Crackdown RIGHTS Repression of the 2007 Popular Protests in Burma WATCH December 2007 Volume 19, No

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Crackdown RIGHTS Repression of the 2007 Popular Protests in Burma WATCH December 2007 Volume 19, No Burma HUMAN Crackdown RIGHTS Repression of the 2007 Popular Protests in Burma WATCH December 2007 Volume 19, No. 18(C) Crackdown Repression of the 2007 Popular Protests in Burma Map of Burma........................................................................................................... 1 Map of Rangoon.......................................................................................................2 Map of Downtown Rangoon......................................................................................3 I. Summary...............................................................................................................5 II. Crackdown After Crackdown: 45 Years of Military Rule ....................................... 15 Burma’s Economy: Poverty and Price Rises Spark Protests ................................ 21 III. Price Hikes, Peaceful Protests, and the Initial Reaction of the Authorities.........23 IV. The Monks Join the Protests............................................................................. 28 “Overturning of the Bowls”: The Monks’ Decision to Boycott the SPDC .............. 31 The Monks March in Rangoon ...........................................................................33 September 17 ..............................................................................................33 September 18..............................................................................................33 September 19 ..............................................................................................36 September 20..............................................................................................37 September 21 ..............................................................................................38 The NLD and Student Groups Rejoin the Protests...............................................39 V. The Crackdown...................................................................................................43 The Government Acts to End the Protests ..........................................................43 The Last Day of Peaceful Protests: September 25...............................................44 September 25-26: The Crackdown Begins..........................................................45 Crackdown at Shwedagon Pagoda ...............................................................46 Attacks on Protesters near Sule Pagoda.......................................................52 Shootings near Thakin Mya Park..................................................................52 Continued Protests on September 26...........................................................54 September 27: Attacks on and Emptying of the Monasteries.............................. 55 Emptying of the Monasteries ....................................................................... 55 Shooting at Sule Pagoda .............................................................................63 Killings at Basic Education High School 3 (High School 3) in Tamwe............ 69 Order Through Violence: September 28-29........................................................76 September 28: Despair and Rage.................................................................76 September 29: “The streets were full of soldiers” ........................................79 VI. The Continuing Night Time Raids: Monasteries and Wanted Organizers............81 The Fate of the Monks .......................................................................................81 The Continuing Arrest Campaign..................................................................83 VII. Detention Centers and Abuses ........................................................................ 90 The Large-Scale Ad Hoc Detention Facilities ..................................................... 90 City Hall...................................................................................................... 90 Kyaik Ka San Race Course........................................................................... 90 Government Technical Institute (GTI) ...........................................................92 Insein Prison and Other Official Detention Centers ............................................95 VIII. Security Agencies Involved in the Crackdown................................................. 98 Army Units.................................................................................................. 99 Military Security Affairs..............................................................................102 Police Units and Lon Htein Riot Police........................................................ 103 Special Branch Police ................................................................................ 104 The Role of “Mass-Based” Organizations for Social Control........................ 105 IX. Recommendations .......................................................................................... 112 Sanctions ....................................................................................................... 112 Humanitarian aid .............................................................................................114 To the United Nations Security Council.............................................................115 To the United Nations Secretary General and Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari.. 116 To the United Nations Human Rights Council................................................... 116 To the Government of Australia ........................................................................117 To the Government of China ............................................................................ 