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CPTnet
28 September 2007
BURMA REFLECTION:
Monks, soldiers, and civilians on the march

by Gene Stoltzfus of Christian Peacemaker Teams [Brethren, Mennonites, Quakers]


[Note: CPT Director Emeritus Gene Stoltzfus worked in Southeast Asia during
the 1960s and 1970s. The reflection below is adapted from a longer piece
available at http://www.gstoltzfus.blogspot.com/]

Burma marches on to the world stage every other decade. Two groups with
countrywide power and influence in modern Burma are now facing each other
across potholes in the streets. The military with Chinese-supplied weapons,
is determined to retain the grip it has had on the nation since 1962. The
Buddhist movement, with an institutional life going back more than 1000
years, is led by monks armed with spiritual disciplines and a commitment to
an ethical system that combines practical living with a deep sensitivity to
all of creation. The Buddhist way is nonviolence empowered by love, honed
by teaching and meditation. However, this does not mean that monks are not
tough, persistent, and even militant. In response to military actions on
Saturday, Sept. 22, 2007, Buddhist monks withdrew spiritual services for all
military personnel in Burma.

Buddhist teachings and values are ingrained in Burmese society. In the
practice of Burmese Buddhism, people frequently leave the routine of their
lives for a few weeks to become monks. With shaved heads and begging bowls,
they examine their lives, perhaps in the hope of more spiritually centered
living, or to move along in their personal cycle of karma. Some of the monks
walking in the demonstrations now are almost certainly people who have
recently joined the monastery for a brief break, but the arrest of monks
still creates a shocking dissonance in the minds of the Buddhist population.


Of the fifty-five million Burmese people, about one person in a hundred is
in the military and its security apparatus. The Burmese military has a long
history of violently dispersing protesters. On the surface, the military
seems unified and has given little indication of a willingness to create an
opening for democratic rule. However, the present military leaders of Burma
were low and mid-level officers in 1988 when their commanding officers told
them to kill thousands of nonviolent marchers. They know that their regime
will pay a heavy price in even deeper discontent at home and greater
isolation abroad for a repeat performance.

The road ahead is not pleasant. When change comes, those who replace the
military will have to deal with a privileged, often corrupt, military
institution that has dictated policy in all areas of society. New habits
will take years to put into place. Long suspended ethnic conflicts will
find ways to resume patterns of violent and nonviolent engagement, but at
the same time, people may gain the space to rediscover traditional forms of
conflict resolution.

What we witness in Burma today is one step in a longer process. While it
might lead to immediate change, that is not likely. The marches, the risk
taking, the international support, are building. It may be weeks or years
before change occurs. But the days of soldiers with crisp, medaled uniforms
ruling the country are numbered. Perhaps the final push will come from the
monks, or the wider population--or their children. When it does come, then
the real work will begin.