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. [...]

continue reading

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. " [...]

continue reading

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. [...]

continue reading

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 [ ... ]

continue reading

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.

[...]

continue reading..

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.

[...]

continue reading

From vnunet.com :

Spammers exploit protests in Burma

Users fooled by 'letter from the Dalai Lama'
Iain Thomson, vnunet.com 28 Sep 2007
ADVERTISEMENT

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.

[...]

continue reading

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.

[...]

continue reading

From Globe and Mail :

A vivid cyber window into a violent crackdown

IAIN MARLOW

From Friday's Globe and Mail

September 28, 2007 at 1:10 AM EDT

LONDON — Ko Htike sits in his small northwest London apartment next to an overflowing ashtray. In one hand he holds a cellphone and speaks in sombre tones to the person on the other end. With the other, he types a reply into one of the 23 chat windows open on the laptop he uses to maintain his blog.

These days, the 28-year-old Myanmarese exile sleeps only two hours a night. The rest of the time he's online, overseeing a network of amateur journalists in the capital of Myanmar, also known as Burma, providing news giants such as CNN, the British Broadcasting Corp., al-Jazeera and more than 20 other media outlets with some of the most vivid dispatches depicting firsthand the now 10-day-old anti-government protests.

Mr. Htike, who arrived in Britain seven years ago to study computer science, said his informants sneak around the capital with their cellphones, capture images of the violence, and then cautiously slip into Internet cafés, where they upload their files and send them beyond Myanmar's closed borders.

The blog was never designed to be political, Mr. Htike said from his apartment. The aspiring writer launched it to post some of his short stories, but “one day, I was chatting with my friends and they told me there were a lot of protests outside,” he said.

The first post occurred, Mr. Htike recalled, when a friend said, “ ‘Okay, there are some people marching right in front of my house, so I'm going to take a picture and send it to you.' I said, ‘Yes, go and do it.' … And I put it in my blog.”
[...]

continue reading

From thewest.com.au :

Clashes outside Burma's embassy in ACT

28th September 2007, 16:51 WST

Riot police clashed with pro-democracy protesters outside the Burmese embassy in Canberra on Friday, as fears grew that the death toll from days of violence in Burma could be much higher.

Skirmishes broke out in the national capital as police and protesters went head-to-head just hours after foreign affairs officials called in Burma's chief diplomat in Australia to protest against the military junta's crackdown on demonstrators.

[...]

In Canberra, police armed with batons were out in force in the city's quiet diplomatic quarter as protesters tried to march on the Burmese embassy.

Dozens of riot police were mobilised when the protesters tried to move from containment lines about 10 metres from the mission.

About a dozen police, who had been stationed inside and outside the embassy gate, unsuccessfully tried to force the demonstrators back as they edged closer to the embassy but had to call in the busload of reinforcements to maintain the barrier.

The crowd initially tried to stage a sit-in but skirmishes broke out as they tried to get up and move towards the embassy.

Some protesters fell to the ground as they clashed with the police and Nini Win, holding her crying two-year-old daughter Morsa, was pushed back by officers as they held the containment line.

Police were on alert for trouble following a violent protest outside the embassy eight years ago.

On Friday, organisers handed over a letter to a police liaison officer to pass on to Burmese embassy officials.

[...]

continue reading

from The Straits Times :

Sep 28, 2007
Myanmar PM in long stay at S'pore hospital

WHILE his country is convulsed by protests and bloodshed, Myanmar's ailing prime minister remains under treatment at a Singapore hospital, an embassy staffer said on Friday.

Soe Win, the suspected mastermind of a deadly attack on opposition forces in Myanmar four years ago, has been at the Singapore General Hospital for three to four months, said the staffer.

Asked about the prime minister's condition, the staffer said, 'According to the doctors, we cannot meet with him.'

Attempts by AFP to locate Soe Win at the hospital were unsuccessful.

But the embassy staffer said: 'He is well. He is on recovery.'

Although Soe Win wields little power in the regime, his health problems highlight the ageing nature of the junta which rules Myanmar.

The junta leader, Senior General Than Shwe, 73, also visited Singapore in January for what an embassy official said were medical checks.

Despite 'a lot of speculation' about the leader's health he was 'very much OK' after the checkup at the Singapore General Hospital, the official said.

Myanmar officials rarely speak on the record for fear of repercussions by the junta, which has drawn international condemnation for a two-day crackdown on mass protests that left at least 13 people dead and hundreds more arrested.

Four years ago the death toll was even higher, dissidents said, after an attack allegedly plotted by Soe Win on the motorcade of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in May 2003.

[...]

continue reading

From CNN :

Blogs helping expose Myanmar horrors

By Wayne Drash and Phil Black

CNN

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Armed with a laptop, a blogger named Ko Htike has thrust himself into the middle of the violent crackdown against monks and other peaceful demonstrators in his homeland of Myanmar.

Ko Htike runs his Myanmar blog out of his London apartment and says he's trying to stop the violence.

1 of 2

more photos »

more photos »

From more than 5,500 miles away, he's one of the few people getting much needed information out to the world.

He runs the blog out of his London apartment, waking up at 3 a.m. every day to review the latest digitally smuggled photos, video and information that's sent in to him.

With few Western journalists allowed in Myanmar, Htike's blog is one of the main information outlets. He said he has as many as 40 people in Myanmar sending him photos or calling him with information. They often take the photos from windows from their homes, he said. Watch a blogger's fight for Myanmar »

Myanmar's military junta has forbidden such images, and anyone who sends them is risking their lives.

"If they get caught, you will never know their future. Maybe just disappear or maybe life in prison or maybe dead," he told CNN.

Why would they take such risks?

"They thought that this is their duty for the country," he said. "That's why they are doing it. It's like a mission."

Htike, a 28-year-old who left Myanmar seven years ago to study in England, said about 20,000 people visit the site every day.

On Thursday, as soldiers reportedly fired into crowds and beat Buddhist monks in the nation's largest city of Yangon, Htike's site posted photographs of the violence and some messages from the region. One sent at 1500 local time said, "Right now they're using fire engines and hitting people and dragging them onto E2000 trucks and most of them are girls and people are shouting."

[...]

continue reading

From Bangkokpost :

UN envoy to begin Burma trip Saturday

New York (dpa) - A UN envoy is to begin his trip to Burma Saturday to assess the crisis in that country where military authorities have cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrators, the United Nations said.

Burma's military junta agreed to receive Ibrahim Gambari, a UN spokeswoman said Thursday. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon received Burma's assurance that it would cooperate with Gambari, Marie Okabe said.

The pledge was made by Burma Foreign Minister Nyan Win, who was visiting New York and met with Ban, who called on Burma's government "to engage in a constructive dialogue" with Gambari "and to commit to a path of peaceful and inclusive national reconciliation," Ban's office said.

The United States demanded that Gambari be allowed to meet with all parties in the current turmoil, in which a week and a half of peaceful anti-government protests in Yangon have been met by the military junta with shootings, beatings and arrests.

Among those Gambari must be allowed access to are religious leaders, political detainees, and democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for years, the White House said.

US President George W Bush held an apparently unscheduled meeting Thursday with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi of China, one of Burma's only allies, and called on Beijing to use its influence with Burma's junta to encourage it to peacefully transition to democracy, the White House said.

[...]

continue reading

From news.Asiaone.com :

		Fri, Sep 28, 2007 The Straits Times
S'porean man shot and kicked by Myanmar riot police
A Singaporean working in Yangon said he was shot in the legs and kicked by anti-riot police while he and his wife were on their way to the office on Thursday. The man, who did not want to be named for safety reason, emailed STOMP, The Straits Times' online interactive portal for citizen journalism about the shooting incident, and also sent photographs showing the injuries he sustained during the security crackdown, in which nine people were killed, including a Japanese photographer. He gave this account in his email to STOMP: "I was on my way to the office when the riot police block the road. I stopped my car with my wife and walked out. "Suddenly, riot police and soldiers drove the truck around the corner and started firing shots at the crowd. "We quickly ran to the side and squat down. "The soldiers came down and started to shoot at us. I was shot twice but I did not know what hit me. "Both my legs were bruised. The soldiers and police kicked us and the rest of the crowds into the drain and shouted that they would kill us if we look at them. "We were forced to stay in the drain for 15 minutes. I looked at my injuries and found the '40mm riot control munnition'. "We are just ordinary citizens going to work and they just shot at us for no reason."

