It’s reported that over 1.5 million people are at serious risk from diseases such as cholera, dysentery and malaria and may die if aid is not delivered soon. It seems that the number of dead cannot be accurately determined at this time, but i am confident that this disaster is on a par with the terrible earthquake in China. It’s rather strange then that China sent 50,000 troops to Sichuan province to help with the aid effort, but is blocking UN sanctions to force the Burmese government to accept foreign aid! I understand the principal that the Burmese should decide for themselves, but i think that when this many lives are at stake – there’s not really much time to look at everyone’s principals.

China broadcasts to the media globally that it would appreciate foreign help; unsurprisingly everyone scrambles to show them how much they can do…and maybe they can get a few new trade agreements next year, but at the same time they block aid from going to Burma! It doesn’t really make sense in my head.

So…what can be done. On Saturday 17th May, the Global Day of Action for Burma’s Cyclone Victims will take place. The emphasis is on getting the rest of the world to enforce aid upon Burma to save literally millions of lives. I don’t agree with this tactic as it will only worsen relations with the government, but then i also do not have a better solution to propose!

Protests are taking place in London as follows:

French Embassy: Time: 12:30 – 13:00
Address: 58 Knightsbridge London SW1X 7JT

American Embassy: Time: 13:30 – 14:00
Address: 24 Grosvenor Square, London, W1A 2LQ

Foreign Office: 14:40 – 15:10
Address: King Charles Street London SW1A 2AH

Click here to view a map of the day’s protests.

Other protests across the world can be found here.

42 days in police custody without basic rights.

This inspired me to write to my MP:

Dear Mark Lazarowicz,

I am writing to make an official protest to the current terrorism laws
in the UK which permit the police to hold suspects without charge for
28 days, and the proposed increases to that period.

I find it hard to believe that a democracy can ever justify holding
innocent people for a month without charge and therefore without their
basic rights as citizens of this country.

Yours sincerely,

Fergus Macdonald

And at 7.40am this morning i received this reply:

Dear Mr Macdonald

Thankyou for your email. I can tell you that I had some concerns over the 28 day period when it was proposed last year, but eventually was prepared to accept it as a compromise which did seek to reconcile the protection of civil liberties with the reality that some terrorism cases are complex to investigate. You will no doubt be aware that the 28 day period received all-party support.

I did not agree, however, with the proposal for a 90 day period of pre-charge detention in terrorist cases, and was one of the Labour MPs who voted against that last year.

You will no doubt be aware there is currently a proposal under discussion to raise the 28 day limit to 42 days. While I am of course open to all reasonable argument, I have certainly not been convinced of the case for this extension, and at present I do not intend to support it.

Yours sincerely

Mark Lazarowicz
www.marklazarowicz.org.uk

And so, in response…i decided to get it all off my chest!:

Dear Mark Lazarowicz,

Many thanks for the personal reply, and i appreciate that combating terrorism is a difficult process.

However, i do not belief that people’s human rights should be infringed for the supposed benefit of society. I believe that a democratic government and fair justice system are necessary ingredients for a successful country in the world today. Removing people’s basic rights for the protection of others is putting ourselves on a slippery slope towards imprisoning everyone for their own protection! Not that i can see this happening, but it certainly appears to be the direction the country is headed. The steps may be small, but the path only leads in one direction. I believe that taking sufficient time to look at the causes of our current ‘war on terrorism’ (from the most neutral perspective possible) and spending significantly more energy on ensuring that the same problems do not repeat themselves in the future is the best way to national security.

I am in no way professing to have the answers or detailed knowledge on the subject, but the fact that our government has spent a great deal of time meddling in the affairs of other countries over the past few hundred years (and indeed longer) inevitably creates a situation where some people resent us. I believe that a change of course towards helping countries in need without the aim of profiting from their natural resources or installing a puppet government is the best way to ensure the future stability, integrity and ultimately safety and security of our country.

The first step on this path may be to increase foreign aid to 0.7% of GDP as the government has agreed to do for over 20 years, yet still does not. A more equal world where there is less variation between the extreme poor and the super-rich, and all countries are involved in international trade with each other is almost guaranteed to create a more peaceful and respectful society. When you take away the pride, honour and hope from someone – he has little else to lose and is far more likely to believe that he will be better off in the after-life.

My apologies that this has gone slightly off-topic and become more long-winded than i anticipated, but i hope that you will take the time to read it.

Yours sincerely,
Fergus Macdonald.

TAKE ACTION
The Burma Campaign UK and MTV have joined forces again to call for action by
the United Nations Security Council. Visit http://www.mtvburmaaction.com to email the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the permanent members of
the United Nations Security Council.

