A group in facebook.com has been creating great discussions and posting recent information on happenings in Burma. I was able to get a message from the British Ambassador, Mark Canning Sat, 29th about 11am, in which he said that Rangoon was calm, lots of troops around and more arrests at the monasteries overnight. He also sounded hopeful that "there are some encouraging signs too that possibly, possibly, some progress might be possible." I am sure he cannot say more than that at this point, but it gives hope. We were also able to get through to Rangoon last night via ...   more »

Ed.: The following article was received in my email from Malaysia but there was no media source referenced. Elizabeth Wong also has photos and info on the demonstration.

Kuala Lumpur, 28 September 2007

This morning, more than three thousand Burmese protesters , most of them wearing red marched in the street of Kuala Lumpur . They walked from Ampang Park to the Burmese Embassy, 2 kilometers away. There they had a very organized peaceful demonstration facing the local Riot police who were guarding the Embassy. Then they proceeded to the Chinese Embassy and the Russian Embassy to hand over a memorandum.

The demonstration was a joint effort of nine Burmese Organization here.   more »

197,687 people have so far signed this petition calling on China and the UNSC to support the protesters in Burma. Please join them.

September 28, 2007

Dear All,

Kindly forgive the brevity and the lack of formatting of the following email. I am now sending this information out as we are now receiving it. As many of you are now aware phone lines have been cut, mobile networks have been disabled, and Internet access has also been disabled. Information, therefore, is now very difficult to obtain and confirm. I therefore am unable to confirm any of that which follows, but my sources are adamant that this is the truth:

Soldiers from LID #66 have turned their weapons against other SPDC soldiers and possibly police in North Okkalappa township in Rangoon and are defending the protesters. At present unsure how many soldiers involved. Some reports cite "heavy shooting" in the area.

Other unconfirmed reports have stated that soldiers from LID #33 in Mandalay have refused orders to act against protesters. Some reports claim that many soldiers remained in their barracks. More recent reports now maintain that soldiers from LID #99 now being sent there to confront them.

Reports of approx. 10,000+ protesters gathering around the Traders Hotel in Rangoon.

Reports of 10,000+ protesters gathering at San Pya Market in Rangoon.

Further reports of approx. 50,000 protestors gathering at the Thein Gyi Market in Rangoon.

According to Mizzima, an unknown number of soldiers from Central Command and South East Command are presently on their way to Rangoon to reinforce SPDC army troops.

Also according to Mizzima, an unknown number of aircraft have been scrambled from "Matehtilar" airbase - probably a reference to Meiktila in Mandalay Division.

According to one journalist, SPDC have turned water cannons against crowds at Sule Pagoda. The report maintains that the water contained some type of chemical. awaiting further information.


Please circulate this information as widely as as quickly as possible.

Regards,

Jason
Research Director
Human Rights Documentation Unit
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma

I posted a new photo to Burma.

By Anonymous

Ignorance
In 1988, when students and monks were massacred in Myanmar, Universities were closed and the education system completed its deterioration. A whole generation of young people were left without a means of education. Many students found ways to teach themselves, but in general the lack of higher education along with the system of memorization used in elementary through secondary levels resulted in a huge loss of the potential human resources of the country. In this way the younger generations were handicapped, taught to accept and internalize the twisted histories and other lies fed to them in state run schools instead of being taught how to use their brains, how to think, and how to question. They were taught fear instead. The news and media surrounding them was always manipulated and controlled by the Junta. Myanmar is a country in which rumors fly as no where else. When the US invaded Iraq this last time, many respectable Burmese sincerely believed that the US had tanks lined up on the border of Myanmar and Thailand, finally coming to free them. In reality, the US government marked Myanmar down on their black-list as a dangerous country harboring evil terrorists out to destroy the American people.

When I look at what the education system in the United States of America has become it doesn’t seem very different from that in Myanmar. We are not being taught how to think but only to accept what we are given. Even at our University levels we are rewarded for parroting back what we are fed. It is now common knowledge that our media is controlled by a few groups whose purpose is to keep us in fear of the outer world. It has just been over the last couple years that the majority of Americans have realized this. Still today, many of us believe everything we see on the news. We are constantly surrounded by commercialism and fed mind-dulling nonsense about what is healthy for our bodies, and then told the opposite the next day. This keeps us all confused and in fear of cancer, terrorists, bad-credit, other religions, fires, tornadoes, you name it, that we dare not think for ourselves any more.   more »

I posted a new photo to Burma.

