Burmese
Military Cracks Down On Escalating Protests
By Sujeewa Amaranath
27 September, 2007
WSWS.org
The
military in Burma (Myanmar) unleashed its troops yesterday on unarmed
demonstrators in a bid to stamp out mounting protests against the junta’s
stifling rule, and price rises that have made life for broad layers
of working people unbearable.
A series of clashes took
place in the former capital Rangoon (Yangon) as protestors, including
many Buddhist monks, took to the streets in defiance of the military.
On Tuesday, the junta imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Rangoon and Mandalay,
the country’s second largest city, and banned assemblies of more
than five people. Heavily-armed troops were stationed in key positions,
including outside major monasteries that have become centres of protest.
The state media yesterday
reported that at least one protestor was killed in clashes in Rangoon
between demonstrators and security forces. An unnamed official told
the AFP that three people were dead—one was killed after trying
to seize a soldier’s rifle and two others were beaten to death.
Other reports from individuals and opposition groups indicate that the
toll could be higher. Another 300 people were reportedly arrested.
The clashes began outside
the Shwedagon Pagoda but failed to deter an estimated 10,000 young monks
and students from marching toward the Sule Pagoda in downtown Rangoon.
Hundreds of troops fired warning shots and tear gas then broke up the
protest using batons. Several hundred monks also tried to reach the
house of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, followed by trucks
carrying troops. In Mandalay, an estimated 10,000 people took part in
protests.
The protests have been building
since the junta’s decision on August 15 to suddenly double the
price of diesel and raise the price of natural gas by 500 percent. Within
days, as transport prices jumped, the cost of essential items rose by
between 10 and 50 percent. Eggs, cooking oil and poultry increased by
an average of 35 percent. The regime, which has a monopoly on fuel sales,
had previously subsidised prices.
Initially the marches, which
were organised by students and began on August 19, were quite small.
The protests, however, have continued to swell despite arrests and police
violence. Over the weekend, tens of thousands took part in demonstrations
in Rangoon. On Monday, protests took place in at least 25 cities including
Mandalay, Stitwe and Pakokku. The march in Rangoon was estimated at
between 50,000 and 100,000 people.
The demonstrations are by
far the largest since 1988 when huge protests involving students, workers,
monks, and the urban and rural poor challenged the military dictatorship,
demanding democratic rights and improved living standards. The army
responded by gunning down hundreds of protesters, jailing opposition
leaders and suppressing any form of political opposition. An estimated
3,000 people were killed by the military and many more were detained
and tortured.
Speaking over state radio
on Monday night, the junta’s religious affairs minister, Brigadier
General Thura Myint Maung, denounced the “destructive elements”
behind the protests and warned “actions will be taken against
the monks according to the law”. On Tuesday, police arrested U
Win Naing, a senior leader of Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy
(NLD) and Zaganar, a popular comedian who is known for satirising the
regime. Zaganar had appealed for people to join the protests. Yesterday
the crackdown intensified.
The international media has
highlighted the role of Buddhist monks in the current protests. Their
prominence, however, is a function of the timidity and conservatism
of Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders, who appear to have been caught off
guard by the demonstrations. Far from seeking to challenge the junta,
the NLD is seeking to limit the protests and exploit them as a bargaining
chip to establish negotiations with the generals.
The British-based Times noted
yesterday: “Opposition leaders in Rangoon are struggling to contain
the energy of the demonstrations to prevent anything that could be used
as a pretext for a crackdown by the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC), as the junta calls itself. They fear a split between radicals,
who want to bring down the regime, and moderates, who believe that the
most important thing is to avoid frightening off ordinary Burmese and
bring them out in an overwhelming display of moral authority.”
NLD leader Sann Aung told
the Times: “There should be no agitation to topple the military
regime. It will make people much more wary of a military response and
people will become reluctant to join the movement.” The newspaper
also pointed to the limited character of the demands made by senior
monks: an apology for abuse by the regime, a reduction in fuel prices,
the release of political prisoners and political dialogue with the junta.
These appeals for restraint
are, however, opening the door for further military repression. By confining
the anger of ordinary working people, the opposition leaders will only
embolden the generals to go on the offensive against the protests. That
is the central political lesson of the events of 1988, when Suu Kyi
and the NLD struck a deal with the junta to hold elections and shut
down the protest movement. The junta seized the deal with both hands,
stabilised their rule and then ignored the outcome of the 1990 poll,
in which the NLD won an overwhelming majority.
