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27 September 2007
Burma’s Monks Have History of Democratic Protest
Alms boycott targets government legitimacy in devoutly Buddhist country
Washington -- In assuming de facto leadership of Burma’s monthlong popular protest against its military rulers, the country’s Buddhist monks are returning to a familiar resistance role they have played against the junta previously, as well as against Burma’s colonial rulers in the early 20th century.
The protests were sparked by a dramatic increase in the price of fuel in mid-August that has affected prices on most goods and services. Following clashes with armed government soldiers in Pakokku September 5, Buddhist monks and nuns mobilized to lead the largest protests against the junta in nearly 20 years.
The monastic community's, or sangha’s, place as “a point of coalescence” for the protests is highly significant, said Penelope Edwards, a professor of South and Southeast Asian studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
Edwards told USINFO that the sangha is a strong and well-organized institution in a particularly devout Buddhist country.
“Burma has a really strong tradition of meditation and practice, and the Burmese are very serious about their Buddhism,” she said. The importance of Buddhism is such that the military rulers have established their own religious council, Sangha Nayaka, and have tried to boost their own legitimacy by portraying themselves as devout with highly public sponsorship of religious institutions.
Edwards explained that in Buddhist practice “one succeeds in the next life and one gets on to a better life and also earns social standing and status by accumulating merit,” which she described as the “spiritual currency of Buddhism.”
“The current government has been spending a lot of time in the last [17 years] really trying to build up the image of themselves as ‘merit making’ by investing a lot of money in pagodas and temple building,” she said.
One of the most important aspects of the monks’ protest against the military government is their boycott of alms (charity given by lay people to monks, who are dependent on the giving) from the rulers and their families, symbolized by overturning their alms bowls. The action, known as pattam nikkujana kamma, is “very significant,” she said, because it denies merit to the government.
“It takes away a sense of legitimacy, and it is sort of the ultimate or the only, in a sense, weapon or leverage that monks have against the government. It’s an ultimate sanction, actually,” Edwards said.
In a September 22 statement advocating countrywide protests, an organization of clergy known as the All Burma Monks Alliance described the junta as an “evil military despotism, which is impoverishing and pauperizing our people of all walks, including the clergy, as the common enemy of all our citizens." The alliance also called for the junta’s banishment “from Burmese soil forever.”
There is a “strong historical resonance” to the monks’ participation in the current protests, Edwards said. She noted a similar boycott of alms from the military government in 1990 during protests of the junta’s refusal to recognize the results of the country’s parliamentary elections, won by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Before that, monks played a leading role in the pro-democracy demonstrations of 1988.
Both episodes were crushed brutally by the military, with many monks among the estimated 3,000 people killed in 1988. When the most recent round of protests broke out, there were still 90 monks held among Burma’s 1,100 political prisoners for their previous political activity.
Edwards said that even in official state history, the military rulers must acknowledge the role of monks in the anti-colonial struggle against Great Britain in the early 20th century, and her research has compared that struggle to India’s independence movement led by Mahatma Gandhi.
For example, the Venerable U Ottama is “well known in the popular version of [Burmese] history” for his leadership in the resistance to colonial rule. As an activist, U Ottama set a precedent for going beyond monastic rules of conduct by stepping into the political arena.
At about the same time, the Venerable U Vissara used hunger strikes as a political tactic against the British. He ultimately died in prison from his hunger strike.
According to Edwards’ research, the two “combined [Gandhi’s] ascetic realism with a commitment to social justice and spiritual purity.”
National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has drawn not only on Gandhi’s example for her struggle, but also on her country’s Buddhist philosophy and the legacy of monastic involvement in resistance.
The military junta reportedly has suppressed scholarship on U Ottama, is suspiciously silent about Gandhi in official history texts and mentions Suu Kyi’s father, independence leader Aung San, only in lukewarm tributes on Burmese national days. Some outside observers have suspected that this is due to a fear that the Burmese people will tie the continuing pro-democracy campaign to the country’s struggle against its colonial rulers.
On behalf of the American people, President Bush expressed “admiration and compassion for the monks and peaceful protesters,” in a September 27 statement and called upon countries who have influence with the junta to support Burmese democratic aspirations, arguing that [e]very civilized nation has a responsibility” to do so. He also condemned reports that demonstrators had been killed, injured and arrested and urged “those who embrace the values of human rights and freedom to support the legitimate demands of the Burmese people.” (See full text of Bush’s statement.)
At the United Nations September 25 Bush announced that the United States is tightening economic sanctions against Burma’s military rulers and their financial supporters. (See full text of Bush’s remarks.)
“We will impose an expanded visa ban on those responsible for the most egregious violations of human rights, as well as their family members. We'll continue to support the efforts of humanitarian groups working to alleviate suffering in Burma. And I urge the United Nations and all nations to use their diplomatic and economic leverage to help the Burmese people reclaim their freedom,” Bush said.
For more stories on Burma, see U.S. Support for Democracy in Burma.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