118 To the European Union and its Member States ................................................ 119 To the Government of India .............................................................................120 To the Government of Japan ............................................................................ 121 To the Government of Russia........................................................................... 121 To the Government of Singapore ..................................................................... 122 To the Government of Thailand........................................................................ 122 To the Government of the United States .......................................................... 123 To the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) .................................. 124 Regarding Companies Operating or Investing in Burma ................................... 125 Regarding refugees ......................................................................................... 125 Appendix I: Glossary ............................................................................................126 Acknowledgements..............................................................................................129 Map of Burma Map of Rangoon Crackdown 2 Map of Downtown Rangoon 3 Human Rights Watch December 2007 I. Summary In August and September 2007, Burmese democracy activists, monks and ordinary people took to the streets of Rangoon and elsewhere to peacefully challenge nearly two decades of dictatorial rule and economic mismanagement by Burma’s ruling generals. While opposition to the military government is widespread in Burma, and small acts of resistance are an everyday occurrence, military repression is so systematic that such sentiment rarely is able to burst into public view; the last comparable public uprising was in August 1988. As in 1988, the generals responded this time with a brutal and bloody crackdown, leaving Burma’s population once again struggling for a voice. The government crackdown included baton-charges and beatings of unarmed demonstrators, mass arbitrary arrests, and repeated instances where weapons were fired shoot-to-kill. To remove the monks and nuns from the protests, the security forces raided dozens of Buddhist monasteries during the night, and sought to enforce the defrocking of thousands of monks. Current protest leaders, opposition party members, and activists from the ’88 Generation students were tracked down and arrested – and continue to be arrested and detained. The Burmese generals have taken draconian measures to ensure that the world does not learn the true story of the horror of their crackdown. They have kept foreign journalists out of Burma and maintained their complete control over domestic news. Many local journalists were arrested after the crackdown, and the internet and mobile phone networks, used extensively to send information, photos, and videos out of Burma, were temporarily shut down, and have remained tightly controlled since. Of course, those efforts at censorship were only partially successful, as some enterprising and brave individuals found ways to get mobile phone video footage of the demonstrations and crackdown out of the country and onto the world’s television screens. This provided a small window into the violence and repression that the Burmese military government continues to use to hold onto power. 5 Human Rights Watch December 2007 This report, based on more than 100 in-depth interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch researchers with eyewitnesses to the events in Rangoon, offers a detailed account of the protests and the brutal crackdown and mass arrest campaign that followed. It is based on interviews with monks and ordinary citizens who participated in the protests, as well as leading monks, protest organizers
Recommended publications
  • President U Win Myint Attends Bogyoke Aung San Statue Unveiling Ceremony
    SELF-CONFIDENCE KEY TO BUILDING A FEDERAL DEMOCRATIC UNION PAGE-8 (OPINION) PARLIAMENT NATIONAL Pyidaungsu Hluttaw debates Union Audi- New pre-primary school building opened tor-General report, national tax revenue in Amyotha Hluttaw housing compound PAGE-2 PAGE-2 Vol. VI, No. 303, 6th Waning of Tabodwe 1381 ME www.globalnewlightofmyanmar.com Friday, 14 February 2020 President U Win Myint attends State Counsellor meets with Shan Bogyoke Aung San Statue State officials, celebrates birthday of unveiling ceremony Bogyoke Aung San with children President U Win Myint addresses the unveiling ceremony of Bogyoke Aung San Statue in State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi presents gift to a child at the ceremony to mark 105th Nay Pyi Taw. PHOTO: MNA birthday of Bogyoke Aung San in Taunggyi, Shan State. PHOTO: MNA RESIDENT U Win Myint attended Nyunt, Pyithu Hluttaw Deputy Speaker HE 105th birthday of Bogyoke Chief Minister Dr Lin Htut, Deputy and spoke on the occasion to un- U Tun Tun Hein, Amyotha Hluttaw Dep- Aung San was celebrated with a Ministers Major General Aung Thu and Pveil the Bogyoke Aung San Statue uty Speaker U Aye Tha Aung, the Union Tbreakfast feast for the children U Hla Maw Oo, local government min- at the Thabyaygon Roundabout in Nay Ministers, the Union Attorney-General, at the city hall of Taunggyi in southern isters, chairmen and representatives Pyi Taw at 8 am yesterday. the Union Auditor-General, the Union Shan State, yesterday. from leading bodies of Wa Self-Adminis- The ceremony was attended by Civil Service Board Chairman, the Peace At 8:30 am, State Counsellor Daw tered Division, PaO Self-Administered President U Win Myint and First Lady Commission Chairman, the Nay Pyi Taw Aung San Suu Kyi, in her capacity as Zone and Palaung Self-Administered Daw Cho Cho, Vice President U Myint Council Chairman, the Central Bank of the Chairperson of the Central Commit- Zone, Shan State Adovacte-General Swe and wife Daw Khin Thet Htay, Vice Myanmar Governor, the Anti-Corruption tee for Development of Border Areas and officials.