[...]

continue reading

From News.com.au (heraldsun):

Burma Ambassador predicts death toll significantly higher
Article from: AAP

September 28, 2007 04:29pm

AUSTRALIA'S ambassador in Burma, Bob Davis, believes "significantly" more people have been killed by the military junta during pro-democracy protests than Burmese officials have admitted.

Burma's police and military were out in force again today, patrolling the deserted streets of the nation's biggest city Rangoon after a two-day crackdown on mass protests left at least 13 people dead and hundreds more behind bars.

At least 10 people were killed overnight, including a Japanese journalist.

But Mr Davis estimates that the death toll is much higher.

"The authorities on state television last night admitted that 10 people had been killed, including a foreign national, who in fact is a Japanese national," he told ABC radio.

"We have unconfirmed reports that a significantly larger number were killed when the military opened fire on crowds yesterday in Rangoon.

"We spoke to a number of people overnight last night before the curfew provisions applied (and) we have individual reports from them of seeing as I say, significantly more than that number of dead being removed from the scene."

Mr Davis suggested the death toll in the order of "several multiples of the 10 acknowledged by the authorities".

From VOA News :

Burma's Neighbors in SE Asia Express 'Revulsion' Over Crackdown
By VOA News 28 September 2007

The Burmese military's violent crackdown on protesters has prompted a worldwide chorus of disapproval and condemnation.

Burma's neighbors from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations spoke out the loudest, declaring their "revulsion" at the killings in Rangoon. In unusually blunt language, nine ASEAN foreign ministers are demanding that fellow member Burma immediately stop using violence against peaceful demonstrators.

Burma's UN delegation listens to comments on crackdown at General Assembly session

In a statement issued Thursday at the United Nations, the southeast Asian officials said they are "appalled" by reports that automatic weapons were used against Buddhist monks and other protesters.

ASEAN's statement is striking because the 10-member group normally operates by consensus, and holds as a core principle noninterference in the affairs of any member nation.

Although Burma did not directly reply to the ASEAN message, its representatives in New York told the U.N. that a special envoy from the world body, Ibrahim Gambari, will be allowed to enter the country.

In a statement Thursday, President Bush said "every civilized nation has a responsibility to stand up for people suffering under a brutal military regime" such as Burma's.

Mr. Bush and many other leaders have voiced the hope that Gambari will have full access to all parties in Burma. [...]

continue reading..

From Telegraph.co.uk

Burma's ghosts rise to confront the generals

By Pascal Koo-Thwe
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 28/09/2007

"They are killing the monks again," a Burmese friend of mine greeted me unceremoniously as soon as I arrived at her flat in south London. "What can we do?" It seemed she had been crying her eyes out – they were as red as the monks' robes.

She and her husband had recently returned from a short visit to Rangoon, just before the demonstrations started, and they didn't like what was happening there. "Rangoon nowadays is full of beggars, soldiers, thugs and sad faces. Our country is in the hand of alien powers," they said sorrowfully.

When reports of marches, shootings and crackdowns on protesters in the streets of Rangoon reached me via the internet and by phone, I knew that the ghosts of monks, students and civilians killed by the army during the past 40 years had risen again to haunt the generals. My hair stood on end as I relived the terrifying trauma of being on the receiving end of violence.

