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When monks took
to streets in Burma last month, the world's spotlight came on
the decades-long ongoing pro-democracy movement within the
country. We are witnessing that despite and in-spite of all
control-measures of Junta Government in Burma (State Peace and
Development Council), it is impossible to freeze information
flow of human rights excesses. We hope the Junta Government is
aware of, that unlike the way it succeeded in crushing the
pro-democracy movement in 1988, this time the 'world is
watching'!
Interestingly
the ongoing struggles in Burma have given a strong beam of hope
and vigour to similar pro-democracy movements going near its
North-East border of India. Atleast three north-east Indian
states of Manipur, Assam and Nagaland have come out in support
of not only pro-people struggles within their states and Burma.
Hundreds of
people came in support of pro-democracy movement led by Irom
Chanu Sharmila in Manipur – a North-Eastern Indian state. They
were fasting in solidarity and hundreds of other people in many
countries apart from those in other states of India, prominent
amongst which are Bangladesh, Pakistan, UK, Thailand, Nepal, and
US, also took part in the five-day fast and demonstrated
solidarity to the pro-people movement in Manipur.
Nava Thakuria,
a senior Journalist in another North-East Indian state of Assam,
who is also the General Secretary of Journalists' Forum in
Assam, is part of an open public meeting at Guwahati Press Club
on issues around Burma and its implications to North-East.
"In the recent
uprising in the military ruled country that is adjacent to
northeast India, a number of people (including a Japanese
photojournalist) were killed. To suppress the pro-democracy
campaigners and also the media, the Burmese junta has already
taken numerous unethical means, where the military continued
massive crackdown on the unarmed monks and the common Burmese
with strict restriction on the media" remarks Thakuria.
"The junta
government has already cut the telephone lines of working
journalists based in Burma and also slows down the Internet
connectivity, such that no legitimate information from the
county could reach the outer world" furthers says Thakuria.
No matter how
hard the Junta government in Burma may try to snap
communications and thwart efforts to get information out of the
country, it is virtually impossible to stop the world from
watching and feeling outraged. Also ongoing people's movements
are also slowly aligning themselves with the pro-democracy
struggles in Burma.
The minimum
pre-requisite of many people's movements around the world in
recent past has been a singular demand –free Aung San Suu Kyi!
She is imprisoned under the 1975 State Protection Act in Myanmar
(Burma), which grants the government the power to imprison
persons for up to five years without a trial. She has been
intermittently under arrest of one kind or the other since 1990.
By 1988, Burma
was burgeoning with pro-democracy movement, fueled by the energy
and idealism among the country's young people. There were
demonstrations against the repressive, one-party socialist
government. Aung San Suu Kyi was drawn into the pro-democracy
movement, which was snuffed out by State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC), which seized power on September 18,
1988. Thousands of pro-democracy advocates were killed.
Next came a
general election in 1990, which political parties were allowed
to contest. Aung San Suu Kyi, who was leading the National
League for Democracy (NLD), won a landslide victory, with 80 per
cent support. SLORC leaders refused to accept the election
results putting the elected pro-democracy leaders under house
arrest, including Aung San Suu Kyi.
Despite the
restrictions of house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi continues to
campaign for democracy. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for
peace in 1991. The solidarity fast by hundreds of people in
Manipur last month wasn't only in support of Irom Sharmila, but
also demanded freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi as a minimum step
forward towards establishing a just social order.
"It is with
bated breath and great expectations the entire world is looking
at current events in Myanmar and Pakistan. And the expectations
are for change and democracy in these two countries, close
neighbours of India" said Tiamerenla Monalisa Changkijathe,
Editor of a tabloid 'Nagaland Page' in another North-East state
of India – Nagaland.
The alignment
of people's voices not only within Burma but globally is a
positive development.
Only time can
tell whether the voices of common people will be heard or the
state will continue to trample over people's rights with
anti-people laws and policies. November
2007
The author is a senior development journalist writing for
newspapers in Asia and Africa. He can be contacted at
bobbyramakant@yahoo.com
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