For nearly two decades, the
NLD’s perspective has been confined to using the pressure of sanctions
imposed by the major powers to reach a compromise with the junta. As
for its professions of concern for the Burmese population, the NLD supports
the IMF and World Bank’s free market policies of opening up the
country to foreign investors. The social consequences are evident in
the junta’s slashing of fuel subsidies last month, entirely in
line with this agenda.
Even before the latest price
rises, inflation was running at more than 30 percent and 90 percent
of the population lived below the poverty line of $US1 a day. The 450,000-strong
army accounts for 40 percent of the annual national budget. An unemployed
economics graduate told the Sydney Morning Herald: “Many people
can no longer afford to send their children to school. They’re
down to one meal a day, it’s that bad. As a result many are malnourished
and they’re falling ill. But then they can’t even find the
money for medical bills. Sure, we had difficulties before, but the price
rises broke the camel’s back. Living standards have gone down
and down. The middle classes have become poor, and the poor have become
destitute.”
International rivalries
The military crackdown has
produced an outpouring of hypocrisy from world leaders, led by President
Bush, and in the international media. Speaking at the UN General Assembly
on Tuesday, Bush condemned the Burmese junta and announced the imposition
of new sanctions against individual leaders. British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown denounced the regime as “illegitimate and repressive”
while French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged the EU to impose tougher
penalties against the junta. An emergency meeting of the UN Security
Council was convened behind closed doors yesterday to consider the situation.
None of this has anything
to do with concern for the Burmese people and their rights. Elsewhere
in South Asia, the Bush administration maintains the closest of relations
with the Pakistani military dictator General Pervez Musharraf and keeps
a diplomatic silence on India’s police-state measures in Kashmir,
the repressive activities of the military-backed regime in Bangladesh
and the autocratic methods of the Sri Lankan government as it wages
a vicious communal civil war.
Washington’s objection
to the Burmese junta is not its repressive methods, but its close alignment
with China. Burma is strategically situated between China and India,
next to South East Asia and close to key shipping lanes, in particular
the Malacca Straits. The country also has significant natural resources,
including an estimated 3 trillion cubic metres of natural gas and 3
billion barrels of crude oil.
For Beijing, Burma is an
important strategic and economic partner. China provides weapons and
diplomatic support to the military and is involved in developing the
country’s infrastructure. In return, Beijing is seeking rights
over the country’s oil and gas as well as strategic access to
Burmese ports and military bases. During the first seven months of this
year, China-Burmese trade reached $US1.1 billion, up 39.4 percent compared
to the same period last year.
At the same time, there is
growing rivalry for influence in Burma between China and India. High-level
visits by Indian officials have been on the rise, two-way trade is increasing
and India has provided loans and aid to the junta in a bid to win favour.
In 2004, junta leader Than Shwe was given the red carpet treatment when
he became the first Burmese head of state to visit India in 24 years.
This year Indian oil company ONGC made a bid to buy Burmese gas, but
lost out last month to Petro-China. Thailand is also investing in a
huge $6 billion hydroelectricity project.
The steady stream of articles,
particularly in the US, insinuating that China is to blame for the Burmese
junta and demanding action from Beijing, is not matched by similar comments
about India, an increasingly close US ally, or Thailand, another military
dictatorship, which enjoys tacit US backing. The Bush administration’s
calls for “democracy” in Burma are a pretext to press for
the installation of a pro-US regime.
The US administration is
no more concerned about democratic rights and the plight of the population
in Burma, than it is in Iraq. As far as Washington is concerned, the
ousting of the Burmese junta is an element of a broader US strategy
of encircling China, which is emerging as a key strategic and economic
competitor, as well as gaining access for American corporations to Burma’s
natural resources and cheap labour.
Leave
A Comment
&
Share Your Insights
Comment
Policy
Digg
it! And spread the word!
Here is a unique chance to help this article to be read by thousands
of people more. You just Digg it, and it will appear in the home page
of Digg.com and thousands more will read it. Digg is nothing but an
vote, the article with most votes will go to the top of the page. So,
as you read just give a digg and help thousands more to read this article.