TAKE ACTION
Email European Union governments calling on them to agree targeted economic
sanctions that will ensure European companies no longer help pay for the
guns and the bullets used against peaceful protesters in Burma. Visit:
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/eu_sanctions.html

Also, photos are now online of the 10,000+ strong march that took place in London on Saturday. You can see the set here or the slideshow here.

Edinburgh is hosting a ‘Run for Relief‘ in the meadows, followed by a lunch which will be addressed by Zoya Phan, a Burmese refugee who now works for Burma Campaign UK.

There’s also a discussion taking place this Thursday (4th October) at St John’s Church Hall on Princes Street about the situation in Burma, and what people in Scotland can do about it.

If you’re at all interested in this, or just feel that you want to help out, please check out the websites of the organisations involved…come along on Thursday…or even get your trainers on this Saturday! It’s only 5K around the meadows…and you can walk if you want to. Register here online before 10pm Thursday 4th October.

However, Sylvester Stallone has recently returned from filming on the Thai/Burmese border and has spoken about the atrocities which he saw. I have little doubt that by the time the smoke clears and democracy is restored to the country the world will learn of truly the appalling abuse of human rights which i believe happens there daily.

On the plus side, the UN Special Envoy met with the government today. So far there’s little news about the meeting which may even still be going on, however i imagine the outcome will be somewhat similar to the foreign minister’s announcement that the government reacted adequately to political activists who were exploiting peaceful protests to destabilize the government.

Feel free to check out some of my pictures of the country here, or as a slideshow here, and ponder the situation like this little fellow below!

China and Russia have vetoed the UN proposal to condemn the government’s actions, with China reportedly saying that if they were to meddle in Burma’s civil affairs, that surely they should be meddling in Frances when they have protests such as the riots in Paris last year. Hardly the same situation, but you’ve gotta love the Chinese’s spin on the situation. Hopefully they will do their utmost to appease the situation anyway.

Having been there and met Burmese people, it truly saddens me to think about this happening. I’ve chosen my words carefully here and i can honestly say that without exception we did not meet an unpleasant Burmese person. Everyone we met was overjoyed to see us and we didn’t notice a hint of aggression, anger or hatred in anyone we met for the whole time we were there. The worst thing was that we were so popular that everyone wanted to talk to us to practice their English and wouldn’t leave us alone! Life in the spotlight is hard i tell you!

On the plus side, this was the main story on BBC news this morning, and on their website. The UK PM and US President have both announced that they will take action against the ruling junta, and an urgent UN Security Council meeting has been scheduled for today at 7pm. Hopefully the international community will get involved with this issue and not allow the appalling abuse of human rights to continue in the country.

The BBC has some good pictures of the protests here.

However, they were not allowed access to University Avenue and therefore could not pass the house of Aung San.

I’ve not been there myself, but was shown photos of the road by a guy we met while in Yangon, who managed to snap a couple before he was ordered to put his camera away. There are armed guards and a road block at each end of the road stopping all traffic and most pedestrians from travelling down the road. In unprecedented fashion, the armed guards allowed some 1000 or so monks to walk down the road, stop outside Aung San’s house and chant a mantra for over 15 minutes, before blocking the road again. It’s reported that she came out of her house to greet the passing monks.

Hopefully this will not appease the monks and their supporters and that this type of behaviour will continue.

They are marching from the outskirts of Yangon, to Shwedagon Pagoda in the centre of town. It’s the holiest shrine in the country and is said to house relics of four Buddhas within it. It is historically been used as the gathering point for protests and gatherings, and has seen both General Aung San demanding independence in 1946 and his daughter Aung San Suu Kyi and over half a million others protesting for democracy in the 1988 uprising. Unfortunately, 1988 ended terribly with thousands of monks and civilians killed or put in prison. Hopefully these protests will have better results.

I urge everyone to take an interest in this case. The situation in Burma today has been described as the worst abuse of human rights anywhere in the world. Millions of people have been moved from their homes, imprisoned, tortured or killed. The economy is in shambles, save for a few countries (mainly China) which still do business with the military junta government. Check out the Burma Campaign website and join the fight to help restore democracy in Burma. This is in no way the same as the western pseudo-democracy that is being imposed on Iraq, Burma held legitimate elections in 1990 which saw the National League for Democracy win roughly 80% of the votes. Currently i believe that Burma holds the record for the highest number of legitimately elected members of parliament currently held in prison, never mind the scores more that simply disappeared.

Please publicise this issue so that it can be changed for the better.