“It may seem strange to take time to do nothing, to say nothing, at a time when we’re so conscious of the need for action in Burma,” Father Laurence Freeman O.S.B., a Benedictine monk, said last night at a candlelight vigil for the protesters in Burma.
Upwards of 60 people sat inside a circle of candle-lit paper bags in Red Square to meditate and “focus on what others are doing, the plight of the people,” Emma Htun (SFS ‘10), who organized the vigil, said.
After Burma’s military junta raised the price of fuel by 500 percent, thousands of monks and civilians protested throughout the country for several days, only to be confronted with a military crackdown.
“The whole country is affected not just politically but economically,” Pyi Thein Khine (COL ‘11) said. “It’s been such a psychological disaster for them.”
Khine left Burma and his family for the United States just two months ago, and he doesn’t know when, if ever, he will be able to go back. He said he talks to his parents about once a week, but since the crackdown began, all forms of communication must be guarded.
“Basically we have to talk in code,” Htun, whose grandparents live in Burma, said.
Khine said that before the crackdown his mother protested for five days.
“She told me, ‘We’re doing this for our country, it’s a revolution,’” Khine said. “But now, the tone has changed. I talked to her yesterday and asked her what’s going on, and she didn’t really talk about it. There’s a nine o’clock curfew, and if they go out, everyone is tracked and followed.”
Htun said that protests have been “scattered” since the crackdown began.
“Any signs of protest would be shut down quickly,” Khine said, snapping his fingers, “just like that.” Donning a monk’s traditional garb in support of the monks, Khine went to a monastery in Silver Spring, Md. five days ago to become a monk for ten days.
A Regional Studies major focusing on Southeast Asia, Jack Harrison (SFS ‘10) said that the situation in Burma is tragic, but not unexpected.
“The monks were really politically active in the 80’s, so this is sort of bringing it back,” Harrison said. “I think that it’s something that’s been waiting to happen for a while.”
