l went on Saturday, and might put up a few pictures taken a bit later. There were about 300 people there, most of them Burmese. It was good to hear a rep from the Australian Trades Hall Council, (or whatever it is called these days) speak in support of workers in Myanmar. Also, an ex-Ozzie diplomat, Christopher Lamb also spoke. We swapped a few stories. When l went there in 1977, a tourist visa was only good for week, there were no extensions and no exceptions, overstay the visa and it was a case of off to gaol. He told me that some 10 years before that, a tourist visa was only good for 24 hours.
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The BBC article is from Feb 3.
Myanmar returns to the âbad old daysâ: Three months after a military coup ended Myanmarâs experiment in democracy, a sense of foreboding is back. A new junta is consolidating its grip by resorting, yet again, to a reign of terror.
Soldiers bang on doors nightly, arresting, abducting and assaulting with slingshots and rifles. Prisons are once again filled with poets, Buddhist monks and politicians. Hundreds more, many young men, have disappeared. Nightly broadcasts show mug shots of protesters, many with faces bruised from interrogations.
For all the fear percolating in Myanmar, the resistance to the coup has only hardened. It has included a national strike and a civil disobedience movement, which have paralyzed the economy. Banks and hospitals are all but shut.
Quotable: âMyanmar is going back to the bad old days, when people were so scared that their neighbors would inform on them and they could get arrested for no reason at all,â said a former police officer who is now in hiding after opposing the coup. [NYT, 7 May 2021]
Things will only get worse, before they get better.
At last, the UN finally does something.
Yes. It will be difficult for them to kill and oppress using only the weapons they already have.
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It is only a start.
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In the past, other ASEAN have avoided public criticism, whilst switching meetings of ASEAN and ASEAN+ when it was Myanmar turn to host
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No other thread is currently covering the sh!te storm that is developing in Afghanistan, so putting this article here.
Lots in the US thread, which is perhaps the third best choice.