4,000 Burmese Monks De-Robed, Shackled, and Being Sent to Remote Prisons

According to the latest BBC report 4,000 monks have been arrested in Rangoon and have be stripped of their traditional robes, shackled, and are due to be moved to prisons in the North of the country. They are refusing to eat food provided by the military and civilians trying to bring them food are being turned away. For more details you can see the BBC article at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7022437.stm

Although my life has been busy with school responsibilities the last few days, including a forest trip to Sweden, none of this seems to matter right now. All I can think is what is going to happen to these monks? I've also read the ICRC and UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) in Rangoon are both avoiding becoming involved. We need these organizations in the country to become involved, to pressure the generals to keep the monks in Rangoon, and to see the monks to ensure that they are OK.

I ask you to think about your own country, community or religious order and consider what you would do if 4,000 respected people in your organization, country, community, religious group were detained (and possibly tortured) for attempting to create peaceful change. What would you do? Maybe you think one voice, one action doesn't matter. If that is your feeling I won't try to dissuade you. I can only disagree and say that what we do as compassionate individuals does matter. Ever noticed how just a smile from a stranger can completely change your day? Or thought about how you have probably influenced others in a similar way? Or on the flip side how a guy/gal cutting you off in traffic impacted your mood for hours? What we do does make a difference.

There are things you can do in this situation among them:
- Get information and educate others good sources I have found are
1. BBC news
2. www.irrawaddy.org (though they are having some problems due to high volume and some recent virus problem)
3. this blog http://ko-htike.blogspot.com/

- Send faxes or call your governments leaders and urge them to continue to pressure the Burmese military with regard to political reform and ensuring the monks are not harmed and released (faxes are often more effective than emails)

- Contact the ICRC main office in Geneva, Switzerland at:
Postal address
International Committee of the Red Cross
19 avenue de la Paix
CH 1202 Geneva

Fax
ICRC general: ++ 41 (22) 733 20 57
Production, Multimedia, Distribution Division: ++ 41 (22) 730 27 68

Phone ++ 41 (22) 734 60 01

- Sign this petition directed to the Chinese Premier and the UN Security Council, they have over 300,000 signatures in the last 3-4 days, help it get to 1 million+
http://www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_burma/t.php?cl=21212542

- If you are on Facebook sign up for the group "Support the Monks' Protest in Burma", you can find information about support rallies world wide on this group's page.

- Participate and/or organize a support rally, prayer gathering (whatever fitting to your beliefs/principles) to support the monks and the people of Burma
I attended a small support rally last Saturday in the pouring Copenhagen rain. It was a quite small gathering but I am hoping to work with some Danes to make something happen this weekend that is more substantial if we can pull it together. Here is a pic of the gathering in Copenhagen. Last weekend there were more substantial gatherings across the world.















- Find an organization that is legitimate to make a donation to. One organization i have been referred to by a friend is called:“Australian Coalition for Democracy in Burma”. The Australian Coalition for Democracy is Burma Inc. is a cross party coalition of Federal, State and Local government representatives committed to the restoration of Democracy in Burma. You can get more information about the organization from:
Councillor Jamie Parker
Leichhardt Council (Sydney Australia)
www.lmc.nsw.gov.au
jparker@lmc.nsw.gov.au
0418 428 089

This org has received requests for funds from activists they have worked with for a very long time. The information from Facebook states the following "No money will be taken out for administration or any other cost. Every cent will be sent to Burma or to our contacts on the Thai-Burma or India-Burma boarders. Please send what you can to help this campaign."

- Write an article/letter to the editor about what is happening in Burma

Our actions do make a difference. The words or Margaret Mead seem particularly appropriate here:
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

Thanks for your time and for reading this entry.