Burmese recall uprising
Updated
The Chinese may be celebrating as the Olympic Games get underway in Beijing this evening, but for Burmese activists, today will be marked as a solemn occasion.
Presenter: Jay Lamey
Speakers: Aung Zaw, Burmese exile and editor of Irrawaddy Magazine; Aung Naing Oo, Burmese student activist in 1988
Presenter: Jay Lamey
Speakers: Aung Zaw, Burmese exile and editor of Irrawaddy Magazine; Aung Naing Oo, Burmese student activist in 1988.
LAMEY: It speaks volumes about Burma that the country of 47 million can muster only 6 athletes to compete in Beijing. And for many in that country, today brings another reminder of their misfortune, marking the 20th anniversary of the pro-democracy uprising of August 8, 1988.
(Audio of 1988 Rangoon protests)
LAMEY: At the peak of the student-led protests, hundreds of thousand of Burmese crammed Rangoon’s streets to hear Aung Sang Suu Kyi read a list of demands to the ruling junta. The country’s military rulers reacted violently, killing an estimated 3,000 people in the crackdown that followed. Many of the surviving protestors fled to the jungles to join one of Burma’s armed rebellions, while thousands more went into exile, forming a myriad of resistance groups. Today, those groups are using the anniversary to highlight their ongoing struggle.
ZAW: We need a change in our country, I’m dying to go home.
LAMEY: One of those who fled Burma in 1988 was Aung Zaw, now Editor of the Irrawady Magazine. Yesterday he was among a group of Burmese exiles who had lunch with US President George W. Bush in Bangkok, who re-iterated his support. Bush called theirs a noble cause that has attracted many devoted champions, and said that he was married to one of them. Meanwhile, the First Lady was flying to the Thai-Burma border, where she visited a refugee camp and a medical clinic for Burmese.
(Audio of Mae Lah Refugee Camp)
LAMEY: The camp Laura Bush visited is this one, Mae Lah home to an estimated 50,000 refugees, mostly from the Karen ethnic group, that continues to fight the Burmese military.
(Audio of Mae Lah Refugee Camp)
LAMEY: One of these boys says he’s been here 12 years, most of his life, and he could be stuck in this camp for many more to come. And as more and more time passes, many Burmese exiles are beginning to reflect on their lack of success. Aung Naing Oo is one of them.
OO: Twenty years of exile, twenty years of suffering, twenty years of human rights abuses, twenty years of isolation, twenty years of hopelessness, it calls for soul searching. What has gone wrong? Where are we now?
LAMEY: A statement on the anniversary of the 8-8-88 uprising was circulated to press, with a list of 62 pro-Burma organisations jointly endorsing it. They are divided variously by ethic group, location and political affiliation. Some observers have begun to wonder if pro-democracy champion Aung Sang Suu Kyi should try to leave Burma and lead the struggle from the outside, rather that staying couped up under house arrest in Rangoon.
Two pro-democracy leaders I spoke to maintained that she is best of with the people inside Burma, since they believe this will be the source point for any serious change, but they also admitted that a lack of coherent leadership has hurt their movement. This is because their diversity has allowed the Burmese regime to practice a divide and conquer strategy against them, and may have also prevented the rise of a go-to guy for diplomats and the media, such as Jose Ramos Horta was for East Timor. A key challenge for Burmese organisations will therefore be to effectively coordinate their efforts moving forward. Shortly after Cyclone Nargis hit the country, Burma’s military rulers pushed through a new constitution, heavily skewed in their favour, that will lead to elections in 2010. The lead-up over the next two years will be a busy time for the diaspora, as they aim to keep the pressure on the junta, from both inside and outside the country.
