Burmese Monks Continue Protesting Even in Shackles

You might see a skinny corpse rising out of the ground in Concord, Massachusets tonight to lift its bony fist in support of an awe inspiring tenacity taking place thousands of miles away.

In 1846, Henry David Thoreau was confronted by a local tax collector who demanded he pay six years of delinquent poll taxes. He refused. Thoreau stated that he would not pay because he did not support the Mexican-American War. He was taken to jail, and protested fervently when released after a solicitous aunt paid the taxes for him. This incident prompted him to produce a famous essay we now call 'Civil Disobedience'.

I don't know if the monks in Myanmar have read his words, but they are a tremendous example of the power of Civil Disobedience; and today the military government strives to squeeze the juice out of their cause.

What is the conflict? By now even fairly preoccupied Americans have probably heard about thousands of monks protesting in Burma. In the country Myanmar (Burma), the revered Buddhist Monks of the region have taken up the cause of their people against a strict military regime. They marched for 10 days, starting September 17, in the city of Yangon from the Shwedagon Pagoda, lending new life to protests that sparked over a dramatic hike in fuel prices by the military government.

The sight of thousands of cinnamon robed monks walking the streets peacefully gave power to the protests. More and more people were inspired to join in the marching... and Myanmar's ruling military junta grew outraged.

On Wednesday, September 26th, the first monk killings began. Reports varied widely between the government's claim that one monk was killed, and other reports through cell-phones and internet that a possible 8 monks were shot during the protests.

The Buddhists marches are peacable, but the monks are a powerful symbol. When the government closed in and tried to block their path on Thursday, it was the by-standers who grew angry. They threw rocks and bottles, they surged forward, and eventually the junta had to let the monks pass.

There's something awesome about the force of calm rebellion. It's strange how a unity of peace can turn an oppressor into a spitting demon, a creature that will use any force to crush what it can't control.

On Thursday, September 27th, protesters gathered again, but the night had taken its toll. Government raids before dawn left tell-tale blood stains betraying beatings and kidnappings on the cement floors of many prominent pagodas. Several hundred monks were taken in the night. The Buddhist pagodas had been 'contained'. One hundred monks still ventured outside the Shwedagon Pagoda, sat down and began to pray, breaking the junta's order that gatherings of 5 or more people were not allowed. Violence ensued.

There is more to this story. Many people hoped that widespread reverence for the Monks in Myanmar would preclude wide-spread violence, but the junta cracked down on the protests on Friday. Burmese monks have been arrested by the thousands, disrobed and shackled. Many of the renegade news sources that the world was relying on for non-government controlled updates went silent over the weekend, as troops pervaded the main city of Yangon to enforce military dictates forbidding protest related activities. A few grisly images have made their way to the internet; a notable image that has the world-wide community in arms is a tragic picture of a dead monk, face down and half naked in a canal.

Even as the U.N. envoy, Ibrahim Gambari met with Myanmar's Senior General Than Shwe, more monks were being taken into custody. Is this the end of the protests? Is this the end of democratic hopes for the Burmese people? Maybe not. Reports indicate that the stalwart buddhist monks have taken their protests up in detention centers, and are refusing to eat. Despite terror and killings, the monks have not given up their cause. Students and staff at AGTI, a technology school in Myanmar have followed their lead, and are staging a hunger strike of their own. Soldiers have moved in to surround the school, but they can not make the students eat.

Aside from the monks, the democracy movement in Myanmar has another powerful symbol. That symbol is the 62 year old Nobel Peace Prize winner being held in indefinite detention by the current military junta, Aung San Suu Kyi. On the last Saturday of the protests, monks marched passed her compound and chanted prayers, and she came outside in tears to listen. Gambari was able to meet and talk to Suu Kyi when he visited Myanmar. He is on his way now to New York, to brief U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the outcome of his meetings with the generals and Suu Kyi.

The world has been slowly learning the story of these people because the force of their will is so powerful, it has expanded beyond the menacing borders of a military controlled country and government controlled media. People all over the world are praying for a cessation of violence and hope for the Burmese Monks and Myanmar protesters; but it is the world who will have to take up their cause and demand democracy, now that that the brave Burmese Monks have been beaten and carried away. Will peace loving nations heed their call?