Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

Only Now, The Full Horror of Burmese Junta’s Repression of Monks Emerges

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread
This topic is archived.
Home » Discuss » Archives » General Discussion (1/22-2007 thru 12/14/2010) Donate to DU
 
babylonsister Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-11-07 11:16 AM
Original message
Only Now, The Full Horror of Burmese Junta’s Repression of Monks Emerges
Only Now, The Full Horror of Burmese Junta’s Repression of Monks Emerges
by Rosalind Russell



Monks confined in a room with their own excrement for days, people beaten just for being bystanders at a demonstration, a young woman too traumatised to speak, and screams in the night as Rangoon’s residents hear their neighbours being taken away.

Harrowing accounts smuggled out of Burma reveal how a systematic campaign of physical punishment and psychological terror is being waged by the Burmese security forces as they take revenge on those suspected of involvement in last month’s pro-democracy uprising.

The first-hand accounts describe a campaign hidden from view, but even more sinister and terrifying than the open crackdown in which the regime’s soldiers turned their bullets and batons on unarmed demonstrators in the streets of Rangoon, killing at least 13. At least then, the world was watching.

The hidden crackdown is as methodical as it is brutal. First the monks were targeted, then the thousands of ordinary Burmese who joined the demonstrations, those who even applauded or watched, or those merely suspected of anti-government sympathies.

“There were about 400 of us in one room. No toilets, no buckets, no water for washing. No beds, no blankets, no soap. Nothing,” said a 24-year-old monk who was held for 10 days at the Government Technical Institute, a leafy college in northern Rangoon which is now a prison camp for suspected dissidents. The young man, too frightened to be named, was one of 185 monks taken in a raid on a monastery in the Yankin district of Rangoon on 28 September, two days after government soldiers began attacking street protesters.

“The room was too small for everyone to lie down at once. We took it in turns to sleep. Every night at 8 o’clock we were given a small bowl of rice and a cup of water. But after a few days many of us just couldn’t eat. The smell was so bad.

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/11/4468/
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
emlev Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-11-07 12:33 PM
Response to Original message
1. Horror. Thank you for posting this. Yesterday I heard
someone from the U.S. Campaign for Burma speak on the Peter B. Collins Show. He estimated that a couple hundred people are being killed there every day. He said the situation is much worse than what we're hearing. The show is archived at this link from the White Rose Society. The show is three hours long. As I recall, the interview is in the second hour.

Thanks again for posting. I've linked to this thread in the Burma Resources Thread.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
emlev Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-11-07 12:36 PM
Response to Original message
2. Burma activist dies under interrogation, says rights group
Burma activist dies under interrogation, says rights group from The Guardian, 10/10.

An active member of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party in Burma has died under interrogation, as the crackdown against last month's protests continues....
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
emlev Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-11-07 02:46 PM
Response to Original message
3. kick for more people to hear about this
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
emlev Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-11-07 04:44 PM
Response to Original message
4. kick
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Disturbed Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-11-07 04:48 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. Will the UN do something about this horrible Burmese Regime?
Will China & Russia block any action?
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view 
this author's profile Click to add 
this author to your buddy list Click to add 
this author to your Ignore list Thu Oct 31st 2024, 05:53 PM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » Archives » General Discussion (1/22-2007 thru 12/14/2010) Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators


Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC