Ruminations

Burmese pariah

Image source: fillybustercartoons.com

General Than Shwe is not widely known outside of Burma. Safely ensconced in the new capital city he and his military cronies have built for themselves, he lives a life of luxury while the people of Burma struggle to make ends meet. There are very few of these narcissistic oligarchs left in the world today (Robert Mugabe being one of the more prominent), and in the increasingly globalised world, I find it astonishing that so-called democracies have allowed them to get away with it for as long as they have. There are many guilty parties, but top of the list, in my opinion, is ASEAN. China, India and Japan come in for criticism for their strong business links with the regime, but ASEAN should have done more before now to deal with one of its own. ASEAN foreign ministers met at the UN in New York yesterday, and in uncharacteristically blunt language, they voiced their revulsion at the killings in Rangoon. Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo demanded that the Burmese government "immediately desist from the use of violence against demonstrators". Even General Surayud, the Thai Prime Minister and fellow 'military dictator' (albeit of a bloodless coup), spoke out at the UN in criticism of the Burmese military junta. This is very commendable, but now they have to 'walk the talk'.

An orange revolution?

Image source: cnn.com

Just read a very good piece by Andrew Harding on the BBC web site documenting his observations of the events unfurling in Burma. The accompanying video clip also provides a vivid account of how miserable life is under this military dictatorship. The key question is how thick-skinned the generals are, cocooned in their custom-built capital several hours drive north of Rangoon. The refusal of the monks to take alms from the government is tantamount to "excommunication" and -- theoretically at least -- should make them feel very uncomfortable. There are around 400,000 monks in Burma and if they all join the demonstrations, and more people gain the courage to come out and support them, there will be pressure on the army to deserts the generals, and then the situation will become untenable. In the meantime, the regime continues in its efforts to manipulate things; the media publishing no images of the demonstrations showing, instead, staged pictures of generals giving lavish gifts to monasteries.

Six straight days of protest

Image source: aljazeera.net

After a sixth straight day of protest by Burmese monks against the military junta, there are no signs of a loss of momentum. The news breaking today is that the protestors have been allowed to march past Aung San Suu Kyi's home, where they were greeted by Suu Kyi herself. With the regime clearly nervous about confronting the monks, confidence is growing as people are joining the monks in their protest. A glimmer of hope perhaps, but I fear there may be a lot of bloodshed before this is over.

The perils of environmental activism in China

Image source: Reuters

I caught a snippet on BBC World the other day which typifies the incoherent approach of the Chinese to the environment. The public pronouncements from the centre convey the message that the government is cracking down on environmental vandalism. The reality of the situation in the provinces is quite different as the new and increasingly powerful industrial class thumbs its nose at Beijing. Thus, a man like Wu Lihong, can be named among China's top 10 environmentalists and feted at a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in 2005 after his work drew attention to the fact chemical factories were pouring effluent into Lake Taihu, and be jailed for 3 years last month for allegedly extorting $7200 from businesses by threatening to report them for environmental crimes.

The reality of the situation is that local businessmen in towns around the lake closed ranks against him. When Wu was arrested in his hometown of Yixing in April, he was preparing to travel to Beijing to appeal to the authorities there. The trial was a farcical affair, where no witnesses were called to testify, and police statements went unchallenged. Wu's wife also claims that he was tortured during five straight days of interrogation. Needless to say, since his arrest, the pollution at the lake has got worse, the local authorities having to turn off tap water for 2 million local residents because of a blue-green algae created by discharge from the chemical plants.