The faces of the protesting monks are exactly like those who were killed in Mandalay during the 1988 uprising, in which I was one of the participants and a witness to the massacres.

continue reading [here]

UN hot line to call in Rangoon

From Ko Htike's blog

Please be informed that the UN Designated Official in Rangoon has established a 24 hour hotline in case of emergency, especially during curfew hours. The numbers to call are:
01 554 597
01 554 625

From Telegraph.co.uk

Japanese man killed in Burma: Pictures

By Matthew Moore

Last Updated: 9:02pm BST 27/09/2007

The true extent of the horror taking place on the streets of Rangoon is revealed in these pictures showing the immediate aftermath of a violent attack on demostrators by the military.

Kenji Nagai, an AFP photographer caught up in the army's assault, lies in the street after being hit in the chest by a bullet fired indiscriminately into the crowd.

The Burmese troops callously continue their charge, beating prostrate civilians with batons and ignoring the journalist despite the obvious severity of his injuries.

Mr Nagai later died in hospital from his wounds.

continue reading [here]

From Telegraph.co.uk

True Burma death toll may never be known

Exclusive report by Graeme Jenkins in Rangoon

Last Updated: 2:08am BST 28/09/2007

A crowd of around 3,000 people, with six monks at the front, faced the riot police and soldiers across barbed wire.

Photos show 'death' of Japanese man Your view: What should the world do? Beyond them shone the great gold dome of the Sule Pagoda. When three trucks of soldiers drew up the crowd began to run. Seconds later, without warning, there were several cracks of automatic gunfire. A Japanese man carrying a camera fell to the ground, grimacing in pain. A few minutes later the soldiers removed his limp body. It took six of them to do so. Many people have been shot in Rangoon yesterday and the true death toll may never be known. Japan later confirmed that a journalist, Kenji Nagai, 50, had been killed. The Burmese Government said nine people were killed, which is almost certainly a gross understatement. Automatic gunfire rang out across the city all afternoon. In many cases it appears to have been directed at groups of unarmed protesters. According to one version the army often moves in three trucks because there is one platoon to shoot, one to pick up the bodies and one to clear up afterwards. One witness said that the government has dug a pit in the centre of a football field near the Shwedagon Pagoda and surrounded it with a bamboo fence. Its purpose, up to this point, is unknown.

continue reading [here]

From Evening Echo

Japan accuses Burma over journalist's death
27/09/2007 - 8:55:32 PM

Japan’s new foreign minister said today that his country holds Burma accountable for the death of a Japanese journalist found after the military opened fire on a crowd of pro-democracy protesters.

After a private meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura told reporters at the State Department that his ministry had raised the issue with officials at Burma’s Embassy in Tokyo.

Mr Komura said Japan holds Burma “strictly” accountable for the death of 50-year-old Kenji Nagai, which happened as tens of thousands defied the junta’s crackdown with a 10th straight day of demonstrations.

He said Ms Rice told him that the international community cannot let peaceful protesters get injured and killed.

Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka was scheduled to visit Burma this weekend to express Japan’s anger to the ruling military junta, said Tomohiko Taniguchi, a deputy press secretary travelling with Mr Komura. [...]

continue reading [here]

PLEASE sign this petition and support those in Burma

Stand with the Burmese Protesters

After decades of military dictatorship, the people of Burma are rising – and they need our help. Marches begun by monks and nuns have snowballed, bringing hundreds of thousands to the streets. Now the crackdown has begun...

When the Burmese last marched in 1988, the military massacred thousands. But if the world stands up and supports their struggle, this time they could succeed. We'll send our petition to United Nations Security Council members (including the dictatorship's main backer China) and to media at the UN, while also alerting the Burmese to our support:

To Chinese President Hu Jintao and the UN Security Council:

We stand alongside the citizens of Burma in their peaceful protests. We urge you to oppose a violent crackdown on the demonstrators, and to support genuine reconciliation and democracy in Burma. We pledge to hold you accountable for any further bloodshed.

continue to sign [here]

From Scotsman

Olympic boycott threatened as Burma death toll climbs
AUNG HLA TUN IN RANGOON AND DARREN ENNIS

BURMA'S political crisis was thrust to the front of the international stage yesterday following the shooting death of a Japanese journalist and an explicit threat from the EU's most powerful political grouping that China's 2008 Olympics faces boycott unless it intervenes against the country's ruling junta. [...]

