The time for non-violent, peaceful civil disobedience is quickly coming to an end, and in my opinion the truly compassionate route for the populace of Burma to take, including the monks, is to take off their robes, pick up a rifle and decapitate the despotic, tyrannical and repressive leadership of the current Burmese regime. The good people of Burma have been abandoned by the rest of the world and therefore should join the remnants of the rebel guerrillas and other repressed minorities such as the Karen, Karenni, Shan, Tavoyan, and Mon, and take the most unpleasant route of armed confrontation. The Burmese people can not afford another Cyclone Nargina, they can not afford 40 more years of quietly waiting while their young girls continue to get sold into the human sex slave trade and their small children are forced into hard labor. They can not afford 40 more years of hunger and disease, of poverty and repression, 40 more years of wasting away into a black hole of endless suffering. No longer does the path in Burma lay in peace and civility; the way to end this suffering, unfortunately, lies in the gun.
It seems to me, and I admit a large amount of ignorance on this topic, that the people of Burma are hitting a critical point. However, it is very easy for us to state that the Burmese people should just rise up. We sit in comfortable chairs and have disposable time and income. They have lived their entire lives in subjugation. An entire generation under the boot. We don't know how that feels.
I can't say that I agree with the sentiment expressed by Kyle but I can say that I respect his opinion and appreciate the time he took to present relevant information on situation in Burma. Rev. Danny Fisher also instituted a call to action with the recitation of the Metta Sutta and I look forward for Arun to post his insights and opinions on Dharma Folk.
For more info on Burma and the Saffron Revolution check out The Buddhist Channel. If you have any other resources on this please post them in the comments.
Thanks Jack. I realize my opinions are from an armchair warrior perspective, highly emotional and very unpopular to Buddhists. Thanks for posting about it man. :-)
ReplyDeleteI don't think there can be too much attention that can be paid to this situation.
I too, wonder what bad things the angry buddhist will have to say about white people this time.
No problem. All of my opinions come from an armchair but this topic tends to generate a bundle of arm-waving and mouth-frothing - mostly from people, like myself, who have never been in the situation.
ReplyDeleteI do get annoyed with the comments about "Why aren't Buddhists doing more" in Burma. When speaking out against the government equals possible death or inprisonment it takes huge balls just to flip a bowl upside-down.
I do appreciate all the information you provided.
Cheers,