From Herald Sun :

Rambo crew witness Burma atrocities

Article from:

By staff writers

October 02, 2007 06:18am

HOLLYWOOD star Sylvester Stallone and his Rambo sequel movie crew have witnessed human atrocities while filming along the Burmese border.

"I witnessed the aftermath - survivors with legs cut off and all kinds of land mine injuries, maggot-infested wounds and ears cut off. We saw many elephants with blown off legs. We hear about Vietnam and Cambodia and this was more horrific,'' Stallone told Associated Press.

"Shots were fired over the film crew's heads and we did receive threats," he said.

Stallone was in Burma shooting John Rambo, the fourth movie in the action series, on the Salween River separating Thailand and Burma.

He returned before the Burmese military's violent crackdown against monks and residents participating in the largest pro-democracy protests in Burma in two decades. Burmese journalists estimate between 40 and 50 people have been killed since last Wednesday, with details emerging of some of their fates.

[...]

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From news.com.au :

Australia rejects ambassador to Canberra

By Dennis Shanahan

October 02, 2007 01:00am

Article from:

AUSTRALIA has taken a lead in the diplomatic war on Burma's junta, refusing to accept a military commander as the rogue state's new ambassador to Canberra.

In concert with the UN, Australia is applying diplomatic pressure on the Burmese leadership in an effort to persuade it to ease restrictions on its 56million citizens.

Australia has rejected Rangoon's request to appoint Brigadier-General Thura U Thet Oo Maung as the new ambassador because of the regime's appalling behaviour.

At the time of the nomination earlier this year, General Maung was serving in the Burmese Army Command and had served in the military controlling the states of Shan and Karen.

The Australian Government refused the Burmese nomination when it was made several months ago but it is now making a point of the rejection by publicly disclosing the rare diplomatic snub.

[...]

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From The Frist Post :

UN envoy will stay until junta leaders talk
Mystery surrounds the generals’ absence from yesterday’s talks, writes edward loxton

Ibrahim Gambari, UN special envoy, was due to make a second attempt today to meet Burma's two top junta generals, Than Shwe and his deputy, Maung Aye, who avoided a meeting yesterday in their remote, sealed-off capital, Naypyidaw, on Sunday. No reason was given for their absence.

"Than Shwe and Maung Aye have been accused of snubbing Gambari, the United Nations and the world community, but it could be more complicated than that," said one prominent exile leader, who requested anonymity.

"Look at it this way: if there is disagreement between Than Shwe and Maung Aye over how to handle the crisis, the appearance of one or the other at a vital meeting with Gambari would send important signals.

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From Daily Mail .co.uk :

Burma: Thousands dead in the massacre of the monks dumped in the jungle

Last updated at 01:24am on 1st October 2007

Thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle, a former intelligence officer for Burma's ruling junta has revealed.

The most senior official to defect so far, Hla Win, said: 'Many more people have been killed in recent days than you've heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand.'

Mr Win, who spoke out as a Swedish diplomat predicted that the revolt has failed, said he fled when he was ordered to take part in a massacre of holy men. He has now reached the border with Thailand.

Scroll down for more...

Hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle

Reports from other exiles along the frontier confirmed that hundreds of monks had simply ' disappeared' as 20,000 troops swarmed around Rangoon yesterday to prevent further demonstrations by religious groups and civilians.

Word reaching dissidents hiding out on the border suggested that as well as executions, some 2,000 monks are being held in the notorious Insein Prison or in university rooms which have been turned into cells.

There were reports that many were savagely beaten at a sports ground on the outskirts of Rangoon, where they were heard crying for help.

[...]

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From Telegraph.co.uk :

UN envoy meets Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma

By Katie Franklin and David Eimer

Last Updated: 12:09pm BST 30/09/2007

UN envoy Ibrahim Gambar has met Burma's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the country's military leaders, diplomatic sources say.

