Editorial : Is this a new 8888?

Is this current furore over fuel prices going to be the straw that broke the camel’s back?  Just another load on top of all the pressing grinding down struggle that makes life in Burma so hard, ready to tip the people over the edge into an explosive shout for freedom from oppressive overbearing authoritarian incompetence?  Just a fuel price increase isn’t enough – but maybe 500% is just too much, along with every other imposition. But the junta have been planning to turn the screws for years and only turn so much that they can handle the backlash.  Are they still in control?  Have they trained and armed enough troops (feeding them ammunition, propaganda and mind numbing drugs)?  Have they trained enough USDA thugs to brutalise any demonstrators?  Have they got strong enough support from China for their repressive state of terror?  Time will tell; but these are just some of the measures that the junta have taken to be in control when another demonstration or uprising occurs. 

The junta have a stranglehold on the sangha, with abbots threatened with severe repercussions when monks join the fight.  They have closed central city universities and dispersed students all over the country – too remote from the hub of activity and any focus of protest.  They have fed the people with endless propaganda in a country with no press freedom or access to truthful news – so much so that people inside Burma start to believe what they say (or maybe just enough of it to cause them to become dis-interested). 

8888 gave the people of Burma the opportunity to express themselves and their desire for civilian rule and democracy.  It provided the opportunity for protest and self-expression on a scale that is unprecedented in Burma over the last 45 years of military rule and it gave the people a taste of freedom.  This energy and positive aspects are still with the people, who are still unable to express, still suppressed but ever present.  The junta’s response in 8888 was arrest, detention, murder, torture, brutality; today the world’s eyes are focussed on what is happening in Burma – videos of demonstrations appear on the internet just hours after they occur, despite the restrictions and censorship on foreign journalists.  The world is watching and has already started to call on the junta to listen and change.  But will they?

The people of Burma may well rise up in mass protest, but unless the whole world withdraws support from their rule, the junta will carry on as usual – arresting, detaining, beating, torturing and killing.  It is time for all of Burma’s friends who have some economic strength and hence some influence on the junta (e.g. China, India and Russia) to tell the generals that enough is enough! – they have to go, and hand over control to the civilian government, peacefully through a tri-partite dialogue, or eventually they will go eventually in a way not of their choosing!  So perhaps the current UN diplomatic mission is coming at the right time to bring about enough pressure on the junta from both inside and outside Burma.