In the case of the recent crackdown of the peaceful protests in Burma, its military junta could be liable for investigation by the International Criminal Court under allegations of " attack directed against any civilian population", "extermination", "torture", "enforced disappearance" and "persecution" of the monks by the Bumese army. As of today more than 600 monks and 2,000 others are unaccounted for, mostly considered by the Asian Human Rights Commission as disappeared with serious possibilities that they are being tortured.
Buddhist monks are revered as the highest moral authority in Burma. They gave courage to Burmese people to come out in the streets again after more than a decade of silence and tolerance. Reports cite the skyrocketing cost of living as the main reason for the protests but the monks also wanted Daw Aung San Suu Kyi freed. The leader of the party overwhelmingly voted in Burma's only democratic elections in 1990 had been prevented from taking office together with elected parliamentarians from the National League for Democracy.
To put pressure on China, Burma's only supporter, to force it to end martial law and free Suu Kyi, there are calls from the west for a boycott of the 2008 Olympics. Petitions to this effect are circulating. Many believe it is now or never for Burmese democracy, with the last vestige of tolerance in protest over the military junta and therefore being exterminated themselves, who else would stand up to the junta?
But people say there is too much hardship to sustain any action, and people are starving so much that protesting with the monks meant that they had nothing left to lose but their very lives. This makes me very sad to the point of restless sleep. Surely people from around the world must help! We must stand up for them if they are crippled with hunger already. I've seen it done before, I believe it can be done again.
And so the struggle continues....