Mr Gambar is attempting to bring about an end to a bloody crackdown on mass pro-democracy protests. Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Ibrahim Gambar The talks came as thousands of soldiers and police locked down Burma's largest cities, keeping protesters off the streets. Mr Gambari is said to have met with the junta in the capital Naypyitaw and Ms Suu Kyi in Ragoon. Mr Gambari's meeting with Ms Suu Kyi lasted about 90 minutes, diplomats said. However, the details of the meeting were not immediately known. "We want Mr Gambari to stay here long enough to get underway a genuine process of national reconciliation," Britain's ambassador Mark Canning said. "He should be given as much time as that takes. That will require access to senior levels of government as well as a range of political actors." The demonstrations began last month after the government of Burma, also known as Myanmar, increased the price of fuel. [...]

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From Corant.com :

Praying For Better Burma

By HANNA INGBER WIN

September 30, 2007

Until last week, Burma was the type of place where you didn't mention the political crisis unless you were behind closed doors. You censored what you said on the phone and in tea shops. The waiter or your co-worker could be a spy. I lived there for a year and even censored my diary, changing the names and slightly altering the stories. I worried the junta might search my apartment, read my journals and then arrest my friends.

Now my Burmese husband and I, living in Los Angeles, watched in awe as thousands of monks and civilians shouted their anger at and distrust of the ruling junta.

At least 100,000 people marched through the streets of Rangoon, Mandalay, Sittwe, Bago and other cities throughout the country for the past two weeks. The junta has been opening fire into crowds since Wednesday, and have driven most of the monks back into their monasteries, but there still is resistance and burning hope for change.The protests represent the biggest demonstrations in Burma (renamed Myanmar by the junta) since 1988, when hundreds of thousands marched. It ended badly then: The government gunned down 3,000 protesters.

This time, we can only hope the protests lead to political dialogue and national reconciliation, not another bloodbath.

I lived in Burma for a year in 2003, working at the Myanmar Times and Business Review. The government, called the State Peace and Development Council, censored every article we wrote. We couldn't write about corruption or natural disasters, let alone the national hero, Aung San Suu Kyi. The censor once took out the word "dirt" before "dirt road" because he didn't want to make Burma, one of the world's least developed countries, look too poor to have paved roads.

During my year in Burma, I met and fell in love with the man who is now my husband. Aung Moe, nicknamed Morning, taught me about his religion and way of life. We visited Shwedagon Pagoda, the heart of some of the protests this past week, and monasteries throughout the country.

I learned how the junta's economic policies - the generals have been known to make economic decisions based on their astrological signs - hurt people on a daily basis. Morning worked at the paper, yet didn't make enough to rent his own apartment or save. The electricity went out multiple times a day, yet only the very wealthy - who usually had ties to the military - could afford generators. Rumors spread that the junta used the electricity as a means of exerting power. People saved their money in cash because no one trusted the banks and ATM cards were useless.

Morning and I would walk through the streets of Rangoon at night and see waiters sleeping on tables because they couldn't afford a bed.

My apartment was on Sule Pagoda Road, the very street the monks were marching down. It is in the middle of crowded, smelly downtown Rangoon, where every building looks in need of a paint job. Men, sitting on plastic stools 6 inches off the ground, gathered around mini plastic tables sipping on tea. Scrawny mutts picked at garbage strewn about. Women wore the traditional thanaka, made from ground bark, on their cheeks. Barefoot children in dirty shorts or an old oversized dress clutched their postcards as they wandered in search of a tourist to latch onto and follow until they made a sale.

Until the protests, the junta controlled the country so well that there was almost no political dissent. Anyone who spoke out against the government was quickly detained and usually tortured.

An activist was arrested while I was there for passing out copies of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights. The media couldn't cover protests, so demonstrators had no chance of raising awareness and little incentive to risk imprisonment.

Morning eventually fled the country to work for the Irrawaddy, a magazine that covers Burma from Thailand. Anyone who works for it is put on the junta's blacklist. Morning can't return home until there are free and fair elections. We hope that this round of protests ushers in democratic reform. We wonder if the junta will release its hundreds of political prisoners and free the people's leader, Suu Kyi, from house arrest.

