Saffron Revolution -- Burma

Hello All~
This entry by no measure is meant to count as "my" blog entry. However I wanted to alert all of you to the actions developing on campus in the next couple of days relating to events in Burma. The following messages are from my friend, Emma. She left Burma with her family several years ago again is now mobilizing the Georgetown community to respond to recent events in the region.

9/25
"Please show your support for the monks and people of the military-run country of Burma this Friday in a very simple way:

WEAR A RED TOP THIS FRIDAY!!!!

PLEASE LET AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN KNOW ABOUT THIS!!!!!!"

"Reaching a degree of fervor and boldness that hasn't been seen for nearly 20 years, the people of Burma are SERIOUS in their desire be freed from military rule. They are holding PEACEFUL protests, forming protective chains around tens of thousands of Buddhist monks marching through Rangoon and Mandalay chanting for democracy and dialogue.

HOWEVER, a military crackdown may unfortunately be imminent, they have imposed a CURFEW, forbidden the RIGHT TO ASSEMBLE, and are reportedly ordering monks' robes in order to incite violence within the protesters (so they'll have an excuse to use violence).

Help us keep the world's attention on Burma and the actions of the military!!! The more people who know about the events of the country, the better. Please take the time to PUT ON A RED TOP THIS FRIDAY, and tell anybody you know about it. PLEASE INVITE PEOPLE TO THIS EVENT, we need your help!!!"

A summary of events is here, and a petition requesting the UN to take action is here. Further news can be found at The Irrawaddy.

So MUCH nonviolence in the News!

As my students do a great job developing their blogging skills, I'm falling behind in all the items in the news!

The huge anti-war marchs of the weekend may have been compromised by the online advocacy. Read Marc Fisher's wonderful piece and our changing ways of political action. As the week started, it wasn't all about arrests. In this piece by Paul Duggan, we see how protesters communicate with authorities and choose their strategies.

There was a magnificent concert, headlined by Miss Aretha herself, demanding R*E*S*P*E*C*T and raising money on September 18th to establish the MLK Memorial on the National Mall. The Washington Post had a piece on the nonviolent message of David Cronenberg's very violent Eastern Promises.

Yesterday, both the Senate and President Bush condemned Moveon.org's full page ad blasting General Petraeus as "General Betray us." Was the ad strategic? It seems to have backfired and now the organization is using it's scarce time and resources scrambling to defend its actions.

Yesterday was an especially busy day. The civil rights movement may have experienced a rebirth with a huge outpouring of support demanding fair treatment for the Jena 6, a movement largely built under the inspiration of a drive time radio personality. Over 100 students at the University of Wisconsin protested against Haliburton at their school's career fair. Around 1500 monks in Myanmar continued their month-long protests against the government. A religious symbols, their marches have brought fewer reprisals than other actions. To escalate their actions when the government missed a deadline to apologize, they will refuse to take alms from soldiers and other government officials: a very public act of shaming.

Today and every third Friday, United for Peace and Justice is sponsoring a Moratorium Campaign to end the Iraq war.

All these actions. Any proposals? Any solutions?

Scripts aren't just for Hollywood

Last class we discussed different actions people take to reach out to their respected representative in which we focused the different responses congressional offices take toward these actions.

Witness for Peace is a faith-based non-profit that utilizes grassroots advocacy and recently sent me a "script" to use when contacting my representative about a resolution that addresses the discrimination of Afro-Colombians. I wanted to bring this up to highlight the different methods grassroots organizations appeal to the masses and organize their membership base to work for their cause, specifically with respect to reaching out to congress and representatives.

The opinion of the class seemed to disfavor the mass-calling approach, but I was am still curious as to what people think about it. Has anyone participated in such an approach or been the recepient? What about the benefit of empowering members to learn about an issue and try to be persuasive?

Here is the script for an example:

Script for Calls for HR 618, Resolution on Afro-Colombians

"Hello, this is ______________ from _______ (town). Can I please speak with your foreign policy legislative assistant, ________________?"

"I'm calling to encourage Rep. ________________ to co-sponsor H. Res. 618 on the plight of Afro-Colombians, a bipartisan resolution introduced by Rep. Donald Payne. Afro-Colombians are an extremely marginalized and vulnerable sector of Colombian society, and are one of the groups hit hardest by the ongoing violence, internal displacement, racial discrimination, and social and economic exclusion in Colombia. Co-sponsoring H. Res. 618 will help to honor Afro-Colombians for their contributions to society, and encourage the Colombian government to do more to end the discrimination, marginalization, and violence against them.

(If live person) This is especially important to me because _______________________. Do you think we can count on your boss to support this resolution?

(If message) To sign on as a co-sponsor, please contact Stephanie Gidigbi in Rep. Payne's office at 5-3436.

If they would like to see the full text of the resolution, please offer to email it to them. Click here for the resolution.

Any particular strengths or weaknesses of this one in particular?