Myanmar - a tiny history.
By now the world is aware of the latest series of public outcry regarding the pro-democracy protests in Yangon (formerly Rangoon), Myanmar (formerly Burma). These flared up in August 2007 as a result to economic pressures squeezing local citizens, including a 500% increase in fuel prices, as well as renewed objections to military rule and repression. The military government responded with violence. For the first time, with the increases of technology and globalization, the real impact of such events was able to be shared with the world, almost instantly, through videoblogging.
What has been glaringly absent from recent news coverage is the reminder to the world (or at least within the US) that, in 1990, the National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won over 60% of the vote and over 80% of parliamentary seats - the first election held in 30 years. She earned international recognition for the return of democratic rule, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. At the precipice of democracy for the first time, the military government annulled the election results and has maintained its stranglehold on the country, placing Aung San suu Kyi under house arrest that has been renewed repeatedly.
What has been glaringly absent from recent news coverage is the reminder to the world (or at least within the US) that, in 1990, the National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won over 60% of the vote and over 80% of parliamentary seats - the first election held in 30 years. She earned international recognition for the return of democratic rule, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. At the precipice of democracy for the first time, the military government annulled the election results and has maintained its stranglehold on the country, placing Aung San suu Kyi under house arrest that has been renewed repeatedly.
The US responded with....sanctions, this week freezing the assets of 20-some military leaders (who had assets in the US). Despite the EU's sanctions, The French oil company Total is able to operate a natural gas pipeline from Myanmar to Thailand. Total and its American partner, ChevronTexaco are currently the subjects of lawsuits in French and Belgian courts for the condoning and use of civilian slavery to construct the named pipeline, with aid by the junta regime.
How does this fit in with "We can't allow the world's worst leaders to blackmail, threaten, or hold freedom-loving people hostage"? Or, "We will stand up for our friends in the world!" Let's ask Mr. Bush what he meant by those statements. Is there a silent phrase that continues the thought....."unless of course we don't demand significant natural resources from those freedom-loving people; or - by "friends" we mean "Israel" -- to the others, we say, Good Luck and Godspeed!" Credibility comes from doing what you say you're going to do, so if we're going to make blanket statements as a country that defends the fight for democracy and freedom wherever it happens in the world, then we should stick by it. If not, then we need to change our platitudes, or at least try harder to manage our President's 'from-the-hip' efforts at diplomacy. Or, to quote him again, "For diplomacy to be effective, the words must be credible."
Back to my point for making this post.....ahem.
The official name of the country in the local language (called Burmese) is Myanma, and hasn't changed. Within the Burmese language, Myanma is the literary name of the country, while Bama (from which “Burma” derives) is the oral name. But, the US and the UK continue to use the name “Burma,” since they do not recognize the legitimacy of the ruling military government nor its authority to rename the country in English. Perhaps insisting on the freedom and rule of the elected democratic party is too difficult - so we're going to make our stand by just referring to the country by its old British Colonial name.
But this is really splitting hairs......it's the equivalent of referring to someone in French as the formal "vous" (or Myanmar, in this case) or the more commonly used "tu" (or Burma). Mr. Bush's insistance on calling this country Burma is a misplaced attempt to illustrate non-recognition of the military junta's name change in 1989. And for that thought, he gets 1 Culture Point. But on the reality of calling Myanmar Burma, which is lost on most of the world, and has little to no significance to the locals who speak Burmese, he gets -10 Communication Points. But then, expecting our President to correctly pronounce something is a lost cause, as we all have learned from his repeated refusal to learn how to say "nuclear".
