Slaughter in Burma/Mynamar

[southsider2k5]

 

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle2545351.ece

 

Burma’s generals silenced the Buddhist monks yesterday morning.

 

For a week and a half, the monks had been on the streets of Rangoon in their tens of thousands, and their angry calm gave courage to the people around them.

 

 

The day Burma was silenced

The Burmese generals moved to crush demonstrations with monks beaten, shot, arrested and locked in their monasteries

 

But overnight, they were beaten, shot and arrested, and locked in their monasteries. Handfuls of them emerged yesterday – two or three brave individuals, a dozen at most – but nothing to approach the mass marches of the previous nine days. Everyone felt their absence.

 

You could see it in the faces of the civilian demonstrators who took to the streets anyway, in defiance of the official warnings.

 

You could see it too in the swagger of the riot police, banging their batons menacingly on their shields as they advanced.

 

The monks were moral shields; without them the marchers had lost a lucky charm. They felt less like crusaders for justice and more like what they resembled – scared, angry kids in T-shirts facing well-drilled troops with automatic weapons.

 

They stood their ground as long as they dared, too long for some of them. At least nine people were killed, according to patchy reports, and eleven others injured. The dead included a Japanese photographer.

 

So far, though, this does not yet appear to be a repeat of the massacres of 1988, when 3,000 were mown down on the streets. The junta is showing patience and restraint, it is plotting its moves step by step, and it is displaying a subtle and malignant cunning.

 

In the Mwe Kya Kan pagoda in the South Okkala district of Rangoon, it began at 2am, but seven hours later the evidence was plain to see – a dozen thick patches of congealing blood and human tissue splashed about the yard. The windows of the monks’ dormitories were smashed jaggedly by the impact of rubber bullets – hard, round spheres fired from green cartridges that the monks had carefully gathered up and put on display.

 

Inside everything had been smashed – the thin plywood walls, the monks’ plaster statues of the Buddha – and the thin mattresses were soaked with blood.

 

“We had to flee for our lives into the neighbourhood,” said a small bespectacled young man named Ashin Thu, one of the few monks to have evaded arrest. “A family let me hide in one of their houses, I was so scared.”

 

The bullets may have been rubber, but at close range they can still do great damage. Seventy monks were driven away bleeding in 24 military vehicles and, to judge from the pools of blood in the yard, several of them were gravely injured.

 

Most outrageous of all, in the eyes of the survivors, was the theft that the soldiers had carried out. They took money from locked boxes and carried off a gold statue and a hoard of golden rings. And so it becomes clear why the Government has imposed an eight-hour overnight curfew. It was not to protect the city from “terrorists”, but to prevent its citizens bearing witness to its own crimes.

 

Similar raids – with beatings, terror and arrests – were reported in at least three other monasteries. Several senior members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the political party of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, were also rounded up overnight.

 

At 9am yesterday I had an appointment to meet U Myint Thein, the gracious and gentlemanly spokesman of the NLD. But U Myint Thein was otherwise engaged – in the headquarters of the police special branch, who took him away from his home in the middle of the night.

 

By the afternoon, there were troops stationed in monasteries all over the city. For Buddhists, there is an element of sacrilege in this, as well as simple bad manners. These were men of violence, fresh from acts of violence, who were imposing themselves on places dedicated to peace. At Moe Kaung Pagoda, the olive-uniformed troops wore red kerchiefs around their necks. It is the belief of many of the demonstrators that this is a sign that they are permitted to shoot to kill. But the killing was to take place elsewhere, on the road that leads south towards the Sule Pagoda, the second-most famous in Rangoon after the mighty golden Shwedagon. By noon, thousands of people had gathered at a crossroads which had been sealed off by soldiers, riot police and barbed wire barricades.

 

Around 1pm the police began moving forward, and the soldiers followed. Warnings were issued through loud-speakers on the roofs of vans.

 

Then, amid impenetrable confusion, shots were fired, as well as smoke grenades. It would be inconsistent with the behaviour of the security forces during the rest of the day if these had been live rounds, aimed to kill. But one man, apparently a photographer, was seen by witnesses to drop suddenly, as if shot. His limp body was lifted on to a military truck and carried away.

 

The crowd scattered and ran to reform a few hundred yards up the road. Banging their shields, the riot police advanced again with the loud-speaker van behind them.

