Sleepycatz

Panties for Peace

Despondent over the lack of of action against the Burmese dictators recent murder and repression, an activist group in Thailand has organized women to send their underwear to the Burmese government offices and embassies. The Panties for Peace protest is designed to first keep the ever saddening plight of Burma in the minds of the media and policy makers, and secondly to play upon the masculine superstitions of the Burmese depots:

Superstitious junta members believe that any contact with female undergarments - clean or dirty - will sap them of their power, said Jackie Pollack, a member of the Lanna Action for Burma Committee.

“Not only are they brutal, but they are also very superstitious. They believe that touching a woman’s pants or sarong will make them lose their strength,” Ms Pollack told Guardian Unlimited.

It never ceases to amaze how common the fear of women’s naughty bits is among despotic authoritarians. During a visit from the Pope last year the Polish authorities banned the sales of lingerie and tampons. The sale of tampons, by unlicensed medical professionals has also been banned in Taiwan. Authoritarians seem to have some innate fear of the female body. Nearly all the anti-homosexual rhetoric, here in the states, focuses on the feminizing of the male body by emphasizing stereotypical female characteristics such as physical weakness, passivity, and of course an obsession on the penetration of the sexual body.

The despots of Burma seem to believe that simply touching a pair of panties, which may have been in the proximity of a vagina, imparts femitons which attack the precious masculine bodily fluids. It is no coincidence that this fear of women’s bodies has created a policy of using rape as a political and military weapon. Their fear and hatred of women’s bodies allows these men to justify performing the most unspeakable acts against them.

Next week on October 24th, the US Campaign for Burma will be holding a grass roots media awareness day. They hope to bring more pressure on the UN — and particularly China — to take action against the brutal leaders of Burma. There is still some hope for the Burmese people that the world can force the government to recognize the duly elected leaders of Burma and provide some relief to the brutalized citizens of this small country.

Sadness for Burma

The Daily Mail is reporting today that thousands have been massacred in Burma over the weekend, and that there is little hope left for the Burmese people. The repressive regime has deployed over 20,000 troops in Rangoon and has been performing mass arrests and killings, dumping the bodies in the jungle. Ko Htike has been blogging about he detention camps set up in the Yangon Institute of Technology and General Institute of Technology and the appalling brutality met out to the peaceful Buddhist monks.

A Swedish diplomat who visited Burma during the protests said last night that in her opinion the revolution has failed.

Liselotte Agerlid, who is now in Thailand, said that the Burmese people now face possibly decades of repression. “The Burma revolt is over,” she added.

“The military regime won and a new generation has been violently repressed and violently denied democracy. The people in the street were young people, monks and civilians who were not participating during the 1988 revolt.

“Now the military has cracked down the revolt, and the result may very well be that the regime will enjoy another 20 years of silence, ruling by fear.”

I hope that this is not the case; that the Burmese people still have some hope of removing their despotic government. But I am also saddened by my knowledge of political realities. With the unfettered support of China, the Burmese government will continue to exercise its reign of rape, brutality, and executions.

In reading the coverage today, I was struck by how many European readers commented on the lack of American intervention. The frustrations in their comments pointed again to American hypocrisy: “Americans call for Democratic reforms, but won’t do anything about it.” In some sense they are correct, but America is a paper tiger in Asia. We have no military left — it has been squandered in Iraq. We have no economic leverage left –it has been purchased by the Chinese. We have no diplomatic force remaining — it was abandoned in the case for WMDs and broken on the shores of Guantanamo.

There are times which i wish I did believe in God. At least then I could prey for the people of Burma, and hope some divine power would intervene and stop their suffering. Sadly, I know this will not happen.

Sadness & Hope

I have been slammed at work all week, so I haven’t had any time to devote to things unrelated to the broken Internet. Therefore I have a lot of catching up to do this weekend. But I have been deeply struck by the horrific and slightly hopeful bits of information coming out of Burma this week.

About ten days ago, Buddhist monks in Burma began protesting the repressive government’s increase of fuel prices. Over the next few days the protests continued to grow as students and others joined in. The government responded by sending in combat troops and murdering several of the monks.

Throughout the protests Burmese citizens and expatriates pushed pictures, stories, and videos out on to the Net to illustrate the horror of their plight. Using blogs, file sharing, and e-mail ordinary Burmese cried out to the world for attention. If there is anything repressive regimes cannot stomach it is attention. Approximately thirty hours ago, the Burmese regime tried killing the voices of the people by cutting Internet service and shutting down Cell systems. But it is too late. Communications have been established; alternate routes for information to travel have been set up; words and pictures continue to flow out of the country.

I’ll never claim to be more then marginally familiar with the history and political situation in Burma. I know something of its post-colonial history — the wacky Ne Win, who superstitiously reissued Burmese currency so all denominations would be a factor of nine (his favorite number); thus, wiping out years of Burmese savings. I am aware the Burmese regime uses rape as a weapon against ethnic minorities and prisoners to sew fear, shame, and compliance. And, like many, I have watched the plight of Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyl. But I am also aware that the Burmese state has been, and continues to be, protected from international pressure by China.

It is in this last area where some difference can be made. China desperately wishes the upcoming Olympics to be seen as a great success and renewal for their country. Already pressure is being placed on them to change their Burmese policy, but a slightly more pressure may provide the tipping point. The US Campaign for Burma has begun organizing events and a petition to persuade the Chinese to change their policies. I urge people to sign their online petition.

At a time when so many leaders claim to be acting in the name of their people, let us listen to the people of Burma. They are calling, and maybe we can help.

For updates, blogs and news sites like Ko-Htike’s, Dawn_01, Burma Diegest, the Democratic Voice of Burma, and, of course, the BBC have some of the latest news and images coming out of the country.