Clipmarks | invictus's Democracy collection

Myanmar's fascist junta extends Suu Kyi house arrest

Tue, 27 May 2008 21:38:47 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Those who showed their incompetence to aid the cyclone victims, proving their determinism to oppress Myanmar people. If this knave, filthy junta still holds the power and dares to extend Suu Kyi's arrest arrogantly, only one thing can be said: Shame on the world.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's junta extended the house arrest of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday, a move that dismayed some of the Western nations who promised millions of dollars in aid after Cyclone Nargis.

Officials drove to the Nobel laureate's lakeside Yangon home to read out an extension order in person, said a government official, who asked not to be identified.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who just returned to New York from a weeklong aid mission in Myanmar, expressed disappointment but refrained from sharp criticism.

"I regret the decision of the government of Myanmar to extend for a second consecutive year the detention and the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi," Ban said.

The 62-year-old Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party won a 1990 election by a landslide only to be denied power by the army, has now spent nearly 13 of the last 18 years under some form of arrest.

Tags: myanmar, aung san suu kyi, fascism, asia, junta

Stop Arming Israel and Saudi Arabia

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 21:34:46 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: mrzine.monthlyreview.org

Bush's renewed arming of Saudi Arabia and Israel forces the issue. But we can turn his scheme against him and the Democrats, equally guilty of such outrages. The old saying is "a mountain only stands out because of the flatness of the surrounding ground." They have gotten away with their crimes because no movement focused on confronting our educated with the complete range of their international religious demagoguery. They built European Christian Democratic parties against Stalinism, patronized the creation of an Orthodox Jewish state, organized an Islamic front on the Soviet Union's borders, culminating with the arming of such terrorists against the pro-Soviet regime in Afghanistan.

If we resolutely challenge Bush now, we can generate enough discussion of the potentially disastrous consequences of the deal that, even if we can't stop Congress from funding it, we can continue, confident that we will convince enough people in reasonable time.

Tags: united states, bush administration, israel, saudi arabia, hypocrisy

Turkey moves to change speech law

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:04:35 GMT

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Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Opponents of Article 301 say the law does not allow free speech

The Turkish government says it will change a controversial law restricting freedom of expression.

Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said a new bill would be put before the Turkish parliament in the coming days.

The law, known as Article 301, bans perceived insults to Turkish identity or the country's institutions.

It has often been invoked by nationalists against those who argue the Ottoman empire committed genocide against Armenians.

"Several drafts have been prepared in line with proposals by civic groups. The cabinet will discuss them at first opportunity, select one and submit it to parliament," Mr Sahin told Anatolia news agency.

He did not give details of how the law would be reformed.

Nobel-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk and Turkish-Armenian writer Hrant Dink were both prosecuted under the law for their comments on the mass killings of Armenians.

Tags: turkey, free speech, democracy, freedom of expression

Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:37:07 GMT

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Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Benazir Bhutto made a dramatic return to Pakistan on Thursday, ending eight years of exile to launch an ambitious political comeback, as tens of thousands of supporters gathered to greet her amid massive security.

Bhutto, who is expected to seek the premiership for an unprecedented third time and partner in ruling Pakistan with U.S.-backed President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, was in tears as she descended the steps of a commercial flight that brought her from Dubai to Karachi, where jubilant crowds of flag-waving, drum-thumping supporters waited to give her a rousing welcome.

"I counted the hours, I counted the minutes and the seconds, just to see this land, to see the grass, to see the sky. I feel so emotionally overwhelmed," said Bhutto, who wore a white headscarf and clutched prayer beads in her right hand.

"And I hope that I can live up to the great expectations which people here have," she said.

Tags: benazir bhutto, pakistan, asia

Key activists arrested in Burma

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 16:00:35 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Htay Kywe has been in hiding since the crackdown

Burma's military rulers have arrested three of the last remaining leaders of the recent pro-democracy protests which were violently suppressed.

Among those detained was Htay Kywe, who led some of the first marches and was a prominent activist in a 1988 uprising.

The arrests came as thousands attended a pro-government rally in Rangoon, many of them apparently under duress.

The arrests are going on, despite assurances given by the authorities to the UN

Daniel Alberman, Amnesty International

Following the latest arrests, few, if any, leaders of the 1988 generation of former student activists are thought to remain at large.

Other leaders detained overnight included Thin Thin Aye, also known as Mie Mie, and Aung Htoo, according to human rights group Amnesty International.

Amnesty fears the detainees are at risk of torture and ill treatment.

