Burma: catch all thread

[Jedburgh]

BBC, 24 Sep 07: Monks Lead Largest Burma Protest

Tens of thousands of people have marched through Burma's main city of Rangoon in the biggest of a mounting wave of anti-government protests. Eyewitnesses said the number of monks and civilians demonstrating was more than 30,000, with some activists saying 100,000 were involved....

...But there are fears of a repeat of 1988, when the last democracy uprising was crushed by the military and some 3,000 people were killed, correspondents say.

Five columns of monks, one reportedly stretching for more than 1km (0.6 miles), entered the city centre to cheers and applause from thousands of bystanders....

[jcustis]

May Siddhartha be with them.

[tequila]

There is small community of Burmese exiles in my apartment building and surrounding area. From conversations with them in the past few days, I have little faith that this will end well. Hopefully they are wrong.

[sgmgrumpy]

Video advocates BURMA ISSUES travel deep into the jungles of eastern Burma to document one of the world's most urgent and most forgotten emergencies. The Burmese military has embarked on one of the worst offensives in its 30 year campaign to destabilize the lives of rural ethnic minorities. Half a million live driven from their homes. (Co produced with WITNESS) INTERNATIONAL ACTION IS NEEDED! To learn more and ACT NOW: www.witness.org/shootonsight

Shoot on Sight part I

Shoot on Sight part II

[Jedburgh]

Transcripts from 17 Oct 07 hearing on Crisis in Burma: Can the U.S. Bring about a Peaceful Resolution? before the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs:

Scot Marciel, Dpty Asst Secretary of State, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs

Lisa Chiles, Dpty Asst Administrator, Bureau for Asia and the Near East, USAID

Jeremy Woodrum, Co-Founder and Director US Campaign for Burma

Bridget Welsh, Asst Professor Southeast Asia Studies, Johns Hopkins University

[Jedburgh]

The Economist, 30 Jan 08: Kawthoolei Diary

...I have arrived at the camp at an opportune time. The new recruits, numbering about 90 and coming from all over Myanmar, are wrapping up their training. I am there to see them take their final exams, so to speak, which begin with a simulated mission into an “SPDC-targeted village”.

The instructors have set up an impressive makeshift town in the middle of camp, building huts and enlisting local volunteers to populate them. The recruits enter, gather information and dispense relief supplies. It is all going well until an explosion rocks the woods behind us, echoing off the trees.

Suddenly a wave of men in black shirts appears at the edge of the camp. They are carrying machine guns and advancing quickly on our location. All hell breaks loose as the recruits scatter, desperately trying to drag villagers with them. Some are left behind and pounced on by the armed men, who eagerly set fire to a row of huts. Amid the smoke I see one straggling villager being furiously questioned by a man with a pistol. They disappear behind a cloud of dust. When the air finally settles the villager is lying motionless on the ground.

It is all part of the simulation, of course, but the attack looks disturbingly real. One recruit, whose family was killed in a similar assault, runs off, unwilling to relive the experience. The others are hiding out, planning a counterattack. The Rangers do not look to confront the SPDC—recruits are told to retreat in the face of an attack—but the group refuses to leave any villagers behind. So after several minutes and with a sustained battle cry, the recruits storm back into the village and retake their position.....

[Jedburgh]

ICG, 31 Jan 08: Burma: After the Crackdown

.....While most countries in Asia have made significant progress in securing peace, establishing effective governance, expanding political freedoms and growing their economies, Myanmar has atrophied. It has more in common today with Sudan or Afghanistan than with its neighbours. The recent cycle of protest and repression underscored the urgency of fundamental political and economic reforms but also the continuance of deep-seated structural obstacles.....