Burmese Monks Continue Protesting Even in Shackles

You might see a skinny corpse rising out of the ground in Concord, Massachusets tonight to lift its bony fist in support of an awe inspiring tenacity taking place thousands of miles away.

In 1846, Henry David Thoreau was confronted by a local tax collector who demanded he pay six years of delinquent poll taxes. He refused. Thoreau stated that he would not pay because he did not support the Mexican-American War. He was taken to jail, and protested fervently when released after a solicitous aunt paid the taxes for him. This incident prompted him to produce a famous essay we now call 'Civil Disobedience'.

I don't know if the monks in Myanmar have read his words, but they are a tremendous example of the power of Civil Disobedience; and today the military government strives to squeeze the juice out of their cause.

What is the conflict? By now even fairly preoccupied Americans have probably heard about thousands of monks protesting in Burma. In the country Myanmar (Burma), the revered Buddhist Monks of the region have taken up the cause of their people against a strict military regime. They marched for 10 days, starting September 17, in the city of Yangon from the Shwedagon Pagoda, lending new life to protests that sparked over a dramatic hike in fuel prices by the military government.

The sight of thousands of cinnamon robed monks walking the streets peacefully gave power to the protests. More and more people were inspired to join in the marching... and Myanmar's ruling military junta grew outraged.

On Wednesday, September 26th, the first monk killings began. Reports varied widely between the government's claim that one monk was killed, and other reports through cell-phones and internet that a possible 8 monks were shot during the protests.

The Buddhists marches are peacable, but the monks are a powerful symbol. When the government closed in and tried to block their path on Thursday, it was the by-standers who grew angry. They threw rocks and bottles, they surged forward, and eventually the junta had to let the monks pass.