Burma 2007. The Saffron Revolution

[woodmally 10]

Sorry, bit off topic, but hasn't Burma been called Myanmar for quite a few years now? I find it quite confusing because they are always calling it Burma on TV.

 

Good luck with the demo!

 

Right from what I can gather and wikipedia told me this. Myanmar was the name given by the Burmese militia. The military junta thats persecuting these monks at the rally at the moment. Britain and the US do not recognise the name so still call it the old British colonial name Burma. The UN accepts its new name of Myanmar. Hope this helps link below with details.

In fact there is something the bbc have done about it below.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7013943.stm

 

I agree with you I was confused. I sponsor a child at the moment and when they said he was in myanmar I was "I've never heard of the place" till I found out it was Burmas new name

[purdyamos 10]

Right from what I can gather and wikipedia told me this. Myanmar was the name given by the Burmese militia. The military junta thats persecuting these monks at the rally at the moment. Britain and the US do not recognise the name so still call it the old British colonial name Burma. The UN accepts its new name of Myanmar. Hope this helps link below with details.

In fact there is something the bbc have done about it below.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7013943.stm

 

I agree with you I was confused. I sponsor a child at the moment and when they said he was in myanmar I was "I've never heard of the place" till I found out it was Burmas new name

 

When I posted exactly this the other day, several posters piled in to slate me and accuse me on things I hadn't even said. If they don't do the same to your post I will know it was prompted by personal spite. Again.

 

I am very relieved that the Burma issue has finally broken through to the headlines and general consciousness. I have always been saddened by the number of people I've met who have never heard of Aung San Suu Kyi. The regime has been so barbaric for so long, yet it's one of those international atrocities that has been comparatively ignored.

 

It's been so moving watching the monks' protest. Even if they are crushed, it has surely given an extra impetus to the campaign, and I'm willing it to succeed; if not now, then soon.

 

I'll definitely have a look at the monks' facebook group (it's a serious business but that does sound comical!) and I'll definitely try to get along on Monday. Good luck with the campaign and I hope you get a big response.

[craigmason 10]

good luck with the demo i support it because what they the government in burma are doing to there people is wrong.

 

My grandfather did not fight in the jungles of burma for it's people to be treated like this.

[DIVA 10]

Thanks for the schedule/update emmandhugh. If you get any more details could you post them please? thanks.

[callippo 10]

yes I have a few of those Karenni as customers. I used to work in a Sangklaburi, Thailand refugee camp, teaching (mostly) Karenni children, so I know bits and pieces of their language and they were delighted one day when I showed up wearing a red-and-white Karenni shirt one day.

 

by the way I'd hesititate to call these 'exiting times'. The Burmese military is being just as repressive as they were in 1988, only this time because of the prescence of more foreign media in Yangon and the fact of new technology making it a lot easier to record abuses, the murders are taking place in the jungle. Burma watchers are more or less unanimously saying that the so-called 'Saffron Revolution' has been a failure.

 

unfortunately I can't copy and paste on this computer. If you want to read about a Burmese defectors' claims that hundreds and probably thousands of monks and other dissenters are being murdered right now, just feed

 

BURMA : THOUSANDS DEAD IN JUNGLE MASSACRE

 

into google. These aren't 'exiting times' for Burmese people, or anyone else who isn't comfortably far removed from the repression, and who likes to see a bit of agitation on the evening news, at all.

 

Just another chapter in a 45 year long horror story.

[callippo 10]

as for the Myanmar/Burma naming issue, the Myanmar name is older than Burma, which the latter is a corruption of. South and South East Asians refer to the place as Myanmar and always have. On other forums, I've been reading posts by Indians heavily involved in lobbying against their governments' support of the junta, and they have no problem using Myanmar as the formal name of the country, which it always has been - except during the period of the British occupation of it (the first part of which it was only part of India).

 

but then they're Asians, they live in a country that borders Myanmar, and they're perfectly well aware of what it's nearly always been called - unlike a spotty cause-jumping demonstrator in Brighton who's fallen for the line that it was never called Myanmar before the junta announced that they wanted the country to be called by it's formal, official name from now on in 1979, rather than the colloquial one the British adopted.

[callippo 10]

the best websites to keep up with news from Burma are run by exiled Burmese journalists :

 

irrawaddy

 

(head office in Chiang Mai, Thailand)

 

mizzima

 

(head office in New Delhi, India)

 

just put those words into your browser, press cntrl and delete keys simultaneously, and their websites will come up.

[Deerobe 10]

Emma nice to meet you today at the demonstration.

 

It is the first time I have done anything like this but I felt I had to do something. If it is going ahead next week then I am up for it. If anyone else can join us that would be great. someone will post details of time etc. when confirmed.

 

The demonstration was peaceful with a nice atmoshpere and I felt that it drew attention to this burningly important issue.

 

How lucky we are to be able to live in a country where we can hold our own opinions and live our lives the way we want and where we want. My heart goes out to these people who have been displaced by the military regime and those who have been murdered by this regime.

[callippo 10]

how many were there?

 

The demos in Bangkok and Chiang Mai drew a very low number of protestors, no more than 2-300, and they were nearly all Burmese exiles - some of whom were presumably taking a risk just being there given the number of illegal Burmese in Thailand.

 

Hardly any Thais bothered to turn out to support their neighbours even though they live in a military dictatorship themselves that has in the past shown no compunction whatever in murdering their own people in cold blood in the past.

 

While saying that, comparing the Thai military compared to the Burmese one is rather like comparing Gandhi to Hitler. Myanmar is the worst government in the world, by a mile.

[Deerobe 10]

I am sorry I did not really get a feel for how many. Also people were coming a going so it was a bit difficult to assess.

 

I am sorry to hear the turn out was so low elsewhere but it is a Monday and people are working. Maybe there would be more response if demonstrations were held on a Saturday or Sunday? I was only able to go because I am not working at the moment.

[emmaandhugh 10]

FANTASTIC turnout yesterday. Well done everyone!

[emmaandhugh 10]

Thanks Deerobe, was nice to meet you too. I thought it was a fantastic event and great for our Karen friends to see the people of Sheffield supporting them.

 

See you next week.