Don’t legitimize Burma’s elections

By Ashin Issariya

The government that emerges after Nov. 7 will be no less corrupt and unlawful than the present one.All actions are based on intentions. For instance, the goal of monks is to bring peace and kindness to the people, and so Burmese trust their actions. In contrast, when the military regime says they will hold elections, Burmese are skeptical because they know the intention is only to maintain power at their expense.

When Burma’s monks marched through the streets in 2007, we did so because we saw the pain of the people, and knew we had to respond. People have suffered needlessly for many years because of the military system of control and intimidation […]

Monks’ Ongoing Resistance Against the Burma’s Military Regime

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 […]

Refugees Recall ‘Saffron Revolution’

It was a day like any other. Kyaw Kyaw Htun, a 19-year-old university student, lived outside Rangoon, so when he started the day he had heard nothing of the clashes taking place between monk-led demonstrators and troops on the capital’s streets.

“I knew that some monks were marching around town but I did not know how many people were involved,” he said in an interview on the third anniversary of the so-called “Saffron Revolution.”

He made his way to the Internet cafe where he worked part-time and then discovered the full scale of the confrontation between demonstrators and armed forces.

A colleague was preparing to join the demonstration. He told Kyaw Kyaw Htun that the entire population of Rangoon was joining with the monks and that now was the people’s opportunity “to put an end to their suffering.”

Kyaw Kyaw Htun, using a pseudonym, admits now that he was scared because he had never been involved in politics before. But “many people were going so it felt alright” […]

Demonstrations and Media Crackdowns Mark 3rd Anniversary of Saffron Revolution

Today marks the 3rd Anniversary of the Saffron Revolution when tens of thousands of peaceful demonstrators led by Buddhist monks took to the streets of Burma’s cities, triggered by an overnight 500% increase in fuel prices on 15 August 2007. The protests escalated to hundreds of thousands of monks, nuns, and citizens participating in over 150 protests across the country. On 26 September, the SPDC launched a violent crackdown, arresting over 3,000 people and raiding monasteries. At least 31 people were killed […]

HKCFB – Support the Burma people’s call for genuine democracy and liberation!

The Hong Kong Coalition for a Free Burma expresses the strongest solidarity with the people of Burma in commemorating the third anniversary of the Saffron Revolution.

The Saffron Revolution is the one of the most recent expressions of the people of Burma’s continual and collective resistance to the military dictatorship of the General Than Shwe regime. […]

Statement on the Third Year Anniversary of the Saffron Revolution

On the third year anniversary of Burma’s Saffron Revolution, the International Burmese Monks Organization gives voice to the monks and nuns inside Burma who have been silenced by a cruel military dictatorship. We vow to keep the struggle for freedom and human rights alive in Burma […]

Myanmar: Political prisoners must be freed

On the third anniversary of the violent crackdown on the “Saffron Revolution”, Amnesty International calls on the Myanmar government to immediately and unconditionally free all political prisoners arrested for their peaceful activism.[…]

Activists say “ there’s blood in the ballot”; reiterate call to probe junta’s crimes against humanity

About a hundred of Filipino solidarity activists under the Free Burma Coalition – Philippines (FBC-Phils) today joined the international commemoration of the 3rd anniversary of the historic Saffron Revolution in Burma where thousands of peaceful demonstrators led by Buddhist monks, nuns, students and ordinary citizens took to the streets of Rangoon and provincial centers as they demanded social, economic and political changes to the Burmese military junta […]

Ashin Issariya (aka King Zero): “We need unity. We need to act and work hard.”

By Ashin Issariya (aka King Zero), Alexandra Rösch, Garrett Kostin

September 27 will be the third anniversary of the brutal crackdown on the peaceful Saffron Revolution in Burma in 2007. Since then many monks have been arrested, forcibly disrobed, and put into jail and forced labor camps. Others have been forced into hiding. Some have fled to Thailand, while others are still hiding inside the country. While their struggle for peace and freedom goes on, the world seems to have forgotten about them […]

Courage to Resist: Women Human Rights Defenders of Burma

A report that details how women activists have been hunted down, assaulted, tortured and framed with false charges, and their family members threatened and held hostage in the crackdown in Burma following the Saffron Revolution protests in 2007. […]