Logicless Logic

what's so civil about war anyway?

I am sure everyone knows about the recent 100,000 people uprising against the military junta in Myanmar in the recent weeks, even days. The protest, led my Buddhist monks, have seen the riot police sent in, firing random warning shots into the huge crowd of protesters at downtown Yangon. This has left at least 4 monks dead, and many more injured. Also, monasteries have been raided and at least 1oo monks arrested, with evidence showing that they have been badly beaten. Sacred Buddhist relics have been destroyed by rubber bullets fired in the monasteries. Also, there is a dusk to dawn curfew in Myanmar, with gatherings of more than 5 people not allowed.

link

What is really disturbing is not the fact that this uprising has happened. In fact, the military government has been ruling the country with an iron fist. Thus, it was inevitable that they should lose popularity, respect and support of the people. What is disturbing is the ruthless methods they employ in order to keep hold of power. What they are doing now is basically the infringement of human rights!

Firstly, the killing of the monks were uncalled for. The monks were unarmed and were taking part in a peaceful march to protest against the governments actions, including the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyii. The support they gathered along the way was huge, but they pleaded with the people not to join them. By killing the monks, arresting them, and even destroying their homes and sacred items, the military government is blatantly showing disrespect to a religion. Furthermore, by acting with violence, the government will lose even more support.

History students will be familiar with a similar event in the past. The Tsar of Russia had faced similar circumstances, fired at a crowd of peaceful protesters, who still had the utmost respect of the Tsar. Once the first bullet was fired, all that was out of the window.

History exists, as a collective memory, to let us learn lessons from the past. However, humans never seem to learn. Whatever important lessons that history gives us are ultimately forgotten when greed and temptation comes into play. It seems to be human nature to want to gain more for oneself, even at the expense of others. This, right now seems to be the case in Myanmar. If this carries on, the need for a collective memory is questioned. If people never learn, why bother remembering? The memory would only serve as a painful reminder to what has happened, and perhaps a prophetic message of what will happen. Perhaps it only seems prophetic because the civil wars and power struggles happen for almost the same reason all the time.

Perhaps, it is not that people never learn. Perhaps they choose not to act on what they learn because the temptation and greed for the benefits of power gets the upper hand on rationality. This includes money. The world today is very materialistic. As Zixiang has put it

Money makes the world go round. Money also makes the world go wrong.

I think he has a point there.

On the other hand, from the military governments point of view, they have already gone too far. It is too late for them to take a step back. After all their actions, the loss of power would lead to them being tried as political criminals, perhaps even leading to death sentences. Thus, the struggle to keep hold of power is for survival, rather than benefits. One has to remember however, that they have landed themselves in such a situation.

In such a case, where neither side can gain without first losing, there is only one possible outcome. Violence will be used by both sides in order to take hold of power, and a civil war will occur. Death tolls will increase, as do people's misery. The economy will suffer. And only then will foreigners find it absolutely necessary to intervene. Even if the military junta is deposed, another question begs to be answered. Who will be the next leaders of the country? The resolution of the conflict seems far away. But take a look into one's history or social studies books. It might just be there. This incident may be what our children study for social studies 15-20 years later.

justin.

posted by justin @ 10:22 PM