Tags: burma, myanmar, asia, democracy, human rights

Burma, Chevron, slave labor, Rice and more

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 02:51:21 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks:

The pipeline was built with slave labor, forced into servitude by the Burmese military. The original pipeline partner, Unocal, was sued by EarthRights International for the use of slave labor. As soon as the suit was settled out of court, Chevron bought Unocal.

Chevron’s role in propping up the brutal regime in Burma is clear. Rice served on the Chevron board of directors for a decade. She even had a Chevron oil tanker named after her. While she served on the board, Chevron was sued for involvement in the killing of nonviolent protesters in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Like the Burmese, Nigerians suffer political repression and pollution where oil and gas are extracted and they live in dire poverty. The protests in Burma were actually triggered by a government-imposed increase in fuel prices.

Clip Source: www.zmag.org

The Bush administration is making headlines with its strong language against the Burmese regime. President Bush declared increased sanctions in his U.N. General Assembly speech. First lady Laura Bush has come out with perhaps the strongest statements.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, at the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said, “The United States is determined to keep an international focus on the travesty that is taking place.” Keeping an international focus is essential, but should not distract from one of the most powerful supporters of the junta, one that is much closer to home. Rice knows it well: Chevron.

Fueling the military junta that has ruled for decades are Burma’s natural gas reserves, controlled by the Burmese regime in partnership with the U.S. multinational oil giant Chevron, the French oil company Total and a Thai oil firm.

The pipeline was built with slave labor, forced into servitude by the Burmese military.

Tags: burma, chevron, capitalism, condoleezza rice, imperialism, hypocrisy

Global Hypocrisy on Burma

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 02:59:03 GMT

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clipper's remarks:

As for the Burmese people themselves what the world’s wilful impotence in dealing with their brutal rulers indicates is that ultimately they will have to achieve democratic rule in Burma entirely on their own strength.

The people of the world will of course support them in whatever way they can but to expect governments around the globe to help topple the Burmese military regime is as unrealistic as asking the regime to step down on its own. There is no option but to keep the struggle going.

Clip Source: www.zmag.org

As the Burmese military brutally cracks down on a popular uprising of its citizens demanding democracy the question on many minds is – so what is the world going to do about it?

From the trend visible so far the answer is simple- nothing at all.

Nothing, that is, beyond the usual condemnations and pious appeals for ‘peaceful dialogue’ and the posturing at international forums in support of the Burmese people.

It is not that nothing can be done at all – to begin with, how about kicking the illegitimate military regime out of the UN seat it continues to occupy and replacing it with the country’s elected government-in-exile? Why should Burma continue to be a member of ASEAN or for that matter, by default, also of the Asia-Europe Meeting or ASEM?

The answers to these elementary questions are quite elementary too- it is Burma’s abundant natural resources and investment opportunities that really matter.

Tags: burma, myanmar, world, hypocrisy

Suu Kyi’s Unhappy Face

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 02:48:04 GMT

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Clip Source: www.irrawaddy.org

UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari’s four-day shuttle diplomacy between Burma’s top generals and the country’s detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi concluded on Tuesday.

Several of the photographs of the special envoy’s meeting with Suu Kyi appeared in the international media. In some of the photographs, her face expressed grave unhappiness and sent a clear message to the world community: the generals' crack down on the Buddhist monks’ peaceful demonstrations prove UN action on Burma is urgently needed.

Unfortunately, the body has no power to help the oppressed people of Burma by sending a mission to investigate the regime’s brutal killings, as requested by more than 200 human rights and civil society organizations in 17 countries.

How long will the civilized world ignore the notorious generals' slaughter of innocent people?

Many people now believe that democracy will come only with the sacrifice of tens of thousands of lives.

Tags: burma, myanmar, aung san suu kyi

Burma: Raiding homes in the darkness

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 00:02:00 GMT

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Clip Source: www.irrawaddy.org

In the dead of night, Burma's security forces are hunting down pro-democracy protesters in Rangoon, checking on residents and pulling people out of their homes.

Residents say military trucks patrol neighborhood streets during the night with loudspeakers broadcasting warnings: "We have photographs. We are going to make arrests!"

In Burma, figures on the number of dead, injured, disappeared or arrested varying widely depending on who is reporting the numbers.

While the official government figure for dead and injured demonstrators in Rangoon is 10 dead and 11 injured, two leading advocacy groups say the number of dead nationwide is probably at least 130 and people imprisoned during the course of the protests could exceed 3,000.

The opposition group said at least 2,000 people—including 135 women and nuns; 80 elderly monks and 50 novice monks believed to be age 5 to10—are detained in a windowless building on the campus of the Government Technical Institute in Insein Township in Rangoon alone.

