As Marx rightly pointed out, the oppressed will be allowed in November ‘to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them in parliament’. Most people will vote in the hope of breaking free from prolonged social and economic ills. Yet, election under the 2008 constitution is the opium of the people simply fostering a culture of false hopes among the oppressed. Over the past… Read More »
Crisis? What Crisis? As Cyclone Komen wreaked havoc and continues to cause countrywide inundation and devastation, the nominally civilian government is once again found wanting in coming immediately to the rescue with emergency services and vital assistance, even by their own admission.[1][2][3][4] Into the breach stepped in local volunteers and civil society groups mustering resources – funds, personnel and material help of essential supplies and food.[5] The Hand of God… Read More »
Many of us will agree that the students won a moral victory at Letpadan on Tuesday. The message “Students won” went viral in social media, and people know exactly what that means. [1] For the recidivist regime however it will yet prove to be a Pyrrhic victory. Their stock (built up in the last few years by deception) has plummeted in the eyes of both the peoples of Burma and… Read More »
To borrow the opening line from the Communist Manifesto a spectre is haunting the ruling military clique in Burma – the spectre of communism. No sooner did the students’ boycott and protest march from Mandalay to Rangoon start to gain popular support and momentum than the generals (smug in their confident intransigent position over the new education law, completely out of touch and unpopular with the very people in the… Read More »
One hears a lot these days about how the Burmese lack discipline and therefore are not fit for democracy. This is rather reminiscent of Winston Churchill’s famed wisdom in his considered opinion that the Burmese were not ready for independence at the end of the Second World War. Those who have no wish to grant us freedom or democracy have the same thing to say, naturally. Only it is not… Read More »
Recent allegations in social media about the leadership of the ABFSU being in the hands of a “couple of commies” should come as no surprise to most people. [1] We have been there before so many times, and the finger pointing will return on every such occasion. One infamous example was Aung Gyi’s accusation that Daw Suu was surrounded by communists in 1988 despite a contingent of ex-army commanders like himself among her… Read More »
If people believe all that is going on in Burma today has very little connection to the wider world but that it is purely a domestic phenomenon the way things have evolved, they cannot be more wrong. Ever since the opening up of the country post-Myitsone and Daw Suu’s release, Burmese society has enjoyed ever increasing outside contact, now with the West as well as the East… for better or for worse as… Read More »