How to Create a Democracy
Finally the military rulers of Burma are nearing the end of their regime. Massive non-violent protests lead by Buddhist monks fill the streets of the Burmese capital Rangoon.
We have seen this before. Non-violent protest is the most successful method of revolution in recent times. Revolutions in Serbia, South Africa, Poland, East Germany and India are all examples of this.
I have heard it said that the Asian dictatorships are too ruthless for this sort of revolution to succeed. This is given as the reason why the Tiananmen square protests, and later massacre, did not result in a Chinese democratic revolution or the failure of the Burmese protests in 1988. I believe this view is wrong. When India was fighting for independence from Britain there was more than one massacre. But the protestors did not let fear of death stop them and in 1947 India achieved independence. The same can occur in Burma and in China for that matter.
If the protests continue to get larger in Burma there will be nothing the military rulers can do to stop them. Eventually the will of the soldiers and police will fail and they will join the protests. I just hope the rulers of Burma have the courage to accept the inevitable and make the transition to democracy with no bloodshed.
October 11th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Closing your borders, systematically exterminating all protestors regardless of religious affiliation and dumping their bodies in the jungle is apparently how you stop democracy from forming. My question is where is the uproar? This to me would seem slightly worse then making naked guys on leashes stack in pyramids.
October 12th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Eventually there will be democracy in Burma, I don’t believe this is the end of it. One day there will be a massive protest and the army will fail to stop it.
I think there are many reasons why there has not been greater uproar. I think one reason is China. If there is a revolution in Burma the Chinese leadership probably think a revolution in China is then possible. The leaders of other countries in the world don’t wish to upset China so therefore don’t take appropriate action. Another reason is Burma did exactly what the world expected it to do people aren’t surprised they don’t really care.
I don’t know why the religious communities isn’t more upset. For example the Pope should be on his balcony telling us how disgusted he is with Burma.
Meanwhile we can lobby our government to speak out against Burma with a louder voice.