 

The message was both crude and courteous. It included an honorific form of the Burmese word for “you”, and might be translated like this: “Good sirs, please leave the area or we will open fire in ten minutes time.”

 

No one had difficulty believing this and with oaths and screams of rage (one man lifted up his traditional longyi skirt to present a full moon to the forces of the junta), the protesters moved back, and back, and back again.

 

Late in the afternoon, shots were heard from the streets to the east of the pagoda. But by that stage none of the small corps of foreign diplomats, reporters and photographers following the demonstrations felt much like going out to have a look.

 

There are so many heartbreaking things about what is going in Burma, but for a foreigner one of the hardest to bear is the optimism. There are few foreign journalists here, but people treat them as saviours, encouraging them to get the story and the pictures out, with a touching faith that it will make a difference.

 

“Tell them to send foreign troops, UN troops,” said a young monk at the Mwe Kya Kan pagoda. “Please, fly them to our country to save our lives.”

 

An American in Rangoon told me yesterday about an opinion poll carried out on Burmese attitudes to US foreign policy.

 

“Like most people, they thought that it sucks,” he told me. “But not for the usual reason. Burmese wanted to know why George Bush hasn’t invaded their country yet.”

 

A boy named Raphael came up to practise his English, as the crowd screamed at the soldiers, and asked for my address so that he could visit me one day. A very small and old but irrepressibly vigorous white-haired man took my hand and led me to safety when he thought that I was too close to the trouble. “I am a teacher,” he said proudly. “PhD!”

 

Small, human encounters – and yet in these dark circumstances they become almost unbearably poignant. They are based on a very questionable assumption: that the people of Burma are going to be saved.

 

I wish that I could have told the monk, and the boy and the old man, that I believed everything would be well and that soon they could expect the basic decency from their Government that so many of us take for granted. Nothing is settled, of course, and the future is impossible to read – but on the basis of what I saw yesterday the Burmese junta is winning.

[Balta1701]

Dear MoveOn member

Have you seen the news?

 

After decades of brutal dictatorship, the people of Burma are rising—and they need our help. In the past few days, hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters, led by Buddhist monks, have flooded the streets of Rangoon.1 But yesterday, the military started shooting monks and journalists.2

 

In Burma when protesters last marched in 1988, the military massacred thousands. But this time it can be different—if only the world stands with the marchers.

 

This is a true emergency. Avaaz.org, MoveOn's international sister group, has launched a petition demanding Burmese generals negotiate rather than crush the demonstrators. They're focused on getting United Nations Security Council members—particularly China's Hu Jintao—to intervene. Will you sign Avaaz.org's petition? Clicking here will add your name:

 

http://pol.moveon.org/burma/o.pl?id=11318-...-3dO9dF&t=3

 

Our friends at Avaaz say the petition has taken off. Already, people from 200 countries have signed, and thousands more are adding their names every hour. People around the world are mobilizing protests aimed at China and the other countries with the economic power to sway the ruling military junta. It's an unprecedented global response. If you sign, we'll pass your name and info to Avaaz.org, which is delivering signatures on an ongoing basis to the UN Security Council and the media at the UN—and communicating our support directly to the Burmese.

 

For decades the Burmese dictatorship fought off pressure—imprisoning elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and democracy activists, wiping out thousands of villages in the provinces, bringing miseries from forced labour to refugee camps. One-third of children under 5 now suffer malnutrition; millions are down to one meal a day.

 

But last Tuesday Buddhist monks and nuns, overwhelmingly respected in Burma, began marching and chanting prayers. The protests spread—and now they're growing by tens of thousands every day , as ordinary people join in. They've broken the chains of fear and given hope to 52 million Burmese.

 

However, this hope is hanging by a thread. Yesterday, the regime began cracking down on the monks, raiding monasteries and staging mass arrests. Now, demonstrators and journalists have been killed by soldiers shooting into crowds of unarmed, peaceful protesters.

 

 

This is one of those moments where the world can make the difference: standing shoulder to shoulder with the Burmese people, helping to shine a dissolving light on tyranny. Let's call on powers at the UN—in particular, China (next year's Olympics host)—to warn the generals that violence will have the gravest consequences, and the time has come for change.

 

Click here to sign the petition, then tell everyone you know:

 

http://pol.moveon.org/burma/o.pl?id=11318-...-3dO9dF&t=4

 

This week, the Burmese people have chosen hope over fear. We need to let the demonstrators know the world is with them.

