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Oct 03, 07
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Burma protest/gathering @ Noon, October 06th
honestly, I'm just pissed off when I read about what is happening to the monks over a peaceful protest. Their political history aside, the country obviously has been having major problems for decades but it looks like they are trying to eradicate ALL of the buddhist monks in Burma!
I hope that those who can make it to this gathering, do. Global Day of Solidarity, join demonstrators worldwide Oct. 6 at Noon (Vancouver Art Gallery) Facebook | Login A Day of International Action for a Free Burma Free Aung San Suu Kyi & Support the Monks in Burma Saturday 6TH OCTOBER 2007 Time: 12 NOON in every major city across the world We are marching in solidarity with the monks and ordinary people of Burma who are risking their lives for freedom and democracy. We appeal to all religious and secular communities across the world not to look the other way while the people of Burma cry out for international support. WIKI Main article: 2007 Burmese anti-government protests Anti-government protests started in Burma on August 15, 2007, and have been ongoing. Thousands of Buddhist monks started leading protests on September 18, and were joined by Buddhist nuns on September 23. On September 24, 20,000 monks and nuns led 30,000 people in a protest march from the golden Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, past the offices of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party. Comedian Zaganar and star Kyaw Thu brought food and water to the monks. On September 22, monks marched to greet Aung San Suu Kyi, a peace activist who has been under house arrest since 1990. On September 25, 2,000 people defied threats from Burma's junta and marched to Shwedagon Pagoda amid army trucks and warning of Brigadier-General Thura Myint Maung not to violate Buddhist "rules and regulations."The following morning, various prominent protesters were arrested and troops barricaded Shwedagon Pagoda and attacked the 700 people within. Despite this, 5,000 monks continued to protest in Yangon. At least four deaths were reported after security forces fired on the crowds in Yangon. On September 27, security forces began raiding monasteries and arresting monks throughout the country. The security forces also fired on the nearly 50,000 people protesting in Yangon, killing nine people including Japanese photojournalist Kenji Nagai. Internet access within the nation has been suspended, reportedly in an attempt to dampen international awareness of the situation.It has also been reported that troops have been specifically targeting people with cameras. The junta's violent response to peaceful protests has prompted international condemnation and calls for an immediate halt to the violence. In particular, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has demanded an explanation for the killing of Nagai. Ibrahim Gambari, the United Nations special envoy to Burma, has arrived in Naypyidaw and has met with junta leaders and Aung San Suu Kyi. Despite increasingly strong calls for peace, the junta continued to attack monks and raid monasteries through October 1. As of 2 October 2007, thousands of monks are unaccounted for and their whereabouts unknown. Many monasteries are being patrolled by government troops.There are eyewitness accounts of injured protesters being burned alive by the military regime in a crematorium on the outskirts of Rangoon. Last edited by dabbler; Oct 03, 07 at 10:38 PM. 
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Oct 03, 07
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I'll probably be in town on that day, so I'll bring my camera and take some pics. Some of the reports coming out of Burma is just absolutely disturbing. The jungle on the outskirts with thousands of bodies full of bullet holes and such. fucked up shit...
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Oct 03, 07
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Quote:
Yeah, after how well they've treated Tibet, I'm shocked SHOCKED I tell you that China hasn't stepped in. If anyone could do anything it would and should be the UN. But hey, they got their hands full with the Iranians. 
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Oct 04, 07
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I went there a few months ago and it was such an amazing place. The people are so incredibly friendly. They're so poor, yet they will do anything to make you feel welcome including trying to buy you food and tea.
