Never Again? What About Burma?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bangkok ---
Never again. Those are the empty words that have long wafted in the rarified air of high-level, important-sounding diplomatic gatherings; words made to sound sincere by gifted speechwriters, crafted meticulously and couched in just the right sentences so that the listener will feel that lump in his throat and have to choke back tears.
Never again. The words came often on Monday, when the United Nations gathered to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, where as many as 1.5 million, mostly Jews, died in gas chambers or from starvation at the hands of the Nazis in World War II.
Never again, they started saying almost 60 years ago. But somehow it took 60 years to say it officially in the U.N. General Assembly. I read Monday's polished speeches in Thailand, as I tried to find out what the tsunami wrought in nearby Burma, one of those lands where "never again" means nothing at all. The speechwriters know their craft. They managed to mention many of the places where "never again" has long meant nothing.
But they did not mention Burma because the killing there is slower, slower than the deliberate slaughter today in Darfur, the orgies of killings in Rwanda in the '90s, or the madness that engulfed Cambodia in the '70s.
Burma is being slowly strangled by its own government. A once prosperous nation is gasping for air. A few years ago, I visited Burma --- renamed Myanmar by its brutal dictators --- and discovered a land where people live in fear; where the government does little more than strengthen its rule, enrich itself and terrify the population. It's a land where a heroic woman, Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, has spent most of the last nine years under arrest, as have many of those chosen by their own people 15 years ago,when the government miscalculated and allowed elections. I also found a land whose suffering is all but forgotten by the rest of the world.
That's why when the tsunami swept across this region, killing more than 5,000 people on Thailand's Andaman Sea coast, a coast that continues on Burma's side of the border, I worried about those living on Burma's stretch of coast.
The Burmese government announced that just a few dozen people died there.But, as one Burmese exile in Thailand told me, "If that's true, it's the first time the Burmese government has spoken the truth."So, I'm trying to find out the truth.
I reached a European businessman while he was in Burma. On his cellphone he told me the rumors swirling in the streets, that more than 10,000 people died there during the tsunami. I asked if I could speak with one of his friends. They all refused. He told me they said the danger was not worth it, because "nobody cares what happens in Burma."
I will continue trying to find out what the tsunami really did there, and what the government has done to help the victims.
As I dig through the sparse information coming out of Burma, however, I
have found a muted sense of excitement. It turns out something happened in Washington that stirred up political activists in Thailand and Rangoon.
Activists are elated by what they heard from Secretary of State-designee Condoleezza Rice during her confirmation hearings. Rice actually mentioned Burma as one of the six countries in her "outposts of tyranny."The Burmese have had bitter experiences in their efforts to end decades of tyranny, so they know better than to allow themselves any real optimism.
They don't expect much change in the international approach to their plight --- an approach that has allowed their tragedy to continue seemingly without end.
Still, in a world that keeps promising never to forget, it is nice to at least be remembered. But that's still a long way from the true meaning of "never again."
Never again. The words came often on Monday, when the United Nations gathered to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, where as many as 1.5 million, mostly Jews, died in gas chambers or from starvation at the hands of the Nazis in World War II.
Never again, they started saying almost 60 years ago. But somehow it took 60 years to say it officially in the U.N. General Assembly. I read Monday's polished speeches in Thailand, as I tried to find out what the tsunami wrought in nearby Burma, one of those lands where "never again" means nothing at all. The speechwriters know their craft. They managed to mention many of the places where "never again" has long meant nothing.
But they did not mention Burma because the killing there is slower, slower than the deliberate slaughter today in Darfur, the orgies of killings in Rwanda in the '90s, or the madness that engulfed Cambodia in the '70s.
Burma is being slowly strangled by its own government. A once prosperous nation is gasping for air. A few years ago, I visited Burma --- renamed Myanmar by its brutal dictators --- and discovered a land where people live in fear; where the government does little more than strengthen its rule, enrich itself and terrify the population. It's a land where a heroic woman, Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, has spent most of the last nine years under arrest, as have many of those chosen by their own people 15 years ago,when the government miscalculated and allowed elections. I also found a land whose suffering is all but forgotten by the rest of the world.
That's why when the tsunami swept across this region, killing more than 5,000 people on Thailand's Andaman Sea coast, a coast that continues on Burma's side of the border, I worried about those living on Burma's stretch of coast.
The Burmese government announced that just a few dozen people died there.But, as one Burmese exile in Thailand told me, "If that's true, it's the first time the Burmese government has spoken the truth."So, I'm trying to find out the truth.
I reached a European businessman while he was in Burma. On his cellphone he told me the rumors swirling in the streets, that more than 10,000 people died there during the tsunami. I asked if I could speak with one of his friends. They all refused. He told me they said the danger was not worth it, because "nobody cares what happens in Burma."
I will continue trying to find out what the tsunami really did there, and what the government has done to help the victims.
As I dig through the sparse information coming out of Burma, however, I
have found a muted sense of excitement. It turns out something happened in Washington that stirred up political activists in Thailand and Rangoon.
Activists are elated by what they heard from Secretary of State-designee Condoleezza Rice during her confirmation hearings. Rice actually mentioned Burma as one of the six countries in her "outposts of tyranny."The Burmese have had bitter experiences in their efforts to end decades of tyranny, so they know better than to allow themselves any real optimism.
They don't expect much change in the international approach to their plight --- an approach that has allowed their tragedy to continue seemingly without end.
Still, in a world that keeps promising never to forget, it is nice to at least be remembered. But that's still a long way from the true meaning of "never again."
posted by fridaghitis @ 1:23 PM
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