Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Myanmar's Love Affair With Democracy

"It is found that protesters have raised their incitement towards riot and anarchy mob on the day of 22 February."
"Protesters are now inciting the people, especially emotional teenagers and youths, to a confrontation path where they will suffer the loss of life."
State Administration Council -- military junta
 
"[Authorities are] exercising utmost restraint through minimum use of force [when dealing with the protests.]"
"[Statements and remarks made by some foreign countries are] tantamount to flagrant interference in internal affairs of Myanmar."
"[The ministry calls on diplomats to] respect the laws and regulations of the receiving state."
"[A] free and fair general election [will take place]." 
"[Despite] unlawful demonstrations, incitements of unrest and violence, the authorities concerned are exercising utmost restraint through minimum use of force to address the disturbances."
Myanmar's Foreign Ministry
Protesters hold signs featuring Aung San Suu Kyi as they take part in a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on February 22.
Protesters hold signs featuring Aung San Suu Kyi as they take part in a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on February 22.
"Today we have decided the set of targeted measures with ministers in response to these events."
"Then we took the political agreement to apply sanctions targeting the military responsible for the coup and their economic interests."
European Union's foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell
 
"[I am] horrified at more loss of life [as the military] escalates its brutality in Myanmar."
"From water cannons to rubber bullets to tear gas and now hardened troops firing point blank at peaceful protesters."
"This madness must end, now!" 
UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews
 
"Us young people have our dreams but this military coup has created so many obstacles."
"That's why we come out to the front of the protests."
Ko Pay, protester, Yangon 
Protesters gather for a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on February 22.
Protesters gather for a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on February 22.
 
Sunday saw huge crowds in Myanmar out once again to denounce the military coup that took place on the first of February. Defiant even following the bloodiest episode of the campaign that occurred the day before when security forces fired on protesters, killing two people in the crowd. The demonstrations, despite warnings from the military, have been ongoing, leading to a civil disobedience campaign of strikes protesting the coup -- alongside the detention of leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others in her cabinet.

The military's promise of new elections has been less than convincing to those marching out in protest shouting their right to a democratic government. In Mandalay, tens of thousands of people massed peacefully, seemingly unafraid of consequences and the warning of the military, despite the two deaths of the day before. "They aimed at the heads of unarmed civilians. They aimed at our future", one young protester said, speaking to the crowd.

People were laying down flowers in a memorial for the dead protesters, as large crowds continued marching in the central towns; south, east and northeast. Buddhist monks in a flotilla of boats held aloft portraits of Suu Kyi alongside signs reading "military coup -- end". Over two weeks of protests had been carried out peacefully and then came Saturday and violence ensued. "The number of people will increase ... We won't stop", claimed protester Yin Nyein Hmway, in Yangon.
 
Police stand guard near the US Embassy in Yangon, Myanmar, as protesters take part in an anti-coup demonstration on Monday, February 22.
It all began with a confrontation between security forces and striking shipyard workers -- with video clips posted on social media showing security force members firing at protesters. The strikers, according to state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper, sabotaged boats at the city's river port, attacking police with sticks, knives and catapults leaving eight officers and several soldiers injured. "Some of the aggressive protesters were also injured due to the security measures conducted by the security force in accordance with the law", commented the newspaper ... managing to overlook the deaths.

Including that of Mya Thwate Khang, a  young female protester who was the first to be killed during Friday's demonstrations; shot in the head, in the capital of Myanmar, Naypyitaw. All this in defence of democracy. A democracy that strangely enough saw minority Rohingya butchered by the military, hounded from their homes, their villages put to the torch, producing 700,000 refugees fleeing over the border into Bangladesh; a minority population of an estimated million Muslims in a Buddhist country.

The unaddressed plight may have signalled a green light to the Chinese Communist Party to pursue its genocidal agenda against the Turkic Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Now, all that's missing is Beijing's outraged condemnation of Myanmar's human rights abuses from China's pedestal on the UN Security Council.

A protester waves the National League for Democracy (NLD) flag while others take part in a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on February 22.
A protester waves the National League for Democracy (NLD) flag while others take part in a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on February 22.





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posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Friday, September 08, 2017

A De-Nobled Nobel Laureate 

"We can't expect her to change the whole county in one-and-a-half years, but we expect a strong human rights-based approach."
Ma Thida, medical doctor, international human rights awards recipient, Myanmar

"She [Aung San Suu Kyi] may shake hands with the military across a table, but under it they are kicking her."
Thant Thaw Kaung, executive director, Myanmar Book Aid and Preservation Foundation
(Bernat Armangue / Associated Press)   A Rohingya child is carried on a sling while his family walk through rice fields after crossing the border into Bangladesh.

In miserable refugee camps in Myanmar and Bangladesh, 320,000 Rohingya, uprooted from their homes in towns and villages in Rakhine province, live in squalor and utter privation. Of Myanmar's population of a million Rohingya, one thousand have been killed in the last little while in an orgy of violence. Security forces and Buddhist religious zealots have brutalized the minority Rohingya in western Myanmar who have lived there for generations, under duress of contempt from the majority Burmese.

In the years that Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi defied the military junta she had the attention and admiration of the world as a staunch fighter for human rights. Now ostensibly liberated from the oppression of the military junta and following a democratic election, she was elevated to the leadership of her nation and enjoys tremendous popularity among the populace who view her as their liberator.

Her fifteen years living under house arrest only emphasized her resilience and her resolve to see freedom returned to her country. There are those, however, who express their profound disappointment in this redoubtable warrior for justice who appears on the face of current events to have somehow lost her way. Those who supported her heroic stand against the oppressive military who did all in their power to suppress the pro-democracy movement she was so symbolic of now have their doubts.
(K. M. Asad / AFP/Getty Images)    Rohingya refugees shelter under tarps at a refugee camp near Teknaf, Bangladesh.

Now, there is international criticism of this symbol of democracy and human rights and freedoms. The situation of the Burmese Rohingya has been deteriorating for years. Even with the removal of the military, the Rohingya continued to be targeted, and attacked by other Burmese as a foreign element originally from Bangladesh though they've lived in peace, albeit not harmoniously for many generations in eastern Myanmar.

A humanitarian crisis has unfolded in the last few weeks after new waves of violence erupted. Militants among the Rohingya, in retaliation for police brutality against the Rohingya, attacked a police station killing a number of police and taking the lives of a number of (twelve and 77 respectively) Buddhist civilians in revenge attacks. Which brought a predictable response of police action, 'clearing out' towns and villages of terrorists, in the process burning down homes in those towns and villages and ordering their residents to move on or be killed.

It has been weeks of unlimited violence, and as in the past, Suu Kyi said nothing until finally blaming fake news and a misinformation campaign responsible for blowing up out of all proportions the results of a nation attempting to secure itself and its people from terrorist activities. The UN speaks of a crisis where over 125,000 Rohingya have been banished into Bangladesh, suffering atrocities on the way to their escape.
Rohingya Muslim minority flee violence in Myanmar
A Rohingya family fleeing Myanmar crosses a creek of the Naf river to reach the border with Bangladesh. (Bernat Armangue / Associated Press)

She is the ultimate authority in the nation, through her singular mandate as government leader, senior in influence and prestige to the president. According to her critics, her popular mandate proffers on her the authority to challenge the military which continues to wield power under the screen of civil leadership.

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posted by Pieface @ Friday, September 08, 2017

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