[FlaSoxxJim]

If true, this is an important and encouraging development:

 

Reports from Rangoon suggest soldiers are mutinying. It is unclear the numbers involved. Reports cite heavy shooting in the former Burmese capital.

 

The organisation Helfen ohne Grenzen (Help without Frontiers) is reporting that "Soldiers from the 66th LID (Light Infantry Divison) have turned their weapons against other government troops and possibly police in North Okkalappa township in Rangoon and are defending the protesters. At present unsure how many soldiers involved."

 

http://www.newsdeskspecial.co.uk/burma/

[Balta1701]

If true, this is an important and encouraging development:

http://www.newsdeskspecial.co.uk/burma/

It's clearly important, but you never know if something like that is encouraging until you see the end results. It could well be the harbinger of a civil war.

[NorthSideSox72]

It's clearly important, but you never know if something like that is encouraging until you see the end results. It could well be the harbinger of a civil war.

coup d'etat

 

[sox4lifeinPA]

has there ever been a peaceful day on earth?

 

this is terrible.

[kapkomet]

has there ever been a peaceful day on earth?

 

this is terrible.

Nope. Once that apple was ated, that were it.

 

[Texsox]

May the God of your choice bless you.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

US sanctions tighten which will keep 30 members of the Burmese military junta from entering the US.

 

The US is also going to freeze any assets for 14 members of the junta.

 

Meanwhile, Japan has said it will review its aid programs after a Japanese journalist was shot dead during the demonstrations in Rangoon.

 

Video footage of Kenji Nagai apparently being shot by a Burmese soldier was broadcast around the world on Friday.

 

I've been reading the BBC with my students for the last few minutes of study hall via my LCD so they are hearing about this Burma issue.

[sox4lifeinPA]

US sanctions tighten which will keep 30 members of the Burmese military junta from entering the US.

 

The US is also going to freeze any assets for 14 members of the junta.

 

Meanwhile, Japan has said it will review its aid programs after a Japanese journalist was shot dead during the demonstrations in Rangoon.

 

Video footage of Kenji Nagai apparently being shot by a Burmese soldier was broadcast around the world on Friday.

 

I've been reading the BBC with my students for the last few minutes of study hall via my LCD so they are hearing about this Burma issue.

 

 

do they know that you're into wrestling?

[LowerCaseRepublican]

do they know that you're into wrestling?

Yes they do.

 

We chat about that before class starts, during homeroom or during the last minute or two of class after we're done with everything for the day.

[sox4lifeinPA]

Yes they do.

 

We chat about that before class starts, during homeroom or during the last minute or two of class after we're done with everything for the day.

 

that's funny. Your sig scares me, but it's cool to have something to connect with the kids about. In another life I would have been a high school teacher.

[Balta1701]

The U.N. is dispatching an envoy to Myanmar to attempt to negotiate an end to the crackdown. The crackdown currently appears to be working. There were limited demonstrations today after the much larger demonstrations earlier in the week, and they were broken up fairly easily.

[FlaSoxxJim]

The U.N. is dispatching an envoy to Myanmar to attempt to negotiate an end to the crackdown. The crackdown currently appears to be working. There were limited demonstrations today after the much larger demonstrations earlier in the week, and they were broken up fairly easily.

Sounds like once the government took control of the monasteries and the monks were no longer out in the streets igniting protest the citizenry quieted up.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

Sounds like once the government took control of the monasteries and the monks were no longer out in the streets igniting protest the citizenry quieted up.

Do you really want to use the words 'monks' and 'igniting' so closely together?

 

That may start a 'flame war' of protests.

[Texsox]

Too bad they do not have some oil. we might have been able to help them.

[southsider2k5]

US sanctions tighten which will keep 30 members of the Burmese military junta from entering the US.

 

The US is also going to freeze any assets for 14 members of the junta.

 

Meanwhile, Japan has said it will review its aid programs after a Japanese journalist was shot dead during the demonstrations in Rangoon.

 

Video footage of Kenji Nagai apparently being shot by a Burmese soldier was broadcast around the world on Friday.

 

I've been reading the BBC with my students for the last few minutes of study hall via my LCD so they are hearing about this Burma issue.

 

For those who didn't live it as it unfolded, the similarities to Tianamen Square are just amazing. The video footage of the Japanese reporting being shot at point blank range just makes your blood run cold. If you can stomach it, it is worth watching, just to etch the image of this crackdown into your mind. It is very similar to the man staring down the tank in China in 1987.