Yet we fear the junta will repeat the horrors of 1988 and open fire on the monks, students and civilians. The government started cracking down Wednesday, sending tear gas into crowds, beating up monks and killing several people.

We are watching from Los Angeles, glued to the Internet as we read the minute-by-minute reports coming out of Burma. We are hopeful that Burma will open up, hopeful that Morning can return home soon, but fearful that many will die in the process.

Hanna Ingber Win is a weekly columnist for Popandpolitics.com and a graduate journalism student at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication.

From The Sunday Times :

September 29, 2007
Burma junta blocks UN meeting
A crucial UN mission to meet with detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is facing failure after generals refuse access

Reform talks with the ruling junta - which for the time being appears to have successfully suppressed weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations - are considered vital by the UN
Kenneth Denby in Rangoon

A crucial United Nations mission to Burma is facing failure before it has even begun, after the country's ruling generals refused to allow a meeting with the detained democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

UN, Chinese and western diplomats are attempting to pressure the Burmese generals to allow Ibrahim Gambari, the UN Secretary General's Special Representative on Burma, to meet Ms Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has been held under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years.

Such a meeting is regarded by western governments as crucial in urging reform on the junta, which for the time being at least appears to have successfully suppressed weeks of rising demonstrations by monks and ordinary Burmese. Mr Gambari is coming under pressure to refuse to meet Burma's leading general, Than Shwe, if he is denied a separate meeting with Ms Suu Kyi.

"What Gambari's got to do is be prepared to provoke a crisis," a western diplomat told The Times in Rangoon this afternoon. " [...]

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From nytimes :

Karma Power

What Makes a Monk

By SETH MYDANS

Published: September 30, 2007

BANGKOK

Nic Dunlop/Panos Pictures

BEWARE The Burmese police tote guns, but the monks hold the key to spiritual status. For Buddhist clerics like these, pictured in 2005, that means clout.

Multimedia

David Longstreath/Associated Press

REVERED DISSENTERS Myanmar honors its monks at the Shwedagon Pagoda.

Enlarge This Image

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Myanmar, a devout society, paid attention when monks led protests.

AS they marched through the streets of Myanmar’s cities last week leading the biggest antigovernment protests in two decades, some barefoot monks held their begging bowls before them. But instead of asking for their daily donations of food, they held the bowls upside down, the black lacquer surfaces reflecting the light.

It was a shocking image in the devoutly Buddhist nation. The monks were refusing to receive alms from the military rulers and their families — effectively excommunicating them from the religion that is at the core of Burmese culture.

That gesture is a key to understanding the power of the rebellion that shook Myanmar last week.

The country — the former Burma — has roughly as many monks as soldiers. The military rules by force, but the monks retain ultimate moral authority. The lowliest soldier depends on them for spiritual approval, and even the highest generals have felt a need to honor the clerical establishment. They claim to rule in its name.

Begging is a ritual that expresses a profound bond between the ordinary Buddhist and the monk. “The people are feeding the monks and the monks are helping the people make merit,” said Josef Silverstein, an expert on Myanmar at Rutgers University. “When you refuse to accept, you have broken the bond that has tied them for centuries together.”

Instead, the monks drew on a different and more fundamental bond with Myanmar’s population, leading huge demonstrations after the government tried to repress protests that began a month ago over a rise in fuel prices. [...]

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From The Times :

September 29, 2007

Exclusive from Rangoon: democracy takes a beating as uneasy calm returns to streets

Something like normality — which means fear — returns to Burma as the junta’s iron grip slowly squeezes the life out of protests

Kenneth Denby in Rangoon

The Burmese democracy movement may have died yesterday. Or it could just be regrouping.

It was a loose, ragged, frustrating day in Rangoon, a day of baton charges, beatings and many rumours of much worse. I saw soldiers levelling guns, firing volleys of hard rubber pellets, as well as chases and arrests.

But something like normality is returning to Burma: which is to say that, just as they have been for much of the past 40 years, people are afraid again.

The democracy leaders have already been arrested, the monks are locked down in their monasteries and, yesterday, it was ordinary people who were the most prominent — by their absence.

