If you are reading the news, you know that amazing events are unfolding in Myanmar/Burma*. I've been watching DailyKos for any diaries on this, but having seen none, I'll step up and offer some thoughts.
I had the opportunity to spend a difficult, amazing, disturbing, enlightening month working in Myanmar ten years ago. I have followed the fate of the pro-democracy forces there ever since. I have been dumbfounded at the world's neglect of the situation there, and the failure of the international community to confront the brutal ruling junta (especially those who loudly and proudly proclaim their commitment to liberty and democracy). I have tried, in my own small way, to lend support to those who have kept the flame lit through the long night. The events of the last few days suggest that the light may finally be returning. In any case, the situation is changing fundamentally; things will not be the same, and will not return to the status quo ante. I am praying for and meditating on a peaceful revolution.
Getting news out of Myanmar is notoriously difficult, so it is hard to know how the situation is developing in any detail. But it seems that the protests are changing and growing on a daily basis now. The New York Times is now carrying a front-page update, Challenge to Junta in Myanmar Gains Momentum. For those of you who have not been following the story, the current wave of protests is the most significant challenge that the ruling military junta has faced since it refused to relinquish power after the triumph of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy in the 1990 parliamentary elections. Unlike previous pro-reform uprisings, this one has Myanmar's most powerful moral and cultural force behind it: the Buddhist monks.
The latest protests began Aug. 19 in response to sharp, unannounced fuel price increases that raised the prices of goods and transport in a country that is already one of the poorest in Asia.
The demonstrations were led at first by former student protesters and other activists. But most of these leaders had been arrested or were in hiding when the monks began their own protests last Tuesday.
At first, the monks were apparently motivated by an attack on a small demonstration near a temple, during which security officers fired shots in the air and beat a number of monks. Since then the monks' protests have spread quickly and have become more overtly political.
The monk-led marches are now occurring and growing on a daily basis, and are spreading to other parts of the country beyond Yangon (Rangoon). There have been reports of major protests in Sittwe (in the northwest part of the country near Bangladesh) and Mandalay (the second largest city, the heart of Burmese Buddhism, in the central part of the country). (I was able to visit all three cities, and the fact that protests are taking place in all of them suggests to me that this can quickly spread not only through the formally organized opposition groups, but through the monasteries that are found in even the most remote and isolated villages.)
The numbers participating are unprecedented, and astonishing. In Yangon, up to 20,000 marching monks and "thousands" of cheering onlookers. In Mandalay, 4,000 monks, amid a crowd of 10,000 marchers. In Sittwe last Wednesday, 2,000 monks. To appreciate what this means, one needs to appreciate the role of Buddhism and the omnipresent monks in the daily life and culture of Myanmar. I am no expert on Buddhism, and would defer to others here who know more. But any visitor to Myanmar becomes immediately accustomed to the sight of long lines of red-robed monks with their begging bowls, walking barefoot and shaven-headed along the roads and through the towns and villages. It is a strong social custom to honor the monks and the Buddha by tithing. I was floored when I read this:
Monks also are refusing alms from the military and their families — embarrassing the junta. Some monks have started a religious boycott of the junta, symbolized by their holding their black begging bowls upside down as they march. In the Myanmar language, the word for boycott comes from the words for holding the bowl upside. (Onlookers protect protesting monks in Myanmar)
As the protests have gained momentum over the last few days, I have been waiting to read bad news about the junta cracking down. It hasn't happened yet. As long as the monks are taking the lead, the military leaders are in a position from which it may well be impossible to escape. The monks are bringing the people along. The rulers cannot take direct action against the monks without inciting virtually the entire population to join in. I am simultaneously deeply fearful and profoundly hopeful. Here is how today's NYT story begins:
The most serious popular challenge to Myanmar's military junta in nearly two decades gained momentum Sunday as thousands of onlookers cheered huge columns of barefoot monks and shouted support for the detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, witnesses said.
Marching for the sixth day through rainy streets in Yangon, the antigovernment protest swelled to a reported 10,000 monks, one day after several hundred monks paid respects to Aung San Suu Kyi at the gate of her home, the first time the Nobel laureate had been seen in public in four years.
Photographs said to have been taken Sunday showed huge numbers of monks in their dark red robes parading between cordons of civilians, who walked along with them holding hands in protective human chains. Nuns, in robes with their heads shaved, also joined the demonstration.
Aung San Suu Kyi obviously plays a vital role in these events, but that's what is so critical about this wave of protest: she is vital to the movement, but she is in the front symbolically, not personally. That's why I believe this has reached a tipping point already.
Here is how the current article ends:
On Saturday, an organization of clergy called the All Burma Monks Alliance called for wider protests in a statement that said, "In order to banish the 'common enemy' evil regime from Burmese soil forever, united masses of people need to join hands with the united clergy forces." It went on, "We pronounce the evil military despotism, which is impoverishing and pauperizing our people of all walks, including the clergy, as the common enemy of all our citizens."
I have tears in my eyes reading those words. I find myself recalling quiet scenes of deep beauty in the monasteries and rice paddies and mountain villages, with the hypnotic sounds of the Buddhist chanting in the air. I am grateful for the depth of compassion and warmth I learned there. And I yearn for the people of this long-suffering and often forgotten nation to somehow come through the coming change in as peaceful way as possible -- showing the rest of the word, in the process, how to overcome evil regimes and military despots with the firm force of right being and profound spiritual commitment. We change the world, and banish tyrants, by finally turning the begging bowl upside down. It is the most profoundly human form of protest I can imagine: the withdrawing of psychic aid and comfort to those who lie and oppress, those who drive for power and control, those who constitute the common enemy of all citizens.
I would be very interested in the observations and inetrpretations of other Kossacks who have visited Myanmar, especially in more recent years. Please follow this story, and pray for peaceful resolution and reconciliation in the days to come.
*I'll skip the discussion of the use of "Myanmar" vs. "Burma" here. I found during my visit there that there were interesting historical complications involving the use of both names. Topic for another diary....
UDPATE #1 -- I notice the NYT website just upgraded this to their lead feature story. For what it's worth, the story doesn't even show up on the Washington Post's. An excellent source of information that I've been following more closely the last few days is The Irawaddy. It has some fantastic photos posted, and news reports that don't seem to be showing up anywhere else.
UPDATE #2 -- The new day has begun in Burma, and here's the first item on The Irawaddy's AWESOME running update page:
Tamwe Township, Rangoon, 9 a.m.—About 400 monks began a demonstration march in Rangoon’s Tamwe Township at 9 a.m., according to a monk in Rangoon. The monks gathered in front of the Tamwe’s Yuzana Plaza in preparation to march to Shwedagon Pagoda where they were going to be offered lunch by a group of artists and writers. Other groups of monks were also planning to gather at Shwedagon. From Shwedagon, the monks plan to continue their march through the city. Trucks carrying soldiers are patrolling the city. Medical doctors and nurses were reportedly gathering at Shwedagon in case of a confrontation. Government offices and many private businesses were reported closed today over fears of a confrontation between the government and protestors. Monks marching in Rangoon are expected to draw a large number of civilian supporters. Protest marches over the weekend were the largest so far in Rangoon.