100,000 monks/citizens protest military junta in Myanmar

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

"BANGKOK -- Savvy young bloggers in Myanmar are breaking through the military junta's tight Internet controls to post photos and videos of swelling anti-government protests, experts said Tuesday.

The government blocks almost every website that carries news or information about the Southeast Asian country, and even bars access to web-based email. But an army of young techies in Yangon works around the clock to circumvent the censors, posting pictures and videos on blogs almost as soon as the protests happen."







"Several thousand Burmese monks and other protesters have begun new marches in Rangoon despite a bloody crackdown by police at the city's holiest shrine. Police beat and arrested demonstrators at Shwedagon Pagoda and warning shots were fired at another site as a ninth day of marching got under way. One march started for the city centre while another headed for the home of opposition head Aung San Suu Kyi. Police and troops are surrounding key Buddhist sites around the city. Analysts fear a repeat of the violence in 1988, when troops opened fire on unarmed protesters, killing thousands."

"Burmese military junta on Tuesday bans gathering of more than five people in a place and declares curfew in two major cities Rangoon and Mandalay, according to a police source in Rangoon.

Under the new restriction, which is announced late Tuesday, the authorities will declare unlawful association if more than five people gathers in a group and that will empower the authorities to arrest the protestors or at the least they be taken for interrogation, the source told Mizzima."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myanmar...nomic_protests
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi

[john voight]

I believe Myanmar has the worlds lowest human rights. Meaning, you have more freedom in Afghanistan, or Chad.

[freck]

There's been a fair few casualties, and at least one death, reported today as well. I hope this doesn't kick off as badly as it did before.
bbc report

[BigPoppa]

[ QUOTE ]
Dominic: What do you think's going to happen?
Finch: What usually happens when people without guns stand up to people with guns.



[/ QUOTE ]
- V for Vendetta



edit: Please call it Burma. When you seize power through force and keep it through murder and intimidation, no one has to play along when you decide to rename the place.

[RoundTower]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Dominic: What do you think's going to happen?
Finch: What usually happens when people without guns stand up to people with guns.



[/ QUOTE ]
- V for Vendetta



edit: Please call it Burma. When you seize power through force and keep it through murder and intimidation, no one has to play along when you decide to rename the place.

[/ QUOTE ]
so the English colonists should never have been able to name it Burma, and it has been Myanmar all along?

[BigPoppa]

Actually, the Burmese call it Burma too (or that's what I've been told).


"Myanmar" is a way for the dominant ethnic group to claim the whole country (kinda like renaming all of Great Britain England and telling the Scots and Welsh to stick it). That was never the name for the entire country, just one part of it.

[WhoIam]

[ QUOTE ]
Actually, the Burmese call it Burma too (or that's what I've been told).


"Myanmar" is a way for the dominant ethnic group to claim the whole country (kinda like renaming all of Great Britain England and telling the Scots and Welsh to stick it). That was never the name for the entire country, just one part of it.

[/ QUOTE ]
You have this backwards. From wiki: [ QUOTE ]
The Bamar also called Burman), are the dominant ethnic group of Myanmar, constituting approximately 68% (30,000,000) of the population...The Bamar are frequently called simply Burmese, but this term is ambiguous as it can also refer to a citizen of Myanmar who belongs to a different ethnic group (Karen, Shan, Kachin, Mon, etc.). The military junta uses the term "Myanmar" to describe persons of all ethnic backgrounds in Myanmar.

[/ QUOTE ]
edit: Your critique is more appropriate for Thailand and Laos where the citizens are primarily ethnic Thai and Lao respectively despite large minorities in both countries.

[BigPoppa]

OK, I stand corrected.
I thought I'd read in The Economist or somewhere that they changed it to Myanmar as a way of pandering to the dominant ethnic group.

[BigPoppa]

Soldiers Open Fire

[ QUOTE ]
Soldiers fired automatic weapons into a crowd of anti-government protesters Thursday as tens of thousands defied the ruling military junta's crackdown with a 10th straight day of demonstrations.



A Japanese Foreign Ministry official told The Associated Press that several people, including a Japanese national, were found dead following Thursday's protests.



[/ QUOTE ]

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]