Monks’ Ongoing Resistance Against the Burma’s Military Regime

By Burma Partnership • October 26, 2010

Riot police and security forces were on high alert in Rangoon this week after monks and activists issued a statement that they would be organizing protests against the 7 November elections. At least 2 monks were detained at the Shwedagon Pagoda for handing out pamphlets saying they do not accept the elections or the regime’s new flag.

Saturday marked the end of Buddhist Lent, an important religious event. On this day, temples and pagodas throughout the country hold alms donation ceremonies and are attended by millions of people. At Thayettaw Monastery in Rangoon, authorities stopped alms donations to monks. Authorities also banned the alms donation ceremony in Three Pagodas Pass, Karen State.

Since the Saffron Revolution, it has been clear that Burma’s monks hold a symbolic and collective strength that has the potential to pose a significant challenge to the military regime’s authority. With the aim of improving the well-being of the people of Burma, monks have continued to find ways to show their opposition to military rule, while continuing to respect and uphold their religious vows.

On 22 October, monks at Mahamyatmuni Pagoda in Mandalay distributed copies of the loving kindness sutra, a Buddhist prayer for the well-being of all living things, at the alms donation procession. They were immediately stopped by authorities. Reciting the loving kindness sutra and praying for the well-being of all has become a symbol of the Saffron Revolution. Monks distributed copies of the sutra during the 2007 protests and they have been used as a subtle form of resistance against military rule ever since. The following day at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon, monks distributed the same sutras with a stamp of 2010 crossed with an ‘X’.

In the aftermath of the Saffron Revolution, the regime has continued to place junta-allied monks in leading monasteries, and purging them of less obedient or politicized monks. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners – Burma reports that 257 monks are currently in jail, including two who were sentenced last month – one whose monastery offered shelter for victims of trafficking and the other for supporting an anti-elections campaign.

Since the Saffron Revolution, and in the lead up to the elections, the regime has continued to deny freedom of expression, assembly, association and religion. Without the protection of these freedoms, it is clear that the elections will not bring genuine democratic progress or political and religious freedom for the people of Burma.

Tags: Burma Partnership, Monks, Saffron Revolution

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Monks’ Ongoing Resistance Against the Burma’s Military Regime

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