    [Show full text]
  • Myanmar's Spring Revolution
    EUROPEAN POLICY BRIEF MYANMAR ’S SPRING REVOLUTION : A PEOPLE ’S REVOLUTION Myanmar’s Spring Revolution is a grassroots, bottom-to-top nationwide resistance against the military ruling class that retook state power in February 2021. It is unprecedented in scale, fascinating in form and shows a profound societal change within the country. Michal Lubina , April 2021 INTRODUCTION A People’s revolution Myanmar’s Spring Revolution is a grassroots, bottom-to-top nationwide resistance against the military ruling class that retook state power in February 2021. It is unprecedented in scale, fascinating in form and shows a profound societal change within the country. EVIDENCE AND ANALYSIS The end of hermit country Burma has traditionally been called a hermit country 1 – a designation not uncommon in Asia (Bhutan and especially Korea were similarly named), yet very fitting in the case of Myanmar. Precolonial Burmese kingdoms were generally inward-looking, with periods of sometimes spectacular external expeditions being exceptions rather than the rule. Some believed Burma’s isolation was due to economic self-sufficiency, others ascribed it to geography. Still others looked for explanations in the cultural realm, believing - like Aung San Suu Kyi in her early writings 2 - that Buddhism made Burmese uninterested in foreign ideas. Whatever the reasons, it was only the colonial period that brought Burma into the global, capitalist world, however imperfectly: “Burma had been thrown open to the world, but the world had not been opened up to Burma.” 3 This forceful incursion inflicted wounds that never healed. That is why after the creative and chaotic decade of the 1950s (somewhat similar to the last ten years), Burma reverted to self-isolation after the 1962 1 Gustaaf Houtman, Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics: Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy, ISLCAA Tokyo 1999, p.
    [Show full text]
  • The Third Force in Myanmar
    The Third Force and the Architecture of Civil Society -State Relations in the Transition in Myanmar, 2008-2017 The Third Force and the Architecture of Civil Society -State Relations in the Transition in Myanmar, 2008-2017 ___________________________ Mael Raynaud Independent Analyst [email protected] Abstract Myanmar has embarked on a political transition in 2011, a transition better described here as a transition to a hybrid system, with elements of democracy and elements of a military rule. Building on the existing literature on transitions, political crises, civil society, and political influence, the present article attempts to define what the role of civil society has been in this process. Using the author ‘s concepts of a social stupa, in Myanmar, and of the "architecture of civil society-state relations", observed through various "points วารสาร สิทธิและสันติศึกษา ปีที่ 4 ฉบับที่ 2 of contacts" between the two, the author sets an argument that political influence is stronger in the points of contact at the top of the social stupa where the civil society elite meets political elite. In that sense, civil society leaders can be seen as groups that organically channel the voice of civil society to those in power. This perspective explains the strategy behind the Third Force, a group of civil society leaders that gained influence in the wake of cyclone Nargis in 2008 and had a significant impact on the political process, and officially or semi-officially became advisors to President U Thein Sein from 2011 to 2016. The article then argues that the NLD government has cut much of these ties, but that civil society-state relations have nevertheless been profoundly re-shaped in the last decade.
    [Show full text]
  • That Is Necessary
    Belmont University Belmont Digital Repository Honors Theses Belmont Honors Program 4-20-2020 All That Is Necessary Jes Martinez Belmont University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.belmont.edu/honors_theses Part of the Screenwriting Commons Recommended Citation Martinez, Jes, "All That Is Necessary" (2020). Honors Theses. 23. https://repository.belmont.edu/honors_theses/23 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Belmont Honors Program at Belmont Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Belmont Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ALL THAT IS NECESSARY written by Jes Martinez Based on Real Events DRAFT B [email protected] (703) 340-5100 TIGHT ON: an ANIMATED MAP of the world. It ZOOMS INTO INDIA and SOUTHEAST ASIA, c. 1050 AD. Then ZOOMS INTO the PAGAN EMPIRE. A WALL OF RED, the MONGOL INVASION, washes over the empire, from the North, c. 1287 AD. The RED DISSOLVES and various CITY-STATES sprout up, rising and falling as they war with each other. EMMA (V.O.) Myanmar’s diverse demographic landscape emerged out of centuries of migration, invasion, and internal turmoil. The city-states DISSOLVE into the rise and fall of dynasties: the PEGU, BAGO, and HANTHARWADDY DYNASTIES (1287-1599), the PINYA DYNASTY (1309-60), the SAGAING DYNASTY (1315-64), the INWA DYNASTY (1365-1555), the TAUNGOO DYNASTY (1486-1752), and the KONBAUNG DYNASTY (1752-1885). EMMA (V.O.) Britain colonized the region-- then called Burma-- and deepened ethno- religious resentments by establishing a system of indirect rule in which they empowered local leaders from the minority groups while suppressing the majority Buddhist Bamar, lighting the flame for the wildfire that Burman religious nationalism was to become.
