A Great Day for Burma

Follow Aung San Suu Kyi’s address to Amnesty International live with Joshua Eaton at https://twitter.com/#!/search/thelady (or that might be https://twitter.com/#!/search/?q=%23thelady&src=hash – I’m not terribly twitter literate)

One notable tweet:

Joshua Eaton ‏@joshua_eaton

Suu Kyi said she finds human rights relativism “very dangerous,” thinks nothing in the Universal Declaration is relative. #TheLady

This week Burma granted amnesty to the last of its political prisoners, and the US ended sanctions against some of the country’s top leaders. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is in the US as an elected Burmese official, and Dissident Voice, a leading newsletter for proponents of peace and social justice, called Burma “The New NGO Heaven.” Yes, things are looking up for Burma in amazing ways. Yet, as Suu Kyi, often known simply as “The Lady” has said, it could be reversed:

“Under the present constitution, the army can always take over all parts of government if they think this is necessary. So until the army comes out clearly and consistently in support of the democratic process, we cannot say that it’s irreversible. But I don’t think we need fear a reversal too much either,” she said. – (VOA)

Meanwhile the ongoing persecution and murder of the Rohingya must be ended. From what I have seen, this is as much an ethnic and racial issue as it is a religious one, but as those carrying out the attrocities are mostly Buddhist and thus strive to live by Buddhist ideals, it is important for Buddhists everywhere to understand the issue and call for the end of violence there. Find out more at Wiki, Muslim Aid, and the New Straits Times.

(a quick apology: I had a longer version of this post, but a server error seems to have wiped much of it out… anicca. – Update: I’ve managed to replace most of the original, no anicca here after all.)

And this just in from Danny Fisher:

A Rohingya question… She doesn’t like word “persecution”; rule of law should have been applied in first instance of communal violence. “Are our citizenship laws in line with human rights standards?” she says Burma should ask. Border-crossing an issue for Suu Kyi. Are Rohingya in Burma in from Bangladesh or elsewhere illegally? Border-crossing an issue for Suu Kyi. Are Rohingya in Burma in from Bangladesh or elsewhere illegally? What’s happening is based on one crime that was committed and never dealt with, she says. “Accusations don’t diffuse problems. Condemnation does not always bring reconciliation.” – Aung San Suu Kyi on not using the word persecution re: Rohingya #ASSK #therightsgeneration

Many thanks to Danny and Joshua for their coverage from the event. I wish I had been there myself, but having these two on site and working hard to share everything is almost as good.