By Anonymous

While exploring the markets and tea-shops of various cities in Myanmar I have had some interesting discussions with people from all over the country. As we all know, Aung San Su Kyi, Myanmar’s elected President who has been under house arrest for more than a decade, requested that tourists not come to Myanmar in order to boycott the military regime. I have done a lot of low-budget traveling around Myanmar, and I have worked in the tourist industry for extended periods of time. In light of the recent events in Myanmar I am compelled to put forth my perspective, and to pass on what many Burmese citizens from all over Myanmar have discussed with me.

The first time I visited Myanmar was in 1996, the last time I was there was the end of 2006. Please excuse me if the writing is sometimes disjointed as the images I have seen on YouTube of the thousands of Monks marching in the street, brings up strong emotions in me of terror, amazement and vast respect for what they are doing.

Tourism in Myanmar
What I have seen in regards to the tourist industry in Myanmar is that there are basically two categories. The major one being package tour groups. These are generally older people, and they mostly come from Europe—from Italy and Germany. These package tours visit Myanmar for ten days. They go from Inle Lake to Bagan to Ngapali, they stay at the same hotels, eat at the same restaurants and shop at the same tourist shops. They are guided around by the same tour guides and their money does indeed support the military and their cronies. As a result I have seen some incredibly decadent hotels built in these areas of the country in the last five years. This type of tourist never sees the real Myanmar or interacts on the local level with Burmese people. I wouldn’t be surprised if these tour groups had never heard of Aung San Su Kyi or her request not to support the military regime.   more »

The following is a series of excerpts from the book From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey, by Pascal Khoo Thwe. They were submitted by an anonymous reader for their relevance to the current ongoing protests led by monks in Burma. As the submitter says, "When I re-read these sections, they seemed so pertinent to what is happening now it is scary. It seems history does repeat itself. The BBC seems to have forgotten that protests were also headed by monks in '88, and the military regime had no qualms gunning them down."

The book itself is an absolute must-read for anyone with an interest in Burma. Apart from being beautifully written, it offers a native perspective on the country and the political events that have unfolded in the last century - something that is rare among books written on Burma.

Hopefully these passages will provide some valuable insight and inspiration for readers.

Propaganda
In Burma, apart from good and bad news, there was ‘fragrant’ news. The term denoted news that was good but that was given a sarcastic or hostile twist by the regime. The ‘fragrant’ news from the West at that time was of the new computer age, of advanced technologies and of political freedom. People reacted in different ways to the news, but always and necessarily from a position of ignorance. Our teachers could hardly enlighten us, for they both shared the general ignorance and were at the same time obliged to apply the official ideology to the scraps of puzzling information that came their way. The result was an amalgam of the regime’s anti-colonialism and resolutely pre-modern superstition.   more »

September 19, 2007
From Kachin News Group

Students in Bhamo University have emulated those in Myitkyina University by launching an identical poster movement aimed at the Burmese military junta yesterday. The demands are the same as those of Myitkyina University students in Kachin State.

Over a hundred A-4 size posters were pasted on the key buildings in Bhamo town including four state high schools, Bhamo University, Computer College, Nursing College, government offices and the junta's administrative offices called Ma-Ya-Ka and Ya-Ya-Ka, a student leader told KNG today.

The five-point charter of demands in the students' posters are identical to those put up in Myitkyina-- to roll back oil and essential commodity prices, to immediately stop the Myitsone Hydroelectric Power project, to release all political prisoners and to solve the country's problems by initiating a "Tripartite Dialogue" which should including the ruling junta, political opposition political parties and ethnic leaders.

In Bhamo, the authorities have tightened security and the posters were torn up by security personnel, local students and eyewitnesses said.

This is the first students' movement in Bhamo, the second largest city of Kachin State after the 1988 people's pro-democracy movement in Burma. They will continue with protest against the regime, student leaders said.
Meanwhile, Buddhist monks in Myitkyina continue to be under virtual house arrest and have been kept under tight control inside the rooms of their monasteries to prevent them from protesting against the junta on the orders of Kachin State's Commander Maj-Gen Ohn Myint since Saturday night.

