The Revolt Of The Burmese Monks

Exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has vowed to attempt an Orange Revolution against Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf unless he agrees to a power-sharing deal that would return Pakistan to civilian rule. For a while, such a deal seemed imminent, but it is looking increasingly unlikely, now that Musharraf is arresting political opponents.

But the real surprise is the news of growing political protests in Burma (which is now called Myanmar), where thousands of young Buddhist monks have joined protests against the ruling military junta. The monks—whose moral and religious authority makes them harder for the regime to crack down on—have been crucial in fueling the demonstrations, which have now grown as large as 100,000 people.

Burma is not especially large and has not been a major source of trouble for the outside world, but it is situated in a nook between India, China, and Thailand, so what happens there is important—particularly given Burma's proximity to China. After all, if a Velvet Revolution can succeed in Burma, why not in its neighbor to the north?

"Monks' Protest Is Challenging Burmese Junta," Seth Mydans, New York Times, September 24 The largest street protests in two decades against Myanmar's military rulers gained momentum Sunday as thousands of onlookers cheered huge columns of Buddhist monks and shouted support for the detained pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Winding for a sixth day through rainy streets, the protest swelled to 10,000 monks in the main city of Yangon, formerly Rangoon, according to witnesses and other accounts relayed from the closed country, including some clandestinely shot videos….

The link between the clergy and the leader of the country's pro-democracy movement, the beginnings of large-scale public participation in the marches and a call by some monks for a wider protest raised the stakes for the government.

So far, it has mostly allowed the monks free reign in the streets, apparently fearing a public backlash if it cracks down on them in this Buddhist nation….

Since the military crushed a peaceful nationwide uprising in 1988, killing an estimated 3,000 civilians, the country, formerly known as Burma, has sunk further into poverty and repression and become a symbol for the outside world of the harsh military subjugation of a people….

On Saturday, an organization of clergy called the All Burma Monks Alliance, called for a widening of the protests in a statement that said, "In order to banish the common enemy evil regime from Burmese soil forever, united masses of people need to join hands with the united clergy forces."

It went on, "We pronounce the evil military despotism, which is impoverishing and pauperizing our people of all walks, including the clergy, as the common enemy of all our citizens."