Wonderland or Not

Over two years ago, at Ireland’s Ard­gi­llan Castle, REM pla­yed a con­cert (which was bea­med to Burma via sate­llite) in sup­port of Bur­mese pro-democracy lea­der Aung San Suu Kyi . San Suu Kyi, at the time, had spend twelve out of her last 18 years under house arrest. It was close to her 60th birthday.

Somewhere in that con­cert — the end, the begin­ning, it hardly mat­ters now — Michael Stipe said…

“We pray with our hearts that by your 61st birth­day, you will walk free among your people.”

It’s not that easy Mikey but nice try.

I don’t remem­ber hea­ring much about Burma sub­se­quent to that con­cert, until the events of the last month.

Now it seems the UN Secu­rity Coun­cil Blas­ted Burma’s Junta. A decep­ti­vely harsh title regar­ding what appears from all sour­ces to be a somewhat tem­pe­red down sta­te­ment, made so in order to get Rus­sia and China on board. The sta­te­ment which cri­ti­ci­zed the mur­de­ring ram­page ( called a “bru­tal crack­down” ) of the junta was sig­ned by all 15 mem­bers of the secu­rity coun­cil. A first for the secu­rity coun­cil, and maybe a spark of hope for Burma.

It’s true that change usually must come from within. The peo­ple from Burma just want us to keep noti­cing. I won’t go two years before thin­king of Burma again. Will you?

Ana­tomy Of a Fai­led Revo­lu­tion
What Iraq and Burma Have in Common