    [Show full text]
  • U.S.-Japan Approaches to Democracy Promotion
    U.S. JAPAN APPROACHES TO DEMOCRACY PROMOTION U.S. JAPAN Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA 1819 L St NW #300 Washington, DC 20036 [email protected] U.S.-JAPAN APPROACHES TO DEMOCRACY SASAKAWA USA SASAKAWA PROMOTION Edited by Michael R. Auslin and Daniel E. Bob ISBN 9780996656764 51000 > 9 780996 656764 U.S.-JAPAN APPROACHES TO DEMOCRACY PROMOTION Edited by Michael R. Auslin Daniel E. Bob Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA is an independent, American non-profit and non- partisan institution devoted to research, analysis and better understanding of the U.S.-Japan relationship. Sasakawa USA accomplishes its mission through programs that benefit both nations and the broader Asia Pacific region. Our research programs focus on security, diplomacy, economics, trade and technology, and our education programs facilitate people-to-people exchange and discussion among American and Japanese policymakers, influential citizens and the broader public in both countries. ISBN: 978-0-9966567-6-4 Printed in the United States of America. © 2017 by Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA LCCN Number applied for Sasakawa USA does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views expressed herein are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sasakawa USA, its staff or its board. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by and means without permission in writing from Sasakawa USA. Please direct inquiries to: Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA Research Department 1819 L Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20036 P: +1 202-296-6694 This publication can be downloaded at no cost at http://spfusa.org/ Cover photo: © EPA/Barbara Walton Contents Preface .............................................................................................................................v Dennis Blair and Yasushi Akashi INTRODUCTION U.S.-Japan Approaches to Democracy Promotion ............................................
    [Show full text]
  • B U R M a B U L L E T
    B U R M A B U L L E T I N ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞A month-in-review of events in Burma∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ A L T E R N A T I V E A S E A N N E T W O R K O N B U R M A campaigns, advocacy & capacity-building for human rights & democracy Issue 20 August 2008 • Fearing a wave of demonstrations commemorating th IN THIS ISSUE the 20 anniversary of the nationwide uprising, the SPDC embarks on a massive crackdown on political KEY STORY activists. The regime arrests 71 activists, including 1 August crackdown eight NLD members, two elected MPs, and three 2 Activists arrested Buddhist monks. 2 Prison sentences • Despite the regime’s crackdown, students, workers, 3 Monks targeted and ordinary citizens across Burma carry out INSIDE BURMA peaceful demonstrations, activities, and acts of 3 8-8-8 Demonstrations defiance against the SPDC to commemorate 8-8-88. 4 Daw Aung San Suu Kyi 4 Cyclone Nargis aid • Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is allowed to meet with her 5 Cyclone camps close lawyer for the first time in five years. She also 5 SPDC aid windfall receives a visit from her doctor. Daw Suu is rumored 5 Floods to have started a hunger strike. 5 More trucks from China • UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma HUMAN RIGHTS 5 Ojea Quintana goes to Burma Tomás Ojea Quintana makes his first visit to the 6 Rape of ethnic women country. The SPDC controls his meeting agenda and restricts his freedom of movement.
    [Show full text]
  • USAID/BURMA MONTHLY ATMOSPHERIC REPORT: May 2019
    USAID/BURMA MONTHLY ATMOSPHERIC REPORT: May 2019 Contract Number: 72048218C00004 Myanmar Analytical Activity Acknowledgement This report has been written by Kimetrica LLC (www.kimetrica.com) and Mekong Economics (www.mekongeconomics.com) as part of the Myanmar Analytical Activity, and is therefore the exclusive property of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Melissa Earl (Kimetrica) is the author of this report and reachable at [email protected] or at Kimetrica LLC, 80 Garden Center, Suite A-368, Broomfield, CO 80020. The author’s views in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. 1 MAY 2019 AT A GLANCE The Tatmadaw extended its unilateral ceasefire in northern and northeastern Myanmar to June 30. The announcement came just after the Tatmadaw met with Northern Alliance members. Most analysts believe the Tatmadaw extended the ceasefire to concentrate on fighting the Arakan Army in Rakhine State. (Page 1) Fighting between the Arakan Army and the Tatmadaw moved further south to Ann Township in Rakhine State. While investment in the state is concentrated in southern Rakhine, fighting in central Rakhine is worrisome for the Government’s plans for development in the state. (Pages 2-4) The Shan State Progress Party (SSPP) and the Restoration Council of Shan State agreed to stop fighting and pursue a peace agreement. (Pages 4-5) The USDP submitted four additional proposals to amend the constitution. The proposed amendments focus on decentralization and will likely be sent to the Constitutional Amendment Committee for review. (Pages 7-8) Three agreements were signed by the Myanmar and Chinese governments following Aung San Suu Kyi’s attendance of the Belt and Road Initiative Forum in Beijing last month.
