven trucks, according to Agence France Presse - but Burmese exiles in Thailand reported that two divisions of troops had been diverted from the civil war in other parts of the country to converge on Rangoon. If true this would be an ominous move from a Government, which killed as many as 3000 protesters after similar mass demonstrations in 1988.

So today, slice yourself a piece of mooncake for the Burmese. And think of Chinese perfidy.

Update:

BBC - US attacks Burma ‘reign of fear’

US President George W Bush has condemned Burma’s “reign of fear” and said Americans were outraged by the country’s human rights record.

Countdown to the Daily Kos freaking out over secret Pentagon plans to start a war with Burma for oil. Or, since that industry’s probably been pretty much driven into the ground, teak. No blood for teak!