[southsider2k5]

Sounds like once the government took control of the monasteries and the monks were no longer out in the streets igniting protest the citizenry quieted up.

 

I am sure the whole sale slaughter of monks with automatic weapons kind of put a damper on the whole protesting idea too...

[southsider2k5]

A former intellegence officer is saying that thousands have been killed, and that they are being dumped into the jungle.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...ticle_id=484903

 

Thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle, a former intelligence officer for Burma's ruling junta has revealed.

 

The most senior official to defect so far, Hla Win, said: "Many more people have been killed in recent days than you've heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand."

 

Mr Win, who spoke out as a Swedish diplomat predicted that the revolt has failed, said he fled when he was ordered to take part in a massacre of holy men. He has now reached the border with Thailand.

 

Slaughter: Executed monks have been dumped in the jungle

 

Meanwhile, the United Nations special envoy was in Burma's new capital today seeking meetings with the ruling military junta.

 

 

Ibrahim Gambari met detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon yesterday. But he has yet to meet the country's senior generals as he attempts to halt violence against monks and pro-democracy activists.

 

It is anticipated the meeting will happen tomorrow.

 

Heavily-armed troops and police flooded the streets of Rangoon during Mr Ibrahim's visit to prevent new protests.

 

Mr Gambari met some of the country's military leaders in Naypyidaw yesterday and has returned there for further talks. But he did not meet senior general Than Shwe or his deputy Maung Aye - and they have issued no comment.

 

Tensions: People gather outside a temple after a police raid today

 

Reports from exiles along the frontier confirmed that hundreds of monks had simply "disappeared" as 20,000 troops swarmed around Rangoon yesterday to prevent further demonstrations by religious groups and civilians.

 

Word reaching dissidents hiding out on the border suggested that as well as executions, some 2,000 monks are being held in the notorious Insein Prison or in university rooms which have been turned into cells.

 

 

There were reports that many were savagely beaten at a sports ground on the outskirts of Rangoon, where they were heard crying for help.

 

 

Others who had failed to escape disguised as civilians were locked in their bloodstained temples.

 

 

There, troops abandoned religious beliefs, propped their rifles against statues of Buddha and began cooking meals on stoves set up in shrines.

 

 

In stark contrast, the streets of Rangoon and Mandalay - centres of the attempted saffron revolution last week - were virtually deserted.

 

Checkpoint: Police outside the house of opposition leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi today

 

 

A Swedish diplomat who visited Burma during the protests said last night that in her opinion the revolution has failed.

 

 

Liselotte Agerlid, who is now in Thailand, said that the Burmese people now face possibly decades of repression. "The Burma revolt is over," she added.

 

 

"The military regime won and a new generation has been violently repressed and violently denied democracy. The people in the street were young people, monks and civilians who were not participating during the 1988 revolt.

 

 

"Now the military has cracked down the revolt, and the result may very well be that the regime will enjoy another 20 years of silence, ruling by fear."

 

 

Mrs Agerlid said Rangoon is heavily guarded by soldiers.

 

 

"There are extremely high numbers of soldiers in Rangoon's streets," she added. "Anyone can see it is absolutely impossible for any demonstration to gather, or for anyone to do anything.

 

 

"People are scared and the general assessment is that the fight is over. We were informed from one of the largest embassies in Burma that 40 monks in the Insein prison were beaten to death today and subsequently burned."

 

 

The diplomat also said that three monasteries were raided yesterday afternoon and are now totally abandoned.

 

At his border hideout last night, 42-year-old Mr Win said he hopes to cross into Thailand and seek asylum at the Norwegian Embassy.

 

 

The 42-year-old chief of military intelligence in Rangoon's northern region, added: "I decided to desert when I was ordered to raid two monasteries and force several hundred monks onto trucks.

 

 

"They were to be killed and their bodies dumped deep inside the jungle. I refused to participate in this."

 

 

With his teenage son, he made his escape from Rangoon, leaving behind his wife and two other sons.

 

He had no fears for their safety because his brother is a powerful general who, he believes, will defend the family.

 

Protests: But the situation inside Burma remains unclear

 

Mr Win's defection will raise a faint hope among tens of thousands of Burmese who have fled to villages along the Thai border.

 

They will feel others in the army may follow him and turn on their ageing leaders, Senior General Than Shwe and his deputy, Vice Senior General Maung Aye.