    [Show full text]
  • Λ L T S E Λ N B U R M a a L T E R N a T I V E a S E a N N E T W O R K O N B U R M a Campaigns, Advocacy & Capacity-Building for Human Rights & Democracy
    Λ L T S E Λ N B U R M A A L T E R N A T I V E A S E A N N E T W O R K O N B U R M A campaigns, advocacy & capacity-building for human rights & democracy SPECIAL REPORT: ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACY? A Summary of Political & Human Rights Developments in Burma September 1 2003 – February 29, 2004 Prepared for the 60th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, March 2004. CONTENTS 2 ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACY? 14 OVERVIEW: HUMAN RIGHTS 3 Context of the Roadmap 15 Arbitrary Detention, Burma’s Youngest 3 Nation-Wide Crackdown Political Prisoner 3 No Justice - No Accountability 16 Miscarriage Of Justice 4 Rise of the Hardliners 16 Update on Depayin Victims 4 Forced Military Training 17 Background: Arbitrary Detentions May 31 – Aug 31, 2003 5 Dissecting the Roadmap 18 Torture 5 ‘Moderate’ vs ‘Hardline’? 18 Extrajudicial Killings & Summary Executions 6 What the Roadmap Guarantees 19 Freedom of Expression 6 Democratisation or Delay Tactic? 19 Religious Intolerance 7 Broken Promises 19 Update on Ethnic Nationality Relations 8 Lessons from the National Convention 1990- 1996 20 Forced Labor 9 SPDC Actions Thus Far to Implement the 21 Forced Relocation & Displacement Roadmap 22 Landmines 9 Bangkok Process - Dialogue with One Side 22 Violence Against Women 10 USDA Plan to Destroy Democratic 23 Child Soldiers Movement 24 Abuse of Economic Rights 10 Ethnic & Pro-Democracy Groups Reject Roadmap 11 NLD: Dialogue or Detente 11 Ethnic Nationalities Seminar’s Common Position 11 Ceasefire Groups: Conditional Support, Misrepresentation 12 Pushed to the Ceasefire Table at Gunpoint 13 Rethinking the Roadmap 13 A Starting Point, Not a Fait Accompli Note: This is an A4-sized version of the Report distributed at the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.
    [Show full text]
  • Title Law and Race in George Orwell Author(S) Kerr, DWF Citation Law
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by HKU Scholars Hub Title Law and Race in George Orwell Author(s) Kerr, DWF Citation Law and Literature, 2017, v. 29 n. 2, p. 311-328 Issued Date 2017 URL http://hdl.handle.net/10722/236400 This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group inLaw and Literature on 08 Nov 2016, available online at: Rights http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1535685X.2016.1246 914; This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. 1 Abstract As Eric Blair, the young George Orwell served in the Indian Imperial Police in Burma from 1922 to 1929, a time of growing Burmese discontent with British rule. He wrote about Burma in a novel, Burmese Days, and a number of non-fictional writings. This essay considers the nature of the law-and-order regime Orwell served in Burma, especially in the light of racial self-interest and Britain’s commitment to the principle of the rule of law, and traces the issues of race and the law to his last novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Keywords Orwell – Burma – rule of law – police – Burmese Days – The Road to Wigan Pier –Nineteen Eighty-Four – British Empire – race Word count: 9529 including notes [email protected] 2 Law and Race in George Orwell Douglas Kerr Hong Kong University In October 1922, less than a year after leaving school, Eric Blair – who would take the name George Orwell ten years later – began his service with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma.