Tags: burma, myanmar, democracy, human rights

Where are Myanmar's monks?

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 23:49:34 GMT

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Clip Source: www.buddhistchannel.tv

After paying a heavy price for their uprising, Myanmar's monks are nursing their wounds and hoping for international action against the military junta that crushed their peaceful protests with bullets and tear gas.

A new estimate by a well-connected dissident group has concluded that 138 people were killed and about 6,000 detained, including about 2,400 Buddhist monks, when the regime smashed the anti-government protests last week.

Those numbers were issued by the Democratic Voice of Burma, a dissident news group based in Norway with close ties to pro-democracy activists.

The monks' strategy seems to be based on a faith that the world will take action against the regime that showed its brutality in the crackdown last week. But early signs suggest that the junta will escape any serious consequences from key neighbouring states.

Tags: myanmar, burma, buddhist monks, democracy

Monks keep up protests from prison

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 23:44:09 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Thanks to Sahara for the source link.

Clip Source: www.buddhistchannel.tv

Even in a makeshift prison, stripped of their crimson robes, Myanmar's monks are still defying the orders of the military regime that smashed their protests last week.

Many of the imprisoned monks are refusing to touch food from their military captors, symbolically maintaining their boycott of the Myanmar regime, according to reports emerging yesterday from unofficial sources in the isolated country.

Tags: burma, myanmar, buddhist monks, resistance, democracy

More arrests in Burma

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:45:40 GMT

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Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Myanmar's junta arrested more people on Wednesday hours after the departure of a U.N. envoy who came to the country to try to end a ruthless crackdown on protests which sparked international outrage.

At least eight truckloads of prisoners were hauled out of downtown Yangon, the former Burma's biggest city and center of last week's monk-led protests against decades of military rule and deepening economic hardship, witnesses said.

In one house near the Shwedagon Pagoda, the holiest shrine in the devoutly Buddhist country and starting point for the rallies, only a 13-year-old girl remained. Her parents had been taken, she said.

"They warned us not to run away as they might be back," she said after people from rows of shop houses were ordered onto the street in the middle of the night and many taken away.

Tags: burma, myanmar, asia, democracy, human rights, junta

Monks to be sent to prisons in Burma

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 23:14:14 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Myanmar dictatorship tries to curb the resistance by pushing the oppression further. Now monks, disrobed and shackled, will be sent to prisons, according to rumours.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Monks are absent, but people in Rangoon are going about their lives

Thousands of monks detained in Burma's main city of Rangoon will be sent to prisons in the far north of the country, sources have told the BBC.

About 4,000 monks have been rounded up in the past week as the military government has tried to stamp out pro-democracy protests.

They are being held at a disused race course and a technical college.

Sources from a government-sponsored militia said they would soon be moved away from Rangoon.

The monks have been disrobed and shackled, the sources told BBC radio's Burmese service. There are reports that the monks are refusing to eat.

Tags: burma, myanmar, monks, resistance, oppression, asia, human rights, democracy

Burma's struggle, Aung San Suu Kyi's role

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 03:21:37 GMT

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Clip Source: www.opendemocracy.net

Since the terrible events of “8-8-88”, millions of Burma's people have endured continuing repression, suffering, hunger and hardship under a pitiless dictatorship. But if they do not give in to the temptation of despair, much of the reason lies in the fortitude and constancy of Aung San Suu Kyi herself, who in surviving three periods of house arrest (of which the current one is the most severe and isolating) has proved herself an inspiration to her people.

Daw Suu (Daw = “auntie” in Burmese, a prefix of respect for a mature lady) is the daughter of independence hero Aung San and the recipient of the Nobel peace prize in 1991. Today, she will not be able to join her friends and colleagues to mark this melancholy anniversary. But in her Rangoon confinement, she must know that all Burmese who care for their country's freedom and future are connected to each other partly through the living presence of The Lady.

Tags: aung san suu kyi, burma, democracy, freedom

What next for Burma's generals?

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 02:22:59 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: An analysis of the situation in Burma & comparison with former Suharto regime in Indonesia.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

These protests echo unrest in 1988, also sparked by economic woes

Will Burma's military rulers listen to the endless pleas for restraint and dialogue? Could the regime crumble under the weight of popular anger, or through splits in the ranks of the armed forces?

Or will they succeed in terrorising the population into submission again through mass killings, as they did in 1988?

We simply do not know which of these scenarios is more plausible, because it is impossible to know the thinking of the tight clique of generals who run the country.

But there are "end-of-regime" scenarios we can look at in other countries; specifically Indonesia, a fellow member of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean).

Tags: burma, myanmar, democracy, junta, indonesia