On Thursday I saw old people and middle-aged women cheering on the protesters as they stood face to face with the soldiers in the road to the Sule Pagoda. Yesterday, there were just young men, some of them slightly disreputable looking, with an a [ ... ]

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From Boston Herald :

Activists denounce violence in Burma at Harvard march

By Simone Press
Saturday, September 29, 2007 - Updated 3h ago

The crisis in Burma was marked in Harvard Square yesterday when activists marched to condemn attacks on peaceful Buddhist monks by security forces in the uprising against military rule.

Shanti Maung, a Harvard senior who uses a pseudonym to protect the family she still has in Burma, organized the march.

She visited her native country just two weeks ago and is horrified by the violence there in the battle over freedom and democracy.

“It’s incredibly brave of the monks and the people in Burma to rise up,” Maung said. “It’s very uncertain. What we need now is the international community to intervene and to talk to the military or anyone who has influence with the junta to give them more moderate strategies.”

State Rep. Byron Rushing (D-Boston) said, “Massachusetts was one of the first states in 1996 to take a formal stance on democracy in Burma by passing the Massachusetts-Burma Act. People in Burma are so excited that the monks have stood up to the government in Burma and we must support them.”

Man Kuang, a nun at the Boston Buddhist Cultural Center, is from Taiwan, but she sympathizes with the Burmese monks. “It’s a global issue. We must purify our mind and hope for peace,” Kuang said.

Businessman Sai Kyaw, one of the student leaders in the 1988 Burmese revolution, came to the United States in 1993 as a refugee. He believes that change is possible this time.

“We will get what we want,” said Kyaw, who is helping to organize another march at the State House on Thursday.

Kyaw said he is hopeful that the breakthrough will come if China agrees to intervene and convice Burma’s military government to allow reforms.

The uprising was sparked when the repressive government devalued currency and imposed a heavy increase in fuel prices affecting ordinary citizens, even as officials there live luxurious lifestyles.

From The First Post :

Resistance spreads to Mandalay

Popular resistance to the Burmese junta is growing across the country, reports edward loxton Popular resistance to the Burmese junta spread this morning to the country's second city, Mandalay, where troops and riot police raided a leading monastery during the night, dragged about 40 monks from their beds and bundled them into trucks. News of the raid spread rapidly through the city and brought angry residents out on to the streets. Groups were reported to be arming to defend the monasteries. Mandalay is Burma's most important Buddhist centre, and its temples are among the most sacred in the land. About half Burma's 400,000 monks are in residence at Mandalay's 300 monasteries. In Rangoon, the streets were strangely quiet on Friday morning, although the atmosphere was tense. Troops continued to strengthen their positions around the city's monasteries and at key points where demonstrators have massed in recent days. The official death toll from the violence so far is 10, but it may be much higher The death toll from the violence so far has been officially given as 10, although the Australian Ambassador in Rangoon, Bob Davis, said he thought the real number of deaths ran into "multiples of that". Burma's Karen National Union, which has been fighting for independence for the Karen people for the past 60 years, called on its supporters and other ethnic groups, many of whom are armed, to join the uprising. Karen State adjoins south-west Thailand, where Thai forces have upped security. Support was also offered by the Shan State Army-South, a powerful force which has the Burmese army pinned down in areas bordering northern Thailand. The Burmese regime's assault on the opposition movement even spread online. An attempt was made overnight to block the website of Burmese magazine Irrawaddy. The attack was traced back to a Russian source. Burma is closed to foreign reporters. Edward Loxton is reporting for The First Post from Chiang Mai in neighbouring Thailand, talking to eyewitnesses in Rangoon by telephone.

From Alertnet.org :

Burma: End Attacks on Protestors, Account for Monks

28 Sep 2007 23:13:21 GMT

Source: Human Rights Watch

Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.