    [Show full text]
  • Shwe U Daung and the Burmese Sherlock Holmes: to Be a Modern Burmese Citizen Living in a Nation‐State, 1889 – 1962
    Shwe U Daung and the Burmese Sherlock Holmes: To be a modern Burmese citizen living in a nation‐state, 1889 – 1962 Yuri Takahashi Southeast Asian Studies School of Languages and Cultures Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences The University of Sydney April 2017 A thesis submitted in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Statement of originality This is to certify that to the best of my knowledge, the content of this thesis is my own work. This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or other purposes. I certify that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work and that all the assistance received in preparing this thesis and sources has been acknowledged. Yuri Takahashi 2 April 2017 CONTENTS page Acknowledgements i Notes vi Abstract vii Figures ix Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Biography Writing as History and Shwe U Daung 20 Chapter 2 A Family after the Fall of Mandalay: Shwe U Daung’s Childhood and School Life 44 Chapter 3 Education, Occupation and Marriage 67 Chapter ‘San Shar the Detective’ and Burmese Society between 1917 and 1930 88 Chapter 5 ‘San Shar the Detective’ and Burmese Society between 1930 and 1945 114 Chapter 6 ‘San Shar the Detective’ and Burmese Society between 1945 and 1962 140 Conclusion 166 Appendix 1 A biography of Shwe U Daung 172 Appendix 2 Translation of Pyone Cho’s Buddhist songs 175 Bibliography 193 i ACKNOWLEGEMENTS I came across Shwe U Daung’s name quite a long time ago in a class on the history of Burmese literature at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 8, Control and Resistance, Attacks on Burmese Opposition Media
    8 Control and Resistance Attacks on Burmese Opposition Media Nart Villeneuve and Masashi Crete-Nishihata Burma is consistently identifi ed by human rights organizations as one of the world ’ s most repressive regimes. Human rights violations occur with regularity, especially in connection with the country ’ s long-standing armed confl ict. The ruling military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), is best known for its political pris- oners and its systematic denial of universal human rights such as freedom of expres- sion. 1 The government ’ s efforts to silence dissent pervade cyberspace and its system of Internet control is one of the most restrictive in Asia. Despite the heavy hand that the regime wields over cyberspace, information com- munication technologies (ICTs) have provided Burmese opposition groups with the means to broadcast their message to the world and challenge the government. The ongoing battle between these two sides makes Burma a stark example of contested Asian cyberspace. The role of ICTs in this struggle can be framed by contrasting theo- ries that view them either as “ liberation technologies ” that can empower grassroots political movements 2 or as tools that authoritarian governments can use to suppress these very same mobilizations. 3 This contestation is dramatically illustrated by the series of protests that erupted across the country in 2007 — in a movement popularly known as the “ Saffron Revolu- tion. ” During these protests, Burmese activists managed to bring the uprising to the world ’ s attention by making images and videos of the demonstrations and subsequent government crackdown available on the Internet. Realizing the potential political impact of these images, the government severed Internet connectivity in the country for nearly two weeks.
    [Show full text]
  • Democratization and Ethnic Conflicts Interlinked? the Case of Burma Alena Fričová
    Democratization and Ethnic Conflicts interlinked? The Case of Burma Alena Fričová Introduction liberalization is threatened. The previous Burma1 is one of the most diverse states in assumption that the move towards the world. With ethnic minorities democracy would be the solution to all of constituting more than one third of the the country’s problems has to be reassessed population, it became very vulnerable to as it seems like the two processes, violent clashes between different ethnic democratization and the spread of internal groups. Before gaining its independence in violence, are interlinked. 1948, ethnic confrontations were often used by the British colonial forces to divide, The aim of this policy paper is to analyse weaken and rule the country. Since then, the relationship between the two ongoing Burma has been almost constantly processes in Burma: the liberalization of destabilized by conflicts between the Burmese society and rising tensions Burmese majority and the country’s ethnic between various ethnic groups leading to minorities. After a military junta violent clashes and destabilization of the consolidated its power and established a country. I claim that there are three ways in dictatorship, the situation stabilized and which ongoing reforms can lead to many ceasefires were set. Most of these destabilization of the country. Firstly, agreements were reached in exchange for relatively fast liberalization of the Burmese promises of greater independence. society is not accompanied by the same However, few of those promises were kept progress in democratization of political in a long run. As a result, with a new institutions. Secondly, liberalization has direction towards democratization, old unleashed a deeply rooted hatred and grievances came to the surface and mistrust that has existed between different unsatisfied ethnic groups gained new tools ethnic groups for almost a century.
    [Show full text]