OK, it’s obvious I have a new addiction. First it was email (still is; spend way too much time on it). Now it’s blogging. Last post for today… Eammon Fitzgerald writes intelligently on how we (the U.S.) should be dealing with the military dictatorship that has Burma (Myanmar) in a stranglehold. I traveled to Myanmar in February of this year and was profoundly affected by the beauty of the country and the gentleness of the people. Buddhism suffuses the daily rhythms of life in a way that is hard to ignore - and tempting to embrace. You can read my comment at the end of Eammon’s blog entry.
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This is not a blog about politics. But Myanmar’s human rights situation is something I feel passionate about (correcting). I’d love to hear what others think about Eammon’s blog entry. It’s based on an article he read by the dean of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs.
Debbie - great to see you using this forum to air your feelings and ideas around improving the situation for the people of Myanmar. The article is an interesting one but I wonder if there are not more humane and non-violent approaches. After all one must ask oneself whether the people of traditional Buddhist countries really would appreciate us using this approach to rid them of even the worst dictators. Look at the way the Dalai Lama has behaved - he still, after so many years, refuses to deal violently with the Chinese.
Anyway - my idea is multi-pronged but is based on the idea that we make life unpleasant for these dictators by removing the privileges and perks that they enjoy (and which are often being paid for with the blood of their countrymen). If they wish to travel outside their own countries we don’t fete them or welcome them - we put them through as long and unpleasant security measures at airports and border crossings as possible.
Do they want to buy expensive cars or foodstuffs or liquor or whatever? Then we get the marketers of these products on side and either deny them these goods or charge them excessively for them with the overpayment going to human rights organizations in their own countries and for the refugee communities of their countrymen and women in other countries.
Maybe as a last resort we could turn to ‘eliminating’ them but even then I propose we don’t kill them. Rather let’s kidnap them and bring them to a refugee community in another country and let the members of that community mete out a fitting punishment.
Those are just some ideas - although violence may seem like a relatively simple and cost-effective method (gosh - doesn’t that sound awful) I don’t really believe it is the answer. Rather we need to hurt these dictators in their pocketbook and in their international stature - be assured that for every slimy dictator that you and I think is a ruthless killer there are segments of the world that think he is a hero. What we need to do is make these people as unpopular everywhere as they are at home.
Just my 2 cents worth. If you’d like to read about my travels in South East Asia last year - including Myanmar you can check out http://roadtomandalay.blogspot.com/
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