The two main monasteries of Wuntu and Suu Taung Pyi in Myitkyina are being closely watched all the time by the authorities, said local residents.

According to Myitkyina residents, the commander Maj-Gen Ohn Myint is trying to prevent any demonstration in the township.

Although much of the news recently has been focused on the protests triggered by the fuel price hikes in Burma, there are other events that deserve to not be overlooked. In Kachin State, a protests have unfolded in the form of a poster movement in response to both the price hikes and the closing of the Junta's National Convention.

On September 3rd, the junta finally brought to a close after 14 years the convention to draft an outline for the constitution. During the final round of proposals, the Kachin Independence Organization submitted a 19-point proposal calling for autonomy and a federal governing system, as well as for the ethnic armed groups to be integrated into the national forces. The government's predictable response blocking discussion of the proposal, as well as threats and a continued increase in military posturing in Kachin State, makes it difficult to think the KIO's proposal was anything but calculated.   more »

It is fairly obvious that I've been remiss in covering the recent events in Burma. Rest assured I have been following the news closely, though, and will do my best to cover the news of the last month or so.

The initial protests were in response to the junta's surprise 500% increase in fuel prices on August 15th. The subsequent increase in transportation fares meant many people in the cities were left stranded, unable to pay their fares to get to work or school.

ALTSEAN Burma has a detailed report on the protests, as well as an interactive map showing details and locations of the demonstrations.

The first peaceful protests were organized and led by members of the 88 generation student leaders in Rangoon, but as demonstrations spread to the rest of the country, they took on new dimensions. Demonstrations soon became focused not only on the fuel hikes, but also on the heavy-handed tactics of the junta. In Taungup, Arakan, an estimated 1000 people spontaneously joined in a march initiated by 15 NLD members demanding the release of two men arrested during a previous demonstration.

One key aspect of the current situation is the involvement of monks in protesting the government - with the moral authority monks carry in Burma, ongoing opposition and boycotts by the sangha could create an uncontrollable situation for the military regime. on August 28th, 200 monks marched in the streets of Akyab calling for a reduction in fuel prices on behalf of the people. In Pakkoku on September 5th, 500 monks had their demonstration broken up by soldiers firing shots over their heads and attacking several of the men. When authorities later went to apologize for the use of force, they found themselves taken hostage in the monastery and their vehicles being burned.

After the Pakkoku incident, monasteries issued letters demanding officials apologize, and threatening a boycott of the government if they did not also roll back fuel prices - with September 18th given as a deadline.

BNI Online is probably the best place to keep up with the breaking news, as they post articles coming in from several smaller news agencies in the region.

The last few days it's been difficult to keep up with the events unfolding in the lead up to the threatened monks' boycott and protests.

On September 14th, military officials were thrown out of a temple in Phayarkyi quarter by the monks there. Government officials have been approaching abbots and monks around the country to 'encourage' them not to participate in any forthcoming demonstrations. In Akyab, Abbots were forced to join a committee to cooperate with government officials in preventing demonstrations. Other monasteries were asked to keep their monks from traveling to central Burma. In Pegu, 1,800 monks at two monasteries were barred from their morning alms rounds to collect food offerings. The abbots at the two monasteries had previously rejected the junta's request to "take responsibility" if their monks joined in the protests.

Perhaps one of the more disturbing events, in Myityina, Kachin State, several hundred young student monks seemingly disappeared from several monasteries. It now seems that the monks were put under house arrest. According to locals, the young monks, known as koyins, are being forced to stay in their rooms and are being fed by military authorities. Government security forces are stationed both within and near the monasteries, each of which have an estimated 200 koyins in residence. The idea that the government is providing food is perhaps not insignificant, as monks rely on food alms for their sustenance, and the threatened boycott would entail the monks rejecting alms from those associated with the government.

Today an estimated 1,000 monks are marching in Rangoon. The protest started out with 60, and continued to grow despite government efforts to stop it. It remains to be seen how this might continue to unfold in the rest of the country.