Burma

I probably pay less attention than I should to the political goings-on of the world. This is partly because the Western media can't be wholly relied upon for facts. Thank god it's a free media - I recognise the importance of that. But nevertheless each outlet, be it TV or newspaper or website, has it's views and style and agenda. Who does one listen to? The voice that rings truest to ones principles? Isn't that just preaching to the converted and providing one with neat soundbites to regurgiate during political conversations? I suppose the answer is to find the voice that seems the most balanced, or read all sides and reach ones own conclusions, and that is something I haven't invested adequate time in yet. But still the problem remains on some level - how can one be sure of balance?

What gets me most about the media, though, concerns the decisions as to what is newsworthy. Whose plight, out of the hundreds of millions of people with legitimate, desparate plights, is deemed important enough to tell the world about? Who makes these decisions, and on what basis? Of course, the answers are out there in communications policies and media studies, but whatever they are the fact remains that we are dictated to by the media - we are told what we will pay attention to. And meanwhile, those people whose stories are deemed less important fall by the wayside. Of course everyone living in a country with free press and access to adequate resources can investigate whatever they choose, but this isn't necessarily a realistic view of the media - free or otherwise. How many people will become aware of and choose to investigate Indonesia's repression and genocide in West Papua, for instance, compared to Saddam Husseins military regime?

So it is with a certain sense of joy that I see the brave and timely demonstrations in Burma at the top of the headlines in most of the media. Burma was a country I verged on visiting and that I bordered several times. I've met many people who've been, so I have secondary information about the country, its people, its society and the state it is in. I have experienced first hand some of Buddhist South East Asia and have developed a deep respect for the cultural traditions and history of the area. That the Burmese plight has been ignored by the press grates me as I have been closer to it than I have to the Middle East. So I am delighted that the voice of the Burmese people has now been deemed important enough for mass exposure.

Today, Burma was revealed as the most corrupt country in the world by the organisation Transparency. It's brutal military junta are responsible for inconceivable repression and greed. In 1988 they massacred 3,000 people who were peacefully demonstrating for basic human rights and democracy. Now, 20 years on, the monks are leading a new wave of marches across the country and normal Burmese people are joining them. This line of pacifists face the brutish might of the military and, to tie this post in with the ones I wrote about spirituality, I see the stand they are making as testimony to the good that religion/spirituality can do for a nation. The people revere the monks, the junta know they will face severe consequences if they repeat the actions of 1988 and the monk's Buddhism means they are interested only in peaceful, non-violent protest. And despite the threats, guns and tear gas, they are carrying on. To cap it all, the world's media is watching for once. To take an optimistic view, this could be a welcome leap towards revolution.

Huge respect and good luck to the people of Burma.