Rev. Danny Fisher

An email this morning from my old buddy Phil reminded me that I haven’t yet posted anything about all that’s happening right now in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). With the news today, it seemed like as good a time as any to amend that.

Agence France-Presse is currently reporting that hundreds of Theravāda Buddhist monks marched peacefully today near Mandalay in protest of the military junta that controls the country and its treatment of members of the Sangha.

A resident in Yangon said that about 500 monks in Kyaukpadaung town in central Myanmar, near Mandalay, had walked around the town reciting traditional religious chants to ward off evil.

People turned out to watch the monks, said the Yangon source, who refused to be named for fear of repercussions from the military junta.

A Western diplomat in Yangon said he heard that two such marches took place Monday–one in Kyaukpadaung and another in Chauk town in central Magway division, where he said he heard that hundreds of monks marched.

A resident in Yangon, however, said the second march was much smaller.

The low-key protests come as groups of monks warned that they may step up peaceful action against the junta unless it apologises for recent violence against monks, exiled media in Thailand have reported.

A string of rare protests–the biggest in nearly a decade–sparked by a rise in fuel prices on August 15, prompted a crackdown from the junta, which has arrested up to 150 people…

The marches represent pro-democracy monastics beginning to make good on their promise to demonstrate widely today if the government does not formally apologize for the beatings of hundreds of monks in Pakokku two weeks ago. The Associated Press explains:

Without an apology, monks across the country have threatened to march Tuesday from their monasteries, cut off communication with the military and their families and refuse alms–a humiliating gesture that will likely embarrass the junta.

“What the (junta) did in Pakokku is unforgivable. The monks are frustrated and angry,” said Zin Linn, information minister for the Washington-based National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, which is Burma’s government-in-exile.

“This boycott is significant because other underground labor unions, underground student unions and activists are calling on one another to join the boycott,” he said. “I expect the demonstrations will grow bigger than ever. People may join with the monks and we may see chaos and disorder.”

A chief abbot at a Yangon monastery said the boycott will have a symbolic importance in the ongoing struggle against the junta.

“In a staunchly Buddhist country, such a boycott is the most severe form of punishment for a Buddhist,” said the abbot, who refused to be identified for fear of reprisals. “The boycott brings extreme shame to the ruling junta and should be taken seriously.”

The importance of the monastics’ participation in the struggle for democracy right now is further explained in the article.

Nearly a month into the worst demonstrations to hit Myanmar in decades, the saffron-robed Buddhist clergy are emerging as the focal point of the anti-government protests. With dozens of pro-democracy activists behind bars or in hiding, most people are counting on monks–who have a role in almost all aspects of society from weddings to funerals–to take the lead in challenging the repressive regime in the mostly Buddhist country.

“Monks are our only hope now as they always have been in Myanmar political history,” said Hla Myint, a 75-year-old schoolteacher. “The military rulers can easily crush protests by students and other people. But brutal suppression of monks usually results in negative consequences and further protests.”

The A.P. goes on to mention the Buddhist community’s long history of political activism in the country, including their significant participation in the failed 1988 pro-democracy rebellion that resulted in thousands of deaths. Perhaps because of this incident, the A.P. notes a more “nervous and indecisive” reaction by the military to the monastics now.

Since protests broke out Aug. 19 after the government hiked fuel prices by as much as 500 percent, it detained dozens of pro-democracy activists and cut off the phone lines as the country’s main opposition group the National League for Democracy or N.L.D.

But it has yet to arrest any monks, preferring a mix of heavy-handed threats, gentle persuasion and outright pleas to convince the estimated half-million Buddhist clergy to stay off the streets.

It stepped up surveillance around monasteries in major cities to keep young monks in check and order monks to remain in some monasteries. It has accused them in newspaper articles of being tools of the N.L.D. and other government critics who want to overthrow the government.

“Exploiting these situations, some are trying to disrupt the prevailing peace, stability and law and order and the momentum of development and to derail the seven-step road map,” the government said, blaming everyone from foreign governments to troublesome monks for fueling the protests.

But last week in an evident attempt to improve its image, high-ranking officials have been making high-profile donations of cooking oil and other donations to Buddhist monasteries, according to the state-controlled press. Making donations to temples is a traditional way of showing respect.

[It is worth noting, as the Tricycle Editors' Blog did, that among those blamed by the junta for the protests is imprisoned Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.]

As things advance today, there are certain factors to be considered. For one, as the A.P. mentions, the military force is currently stronger than it has ever been in the history of Myanmar. For another, the actions taken by some monastics have belied both expectations and Buddhist principles. (Following the beatings of the monastics at Pakokku, monks held a group of twenty government officials hostage for several hours and also vandalised property belonging to militia leaders.) Furthermore, it is an open question whether or not the monastics will be effective in drumming up active support from the Burmese laity for the cause of democracy.

Experts appear divided over whether the monks can persuade the public to join the protests–partly because civil servants have been removed to the new capital in the remote town of Naypyitaw, while universities have been moved out of Yangon and other big cities to sideline students.

Some experts said monks could persuade rural residents to get involved because they hold such sway in the countryside as well as elements of the military who feel they would be unfairly slandered by the boycott.

“This could also create divisions in the military,” said Soe Aung, spokesman for the pro-democracy group National Council of the Union of Burma which is based in Thailand. “The majority of the military is already suffering from the mismanagement of the economy.”

But other experts argued that fear will likely trump the boldest of actions by the monks, with many citizens afraid to challenge a military with a history of brutality.

I will continue to follow what is happening in Myanmar with great interest, and report important developments here.

From CNN:

The global “war on terror” can’t be won if people are living in “desperate” conditions, Archbishop Desmond Tutu told CNN.

“You can never win a war against terror as long as there are conditions in the world that make people desperate–poverty, disease, ignorance, et cetera,” the Nobel laureate said.

Tutu is in Hong Kong, where he is due to give a lecture on conflict resolution, reconciliation and forgiveness.

He said the disparity between the rich and poor in parts of the world causes instability and insecurity, but added that he was hopeful the relationship between the two was becoming clear.

“I think people are beginning to realize that you can’t have pockets of prosperity in one part of the world and huge deserts of poverty and deprivation and think that you can have a stable and secure world,” he said.

The former head of South Africa’s Anglican church is an advocate of reconciliation, and he often speaks out against violence and is a frequent critic of human rights abusers.

Tutu also discussed with CNN the military junta in Myanmar, formerly Burma. Tutu described the rulers of that southeastern Asian county as “a military dictatorship that is running dead scared of a woman.”

He was referring to fellow Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, a leading dissident and pro-democracy activist there. Aung San Suu Kyi’s politics have led to her being held in varying degrees of detention off and on since 1989.

“The fact of the matter is she has nothing except her moral authority,” said Tutu, adding that he believed recent street protests against the junta could signal an end to military rule.

Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his vocal opposition and leadership against South Africa’s apartheid system–a government-sanctioned policy of racial separation which ended in 1994.