Current Events Watch

As so eloquently spoken by young Juliet, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Whether she was actually expressing her devotion to Romeo, as Bill would have us believe, or practicing the discipline of self-affirmation could be debated. She probably had some name issues. Juliet Capulet? Come on, what were the folks thinking? We never are informed of her middle name but, knowing what we do know, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mom and Pop didn’t at least consider Antoinette as a possibility.

Maybe that’s an unfair assumption, but, nonetheless, I’m sure the other kids at Verona Middle School had a field day with that one! Particularly if she was the teacher’s pet. Create your own rhyme here. She was well-spoken, after all, and probably did receive favorable faculty attention, and fellow students can be cruel.

As can a military junta, like the ruling party currently terrorizing Myanmar. Or is it Burma? It depends on which talking head is reading the teleprompter at the time, reporting on the government’s atrocities in that Southeast Asian country. Things aren’t always rosy, or sweet, by any name, contrary to J-Cap’s affirmation.

I’ll stick with Burma, because that’s what it was called back in the day. Pre-1962, when it was a still a democratic society, before the military coup d’etat that overthrew the government. Before the subsequent decades of raping, pillaging, ethnic cleansing and enslavement policies under the current military regime. (There’s supposed to be one of those apostrophe things over the “e” in d’etat, I know that, I’m just too lazy to figure it out.) Of course the name “Burma” stuck until ‘89. But following the anti-military dictatorship demonstration known as the 8888 Uprising that began on, well, August 8, 1988 in which, by all accounts, thousands of demonstrators were killed and wounded, a name change was probably wise, and “Myanmar” had a nice ring to it. They certainly needed a fresh start and a re-branding after all of that negative “Burma” publicity! And change is good.

Unfortunately, not much has changed, except for the name. And now again the Burmese are protesting against the ruling military junta, and being massacred in the process. Thursday, during a civil protest, demonstrators were warned that they had 10 minutes to disperse or that they would be shot. The threat was duly executed, so to speak. Many were killed. One of the most noteworthy and publicized was Japanese journalist and photographer Kenji Nagai, shot and killed at point-blank range while simply attempting to document what was happening. He wasn’t even necessarily protesting, just taking a few shots here and there. (Poor choice of words on my part there, I guess. Sorry about that.) From the pictures in this article, it appears that after he was first shot, he was still trying to take some photos, no doubt hoping for the best. That obviously didn’t last for very long. Soon thereafter, shot in the chest, dead, along with so many others over the past few days.

Maybe it’s time for another name change. The Myanmar name has certainly been besmirched, given all of the recent publicity. Of course, things won’t change as long as the junta is running the show. They can call it Disneyland, for all it matters, they’ll just need new helmets. Everyone loves mouse ears. But the ethnic cleansing, the destruction of the villages, the planting of the land mines, the subsequent orders to retrieve said land mines, and all of the violence will no doubt continue, whatever name they choose.

I have to say, though, minefields and village-burning aside, the most disturbing recent development was when the SPDC (that would be the junta folks) shut down Internet access a couple of days ago … no way for the dissidents to let the rest of the world know first-hand what is going on, or to ask for help! Personally, I’d rather be raped, pillaged, or even recruited for mine hunting, than to have my Internet access shut down. Okay, not really, I suppose. It would be a close call, though.

At least George Bush is doing his part on America’s behalf. Representin’ the US of A! We don’t condone that kind of behavior, no way! But taking the matter up with the Burma/Myanmar leaders? Nah. It’s best to delegate this one to China. They’re closer, after all. And Lord knows we’ve got enough problems elsewhere. Maybe delegation is best. We’d probably just make matters worse anyway. Shock and Awe, Part Deux wouldn’t work, Burma doesn’t have any oil. Just people. And anyway, the Shock and Awe sequel is already scheduled to premier in Iran.

So what’s in a name? Maybe not so much. It’s really about the people, call them what you will. Burmese, Myanmarese (I think I invented a new word), or simply displaced, disrespected, or dead. Still, I prefer Burma. Things were better then. Hopefully, things will be better again. Yes, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” But a shithole, by any name, simply stinks.

myanmar, burma, human rights, protests, government protest