Shooting an elephant in Burma

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http://ottawacitizen.com/news/world/shooting-an-elephant-in-burma

Shooting an elephant in Burma
Shannon Gormley
Published on: July 20, 2014
Last Updated: July 20, 2014 12:00 PM EDT

George Orwell once shot an elephant, an incident he chronicled in the aptly named essay, “Shooting an elephant.” During Orwell’s service as a much-loathed officer in British colonial Burma, the villainous animal ran amok, trampling one person and absconding with the contents of another’s fruit stand.

Orwell didn’t pull the trigger to save lives and property. By the time he reached the animal, it was munching contentedly on chunks of uprooted grass. But vast crowds of expectant locals watched Orwell’s quivering rifle, wondering whether the white man was strong enough to save the day. Even though it was too late in the day for any man to save it, and even though (and perhaps because) Western strength was being stomped out across the colonies, like most of us, the young officer preferred the wrong choice that would make him look powerful to the right choice that would get him laughed at. Orwell pulled the trigger to save his pride.

Burma, of course, has changed a great deal since the day Orwell shot an elephant. No longer a British colony or the ostracized military dictatorship that eventually followed it, if Washington is to be believed, Burma is well on its rocky way towards democracy.

But Washington shouldn’t be believed. When Burma began democratizing in 2011, Washington invested effort — and ego — in the country, lowering sanctions and supporting a transition. All that effort and ego hasn’t prevented Burma from pulverizing its own reforms while trumpeting its progress: Burma’s civilian government, military and mobs are thrashing the press, religious minorities and the opposition.