UN Envoy to Burma Should Press for Concrete Action During His Visit
In its meetings with visiting United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari, Burma's military government should pledge to end violence against peaceful protestors, account for hundreds of monks arrested this week, and allow access by independent observers to places of detention, Human Rights Watch said. In its meetings with visiting United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari, Burma's military government should pledge to end violence against peaceful protestors, account for hundreds of monks arrested this week, and allow access by independent observers to places of detention, Human Rights Watch said. "Burma's military government has shown contempt for the aspirations of the tens of thousands of people who have bravely taken to the streets demanding change," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "But if the government does not cooperate with an envoy sent by the UN Security Council, it risks unprecedented international isolation."Human Rights Watch urged the government to provide information to Gambari, on the many reported human rights abuses committed during the course of the protests, including:

• An accurate accounting of the number of individuals killed by the security forces. The government has admitted to 10 deaths, but credible reports suggest there have been many more;
• The number of individuals arrested and their whereabouts, including members of the 88 Generation of Students arrested at the beginning of protests in August, members of the opposition National League of Democracy, and other activists; and
• The whereabouts and conditions of the hundreds of monks apparently detained in the morning hours of Thursday, September 27.

Human Rights Watch also called on the government to end its newly imposed restrictions on mobile phones and the internet, which are critical to the dissemination of accurate information about events in Rangoon and elsewhere. Gambari and diplomats should be given access to Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained opposition leader and Nobel laureate. It remains unclear whether she remains under house arrest or has been imprisoned.

[...]

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From Telegraph.co.uk :

Burma's generals refine suppression

By Sebastien Berger

Last Updated: 12:42am BST 29/09/2007

Commentary

Any military dictatorship wanting to crush a popular uprising can look to the Burmese junta's actions in recent days as a textbook example.

It is usually the economy that brings down despots - the protests that toppled Suharto in Indonesia were triggered by increases in the cost of rice.

Faced with demonstrations against fuel price rises, Burma's State Peace and Development Council at first broke them up, but once the country's revered monks became involved, allowed them to continue for several weeks.

Even Aung San Suu Kyi, who is generally adored by the civilian population and loathed by the regime, was permitted to greet a group of protesters.

But instead of appeasing the people's anger, it emboldened them, and the size of the crowds in Rangoon accelerated to 100,000.

Coming within perhaps hours of a critical mass that would have seriously threatened the authorities' hold on power, they moved ruthlessly.

Access to Miss Suu Kyi's compound was cut, depriving the protesters of contact with their political talisman. The monks, who gave them an icon of moral superiority and spiritual protection, were removed from circulation. Hundreds were arrested in midnight raids.

With their line of fire cleared of maroon-robed clerics, the junta's troops shot an unknown number of people. Whether 10, 20 or 200 protesters died is in a sense irrelevant – the effect was to destroy the protests' momentum, as shown by the few demonstrators brave enough to face the soldiers.

The dictatorship even managed to avoid a massacre on the scale of 1988, when an estimated 3,000 were killed, and will soon announce that order has been restored and "internal and external destructive elements" defeated.

Now those seen as ringleaders and organisers will be sentenced to long prison terms and dispatched to remote jails around the country, where conditions are harsh and their families unable to visit.

Miss Suu Kyi will remain under house arrest for the foreseeable future and the vast majority of the downtrodden people will return to their daily struggle to survive, their hopes for freedom dashed.

Every time a revolution fails it is harder to bring people out to try again - these were the biggest protests in almost 20 years – and unless there are dramatic developments in the next days and weeks no repetition is likely soon. Worse, events did not reveal any signs of internal divisions within the regime.

Diplomatic denunciations from the West will have exactly the same effect as years of rhetoric already - none at all - and normal relations will continue with its most important ally China, which has conspicuously failed to condemn the junta's actions.

Burma's generals have long experience of crushing dissent. They have just refined their techniques.

From Telegraph.co.uk :

Burma's generals refine suppression

By Sebastien Berger

Last Updated: 12:42am BST 29/09/2007

Commentary

Any military dictatorship wanting to crush a popular uprising can look to the Burmese junta's actions in recent days as a textbook example.

It is usually the economy that brings down despots - the protests that toppled Suharto in Indonesia were triggered by increases in the cost of rice.

