The nonviolence fight with a strong hope, but they need our support
By Claus Kiaer
More than 20 years ago I was attempting traveling to Myanmar for the first time. For 8 years I tried to get a visa until I succeeded in 2009. My first trip coincided with an opening for democratic opportunities in Myanmar. The trip took place in August 2009. There was a lot of international attention because at that time there was a lawsuit running against Aung San Sui Kyi.
I had a lot of worries and many considerations before my departure. “What could I ask the people?” “Would I be monitored”. “Could I mentally and emotionally cope with the trip”.
All my western worries and ignorance about the condition for the Myanmar people were put to shame when I entered the car where my tour guide was waiting for me. He greeted me with the following words: “Hi my name is Eric and now I will tell you how the situation is in this country”. His mind and heart were open and his smile and laughing were as the best symphony of life.
From that moment I was completely surrendered to this beautiful country and its people. My journey lasted 3 weeks and along the way I met a human warmth and affection that at this point I had never experienced before in my life. Every day I met people with whom I had been their best friend all their life and this without my full realization of this fact.
That’s why my heart is committed to helping my friends from Myanmar.
Once again these beautiful people are subject to the same oppression that has plagued them for more than 50 years. Since February 1st, the military regime has by brutal means executed, murdered, raped and tortured. All this takes place on the street or in people’s homes.
Houses, shops, and villages have been set on fire. Planes have dropped bombs. Cars, rickshaws, and surveillance cameras have been destroyed.
More than 600 have died. Thousands have been imprisoned and far too many have disappeared without their families and friends knowing where they are.
I have received photos and video from my friends who brutally tell me what is happening.
Unfortunately, the international community has done nothing but condemn the situation, as I and a lot of other world citizens also have done.
We know the story of 9/11 where there were no problems for the United States and allies illegally attacking and occupying Iraq and with explanations that it was to protect the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein’s oppression. We know the stories of Arab men attacking an editorial office in Paris and immediately in all the mass media, was terrorism became a clear statement against the attackers and to for the world population.
What has been going on for 2 months in Myanmar, and what will continue for a long time to come is “state terrorism”.
Almost all countries in the world are committed to complying with UN Human Rights. Conventions have been created to protect the civilian population. There are international action programs that can be legally launched when a people and / or minority is subjected to persecution and extermination.
Myanmar as a country is a minority compared to the rest of the world and must therefore be protected.
When the world’s powerful leaders and organizations do not help, it can only be due to the fact that the most powerful have special economic interests that are too closely linked to the military regime in Myanmar. This in turn may be due to oil. But the main reason for the lack of help is because the world’s powerful people do not feel they are sisters and brothers to the people of Myanmar. I do.
And once again, it is important that the global human being occupies the streets and shows our solidarity and civil disobedience in support of the people of Myanmar. Every coherent action is the little budding seed of hope that is born and grows also for the benefit of other oppressed sisters and brothers.
In the Western world, it is claimed that we are not oppressed! We may not be pressured by a gun to our head, but instead we are deeply addicted to fashion, entertainment, sports, alcohol, cocaine, hashish, unhealthy food, the weather forecast, and lying politicians.
About 50 years ago I experienced on TV, the wars in Vietnam and Cambodia and ever since then I have known that one day I would have to help the people of this region again.
Deep down in my heart, my soul tells me that I want peace and justice for the people of Myanmar and for all the people who today suffering from all kind of violence and discrimination.
The fight for a nonviolent and peaceful universal world is in progress.
Finally and more important than my words, I want you to read and understand this message from one of my friends:
To all my foreign friends, some of you may think we in Myanmar are very sensitive and very emotional just because of the Military Coup. But what you know is just the surface. The followings list is are a summary of what is really happening in Myanmar:
- If anyone has been arrested alive at night, next morning only the dead body will be returned
- If you are a medical staff and helping injured protesters, then you will be arrested and tortured or get killed
- It doesn’t matter if you stay home or you go out for protesting, you can get killed anytime without any reason\
- It doesn’t matter if you are a woman, a woman carrying a child, or a young child, you can be killed anytime without any reason
- Even if you are not protesting, you can get beaten and tortured anytime and anywhere (day or night)
Myanmar is not a War Zone. War means at least all parties have weapons. But now we the People of Myanmar do not have any weapons and are fighting against this fully armed Brutal Army.
