Sat, Sep. 29th, 2007, 01:26 am
Friday 28th September news roundup

News continues uncheerily. Both the British and Australian ambassadors in Burma, and the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown agree with me that if the official death toll is 9, the actual loss of life must be "far greater". On Thursday and Friday, the protestors have started to return the military's violence, which is a slippery slope. As an ordinary human being I can't blame them - I am not sure that I could face down a tank. But it is easy for the governments of other countries to denounce the violence when it's one-sided, and perhaps harder if the protestors are actually fighting the military.

Spectacularly on Friday, security forces fired on school pupils. As in children. This alarms me for many reasons, most of which I can't articulate. If Burmese soldiers are brainwashed to the point where they can be ordered to fire their weapons at children, they have clearly lost touch with their own humanity and reason. Were I in the military, I'd consider that a criminal order - I cannot see how it is acceptable to fire a gun at unarmed children. It may show that the soldiers are considering themselves as "better" than other people. So it may be very hard to point out the lack of morality of the regime and ask them to join forces with the people.

There were several stories that I consider inspiring nonetheless. After the raids on monasteries on Wednesday & Thursday mornings, local residents decided to take action. When the Army came to raid monasteries on Thursday night, they were forced to withdraw due to people armed with sticks and slingshots. This inspires me, despite the threat of violence, because of the ingenuity shown: "We set up an alert system of banging pots and pans when anyone saw soldiers approaching the monastery, and we prepared ourselves with any available weapons to stop these unholy people from harassing the monks," said a Mandalay resident. And also the way that people of different cultures are coming together against the regime: "There were not only Buddhist people but also Muslims, Christians and Hindus defending the monasteries," said a resident of Tharkayta township.

Meanwhile, many Burmese newspapers have decided to stop publication rather than be forced to print state lies. Again, you see the cleverness of the Burmese people - for rather than telling the government the real reason for their decision, they are blaming the situation for preventing journalists being able to report.

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