We met so many monks, they taught us so much. In neighboring Thailand where there are so many tourists there are so many elaborate scams. People would give you these impromtu tours telling you about certain places then expected money for it. So we learned not to listen or trust anyone. Same thing went on in Cambodia, Vietnam, India etc. I remember at The Shwedagon Pagoda a monk spent hours with us showing us around. We sat with him and the other monks and learned about Burmese life. We were waiting for him to ask us for money, just like everyone else. he never did. It surprised me so much that I offered money, he declined. It saddens me to think he may have been one of the 1000's arrested. I could go on and on about the stories of Burma. How they will go to slave camps if they tell jokes. How innocent they are when they ask for a gift from Canada, that they want snow. Or the signs the government puts up above the vendors that say "Do not buy from these Black Marketeers, or your souvaneers will be confiscated at the airport, only buy from Government shops" We ignored their lies and bought from the people. There's no way I'd pay to support their regimne You could read my Burma blog, just click "View Full Entry" on the first entry AGROjazz | Dave Jackson | Travel Blog I've also got tons of Burma pictures on my facebook page
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Oct 06, 07
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ya I'd say about 200 ppl were there. I think that the most scary thing about the whole situation in Burma is the things that we don't know. The world can only go based on the very little information that is being reported, but clearly the full spectrum of the events that have taken place will probably not know up until the coming weeks and months.
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Oct 08, 07
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Oct 08, 07
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well.....
If you look at what their policy is in Africa, they don't care where their money goes, or how it's used. They consume mad amounts of raw materials from there, and will pay anyone for anything which has only added funds to the guerilla armies and helped to continue the violence and oppression in many African countries. Their foreign policy is basically non-existent, and despite pressure from the UN and the US to make even ONE statement condemning the violence in Burma, they refuse to do anything other than "caution" against the use of violence to quell the protests. "cautioning" ?!?! All that says (in how I read it) is "go ahead and do what you want, but be careful because of the global fallout - but we won't do anything" The ties between China and Myanmar's Junta are extreme, and if they wanted to China could easily stop the violence by just telling them to. Hell, it's even apparent in how little China cares about their OWN people, let alone people in other countries. Falun Gong is the most obvious example. so yeah, it should be nothing less than TRANSPARENT that China doesn't give a fuck about anyone. Last edited by dabbler; Oct 08, 07 at 07:47 PM.
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Oct 08, 07
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here's how I feel... Whether it is a moral obligation to intervene or not to intervene (physically or otherwise) into a county's domestic issues is something that's not that easily answered. It's one of the biggest philosophical debates in political science, and intervention often ends in backlash. Although I don't side with China's stance on Africa or on Burma, I think it's hard to just pin it down to "not caring." I can pick numerous issues in the world and be pissed off that Canada doesn't care about them, and won't take a stand against something I think is morally wrong.
Although there are a lot of troubles in China, and a lot of problems with the way it treats its own people, I think that it's far too easy to criticize them from a Canadian perspective, which is at a totally different point in its development (and numerous other things) than China is. It's really hard to imagine for someone in a country of 30million the constraints that China faces with its population. It's easy to say "China doesn't care about its own people," but, again, with their population and stage in development, I would say that the country is trying, on a whole, to improve peoples' lives through economic growth. And it's a totally different playing field than Canada, but it's also a playing field that many countries have gone through in the past. I don't see the world in rose-tinted glasses, and I'm not trying to diminish the severity of the situation in Burma. I admire the fact that you are concerned enough to raise awareness of it. I think that it can sometimes be too easy to criticize a country for not doing enough when you're really passionate about a certain issue. "doing enough" is also really vague. Do the statements that Canada and the US have issued show that "they give a fuck"? Even if China has more influence with respect to Burma, Canada and US collectively have a lot more influence over public sentiment and can put pressure on the Burmese government in other ways. So maybe we can agree to disagree, and I must admit that I'm at least a little biased, since living and working in this country has given me a completely different perspective on it that what I had in mind before. China is a million times more complex and layered than I imagined, and the longer I am here the more I begin to uncover how much grey area there is in everything that makes up the fabric of this country!
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Oct 08, 07
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ok fair enough.
my only response is that China hasn't shown any kind of concern about these kind of issues at ALL. So it's not like they have just chosen to ignore this one issue, they don't show signs of working towards improving this kind of policy what so ever. And yes Canada doesn't always show care about every issue, but we do make efforts somewhere at least? forgive my all of a sudden lack of proper english here, I just ate a HUGE feast and I'm too stuffed to go over it lol
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