The tensest of times in Burma

The political landscape in the Golden Land, fragile and tense at the best of time, has become more unstable than at any time since the 1988 uprisings which led to the (never honored) most recent national elections. The story is this:

Back in mid-August, the benevolent SPDC (State Peace and Development Committee - the polite name for the fascist thugs and drug dealers who comprise the military junta which essentially owns the country) decided it would be a good idea to raise the heavily-subsidized price of fuel by about 100%. Like most fascist thugs and drug dealers who happen to own entire countries, the SPDC "generals" are completely tone-deaf and out of touch with reality, so they didn't foresee their decision becoming an enormous sore spot for the population.

It did.

Protests by activists and members of the opposition party, the NLD, started almost immediately. The military, yawning, dispersed most of the protests with tear gas and violence, then started arresting the usual suspects; the same tactics used to smash protests of all sorts for the past 20 years.

But, this time, the protests didn't stop.

This time, some regular people began joining the protests. Not many, but some.

And then the Buddhist monks joined in. Not some, but many.

The protests continue, daily, and will likely continue for a while. The monks are saying they'll keep protesting until they have "wiped the military dictatorship from the land of Burma".

Like I said, a while.

This is unprecedented.

Protests in the past have usually been small affairs comprised of known activists and NLD members. They've been simple for the junta to stop. A few gas grenades to clear the streets, then a night or two worth of kicking in doors and clamping irons on activists' wrists, and voila, the protests end.

Monks are not so easily swept aside. Monks are revered by the populace and, its worth noting, the rank-and-file of the conscript army. Door kicking at monasteries and iron clamping on monk wrists will not be tolerated by the average U and Than on Rangoon streets. The thugs in the jungle capital of Pyinmana are afraid of the monks.

This one might (MIGHT!) be different.

What can you do to help? Write your elected representative, write to the UN (stop laughing first), maybe the most effective step: Go to freeburma.org and join. It's not much, but it all counts.