Myanmar / Burma: a Burmese Perspective

"Get Involved in the Struggle to Free Burma!" is the advice of "FreeBurma.org," consisting of

• "US Campaign for Burma" (United States)
• "Burma Campaign UK" (United Kingdom)
• "Canadian friends of Burma" (Canada)
• "Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma" (Southeast Asia)
• "Burma en Español"

The U.S. branch's website includes a letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, signed by over two dozen Hollywood celebrities (Cher didn't make the cut, it seems).

The knowledge that two egg cartons' worth of Hollywood big shots signed a letter doesn't impress me as much as it might.

A detail in the letter jumped out at me, though. It says that "according to the United Nations expert on human rights in Burma, the ruling military regime has burned down or otherwise destroyed over 3,000 villages in eastern Burma, forcing over 1 million and a half people to flee their homes."

That doesn't sound good.

Myanmar / Burma: a Buddhist Perspective

The "Buddhist Channel" has "Breaking News of Current Situation Inside Burma!" on now (September 28, 2007 about 10 pm Central time USA). One article is "Situation in Burma on Friday, September 28, 2007 (hour by hour account from 11.00 am to 5.20 pm)." (Those times are Burmese Standard time, (GMT +6:30 hours).) As the title says, it's an account, in reverse chronological order, of what's happened today in Burma AKA Myanmar.

Myanmar / Burma: Offline

Myanmar/Burma, a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) cut public access to the Internet recently. Today, I think. A military junta has been running Myanmar/Burma for lately.

"Apathetic Lemming of the North" isn't political. It's about blogs, bloggers, the blogosphere, and parts of the Web that interest me.

But when a country's leadership cuts public access to the Internet, I get interested.

The ruling junta in Myanmar/Burma wants people to call their holding "Myanmar," but I'll be different, and call it "Burma." At least, until the people there want to re-name it. It's their country, after all.

Back to Burma. Other ASEAN members "expressed 'revulsion' and told the junta 'to exercise utmost restraint and seek a political solution.' Officials in neighboring Thailand said airplanes were on standby to evacuate ASEAN nationals in case the condition deteriorated."

ASEAN's goal is to

1. Accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region
2. Promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law....

That could explain their strongly-worded statement. Cutting people off from the Internet isn't the best way to promote growth and social progress. It's bad for business, too.

The Myanmar/Burma situation isn't too good right now. This week, so far, the junta has killed between 10 and 200 people, including Kenji Nagai, a Japanese journalist, and occupied Buddhist monasteries.

I try to be tolerant of other cultures' ways of doing things, but this behavior seems to be over the top.

Two posts here yesterday dealt with Burma:

• "Burma or Myanmar, the Place Needs Help,"
  (September 27, 2007)
• "There's Trouble All Over, but Darfur and Burma/Myanmar Stand out,"
  (September 27, 2007)

I hope the people I linked to in those are still online. And alive.

Meanwhile, today's headlines about Myanmar/Burma don't look good.

• "Myanmar crackdown brings condemnation" (Kansas City Star)
• "Myanmar Military Cuts Internet Access, Occupies Monasteries" (FOXNews.com)

Back to something I said before in this post. "Apathetic Lemming of the North" isn't political. But, when a military junta cuts Internet access to its subjects, I get interested.

Burma or Myanmar, the Place Needs Help

"Show support for Myanmar Democracy Movement" has an idea for showing support for the people in Burma.

Sorry. A military junta decided they'd rather call the country "Myanmar."

Whatever you call the country, the place is a mess and could use some help.

UPDATE - LATER September 28, 2007

"Macellarius Est Blog For Burma" is a new blog. Quoting the prologue: "Watching the events unfolding in Burma, I cannot help but write this letter, to the people of Burma and the rest of the world, for the sake of peace and democracy. Let the fruits of liberty be shared."

There's Trouble All Over, but Darfur and Burma/Myanmar Stand out

"Bloggers Unite? - Burma and Darfur" discusses BlogCatalog's efforts to unite bloggers in a stand against abuse, and focuses on two very troubled places: Burma and Darfur. Burma, now going under the alias of Myanmar, got in the news recently. We're more familiar with Darfur, but not much has been done.

There's more at the post linked above.