Our thoughts are with the people of Burma tonight. Hopefully their considerable sacrifices these past few days have not been in vain. One would hope that the international community would rally to the cause of these good people who are only guilty of wanting democracy, but it’s unclear how much anyone cares outside of the country itself. One would have hoped, after the rumors of monks being killed and video footage of the Japanese cameraman being murdered by junta forces surfaced that neighboring countries would try to apply force, but so far I don’t see much sign of it. As far as I know, India and China are still selling arms to the military and other countries are still standing in line to cut energy deals with the resource-rich dictatorship. And the U.S., it seems, is unable or unwilling to force change. (We apparently only “liberate” countries that we feel are strategically located.) Meanwhile, it seems that our press is more interested in the fact that a shirtless, 61-year old Rambo was nearby to document it all.
According to press reports, Stalone’s life was threatened. I guess it could be try, but I think it’s more likely the work of an ambitious PR flack who got the bright idea to use the unfortunate events in Burma to publicize the latest film in the struggling action franchise. Either way, the focus is wrong and we should all be ashamed. We don’t appreciate Democracy and that’s why ours is wasting away. We only care about entertainment. We can only appreciate the events in Burma through the lens of Rambo. We’re detached voyeurs. We don’t live. We watch. We don’t care about freedom. We care about celebrities.
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Mark, pick a date a few weeks from now … and let’s have an Ypsilanti Bowls Upsidedown Fasting Day for the people and the monks of Burma. Total fast … one day. Water only.
Who’s game? Call the News. Let’s do it. Sidetrack burgers be damned. (And no beer at the CB!)
By “our” I mean “my.”
By “Burma” I mean “Myanmar.”
And I like the suggestion, Ed.
Free Burma!
International Bloggers’ Day for Burma on the 4th of October
International bloggers are preparing an action to support the peaceful revolution in Burma. We want to set a sign for freedom and show our sympathy for these people who are fighting their cruel regime without weapons. These Bloggers are planning to refrain from posting to their blogs on October 4 and just put up one Banner then, underlined with the words „Free Burma!“.
http://www.free-burma.org
Yes, that will send a message to those ruthless dictators in Burma!
-What’s that, they don’t read blogs?
-Well surely they’ll stumble across it as they surf the net.
-Say what, they’ve shut down internet and phone connections to the entire country?
-Oh, um, uh…
Ed,
I really like your idea. You could get a lot of religious organizations to join in with that. With the world-wide networks that religious organizations have, it could be a world-wide fast for Burma. Now that would be powerful!
Let me pose the idea to a few national groups I know with international networks. (yes, seriously I’m going to do this).
BVos:
1 – Fund raise by selling begging bowls.
2 – Set a date … let’s pledge a one day fast per week until this is over. Collect pledges over inernet … use fundraising to buy ads with names.
Alternatively …
3 – We could fast one day a week until Bush leaves office.
Well, I was able to get one organization to join in a fast for Burma: Evangelicals for Social Action.
OK, so I know that you’re probably screaming “what the f*&k”, scratching your head, pulling your hair out, etc. with the work “Evangelical”. However these aren’t the Gerry Falwell or Pat Robertson Evangelicals. These are the “good” evangelicals, and yes they exist in large number, likely larger than those who like Falwell, Robertson and their ilk. You can visit their website at http://www.esa-online.org/.
A similar, but separate, organization you may have heard of that are also “good” evangelicals is Sojourners. Their website is http://www.sojo.net
Anyways, getting back to the subject here. They will be fasting from Thursday, Oct. 11th (today) until Thursday, Oct. 18th next week for Burma, the non-violent protesters there and for democracy to occur through non-violent means. You’re welcome to join in for one or more days. You can email kristyn@esa-online.org to register for a day.