Vancouver keeps up support for Burma's democratic movement

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      An October 4 demonstration at Robson Square kept Vancouver’s Burmese community in the city’s spotlight for a third week in a row.

      “Last Friday and Saturday, we got over 150 people out,” Seo Oo told the Straight at the demonstration. Oo, a Burmese refugee who has lived in Vancouver since 1996, said that as a former member of a rebel group who fought Burma’s military junta in the 1980s, he was very hopeful that Burma’s generals would be defeated.

      “We are gathering here to show our support for the peaceful demonstrators in Burma and to condemn the regime,” Oo said.

      Since September 18, the Vancouver Burma Roundtable and Burmese Students Democratic Organization have held weekly protests in Vancouver. According to a Canadian Friends of Burma media release, the October 4 demonstration was in preparation for a day of action on October 6, which will see protests take place around the world. The global event will support the Buddhist monks who are leading protests inside Burma itself, who have reportedly planned country-wide demonstrations for the same day.

      Soe Oo said that as long as the people of Burma are starving and the government only responds with violence, he will not give up. “With the Burma regime like this, it will never stop. People will come up against them again.”

      Amnesty International’s pacific regional development coordinator, Don Wright, spoke at the demonstration. He told the Straight that he was pleased with Vancouver’s support for Burma. “I’ve talked to several people in the crowd who came out in response to emails and Facebook messages and that sort of thing,” he said. “It just shows how effective electronic media has become in getting people out.”

      Wright stressed how important it was to keep the media’s attention on the situation in Burma, and noted the intrinsic role of the internet in raising awareness of the present situation in Burma.

      “It puts pressure on our own government to take action, puts pressure on the international community to take action, and puts pressure on countries like China and India, who have a lot of influence with Burma.”

      Wright was not the only one at the Robson Square demonstration to acknowledge the role that technology was playing in Burma’s democratic movement. Alex Bookbinder, a UBC student who spoke at the rally, started a Facebook group in support of Burma’s democratic movement. That group now has more than 340,000 members and is helping to organize events around the world. And Rod Germaine of Just Aid, a Canada-based charity for Burma’s democratic movement, called for donations at the demonstration, which he explained would be used to help set up satellite feeds out of Thailand. Germaine stressed how important it was that stories of Burma’s peaceful demonstrators continued to be heard.

      See also:
      Burma’s generals go scot-free (October 4, 2007)
      Burmese brace for violence (September 27, 2007)
      Burmese Canadians want Ottawa involved (September 13, 2007)

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