Word: rangoon
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...much of late September, the road to the eastern gateway of Rangoon's revered Shwedagon pagoda was a sea of maroon and saffron robes, as hundreds of Buddhist monks gathered to march in protest against Burma's military government...
...leave Rangoon for Bangkok, the 2007 democracy uprising feels over. Even the monsoon rains--such a feature of these once joyous protests, with the monks marching shin-deep through flooded streets--have petered out. The sun returns, and a cheerless rainbow arcs across the city. "Peace and stability restored, traveling and marketing back to normal in Yangon," trumpets The New Light of Myanmar...
...malaria deaths occur here; a third of the children under 5 years old are malnourished; most of its people live on less than a dollar a day. "People have been successfully intimidated into keeping their heads down--maybe," says Shari Villarosa, chargé d'affaires at the U.S. embassy in Rangoon. "But it's still a struggle for them to survive--to feed and educate their families, to get health care. So there could be another eruption...
...that happens, what can the world do? There is already unprecedented international pressure on Burma, although its impact on this isolated and xenophobic regime is questionable. While I was in Rangoon, U.N. Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari met with both Suu Kyi (twice) and junta chief Than Shwe, but Gambari's efforts look unlikely to kick-start a dialogue between the two. Similarly, China's influence over Burma--and its willingness to use it--is probably exaggerated. Its U.N. Ambassador, Wang Guangya, has characterized Burma's troubles as "basically internal...
...Burmese aren't giving up. Before leaving Rangoon, I met a former political prisoner who was delighted that so many young students had joined the protests. "Some were carrying fighting peacock flags, just like in '88," he said. "The message has clearly got through to the next generation." The '07 Generation--monks and laypeople alike--may yet rise again...