[...]

For the first time yesterday, China publicly called for restraint in Burma but Edward McMillan-Scott, the vice president of the European Parliament, said European Union countries should boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics unless China intervenes in Burma.

The British Conservative MEP is backed by the assembly's largest political group - the centre-right European People's Party, which includes the governing parties of France and Germany - and the Liberal grouping within the EU legislature.

"The consensus around the European Parliament is that China is the key. China is the puppet master of Burma," Mr McMillan-Scott said.

"The Olympics is the only real lever we have to make China act.

"The civilised world must seriously consider shunning China by using the Beijing Olympics to send the clear message that such abuses of human rights are not acceptable."

"This religious mass movement is finding echoes all over Asia including China, Korea and Tibet. They are filling a political vacuum. You cannot kill faith. If you try, it will kill you," said Mr McMillan-Scott, who has just returned from a tour of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Thailand.

Beijing has a deep investment in Burma, with concerns about trade, border stability and fighting drugs magnified by plans to build oil and gas pipelines through Burma's ethnically mixed border regions into China. [...]

continue reading [here]

From The Press Association

Bono appeals for prayers for Burma

U2 lead singer Bono called everyone to pray for Burma

8 hours ago

Rock star Bono has said he is praying for the Burmese people and called for everyone to lend them their support.

The U2 frontman said he had "slept uneasily" after seeing the extraordinary pictures of the violence in the country.

He said: "It is extraordinary to see the Buddhist monks isn't it? Their non-violence may, I pray, win out over the ugliness of the situation."

He continued: "There is jeopardy. I slept uneasily last night and I'm sure everyone else that watched did too.

"How far are they going to have to go?"

Bono said the situation did not belong to the 21st century. The singer, speaking at the London premiere of movie Across the Universe, said he had met and corresponded with Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader of the opposition the National League for Democracy Party.

He said: "I have a little bit of a relationship with Aung San Suu Kyi. I've met her family and corresponded with her. U2 actually wrote a song - Walk On - for her.

"I've always followed her progress and that of the Burmese people."

He added: "She is a study in grace and they are a study in patience."

Bono said everyone should offer their support to the Burmese people.

continue reading [here]

just my two cents

if it's true that there were hundreds dead and their body were intercepted and made disappered by those fcuking army d1ckheads .. can't we make it known to the international news agencies.. cuz they're all saying 9 dead and several injured in yesterday's shooting and crackdown. is there anyway to convince them? i mean if that's true, it must be made known to the world .. those poor people didn't die for nothing.. ..

From The Australian

Death toll rises in Burma crackdown

Correspondents in Rangoon | September 28, 2007

EIGHT protesters and a Japanese journalist were killed yesterday as pockets of pro-democracy supporters defied Burmese troop threats of "extreme action" against those who did not leave the streets of Rangoon.

Another 11 demonstrators were injured including one woman, while 31 security forces were injured, Burma's state media said in an evening television bulletin.

Large numbers of protesters emptied from the streets of central Rangoon yesterday after the threats. Soldiers and police worked systematically through the city centre to ensure that no protesters remained, witnesses said. The protesters were given 10 minutes to disperse or face the "extreme action".

But when a crowd of 1000 protesters refused to disperse, police charged, firing automatic weapons.

A Japanese video journalist, Kenji Nagai, from APF news in Tokyo became the first foreigner killed since the protests began 10 days ago. [...]

[...]

"General Aung San would never order the military to kill the people," they yelled, referring to Burma's late independence hero and the father of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Security forces sealed off the area immediately around the Sule Pagoda, a key rallying point in recent anti-government protests led by Buddhist monks, leaving the crowd to gather in surrounding streets.

In eastern Rangoon, security forces clashed with protesters in at least three locations yesterday, after hundreds of people rushed to protect monks who were being hauled away, witnesses said. [...]

continue reading [here]