Impediments to Unity

…

_ By Cedric Snodgrass 

Nobody who follows the news can ignore the fact that all but a few in Burma suffer appallingly under the military oppressors : expropriation of land and businesses, no freedom of expression, a pandemic of corruption, the non-rule of law, destruction of the economy to the point where malnutrition is widespread and droves of people must flee the country in search of the means to survive.

But when some Burmans protest that their—Burman—people suffer equally with the non-Burman, one is entitled to ask a few probing questions :

• Where are the thousand upon thousand of Burman villages utterly erased from the face of the earth ?
• Where are the countless concentration camps (”resettlement villages”) where Burman villagers are held prisoner ?
• Where are the huge tracts of Central Burma turned into a gigantic man-trap with million upon million of landmines ? — regions where those who have evaded incarceration in the camps must live in constant fear of being shot on sight, or worse.

One of the greatest impediments to unity is the attitude still prevalent amongst some Burman ethnics.

Another impediment is the belief that “unity” means having one party, one leader.
If that is what is sought, be prepared to wait forever.
But if found, the movement could be well down the road to establishing a new dictatorship.
Some people want “Big Daddy” to take them by the hand and lead them up the garden path.
Just like last time.
Burman chauvinism played a part in Ne Win’s rise to power, and his prolonged hold upon it.
And Ne Win laid the foundations of what followed, the mess that is Burma today.

However there is another definition of unity.
It is much more easily attainable, and the democracy movement is now not far from it.
It is this :
— cooperating and working together to achieve a common goal.
Unity of purpose.

It was not only unnecessary, but unthinkable, that the Soviet Union, Britain and the USA should have one government etc in order to give mutual support and to achieve cooperation in the overthrow of the Nazi menace.
Of course the unity was short-lived, once it had achieved its purpose.

Each and every person must accept partial responsibility for the present situation and responsibility for changing it.