Faced with demonstrations against fuel price rises, Burma's State Peace and Development Council at first broke them up, but once the country's revered monks became involved, allowed them to continue for several weeks.

Even Aung San Suu Kyi, who is generally adored by the civilian population and loathed by the regime, was permitted to greet a group of protesters.

But instead of appeasing the people's anger, it emboldened them, and the size of the crowds in Rangoon accelerated to 100,000.

Coming within perhaps hours of a critical mass that would have seriously threatened the authorities' hold on power, they moved ruthlessly.

Access to Miss Suu Kyi's compound was cut, depriving the protesters of contact with their political talisman. The monks, who gave them an icon of moral superiority and spiritual protection, were removed from circulation. Hundreds were arrested in midnight raids.

With their line of fire cleared of maroon-robed clerics, the junta's troops shot an unknown number of people. Whether 10, 20 or 200 protesters died is in a sense irrelevant – the effect was to destroy the protests' momentum, as shown by the few demonstrators brave enough to face the soldiers.

The dictatorship even managed to avoid a massacre on the scale of 1988, when an estimated 3,000 were killed, and will soon announce that order has been restored and "internal and external destructive elements" defeated.

Now those seen as ringleaders and organisers will be sentenced to long prison terms and dispatched to remote jails around the country, where conditions are harsh and their families unable to visit.

Miss Suu Kyi will remain under house arrest for the foreseeable future and the vast majority of the downtrodden people will return to their daily struggle to survive, their hopes for freedom dashed.

Every time a revolution fails it is harder to bring people out to try again - these were the biggest protests in almost 20 years – and unless there are dramatic developments in the next days and weeks no repetition is likely soon. Worse, events did not reveal any signs of internal divisions within the regime.

Diplomatic denunciations from the West will have exactly the same effect as years of rhetoric already - none at all - and normal relations will continue with its most important ally China, which has conspicuously failed to condemn the junta's actions.

Burma's generals have long experience of crushing dissent. They have just refined their techniques.

From afp.google.com :

Facebookers assail Myanmar junta

5 hours ago

HONG KONG (AFP) — The battle for Myanmar is also being waged through the popular online social networking site Facebook, where users are rallying support against the military junta.

Reports of Myanmar forces shooting into crowds of protesters, arresting monks and beating dissidents have fuelled anger in cyberspace.

But the thousands of messages posted by Facebookers also capture the frustration of a virtual network struggling to bring about meaningful change in the real world.

"I've been glued to the Wall (where people can file video, photos and messages) for the last two days and seen how helpless and impotent people are feeling while these atrocities are being carried out," wrote Chantal Guevara.

"Somehow, there's some way we can make this happen between us, between all the contacts and skills we have!" she added.

A search on Facebook turns up some 340 groups linked to the Southeast Asian nation such as "Burma: Saffron Revolution" and "drop-kick the junta!!!," which offer video, photos, messages, petitions and news about what is happening in Myanmar.

The largest of these groups, "Support the Monks protest in Burma," has 73,000 members and tells people how to help: join protests, write to elected officials, e-mail companies operating in Myanmar, and wear red shirts on Friday in support of the monks leading the anti-government protests.

Other resources and news updates are also posted.

One girl, a Taylor W, said she started a school club to raise awareness, while San San Aye, said her school would rally at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Facebook user Natasha Lutes said two people posting accounts from Myanmar now seemed to be having difficulty with the Internet. Though she did not specify what the trouble was, she did offer help.

"One of the most important things we can do is get the news out," she wrote. "If they agree to e-mail me their posts, I'm going to start posting up the news while I'm at work."

Facebook has become the online phenomenon of 2007.

It reportedly has nearly 40 million members and is adding up to 200,000 new members every day. The explosion in popularity has seen the site courted by Internet giants Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft over the past year.

The site is where people from around the globe can join forces.

"I have people telling me that the Internet is down in all of Burma," Nyantha Maw Lin wrote. "Will others please verify?"

The response came from Rob Huff: "Media is confirming that internet is down, or in the process of being shut down."

