We had meant to lie low on Burma for a while. But here we are again. The junta will not get away with what they’ve done. All the worldly-wise readers who now say: ‘You see that non-violence doesn’t work? Look at Burma!’, should read this article. A BBC-reporter managed to get into Rangoon and has made the following remarks. OK, the Burmese people are still stunned and dazed. But change is now only a matter of time. The foundation has been laid.
The reporter writes: ‘(…) the city is completely different in the aftermath of the protests. There is an extremely heavy military presence in the main downtown area, and barricades have been constructed around key police and military buildings. There may be far more soldiers on the streets, but there are decidedly fewer monks. In fact, many of the monasteries are practically deserted, because their inhabitants have either been detained by the military, or returned home, or gone into hiding. (…) I visited many of the city’s temples and pagodas, especially those recommended in guidebooks. But because of their links with the monks, I found these sites were also empty, with local people afraid to go there in case they, too, became a target of government repression. When I visited Shwedagon Pagoda, Burma’s main Buddhist site and one of the focal points of the protests, there were only about 20 people there - usually there are hundreds”.
So what has the junta achieved?
According to the BBC-reporter the government is trying to persuade people that all is back to normal. But where are the people? The temples are deserted. The reporter writes: “The overriding impression these people gave me was that they were very frightened about the future, but they were also determined to push for change”. The protest marches were spontaneous, those who took part were not active members of any pro-democracy or opposition groups - they were just monks and ordinary civilians. Now that they’ve been roused, things will not go back to normal. It’s a matter of time. The junta touched the monks. You just cannot do that with impunity.
Of course, China did not help out. Whenever you here reports that some country is helping ‘behind the scenes’, you know it’s a lie. And those countries which protested loudly (like the UK), what have they done? What can they do? The crucial changes have to be generated internally, as they have been in Burma. The seed has been planted in the ‘astral level’, making the materialization of change inevitable.
A different level of consciousness
To those who are skeptical, we say that their memories are short. Five years ago one single man changed the whole political scene in Holland …. by dying, i.e. by being shot. Such events impact on a different level of consciousness, causing unpredictable aftereffects. The monks refuse to attend to the military. The people have deserted the temples. What’s next? They desert the junta. It’s a matter of time.
Today’s video is another freedom song from Burma.