I am sure you have all been as horrified as I have been watching the events unfold in Burma. The government there is literally twiddling their thumbs, letting people die, watching people suffer and rebuking outside assistance due to their isolationist nationalist political agenda. The government in "Myanmar" is a military dictatorship that is not recognized as legitimate by most of the world powers. Their democratically elected leader (Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi or "The Lady" as she is fondly called) remains under house arrest for at least 12 of the last 19 years.
The government of Myanmar does not represent the people of Burma. My husband (Rev. Alan Gates) spent a month in Burma about 4 years ago. He went for a program supporting the Anglican Church in the country. Of course, the government knew that he was a "religious" person but he had to apply for entry as a "teacher" in order to be granted access. The Anglican Church is not sanctioned by the Myanmar government. His small group was followed, documented, photographed and regularly put through extra steps requiring bribes and flattery to move forward. The government would have the lights and power shut off to areas he traveled, often leading to preaching in the dark. The group was not deterred, everyone continued as though it was perfectly normal. The country did (and does not) have a communications infrastructure, so there were no telephone calls or emails to let me know that he was ok. At one point he was horribly ill - but the people of Burma took wonderful care of him. He can share the details of his adventure far better than I can, but the agency he was most taken with was World Vision. The big dogs from UNICEF were living life large with giant homes, staff and luxuries whereas the people of World Vision were out in the field, orphanages and villages - completely committed to the people they were working for. Since then, World Vision has been a favorite go-to charity for my family. They are already in Burma. They know how the system works. You can be sure they are working as hard as they can to provide the maximum amount of assistance and relief to devastated areas and families.
As of this morning (5/12/08) the government has finally allowed one US shipment of assistance in to the country. Hopefully it will not go the way of prior efforts (the government confiscated aid so they could relabel it with the names of local generals, adding days to the rescue efforts). Their airport is small but is only handling about 4-5 incoming flights per day when they should be allowing at least one per hour. They should be doing many things. Should, but won't. It is painful to stand by and watch this happen. Certainly reminds me of my feelings of outrage during and after Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. And we should still have outrage for our own culture of corruption in the continued rebuilding efforts in our own country.
Any able country that refuses to reasonably mobilize or accept aid in the wake of a disaster should be subjected to strict international scrutiny, sanctions and held to a criminal court. But what does an international community do when the country in question is so extremely isolated and removed from the world at large? Where no system is in place to feel the pressure of sanctions or threats? Or where sanctions only hurt the people of the country more than help? North Korea - the archetype of isolationism - has more international ties than Myanmar. Ideally, you want to see the people rise up and fight against the corruption and fight against dictatorship ... but that is a very Western thought. The people of Burma are peaceable, the national religion is Buddhism and there is a strong belief in nonviolence. Unfortunately, it is not a belief their own government holds dear. Pray for the people of Burma.
No comments:
Post a Comment