It's not the first time Facebook has been used to support causes since the site debuted in 2004. And like with any Internet network, there is opportunity for unsubstantiated rumours to take hold.

Vanessa Gartner said her media company got a call from a man living in Singapore who had spoken with his sister in Myanmar on Thursday.

"She says hundreds of people have been killed," Gartner wrote. "How many people do you really think have been shot?"

Facebooker, Jason Newton, wrote: "I've heard General Shwe (the military leader) is now directing soldiers because some commanders refused to use force ... not sure if it is true or not though."

Some believe the Facebook mobilisation is a start but question the impact users can have. The red shirt day idea was called a "stupid Internet protest" by user Vincent Modica.

"Stop being a slacktivist and go do some useful protesting," he wrote.

From afp.google.com :

Facebookers assail Myanmar junta

5 hours ago

HONG KONG (AFP) — The battle for Myanmar is also being waged through the popular online social networking site Facebook, where users are rallying support against the military junta.

Reports of Myanmar forces shooting into crowds of protesters, arresting monks and beating dissidents have fuelled anger in cyberspace.

But the thousands of messages posted by Facebookers also capture the frustration of a virtual network struggling to bring about meaningful change in the real world.

"I've been glued to the Wall (where people can file video, photos and messages) for the last two days and seen how helpless and impotent people are feeling while these atrocities are being carried out," wrote Chantal Guevara.

"Somehow, there's some way we can make this happen between us, between all the contacts and skills we have!" she added.

A search on Facebook turns up some 340 groups linked to the Southeast Asian nation such as "Burma: Saffron Revolution" and "drop-kick the junta!!!," which offer video, photos, messages, petitions and news about what is happening in Myanmar.

The largest of these groups, "Support the Monks protest in Burma," has 73,000 members and tells people how to help: join protests, write to elected officials, e-mail companies operating in Myanmar, and wear red shirts on Friday in support of the monks leading the anti-government protests.

Other resources and news updates are also posted.

One girl, a Taylor W, said she started a school club to raise awareness, while San San Aye, said her school would rally at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Facebook user Natasha Lutes said two people posting accounts from Myanmar now seemed to be having difficulty with the Internet. Though she did not specify what the trouble was, she did offer help.

"One of the most important things we can do is get the news out," she wrote. "If they agree to e-mail me their posts, I'm going to start posting up the news while I'm at work."

Facebook has become the online phenomenon of 2007.

It reportedly has nearly 40 million members and is adding up to 200,000 new members every day. The explosion in popularity has seen the site courted by Internet giants Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft over the past year.

The site is where people from around the globe can join forces.

"I have people telling me that the Internet is down in all of Burma," Nyantha Maw Lin wrote. "Will others please verify?"

The response came from Rob Huff: "Media is confirming that internet is down, or in the process of being shut down."

It's not the first time Facebook has been used to support causes since the site debuted in 2004. And like with any Internet network, there is opportunity for unsubstantiated rumours to take hold.

Vanessa Gartner said her media company got a call from a man living in Singapore who had spoken with his sister in Myanmar on Thursday.

"She says hundreds of people have been killed," Gartner wrote. "How many people do you really think have been shot?"

Facebooker, Jason Newton, wrote: "I've heard General Shwe (the military leader) is now directing soldiers because some commanders refused to use force ... not sure if it is true or not though."

Some believe the Facebook mobilisation is a start but question the impact users can have. The red shirt day idea was called a "stupid Internet protest" by user Vincent Modica.

"Stop being a slacktivist and go do some useful protesting," he wrote.

From Telegraph.co.uk :

'My terror at the hands of the Burmese junta'

By James Mawdsley

Last Updated: 1:18am BST 28/09/2007

James Mawdsley, 34, spent more than a year in a Burmese prison during 2000 and 2001 after taking part in protests in Rangoon

	James Mawdsley was tortured

The most terrifying moment I ever experienced was being pushed barefoot and blindfolded through the gates of a Burmese prison with a major of the Tatmadaw [(Burmese military] laughing at the prospect of torture. It was a deranged laugh.

