Yesterday, after several days of protests led by Buddhist monks, the military junta in Burma cracked down. They fired into a crowd of protesters, killing five and injuring several. They instituted a curfew and banned gatherings of more than five people.
Undaunted, the protests continued today. So far, another eight demonstrators and a Japanese reporter have been killed. [Source]
How brave the monks are to face down death, to see fellow marchers shot and killed and be threatened with the same and march back out the next day. Here in the U.S., where beatings and pepper spray are common at protests, we still have the luxury of knowing that we probably won’t be killed. Would we march out under the same threat, if things got so bad?
A Facebook group is calling on people to wear red tomorrow in support of the monks in Burma. In addition, they’re also asking people to email or write companies from their county that still deal with Burma. Contact information is listed at The Burma Campaign.
I would also suggest anyone in the U.S. write to their elected representatives (you can find them at Congress.org by entering your zip code), the Embassy of the Union of Myanmar, and the U.S. embassy to Myanmar to tell them why you are wearing red, that you support the monks and protesters like Aung San Suu Kyi, and ask them to take a firm stance against the actions of the military junta (or, in the case of the Burmese embassy to the U.S., to forward your statement of support to the military junta).
EDIT: Bfp at Women of Color Blog and ExpatJane at Where the Hell Am I? have more information, videos and links, if you need more details. And ExpatJane linked to this list of Myanmar bloggers.
