My friend Jed Greer was among the 18 activists arrested in Burma last week for passing out pro-democracy pamphlets. I got a call from our friend Kenny right after the arrest and kept a worried eye on the phone and the e-mail until Friday, when I heard Jed and his colleagues has been released.
Proximity lends value to news. Because it was my friend Jed that was under arrest, I was intensely interested in reading anything I could about the situation. Because Jed and five other activists are American, their detention in Burma ignited headlines in the U.S. I’m as susceptible to the proximity bug as newspaper editors, but the news in Burma goes far beyond the fate of a few Americans.
Burma has been under military rule since 1962. The rulers, who call themselves the State Law and Order Restoration Council – or SLORC – have changed Burma’s official name to Myanmar. Civil liberties as we know them are non-existent. Dissidents are routinely imprisoned, tortured and executed.
Elections were held in 1990 and were won by a coalition led by the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. The SLORC quickly voided the election results and Suu Kyi, already under house arrest, remained there for six years. When she was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, she was unable to leave confinement to accept. Although Suu Kyi is no longer under house arrest, her movements are restricted and as I speak, she is confronting the SLORC over her right to be politically active.
The universities of Burma have been closed since 1996, AIDS is rampant, public health services are a myth. The SLORC government is working hand in hand with multinational corporations like ARCO, Unocal and Mitsubishi to pillage the land for oil and hardwood trees. Heroin is another major export.
All of this continues. It is rarely, if ever, mentioned in the western press. If the people of Burma have any hope, it lies in the west and it requires the attention of the western press. There has been some progress. Because of people like Jed Greer and his colleagues, companies such as Pepsi and Texaco, Heineken and Amoco, Eddie Bauer and Macy’s no longer do business with Burma. But Burma is not yet free.
In a speech smuggled out to the west, Aung San Suu Kyi appealed to westerners for help. Use your liberty to obtain liberty for Burma, she wrote. According to the news reports, that speech was the inspiration for Jed and his colleagues. Like the Freedom Riders who rode buses to integrate the south in the 1960s, it was hoped that the activists would be protected by their foreign passports. Their action was slight – they passed out small cards, telling the Burmese people they are not forgotten and encouraging them to keep hope alive.
The activists were successful, because in the odd world of news, the four-day detention of six Americans is more worth reporting than a nation enduring decades of agony and repression.
One news story – in the Washington Post – took pains to portray the American activists as naive young students, in over their heads. It’s not surprising that the Post, the public voice of Washington, fails to recognize true political courage and conviction.
I cannot imagine anyone less naive than Jed Greer. He is sober and serious, thoughtful and methodical. Knowing Jed as I do, I know he understood full well what he and his colleagues were getting into. He would make sure they understood, too.
Jed and the others knew what they were facing in Burma. They also knew what they had a chance of achieving. They focused the eyes of the world – however briefly – on Burma. They gave the Burmese people cause for hope and perhaps the energy for the struggle to reclaim their country.
Burmese Days
My friend Jed Greer was among the 18 activists arrested in Burma last week for passing out pro-democracy pamphlets. I got a call from our friend Kenny right after the arrest and kept a worried eye on the phone and the e-mail until Friday, when I heard Jed and his colleagues has been released.
Proximity lends value to news. Because it was my friend Jed that was under arrest, I was intensely interested in reading anything I could about the situation. Because Jed and five other activists are American, their detention in Burma ignited headlines in the U.S. I’m as susceptible to the proximity bug as newspaper editors, but the news in Burma goes far beyond the fate of a few Americans.
Burma has been under military rule since 1962. The rulers, who call themselves the State Law and Order Restoration Council – or SLORC – have changed Burma’s official name to Myanmar. Civil liberties as we know them are non-existent. Dissidents are routinely imprisoned, tortured and executed.
Elections were held in 1990 and were won by a coalition led by the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. The SLORC quickly voided the election results and Suu Kyi, already under house arrest, remained there for six years. When she was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, she was unable to leave confinement to accept. Although Suu Kyi is no longer under house arrest, her movements are restricted and as I speak, she is confronting the SLORC over her right to be politically active.
The universities of Burma have been closed since 1996, AIDS is rampant, public health services are a myth. The SLORC government is working hand in hand with multinational corporations like ARCO, Unocal and Mitsubishi to pillage the land for oil and hardwood trees. Heroin is another major export.
All of this continues. It is rarely, if ever, mentioned in the western press. If the people of Burma have any hope, it lies in the west and it requires the attention of the western press. There has been some progress. Because of people like Jed Greer and his colleagues, companies such as Pepsi and Texaco, Heineken and Amoco, Eddie Bauer and Macy’s no longer do business with Burma. But Burma is not yet free.
In a speech smuggled out to the west, Aung San Suu Kyi appealed to westerners for help. Use your liberty to obtain liberty for Burma, she wrote. According to the news reports, that speech was the inspiration for Jed and his colleagues. Like the Freedom Riders who rode buses to integrate the south in the 1960s, it was hoped that the activists would be protected by their foreign passports. Their action was slight – they passed out small cards, telling the Burmese people they are not forgotten and encouraging them to keep hope alive.
The activists were successful, because in the odd world of news, the four-day detention of six Americans is more worth reporting than a nation enduring decades of agony and repression.
One news story – in the Washington Post – took pains to portray the American activists as naive young students, in over their heads. It’s not surprising that the Post, the public voice of Washington, fails to recognize true political courage and conviction.
I cannot imagine anyone less naive than Jed Greer. He is sober and serious, thoughtful and methodical. Knowing Jed as I do, I know he understood full well what he and his colleagues were getting into. He would make sure they understood, too.
Jed and the others knew what they were facing in Burma. They also knew what they had a chance of achieving. They focused the eyes of the world – however briefly – on Burma. They gave the Burmese people cause for hope and perhaps the energy for the struggle to reclaim their country.
I see nothing naive about that.