For Change in Burma

For Change in Burma

10 Octubre 2007
What can the world do?

by Eteena Tadjiogueu.
Eteena Tadjiogueu >
authenticated user Corresponsal

By now we have all seen the images of Burmese monks marching peacefully through the streets of Rangoon, for change. We also know what the aftermath of those peaceful protests resulted in- thousands of monks and Burmese were arrested, detained or removed from the city. Many citizens around the world can now locate this nation in South East Asia that for so long, but for no good reason, went ignored and unnoticed.

But now we are left with a heavy feeling in our hearts, to know that Buddhist monks were so distressed about the current plight of the Burmese people they felt it was urgent to take to the streets to gain the attention of their government, and the world.

As my Burmese friend Kaye wrote to me in an e-mail, “It hurts... that Buddhist monks have to take a stand for the political atrocities within a country because no one else is hearing Burma cry.” Now we know what's happening in Burma, but what can we do? What should we be asking our leaders to do?

When I had the chance to meet with a former U.S. State Department Ambassador this past spring, there was one question on my mind that I had to ask. I wanted to know why my government chooses to wait so long to intervene in some of the world's most dire situations. There are places in the world where the citizens both need and want change. 

When I asked this question I was specifically thinking of Burma, a country whose people have been living under some of the world's most devastating conditions for decades. Will the world react to the images of thousands of monks marching peacefully for change in Burma? And more importantly, will we react in a way that is helpful.

Since 1997 the U.S. has imposed sanctions on Burma, sanctions that many people believe hurt the Burmese people more than the military junta. One key challenge that the U.S. has failed to recognize is that while we have imposed sanctions on Burma, countries like India, Russia and China have not. Our economic threats are increasingly becoming irrelevant as growing economies like China maintain a stance of thinking human rights issues are irrelevant.

“Sanction” is the first word out of most governments' mouths when a nation does something wrong. So it's no surprise that the first punishment that many countries felt was necessary after the protests was to cut economic ties with Burma (though some simply issued statements stating they were ‘shocked.’) This is what Japan threatened after a Japanese photographer, Kenji Nagai, was shot and killed during the week of protests.

According to Kaye it is the economic ties that Burma has with countries like China and Thailand which have allowed the junta to purchase the military equipment that keep its citizens living in a constant state of fear and allow the government to survive. In my research I found that the only countries that have any sort of real influence on Burma's military junta is China, India and possibly the members of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).

I tried to find a list of nations which have sanctions on Burma, and I couldn't, but if they're not one of the ten in South East Asia it doesn't matter whether they have sanctions or not. And there lies a huge problem with modern diplomacy; some nations are willingly to impose sanctions on nations that abuse their own citizens, but not all, and because of this discrepancy sanctions don’t work.

So what can we do? Kaye believes that the international community needs to tell nations who are currently doing business in Burma to stop funding the military junta. The best way to shock the government is economically. But nations, like China, have consistently refused. This refusal has left the citizens of nations like Burma, and Sudan, in absolutely perilous conditions.

So another element that Kaye thinks the international community should consider is boycotting the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. There are already calls from organizations and activists around the world for nations to boycott the Beijing Olympics for many obvious and warranted reasons, and boycotts of the global event have been done before.

Countries who want to move toward democracy should have the opportunity to do so, especially when the call for change is coming from the people. The Burmese are not alone in their quest for freedom and good governance, but in 2007 the list of countries ruled by repressive leaders should not be as long as it is.

Burma's pro-democracy leader, and winner of the nation's general elections of 1990 (in which she was elected Prime Minister,) Aun San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 16 of the last 18 years. Will she live to see democracy in her native country of Burma? The pleas for change from the ordinary citizens and monks of Burma cannot be ignored any longer.

 

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