Word: burma
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While they continue to make it difficult for foreigners to offer aid, Burma's generals welcome the help of their own people - at least officially. "Myanmar people's generosity is amazing," marvels a recent article in The New Light of Myanmar, a state-run newspaper.* Privately, however, they must be getting nervous. Ordinary Burmese are horrified by the suffering of their compatriots and angry at the junta's inadequate attempts to alleviate it. Their humanitarian efforts could well spark a political one, especially as it also involves Buddhist monks, who last September led the biggest anti-government protests Burma...
...name means "Tweezers"), also briefly jailed for his role in last year's protests. Zaganar and his celebrity friends have bought food and medical supplies for Nargis victims and are using their names to raise more funds. Both the disaster and the grassroots response to it are unprecedented in Burma. "I think there will be political consequences," he says. "People are very angry with the government...
...monks are also on the move again. Buddhist temples and monasteries have always played a central role in helping the needy in Burma (as, in this religiously and ethnically diverse country, have churches, mosques and Hindu temples). After the cyclone, monks led small-scale relief efforts into the delta, the distinctive multicolored flags of their faith fluttering from cars and small trucks. Monks from well-known monasteries in Mandalay and elsewhere in Burma are either in the delta or heading there, while in Pakkoku - the Irrawaddy town near Mandalay where last year's protests originated - their brethren are reportedly soliciting...
Despite the participation of thousands of Burmese, the impact of this homegrown relief effort will always limited, admits Zaganar. "We deliver our supplies by road because we cannot afford a boat," he says. "But most victims live close to the water. We cannot get through to them." He says Burma desperately needs more boats and helicopters from abroad. Not even the nation's richest private donors - who include junta cronies like tycoon Tay Za, who was put on a U.S. sanctions list last year - have the means or expertise to meet even a fraction of the needs in far-flung...
...blame the Burmese military junta for Cyclone Nargis either. But you can blame it for seizing aid shipments and refusing to admit aid workers. Nargis exposed the horrors of Burma--not only for the cyclone's victims but also for the survivors, whose lives are imperiled by the junta's inaction and who will still be stuck there after the world loses interest. It's a reminder of Lord Charles Bowen's take on the Book of Matthew...