UK fears Burma toll 'far higher'

[eppur_se_muova]

Source: BBC

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he believes the loss of life in Burma has been "far greater" than that reported by the authorities.

He was speaking after holding talks by phone with US President George W Bush and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

Burmese officials said nine people were killed on Thursday as troops fired tear gas and bullets to disperse crowds of anti-government protesters in Rangoon.
***
Both the British and Australian ambassadors in Burma said they believed the number of dead "could be many multiples" of the number given by state media.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7018920.stm

[LakeSamish706]

1. I fear that is the case as well, and I suspect that it would be the poor Monks...

who have lost their lives in much larger numbers. I'm wondering if that is why they did not come out in the numbers that was reported they did in the beginning? This really is the shits when people get to the point that they just can't take anymore and then get slaughtered for standing up in a peaceful protest.

[Mike03]

2. Poor Monks....

Has the Dalai Lama made a public statement? It seems to me he would have something to say about this. This story is so saddening to me. Buddhist monks will not even kill the lice that grow in their head. Buddhists are taught not to harm any living creature or even to speak harsh words. It's incredible to me that anyone could shoot them down in cold blood.

[LakeSamish706]

3. I'm with you... Speaking of Pacifists... This to me is as close to living in ...

hell as one can get... Going thru what these poor people are having to endure....

[Mike03]

4. It's devastating

For some reason, this story is hitting so close to me. Buddhism is so close to my heart, and I know that it's a belief system of enormous compassion and non-violence... It's just... makes me so sad.

[Cronopio]

5. "Buddhists are taught not to harm any living creature or even to speak harsh words."

The Mahayanists and Hinayanists are. The Vajrayanists can be more creative about it.

I understand the majority of Buddhists in Thailand, Burma, and Vietnam are Theravadan - Hinayanists - so they would deal with the situation as pacifists. It's tragic and terrible that it happened to them, but there are far worse ways of leaving this world.

From a Buddhist standpoint, it's the killers who should be mourned. There is no blacker or deadlier karma than to kill a monk or a lama. When the Dalai Lama first heard that Mao Tse Tung had died, he wept for him because of what awaited Mao in the death bardo. It took a while for some of his students to understand his reaction, given the pain Mao had created for the Dalai Lama and the untold numbers of Buddhist monks and practitioners he had tortured and killed.

[Mike03]

6. That's True

You are absolutely right. In the teachings, a Buddhist is taught to regret the actions of his or her oppressor. There is a story about a Buddhist held in a Chinese prison for more than twenty years who was asked if he hated or had any resentment towards his captors, and his answer was that no, it had never occurred to him to feel anger towards his captors; for, he felt compassion for them, because their actions would refract back to them many times over. They would suffer for what they had done. And the Dalai Lama could only see the Chinese as human beings, he could not hate them either.

What an excellent observation.

However, it takes a lot of profound realization to get to that point in Buddhist practice, where one has that degree of compassion. I truly would like to realize that level one day. It's not easy to reach that level of compassion, but it is something most Buddhists aspire towards. Thank you for your post. It is very very on point.

[Cronopio]

8. "I truly would like to realize that level one day."

If most people had that aspiration, these massacres would be a rare occurence.

It's not an easy goal to achieve as you say, but seeing things like this happen make the aspiration very easy for me. The desperate measures of a few deluded people to hold on to the power they're bound to lose in the end anyway is disappointing and disgusting to watch. They have no concept of the incalculable value of one sentient being.

"The jewel is in the lotus, and the lotus grows from the mud."

[Maribelle]

7. Released today: Satellite Images Corroborate Eyewitness Accounts of Human Rights Abuses in Burma,

Satellite Images Show Human Rights Abuses in Burma

Analysis of high-resolution satellite images completed by AAAS shows evidence consistent with village destruction, forced relocations, and a growing military presence across Burma.

http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2007/0928burma_report.shtml



The full 48 page report in pdf format is extremely telling.
http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2007/media/0928burma_report.pdf

[uppityperson]

9. At least 200 killed... Internet bloggers work to save the nation...

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/at-least-200-killed-in-burmese-crackdown-1092247.html

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/myanmars-internet-activists-blog-to-save-nation/49572-2.html
London: Ko Htike is a man with a laptop, sitting in London, a long way from his home in Myanmar.

He has become a key middleman in the effort to expose events in his country.

Ko Htike is emailed a photo, apparent visual evidence that police raided a monastery that Buddhist monks inside were beaten and arrested.

He logs on from 3 am every day to receive the latest digitally smuggled photos, video and information.

"It's too dangerous for them. If they get caught you will never know their future. Maybe they’ll just disappear or be in prison for life or die,” says Htike....(more)


Followed by this (calm down my ass. Cut internet and phone services instead):
http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKT7264920070929
Myanmar apologises for journalist's death
Sat Sep 29, 2007 4:29am BST
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<-> Text <+>

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan strongly protested to Myanmar over the killing of a Japanese video journalist during an anti-government rally, and Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win offered apologies, Kyodo news agency said on Saturday.

Fifty-year-old Kenji Nagai was fatally wounded in Yangon on Thursday, and pictures smuggled out of the country showed him clutching a camera as he lay dying.

Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura made the protest when he met his Myanmar counterpart at U.N. headquarters in New York on Friday.
Photo

The death of Nagai "was extremely regrettable and we will lodge a stern protest," Japanese officials quoted Komura as telling Nyan Win, Kyodo said.

Nyan Win told Komura he was indeed sorry for the death, telling Japanese officials: "Demonstrations are beginning to calm down, and we would also like to exercise restraint," Kyodo said.

[bemildred]

10. "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

-- Thomas Jefferson

[gate of the sun]

11. we don't intercede

where legitimate concerns are warranted. This situation high lights this.