Oct. 18 2007 from Yangon

We’re hearing lots of interesting rumors and we’re half expecting that knock on our door in the middle of the night.

The repression continues with arrests and interrogations of all involved, and yet despite the fear there are still quiet acts of defiance, people are boycotting any businesses known to be owned by anyone in the military, they’re continuing to get information out and they’re sharing all they know through whispers like a giant game of telephone. The military presence is pervasive and the lack of orange clad monks telling. We’ve ridden by the institute where many of the monks are still being held, rumor has it there are over 6000 missing people. Rumor also has it we’ll never know the toll as they cremate the all of the bodies and dispose of the ashes quickly. The streets are still pretty quiet, many shops are closed, hotels and restaurants are empty and the mood is both dour and expectant, no one believes it’s over. Hope is in short supply, but it’s not completely gone.

Strange times living under Marshal Law. I haven’t had to deal with a curfew since I was a teen, and not allowing more than five people to gather at one time was something I thought the police had thought up to keep the kids from scaring the tourists. I didn’t think a government in 2007 would expect their adult citizens to adhere to rules created for children.

On the bright side the rains are stopping.

Oct. 24 2007 from Yangon

Hi everyone,

It’s me in Myanmar working on being more Buddhist. I was trying to be one with suffering and impermanence. I said my daily “O”m’s and meditated to the sound of the rain. I even started a lighthearted email to tell you about our adventures at the post office and renting a $2000 SIM card so we could have a phone, but then we found out that the generals are publicly gloating about their behavior and the lighthearted part of me got sort of lost.

The generals have put up sign boards at all of the entrances of Shwedagon Pagoda, the most revered Buddhist site in Yangon, with pictures of what they did to some of the kids they arrested. Truly – they’re showing photos of the kids they had beaten up. Talk about terror tactics, talk about na-na-na in your face, I got so mad I wanted to ride over some feet, give a few of them some serious road rash or air horn some ear drums. So much for my inner peace.

They’ve won, hope has left the country, they’ve proven that you should never wear a robe to a gun fight. There’s no need to gloat. But they feel so emboldened that they can’t help themselves. Once they knew that the world was going to play the same old tired hand that it’s been playing for the last19 years they knew the game was theirs.

The orange of the monks was replaced by the green of soldiers. Only the soldiers didn’t walk, they just hung out, many hid behind sand bags, some sat on chairs in the middle of the sidewalk, while others stood in booths or behind gates so you had to squint to see them. There are now soldiers on every corner, in front of every compound where an important person lives, at every shopping center and at all of the important tourist sites. They hold guns instead of alms bowls.

It’s strange, as all of this was happening I thought I’d hate these young men holding their guns, but they’re just kids, like the monks. They were just poor kids that were looking for a way out of poverty and when they were offered a chance to help their country from evil doers they took up wearing green and learned to march instead of walk and now like young soldiers the world over they find themselves between the proverbial rock and a hard place. They were trained to hate and to behave like animals, but before they became soldiers they were just kids. I keep thinking these kids should be out riding bikes. So I found myself feeling as sorry for the young soldiers as I do for the young missing monks, as I do for this country.

I heard from the M that the solutions the world has come up with included sanctions. The W almost fell out off her seat as she ranted about the affects of sanctions on the poor. In case the memo got lost I’d like to remind everyone that “they didn’t work the last time” they just starve the already hungry.

The demand to release Aung San Suu Kyi is always on top of everyone’s list. Again – it didn’t change anything the last however many times, how many more times is everyone going to try this? The M calls her the most sacrificed chess pieces in a very ugly game. Every time the generals want to placate the world they let her breath some fresh air and every time the UN wants to prove that they’re doing something useful they drag her out so they can get a picture of them shaking her skinny hand. Then it’s back in the box until someone needs a Satan or a Savior. The sending of yet another powerless UN envoy is always a highlight for the people here, especially when he’s allowed to leave while the generals carry on doing what they do best, arresting, torturing, and killing with impunity.

We read that the world shouted at ASEAN who then shouted at the generals using very strong language before they all agreed to constructively engage the government again by negotiating new gas and oil contracts. As the people here told us, all of that had been tried before and redressed and retried again. The M got some laughs when they explained to their friends that the definition of insanity is to continue to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. I’m just a B and yet I can figure out that if there isn’t a new, bold, plan – everyone here better learn to meditate to the sound of soldiers marching, the generals chuckling as they’re chauffeured to the bank, and the countries resources continuing to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

As a concerned vehicle(B), I’m telling you, we’ve got to start thinking of a new tactic. Something bold, something not tried. No one should get to gloat over the torture of child monks.

And did I miss a memo? I know I’m a vehicle(B) and can’t possibly understand how humans think but what I’ve heard is that these sanctions are on many simple products like clothes and could cause many garment factories to shut down. These factories employ the poor and do not bring in large profits to the government however gas, oil, etc. bring in millions and do not produce lots of low paying jobs and yet are not affected by the sanctions. Is this true?

Why are we hurting the people who we’ve said we’re trying to help? This is a bad moral lesson. Stand up and face the guns and the world will repay you for your effort by making sure you become unemployed?

As a vehicle I’m going to encourage all of you to continue reading and then to please boycott Chevron and Total and let them know why. Why do they get to continue to be here? How come sanctions never affect anyone who is friends with the Bush family? If you want change in this country, put the sanctions on China, India, Russia and half of ASEAN. Who do you think is supplying the weapons these young soldiers are carrying anyway? Not the garment workers who just lost their jobs, not the taxi driver that can’t make his rent payments anymore, or the money changer or the street vendor or the antique sellers or the artists or all the other people who have asked us why the westerners can’t seem to get the big picture. Western sanctions are a minor annoyance to the generals as is the loss of tourism, but it’s a huge loss to the already hungry.

Thanks for letting me rant, I promise to learn to be more Buddhist, and that my next email will be more funny.