A Letter from Burma: Witness to Enduring Protest
[Note: The friend of a member of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee shared this information with the UUSC. The writer is currently in Burma.]
October 6, 2007
Dear Friends,
The events of the past weeks are shocking, barbaric, and unbelievable.
I was moved to tears to see the overwhelming support of the international community, especially since today, Saturday, is the Support the Monks' Protest in Burma Day. I wish the people in Burma had access to the news to know how many millions around the world are gathering in solidarity. I will most certainly relay this message of support upon my return. Information has been cut off to most of the country. Some people have been arrested for listening to the BBC and VOA.
I am aware that the news coverage of Burma has declined over the past days. This is primarily because the Internet was shut down. The BBC received 20,000 images in one day, they received but 12 the next, when the government shut down the Internet for the entire country. The violence has not stopped. So many are being taken away at night, beaten, and detained. I have eyewitness accounts from several Burmese saying that the violence is continuing in neighborhoods during the night. These incidents aren't being photographed because only the soldiers are allowed on the streets during curfew hours.
Here are a few stories that aren't making the news:
One man I know posted negative images of the regime on his blog and escaped just before the authorities came to his house. He and his family are safe, back home in Korea.
Demonstrators identified in the international news such as CNN and the BBC are being arrested at night, beaten, and taken away. One long-haired Burmese man seen on the BBC is in hiding. He came in the middle of the night to my friend's house, asking that he cut his hair to hide his identity.
The monasteries are empty. We don't know for sure where the monks are.
Many of the wounded demonstrators came to a health clinic I know about. The army demanded that they board it up within 10 minutes or they would be arrested. A friend saw several corpses, and many arrests are still being made at night in the houses of her neighborhood.
The hardest thing to deal with right now is the lack of reliable information and the complete lock down of the Internet, which has been down for over a week. Though all the major news items of the past weeks have happened within a mile or so of my house, the lack of information/news journalism is paralyzing. The paradox is that we continue with our daily life: we still go to school and to the fruit market, passing truckloads of armed soldiers.
Life, strangely, goes on, which seems, somehow, so very surreal, as if we're all dreaming.
Through it all, we have been deeply moved by the brave in heart, the demonstrators and monks who risked their lives for peace. The exuberance of the Burmese people in the streets those first few days of mass demonstrations was palpable; it was as if a weight had been lifted off of the country: everyone was happy, and smiling in the streets. The lid of oppression had been temporarily lifted. It was so inspiring to see the demonstrations and to see the people standing up in unity after all these years.
One of my friends was a teacher at the University of Rangoon during the 1988 uprising. She saw all her students taken away. Though I long for home, I want to be a witness for what is happening. Just being here matters.
I strive to be like the monks in the streets by being as peaceful as I possibly can. As truckloads of soldiers roam the streets, I look at their faces. Some of them are terrified, having been forced to join the armed forces. They are asked to "kill or be killed."
We are all assessing the risk factors and are being pushed outside of our comfort zones in these times. We are taking calculated risks. We are not discouraged by the suppression of the demonstrations; there is a deep, deep dissatisfaction among the people that still remains. Over the past two decades hundreds of thousands have died in struggles to create independence and democracy, and it is not over.
Many of you have called or e-mailed asking how you can help.
One way to help is keeping informed and spreading the word about what is happening in this country. The Internet offers much better commentary than the television media, with many support groups forming overnight to organize campaigns and peace vigils.
Please forgive the somber note of this letter. I'm usually much more upbeat and optimistic. But, I'm finding it difficult to be cheery these days, and I walk around with a deep, deep sadness for the nation of Burma and the people who I love so dearly.
Thanks for your prayers and support,
In Peace,
(Anonymous)
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