His superior in the military intelligence gloated that they had been given the go-ahead to do "anything they liked" to me.

Hours later, my spirit broken, I was locked in a suffocating cell which they assured me would be my home for five years. To intensify my isolation they emptied that entire ward of the prison of other inmates.

I had no strength left. But unexpected people brought it back. The first was a prison guard who crept to my cell after midnight. He whispered: "I am sorry for what my country is doing to you."

What a pulse of hope to see this humanity in an officer of the regime. And how tragic that he felt ashamed for his country, which in truth is glorious, and of such gentle people who are not to blame for the military regime.

Later that night he brought me warm coffee and dry toast. I was too sick with fear to eat, yet he risked everything to bring it to me.

Another who helped, probably unwittingly, was one of the interrogators.

"The BBC broadcast about you," he remarked. Now I knew I was not cut off: the regime could not make me disappear without the world realising it. It was an immense relief. The torture stopped. I was transferred to Rangoon.

But the greatest help came from Christ. The Crucifixion makes sense of suffering. Jesus turned my misery into joy, even in that earthly hell, Insein prison.

Burma has many reasons to hope. First, there is humanity in the military regime; there are many soldiers in the Burmese army who do not want to shoot peaceful demonstrators.

In the right circumstances, the army could desert the generals. Second, the international community is watching as never before. This must give an enormous boost to morale.

We must pray for the Burmese people. What we are seeing now, though it may take many months, is a fight to the end.

From blogs.usatoday.com

Satellite images of the conflict in Burma

Scientists announced today that they've used satellite images to verify human-rights abuses in Burma. The top photo was taken Jan. 14, 2000. The bottom one, taken Feb. 1, 2007, shows that 17 structures disappeared. This corresponds with reports that villages in this part of Shan were attacked between mid-2005 and mid-2006, the American Association for the Advancement of Science says in its report.

Lars Bromley says the group is buying satellite imagery of Burma's cities in hopes of tracking the impact of the government's crackdown on protesters who have been demonstrating for more than a week. He says they'll be able to see gatherings of monks and any military vehicles that are posted outside the monasteries.

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From vnunet.com :

Spammers exploit protests in Burma

Users fooled by 'letter from the Dalai Lama'
Iain Thomson, vnunet.com 28 Sep 2007
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Spammers are exploiting the fight for democracy in Burma to spread malware, according to recent reports.

The surge of media interest in Burma, or Myanmar as the ruling generals prefer, has led spammers to attempt to build up botnets.

Emails have been spammed out purportedly from the Dalai Lama containing 'information' about the protests, in which Buddhist monks have been killed for requesting the right to democracy in their own country.

'Dear Friends & Colleagues, Please find enclosed a massage [sic] from His Holiness the Dalai Lama in support of the recent pro democracy demonstrations taking place in Burma. This is for your information and can be distributed as you see fit,' the email states.

The message contains an attachment that looks like a Microsoft Word document but in fact harbours a Trojan that will give the hacker full access to the user's computer.

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From Herald Sun :

Shots fired at new Burma protest

From correspondents in Rangoon

September 28, 2007 08:36pm

BURMESE security forces have fired warning shots and launched baton charges on protesters again, trying to quell the biggest demonstrations against the junta in 20 years.

With at least 13 people killed since the crackdown began on Wednesday, the regime appeared to have cut the main Internet link to block the images and reports of the violence that have galvanised world opinion.

The bloodshed has triggered intense international criticism of the country's ruling generals, who have been trying to reassert their control and stifle the outpouring of public anger and frustration.

In the main city of Rangoon, protesters played cat-and-mouse with security forces, moving as close as possible before being confronted by advancing police and soldiers - and then regrouping to advance again.

"This is a non-violent mass movement," one student leader shouted as demonstrators clapped and shouted while trying to move towards the Sule Pagoda, one of the focal points of the street demonstrations.

"The monks have done their job and now we must carry on with the movement," he said.

With many monks now behind bars, the protests have been taken up by thousands of civilians who have taunted security forces and sometimes pelted them with rocks.

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