burma - potential uprising?

[fela fan]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7631395.stm

What do you reckon ,fela and purves?

I try very hard not to think frogw on matters like burma. All that 'loving kindness' stuff is revolting. For nigh on 20 years now i have viewed the barbarity that humans are capable of as being centred in burma.

19 years in prison for no crime. Put there by people who now say they have released him and others because they are showing 'loving kindness'. I hardly think orwell could have predicted such language from such non-humans. If i dwell on it, it feels like i've got a whole jar of hydrochloric acid in my stomach that try as i might, i can't vomit it all up.

It's a small joy for the man and his family, but it really is better, on balance, that i don't think about it!

And i've just come here from here (it's unrelated) it couldn't be a more different world:

http://www.brockwood.org.uk/philosophy/education_and_the_significance_of_life.htm

[in case you or the others are interested!]

 

[purves grundy]

And just in case we're tempted into think a page had been turned:

Sep 24, 2008 (DVB)–National League for Democracy member U Win Htein, who was released from Katha prison yesterday as part of a government amnesty, has been re-arrested, according to sources close to his family.

Win Htein was arrested this morning and sent back to Katha prison.

http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=1786

 

[Jessiedog]

And just in case we're tempted into think a page had been turned:



http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=1786

Ach!



Woof

 

[purves grundy]

65 years for peaceful protests

Fourteen leading activists, including five women, from the 88 Generation Students group were each given 65-year sentences on Tuesday morning for their political activities during the monk-led uprising in Burma last year, according to sources close to their families.

The lengthy imprisonments were seen as an indication the Burmese military government was invoking harsher punishments on dissidents.

The 14 activists— Min Zeya, Jimmy (aka Kyaw Min Yu), Arnt Bwe Kyaw, Kyaw Kyaw Htwe (aka Ma Kee), Panneik Tun, Zaw Zaw Min, Than Tin, Zeya, Thet Zaw, Mee Mee, Nilar Thein, Mar Mar Oo, Sandar Min and Thet Thet Aung—were sentenced at a court inside Insein Prison, said the sources.

Shocking, even by Burmese standards. I'm honoured to have taught a couple of individuals from this group during my time in Burma, and find it hard to believe that such gentle, good-humoured, intelligent persons could be gone for good. Whilst this might seem like name-dropping, these people aren't prominent campaigners - just ordinary part-time, low-level activists. The best known figures haven't even been tried yet, and are currently serving six month terms for contempt of court along with their defence lawyers, who had the audacity to try to represent their clients in court by asking questions.

The desired effect of all this, of course, is to make the price of speaking out appear so exceptionally high that no rational individual would ever dare to do it. Very important as the junta's plan for democratic elections in 2010 unfolds, otherwise democracy could be misused for the benefit of the people.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=14608

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=14595

Meanwhile Nay Phone Latt, whose internet savviness provided the world with one of the main sources of info as the protests were happening last September, was sentenced to 20 years.

http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-...ger-for-over-20-years-poet-for-two-years.html

The authorities are really stepping up a gear now. Journalists are being arrested for articles which have been passed by the government's censorship board, schools, monasteries and internet cafes under constant surveillance... fear rules.

 

[kropotkin]

Motherfuckers.

 

[elbows]

Here is a bit of a strange Guardian article with a stupid title, discussing whether Aung San Suu Kyi is well past her prime as 'leader of the opposition':

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/11/burma-aung-san-suu-kyi

 

[purves grundy]

Here is a bit of a strange Guardian article with a stupid title, discussing whether Aung San Suu Kyi is well past her prime as 'leader of the opposition':

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/11/burma-aung-san-suu-kyi

Blimey, a breathtakingly bad piece of journalism. Seems like the authors are desparate to be iconoclastic and 'get noticed'. Ascribing the failure of the pro-democracy movement to stop the brutality of the generals as something caused by Suu Kyi alone demands a thousand mental somersaults. Why isn't Suu Kyi doing more? Just sitting around her house all day listening to the World Service... oh the inhumanity!!

Some excellent comments, thankfuly.

 

[purves grundy]

65 year sentences given to the leaders of 88 Generation group this morning.

http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/1304-min-ko-naing-a-eight-88-generation-students-sentenced-to-65-years.html

That must be about around 80 activists and monks sentenced this week alone.

 

[frogwoman]

Blimey, a breathtakingly bad piece of journalism. Seems like the authors are desparate to be iconoclastic and 'get noticed'. Ascribing the failure of the pro-democracy movement to stop the brutality of the generals as something caused by Suu Kyi alone demands a thousand mental somersaults. Why isn't Suu Kyi doing more? Just sitting around her house all day listening to the World Service... oh the inhumanity!!

Some excellent comments, thankfuly.

exactly

they just sound like a pair of twats to be honest

 

[fela fan]

...demands a thousand mental somersaults

To be honest (i read about these sentences in the bkk post) i find i have to give almost no time to mentally thinking about the situation in burma. I did too much of that when i first came to thailand and discovered what goes on in that nation, and whenever i do get to thinking about the injustices and brutality of those generals, i get extremely stressed and find no language is available to define the kinds of people they are.

[Personally i think the UN should identify the five or six worst countries for people trying to live free of oppression by their leaders, and work on reversing such human carnage. Burma, north korea, congo, saudi, afghanistan, and pakistan would be strong contenders for action. The last three more so for women, the congo and burma for everyone, and north korea for the political system.]

I can also attest to innate gentleness, humbleness, and full humanity that burmese people carry within their persona. It's a tragedy of epic proportions that goes on in that country, coupled with the pathetic lack of any response by the international community. We need non-western nations to be running the human rights section of the UN. We need a compassionate response to burma, not the individualistic thinking that characterises the western/capitalist attitude to life.

 

[frogwoman]

Ne Win's daughter freed in Burma

Ne Win took power in a bloodless military coup in 1962
Burma's military government has freed the daughter of the late leader, Ne Win, who has been under house arrest for more than six years, friends said.

The woman, Sandar Win, was detained with her father in 2002 over an alleged plot to overthrow the government.

Her husband and three sons were sentenced to death, although they have not yet been executed. Ne Win died under house arrest in 2002.

There has been no statement from the Burmese authorities on the release.

Ne Win took power in a bloodless military coup in 1962, and remained in power until 1988, when a pro-democracy uprising forced him to step down and hand power to a new military leadership.

His daughter Sandar Win - a doctor - is believed to have played a major role in the suppression of the democracy movement in 1988 after her father resigned as ruler.

That was also when she left the military's medical services and became a businesswoman.

Before her detention she presided over the Ne Win clan as it developed a significant business empire encompassing hotels, medical services and telecommunications.

eh?? what's all this about?

 

[purves grundy]

I think it's nothing more than a sign of how little influence the Ne Win clan has nowadays. She commands no following from anybody really. There'd be little danger in releasing Sandar Win's husband and sons from prison (where they live in the 'VIP wing' - seriously!) - the original 'coup' charge which got them all banged up was probably just a trumped-up accusation made by Than Shwe because of the Ne Win family's increasing closeness to Khin Nyunt, the former PM who was arrested a year later on corruption charges.

 

[teqniq]

Gonna bump this old thread as Avaaz have petition going:-

Risking danger to speak out for their jailed friends, Burmese activists this week demanded the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners and called on the world to help. As the global economic crisis makes aid flows more essential, Burma's generals are becoming more vulnerable to international pressure, but we need a flood of petition signatures to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon to make this a top priority. Follow the link to sign the petition, and forward this email on to make sure she and her fellow prisoners are freed:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/free_burma_political_prisoners/?cl=198748595&v=3010