Hundreds of Torontonians marched to protest atrocities committed by the military junta in Burma (officially called the Union of Myanmar). Marchers demanded the immediate release of all political prisoners held by the junta, including Aung Sun Suu Kyi, the Burmese elected leader, who was never allowed to take office. The march was part of the Oct. 6 Global March for the People of Burma, a global movement for democracy in Burma.
“The outrageous actions of the generals and the support given to them by India and China solicit a struggle for democracy in the region,” said Paul Copeland of the Toronto Burma Roundtable, one of organizers of the demonstration. “Regardless of where you are, this is a concern for the cause of democracy.”
BBC reports that the State Peace and Development Council’s 19-year-old military government has arrested up to 10,000 dissidents over the last month, including thousands of monks in a democratic movement that has been growing amidst escalating military violence against it.
Protesters have brought international attention to what many feel is an illegitimate government. The first ever Burmese elections, held in 1990, saw Aung Sun Suu Kyi’s National Democratic League win 392 out of 489 seats in the national parliament. The election’s results were rejected by SPDC, then called the State Law and Order Council.
The current wave of protests, spearheaded by monks and nuns, began when the government decided to remove fuel subsidies, setting off a series of demonstrations against the resulting jump in food prices and costs of other basic necessities.
Military governments have ruled Burma since 1962, when General Ne Win overthrew an unpopular, collapsing democracy led by the prime minister U Nu. The short-lived democracy had lasted only 14 years, and never flourished, since the British administration was forced out in 1948.
“We are trying to establish a democratic country in Burma,” said rally organizer Minthura Wynn, a former activist during the 1988 movement in Burma which was crushed when the SLORC took over the state. “I took the opportunity to find some support among the concerned Canadian citizens.”
The 88 Generation Students, activists like Minthura who have become associated with the spirit of the 1988 Uprising, have made the Burmese democratic movement global.
Under Ne Win’s so-called socialist regime, which is known for its excessively patriotic and intolerant policies, Burma’s economy continued a downward trend, becoming one of the poorest in South-East Asia and being branded a “Least Developed Country” by the World Bank. When Ne Win resigned in July 1988, student unions had risen to try and establish a democracy in the country. Suu Kyi, daughter of Aung Sun, a slain leader of the movement for freedom against British rule was one of the heroes of this movement. However, it was General Saw Maung, of the SPLOC that brutally took control.
The demonstrations culminated in Uprising 8888, starting on August 8, 1988 (the number 8888 is considered lucky) and ending when it was brutally razed on Sept. 18, when the current junta fired on crowds, killing thousands of protestors.
Minthura has been imprisoned by the SPDC, and even claims to have been warned and followed for a long time. Following the 1988 coup d’etat by Saw Maung the All-Burma Student Democratic Front was formed by union leaders like Minthura.
“I was living in the jungle on and off for six years,” Minthura told The Varsity in an interview. “My responsibility was to deliver human rights and education information in the Mon and Karen states (two of more than 10 major ethnicities in Burma). I was arrested three times, then in 1994 I came to Canada to get legal status, and to continue our movement internationally.”
In Toronto, Minthura and other activists from Burma formed the Burmese Students Democratic Organization.
“Torontonians should be writing to Harper and Maxine Bernier to implement a sanction against Canadian Companies doing business in Burma, and the Burmese government,” says Copeland. “Canadian politicians have said a great deal about the issue, but nothing is yet being done. We should be telling our representatives to get the Canada Pension Plan to divest from companies that work in Burma, for example.”
Minthura and Copeland both point out that many North American companies continue to invest in Burma, which should be sanctioned. “We want Canada to support UN resolutions against the Burmese government and impose sanctions against companies investing there, and against the [Burmese] government,” said Minthura.
“We are trying to prove we haven’t given up yet.” The way Minthura sees it, 88 Generation Students are still very much alive.
