Google “Heroin capitals of world” and the very first results you would come across would be Myanmar. This is an irony in itself, considering that Burma is cradle of many civilizations in the region. A peek into where Burma might have gone wrong in time line would show that the period from 1960’s might have been the most aggressive and most disturbing phenomenon of the country, when coup overturn the power and glued themselves to seats of power. And the junta is not showing any signs to give up the seat in any time soon. But this might be the very darkest phase, before Renaissance strikes Burma and September 24, 2007 might just go on to become the spark, led by barefooted, armless monks that lit this fire of Revolution.
The protest had been so strong almost eclipsing all other movements since the 1988 pro democracy uprising, and has already created ripples in the deeply religious Burmese society. Not that these protest, often violent, have been limited during the uneasy military government rule. But most of these protests have not been recognized as a national level one except of course, those under the dynamic leadership of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. She has been in home arrest since 1989, but still continues to be the hope of democracy for Burma.
And though none could scale the degree to which she represents the face of Burma, the present protest by monks could just trigger the wave of unrest in the nation. In this part of world, religion is the thing which binds and evokes people. Almost 90% of Burmese practice Buddhism and it is the main stay. The resistance of monks has been a strong tradition in Burma. The liberation from British rule was mostly due to the strong role of monks in struggle for liberation and so was the collapse of Mongol rule.
But there is more than religion which is driving the animosity against governing bodies now. Burma is transformed to a nation, from the golden land not so long back , to crippling economy, a nation neck deep in corruption and where suddenly the world has been polarized into 2 sections, those having contacts with the ruling junta and those without it. Needless to say, those who don’t have any contact with the junta, are the sufferers. A common man has to survive paying bribes or end up being locked in numerous torture cells or Labor camps of Military Intelligence (MI).The number of political prisoners is estimated to be around 1800 or even 5 times more than that. The last uprising (in year 1988) was crushed by massacring 3000-5000 peaceful unarmed protestors.
But the fresh protest by the monks doesn’t seem to die down at such an ease. More so when international organizations like UN which had been mum over such a long period (right from 1962) have woken up to the brutal fact that human rights has ended up just being words. The UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari is scheduled to meet the military leaders some time soon( in hours when I am writing this post). Some nations have gone a further length in showcasing their resentment with the regime. France has asked its oil majors to withdraw operations from the region, USA has denied the travel visas to the rulers, Japan has cancelled all its aid (partly also because one of the persons killed in the shootout happened to be a Japanese reporter).Also the number of Burmese gathering momentum for this cause has been swelling over past few years. The economic and political sanctions coupled by civil war like scenario is surely the signal for an end to regime, either by themselves or from external force.
So may be the coming days will see a new beginning and a new history in making, for the once glorious golden land, Burma.
