The 18 Protestors (r)

[cameron.beatty@xxxxxxxx]

At 11:03 PM -0600 8/13/98, pwebb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>Am I alone in thinking unworthy thoughts- that the 18 people now under
>arrest in Rangoon for handing our democracy cards, did so in the full
>knowledge that they would be taken into custody: that they wanted to be
>arrested? Is it only my suspicious mind that suggests that the SPDC let them
>come in, that they knew they were activists and simply sat back and waited
>until they broke the law?
>I guess you could say that these 18 activists have turned the spotlight on
>the junta- but Daw Aung San Suu Kyi does that anyway and much more
>effectively. Sorry, but I do not have much sympathy for the 18 - one taste
>of real arrest in Insein Jail in a stinking filthy cell with the smell of
>fear and vomit around them , and we would perhaps see who if any were the
>real activists. Actually I think they are simply self-indulgent, and causing
>so much flutter amongst the embassies that the real work of confronting the
>junta has been side-lined.
>

You may well be right in your suspicions, Mr. Webb.  On the other hand,
effective though DASSK's activities have been in drawing attention to the
situation in Burma, there was, in the US media, at least, barely a whisper
of the 6-day standoff during her last attempt to leave Rangoon.  These
kids, misguided idealism notwithstanding, have managed to get more of the
world's news agencies to pay attention than have paid attention in a long
while.  As for side-lining the "real work of confronting the junta," I
rather suspect that their "foolish" action has resulted in that work being
pushed right up near the top of the 'A' list.    I have a great deal of
sympathy for them, as well as admiration for having put themselves in that
predicament in the first place.




Cameron Beatty
cameron.beatty@xxxxxxxx