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Pagodas
Guatemala
Korea
del Nord - lettera_di_Gyung-Lan_ Jung.pdf
 (contributo
esterno)
In questa sezione pubblichiamo relazioni
e documenti descrittivi dei diversi conflitti civili nel mondo tra
cui il rapporto scritto dal gruppo NP di Burma. che descrive la
situazione sociale e politica e le conclusioni riguardo un
possibile invio di operatori di pace
Relazione del gruppo di lavoro NP di Burma
Background:
Burma the land of Pagodas is an important
country in South-East Asia. It has India to west, China to the
north-east, Bangladesh on the west, Laos in the east and Thailand
to the south-east as neighbours. It has a coastline of about 1200
miles bordering the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal between
Bangladesh and Thailand. Burma was at one time a province of
British India(1886-1937). It became politically and
admini-stratively a part of British India in 1886 after the third
and final Anglo-Burman War of 1885-86. In 1947 it once again
became a separate political entity. The country however remained
under the direct rule of the United Kingdom and the Governor of
Burma was made directly accountable to the Government of the
United Kingdom. Burma ultimately became an independent country on
4th January 1948. At this stage Aung San and his
associates representing the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League
(AFPFL) were considered as the spirit and soul of Burmese
nationalism and resista- nce against the colonial rule despite the
curious turnabouts that occurred after the Japanese occupation of
Burma in 1942. It was Thakin Nu who inherited the mantle of
succession and role as envisaged by Aung San until his tragic
assassination on 19th July 1947. This was a tragic blow
to the nation awaiting freedom and independence.
The Burma Independence Act of the British
Parliament was given royal assent
On 10th December 1947 and
subsequently it became a sovereign independent state outside the
commonwealth. Thakin Nu a close associate of Aung San became the
first Prime Minister of independent Burma. In the intervening
years between 1948 and 1962. Burma was constantly faced with the
problems of insurrections involving communists dissident political
activists, army and ethnic minority groups. U Nu continued to be
the Prime Minister of Burma till General Ne win was unanimously
ele cted as new Prime Minister of a caretaker government at a
special session of the Chamber of Deputies on 28th
October 1958. This care taker government under General Ne Win
remained in power until the March 1960 elections in Burma which
returned U Nu with a convincing majority in the legislature. This
elected government under U Nu was however overthrown on 2nd
March 1962 by the military coup under the leadership of General Ne
Win. Burma thus came directly under the rule of the military for
the second time within a span of a four-year period. This time
however the military wanted a more lasting and permanent role than
being a mere caretaker government.
In many ways the establishment of a caretaker
government in 1958 under General Ne Win was a precursor to the
political developments that Burma came to witness. in the
following decades. It also indicated the deep divide within the
AFPFL and the failure of the government to address itself
seriously to the enormity of economic problems and ethnic
insurgencies faced by the country. The Revolutionary Council led
by General Ne Win which became the engine of the military
government soon abolished the constitution and suspended the
democratic rights of the people. All the legislative, executive
and judicial powers came to be vested in the Revolutionary Council
and in an ultimate analysis in the hands of General Ne Win.
Besides the denial and suspension of democratic
rights of the people the military regime maintained a close
surveillance on political activities of the dissent and opposition
groups within the country. The Revolutionary Council led by
General Ne Win gradually transformed itself into a ruling
political party. Burma Socialist Programme Party(BSPP) in 1974.
Thus Burma faced a clear political transition
with the establishment a military guided single party dominant
system. The BSPP of the military regime sought political mileage
of the circumstances then prevailing within the country through
acquiring an ideological pltform in the announcement of "Burmese
Way to Socialism".
This initiative was undertaken with a view to
curb the political unrest as well as prevent the ideological unity
of the Leftists’ forces within the country in the face of
growing economic hardships and political instability. The critics
of this regime attribute that from 1974 to 1988 the country had
infact become more poor. After fourteen years of so-called Burmese
socialist system under the military rule the people of Burma
became more restive and sought political intervention to restore
democracy and rights of the people. A people’s movement
consisting of mainly students party and non-party political
activists was launched throughout the country in August 1988. An
immediate outcome of the August 1988 rebellion of the people of
Burma was the silent military coup led by General San Manng which
sent the BSPP led by General Ne Win out of power. The new military
government under General San Manng established a new political
outfit namely State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). The
military government responded to the challenge of people’s
movement for democracy with the declaration of martial law and
promulgation of more repressive acts against the people.
The simmering political unrest and discontent
among people forced the military government to call for elections
in May 1990 electoral exercise as a means to control the tide of
people’s discontentment. But this popular exercise sprung an
immediate political surprise of multiparty electoral contest which
witnessed the emergence of the National League for Democracy (NLD)
led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as the most successful political party
with 392 of 485 parliamentary seats in its favour. The SLORC did
not invite the NLD to form the government and on the contrary
chose to crackdown the NLD party activists and political dissent
in the country through repressive measures. The political dissent
within the country could be gauged by the military junta. The
political dissent became more vulnerable and suspicious of the
regime. It could led a silent terror against them spreading in the
country. The elections which the military hoped to win turned out
to be a victory of the people. The refusal of the SLORC to concede
the defeat and hand-over the power to the NLD people has led the
people to believe that it would be a difficult and long-drawn
struggle against the military regime in the face of denial of
rights and repressive mechanisms in the country. The economic
hardships of the people also grew with the curtailment of social
and political rights. It was at this juncture that several student
activists youth group and members of political parties including
the elected members of the parliament decide to leave the country
and continue their struggle for democracy from outside. The
economic condition deteriorated further in the 1990s which led to
a new set of economic migrants from the country in search of
livelihood and economic survival in the neighbouring countries. It
is necessary to recognise these two categories of migrants from
Burma today i.e. political and economic. It is however equally
important to observe here that the search for economic survival
outside the country has arisen mainly due to the absence of
political and democratic rights within. The demand for forced
labour and the rule of terror has made people to leave home.
Present Political Scenario: The military
junta released Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest on 6 May,
2002. It was also promised by the military government to initiate
dialogue with her party about the course of democratic transition
in Burma. How ever, the political developments inside Burma since
the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been on a predictable
course fitting the nature and history of military rule in Burma.
There are no signs indicating their commitment for
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