Burma’s Fighting Monks Battle the Generals’ Thugs
Far away and out of notice of the international press, one of the bravest and unlikeliest acts of defiance of recent times has been playing itself out in Central Burma. And as is so often the case, the spark for political dissent is economic hardship — in this case, a rise in fuel prices:
BANGKOK–A standoff between Burmese authorities and hundreds of Buddhist monks in the central city of Pakokku has ended with the release of 13 officials taken hostage by the monks after government forces violently suppressed an earlier demonstration.
Monks angry at being beaten with bamboo poles in the crackdown took 13 local officials captive in a compound before burning a number of government vehicles in front of thousands of onlookers, witnesses said.
“The monks told them [onlookers] not to join in, as they didn’t want to get people into trouble, but some of the people helped them turn the cars upside down before they burned them,” one resident said.
Witnesses said 500 monks marched peacefully through the town ahead of the military intervention, chanting prayers and holding placards, with local people offering them bottles of water.
It was broken up by government troops and hired thugs of pro-government groups, who blocked the monks’ way, pointing guns at the unarmed protesters and firing shots into the air, before setting upon them with truncheons and rifle butts, residents said.
When the monks ran, their attackers rounded them up using rope lassos, one monk told RFA. At least one young monk was severely injured. “They were throwing ropes to catch the monks like cowboys. Two monks who got caught with a rope round their neck and later were released now have injuries on their neck and cannot eat because of the pain,” one monk said.
“Two monks were tied to a lamppost with rope and beaten,” he added. [Radio Free Asia]
Read the whole thing. Burma’s regime is exceptionally repressive, although it still doesn’t compare to the all-encompassing, cultish control of North Korea. It’s still an object lession in how dissent can coalesce suddenly in the most repressive states. The junta acts worried about this latest wave of unrest, which may be the most serious challenge to the regime since pro-democracy protests with ruthlessly put down 1988:
Myanmar’s military government stepped up its propaganda campaign against the country’s pro-democracy movement Sunday (9 Sept), alleging top activists planned terrorist acts and received money from Western nations.
The junta also charged that Htay Kywe, a prominent activist who escaped a security dragnet last month, was assisted in hiding by the embassy of a “powerful country.” [e-Sinchew]
North Korea uses so little fuel that higher fuel prices will mostly affect the military, along with the many people who hitch rides on its vehicles. Note also that a probable majority of North Korea’s civilian motor vehicles are powered by slow, smoky, clunky gas generators that burn wood or charcoal.
See also:
* The effects of North Korea’s floods continue to look very severe and only seem worse with each new report:
Thousands of people in North Korea “require immediate and continued humanitarian food assistance” after devastating floods last month wiped out key food sources, the U.N. World Food Program said…. According to the agency, the floods had their greatest impact on the “Cereal Bowl” lowlands of North and South Phyongan, and North Hwanghae and South Hwanghae provinces, representing 76% of the country’s total arable land.
It cited estimates by North Korea’s Agriculture Ministry that 16% of total arable land _ normally cultivated with rice, maize, soybean and other crops _ had been damaged. [e-Sinchew]
Anticipating donor fatigue, the WFP says that the North Korean government has given them “extensive access and cooperation.” That may be true to an extent, because this time, the floods are affecting the food supply of the ruling classes and the military. This time, most of the victims are not expendable.
I realize this is point is tangential to your great post – but who is to say which regime is worse? I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that neither of us has lived in either country, so aren’t in a position to fully judge the experience of living under these regimes. But, as someone who focuses on Burma, I admit I am inclined to think that the Burmese regime is worse. There is more going on than political repression – there is ethnic cleansing, millions exiled, hundreds of thousands internally displaced, and starvation in ethnic areas that is a direct result of gov’t control of food supplies. The fact that it is more ‘open’ and has more commodities does not necessarily have anything to do with the quality of life of the citizens – despite the value outsiders may place on such things.
I expect that my limited knowledge of North Korea leads me to this conclusion, just as your perspective on Burma leads you to yours. But too many times I’ve seen people use the ‘It’s not as bad as…” as an excuse for apathy or inaction, in a variety of circumstances. I know this isn’t what you’re doing, but the idea does not need reinforcing.
Both regimes are detestable, likely in very different ways – comparing them or ranking their severity helps neither cause. Honestly, with what I know about the Burmese regime, I’m wondering how a regime that is incomparably worse could even have any survivors to rule!
I certainly don’t see much point in arguing with that. Both regimes ARE detestable. Functionally, the two systems are based on the same sort of nationalist fuhrerprinzip dressed up in Marxist sackcloth. I don’t think that it’s necessary to live or visit somewhere to understand the awfulness of life there, however.
If I could sum up the brutality of the North Korean regime in just one link, I’d offer this one.
You’re more than welcome to offer a few links of your own. The readers here will no doubt want to know more, and one might even be worthy of a place on the blogroll.
I’ve been to Burma (Myanmar), and was able to move around freely, engage in conversation freely, etc. There are huge markets all over Rangoon, and people can generally come/go as they please.
The regime is oppressive, but there is a level of freedom/lack of indoctrination that is inconceivable for North Korea.
So while both have killed/oppressed millions of their own, if I had to choose the worse, it’d be the one that makes me worship the one that kills me.
Thanks for that additional link, Joshua – I admit there is a lot that I don’t know about North Korea and could use a bit of reading up. Here are a few links for anyone interested in learning a little more about Burma:
Front Films – documentary footage taken inside the conflict zone in eastern Burma and Project Maje, which has several reports containing interviews with refugees from Burma.
I do agree that it’s not necessary to live there to understand how horrible it is. I don’t personally understand how some people can not be moved just by reading about what happens in these countries. But in relation to Burma, I find it’s common for people who’ve traveled there to form their judgments based on that, when the subjective experience of a tourist could not possibly compare to the experience of someone who has to live there.
That’s not meant as a jab at you Richardson, you’re just expressing your opinion. The thing with Burma, though, is that as such an ethnically, and even economically diverse nation, people’s experiences can vary widely. Tourists can visit and shop in the markets, and elite Burmans can drive SUVs to the shopping centers while the junta is committing genocide just hundreds of miles away. The Burma that the ethnic minorities and poor have to live in is very different from the Burma that the ethnic Burman and those in good standing with the military have to live in.