Burmese military imposes curfew

[Matt W]

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Burmese military imposes curfew

Burma's military leaders have imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the main cities Rangoon and Mandalay, which have seen escalating anti-government protests. Armed troops have now been deployed after tens of thousands of Buddhist monks and civilians again defied the army's warning to stay off the streets. World leaders at the UN General Assembly have condemned the situation. President George W Bush said the US was "outraged" by Burma's human rights record and announced further sanctions. These include US visa restrictions on the Burmese leadership and their financial backers, Mr Bush said. Analysts say further sanctions are unlikely to be effective without the support of Burma's main trade partners, China and India.

Something different from our usual round of US/Euro-centric topics...

A new 'Orange Revolution'? Will the Burmese junta wipe out the monks? An interesting story to watch over the next 48 hours...

[rmnunez]

Three to eight monks have been killed, the UN Secretary General seeks permission to send a delegation and Bush has announced sanctions. Meanwhile things are getting worse in Burma.

[Zeebadee]

Burmese citizens are now being asked to put their lives on the line for some vague idea of freedom, with absolutely no guarantee that it will be forthcoming.

The day is approaching when American citizens are going to be in the same position. How will we respond??

[shrike]

The day is approaching when American citizens are going to be in the same position. How will we respond??

Do you say that Burma and American goverment is the same?

[tinybear]

Deja vu. June 4th 1989, Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China.

Myanmar will be condemned, sanctioned...etc in the short term. Then everything will be forgotten and it'll be business as usual. That's what happened to China in 1989.

[tinybear]

Quote by: Zeebadee The day is approaching when American citizens are going to be in the same position. How will we respond??

Vote the government out of office.

[grandpa]

Quote by: tinybear Vote the government out of office.

Here I'll cite the classical argument that votes are scams against the general population, concessions to power.

Anyway, the Burmese people should defy these curfews. This is outright tyranny.

Grandpa h.

[tinybear]

Quote by: grandpa Anyway, the Burmese people should defy these curfews. This is outright tyranny. Grandpa h.

The Burmese people are not bulletproof.

[grandpa]

Quote by: tinybear The Burmese people are not bulletproof.

Indeed, they'll need to act tactfully.

Grandpa h.

[Chancellor]

When did Burma stop calling itself Myanmar and go back to being called Burma?

[tinybear]

They want to forget about being ruled by the Brits?

[rmnunez]

Current estimates put the fatalities in Burma rioting at over 100 peace-loving buddhist monks.

[tinybear]

A Japanese journalist was shot by a soldier whilst he was filming the Myanmar military opening fire on the crowd of protesters.

Japan Today - News and discussion

[Zeebadee]

This is how freedom and democracy are bought and paid for. Having the U.S. invade and impose it's idea of democracy doesn't work.

[another day]

Quote by: Zeebadee The day is approaching when American citizens are going to be in the same position. How will we respond??

No, you have it all wrong. The US government is far more advanced. The new age of repression does not involve so much guns and violence, it involves television, the media, politics etc. The US system of repression is far more advanced, it represses people without their even realizing that they are being repressed.

For example, going through the streets and shooting people to disperse protests is idiotic and archaic. It just encourages more hatred of the government, and international condemnation. Instead, the advanced repressive government will plant fake protesters to cause disturbances and violence, both giving the government an excuse to move in and use violence, as well as making the protesters seem like a bunch of hooligans who have np real political reason to be protesting, and are simply out to cause trouble. This INCREASES support of the government.

Theres one thing the US government cares about greatly - economic stability, growth, prosperity. That can never happen with a gov't like in Myanmar. It requires a system where everyone is happy, or at least thinks they are.

As my history teacher put it, there will be no revolution when everyone has their 6 pack of beer and their television.

[Pooeypants]

I've got to say, the world's response so far has been great but the actions taken do not reflect those words (surprise, surprise!). Sending a UN envoy to get the Military dictators to stop negotiate instead of shooting the protesters is not going to solve anything. We need them to step down and eventually face a tribunal.

[shrike]

Quote by: pooey We need them to step down and eventually face a tribunal.

Who is "we".And how it can be done?

[rmnunez]

"We" are the rest of the world, and the most effective way to get a dictator to "step down" and eventually face a tribunal is "shock & awe".

[Milton Bradley]

Quote by: rmnunez "We" are the rest of the world, and the most effective way to get a dictator to "step down" and eventually face a tribunal is "shock & awe".

Unless of course RM Nunez is talking to Americans about the US, then the advice is just to vote then out of office.

[Osborn F Enready]

I am all for peaceful protests, but when the government starts shooting innocent protesters, its time that "peaceful revolution" take up arms.

Sacrificing brave souls at the hands of tyrants can only be sacrificed by a people so long, and it is through this culling that nations lose their best soldiers for liberty.

"Moreover, legitimate defence can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another's life, the common good of the family or of the State".[44] Unfortunately it happens that the need to render the aggressor incapable of causing harm sometimes involves taking his life. In this case, the fatal outcome is attributable to the aggressor whose action brought it about, even though he may not be morally responsible because of a lack of the use of reason.[45]" His Holiness Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, Section 55, Encyclical Letter on the Value and Inviolability of Human Life, March 25, 1995.

"As I proceeded further and further with my inquiry into the atrocities that had been committed on the people, I came across tales of Government's tyranny and the arbitrary despotism of its officers such as I was hardly prepared for, and they filled me with deep pain. [end Page 430] What surprised me then, and what still continues to fill me with surprise, was the fact that a province that had furnished the largest number of soldiers to the British Government during the war, should have taken all these brutal excesses lying down." Mohandas K. Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Chapter XXXV, In The Punjab, Page 430-431, Dover paperback edition, 1983. This book was originally published by Public Affairs Press in 1948.

"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest. If we want the Arms Act to be repealed, if we want to learn the use of arms, here is a golden opportunity. If the middle classes render voluntary help to Government in the hour of its trial, distrust will disappear, and the ban on possessing arms will be withdrawn." Mohandas K. Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Chapter XXVII, Recruiting Campaign, Page 403, Dover paperback edition, 1983. This book was originally published by Public Affairs Press in 1948.

"A gun is a tool, Marian. No better, no worse than any other tool. An axe, a shovel, or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that." Shane, played by Alan Ladd, in the movie Shane (1953).

I would encourage those suppressed in Burma/Myanmar to seriously consider what a right to life is, without a right to defend it.