The Prague Post Online: News: Show of solidarity

November 22nd, 2008

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Show of solidarity

Czech groups rally in support of change in Burma

October 3rd, 2007 issue

By Miles White

For the Post

KURT VINION/THE PRAGUE POST

Around 300 people turned out for a candlelight vigil Sept. 28 at the 1989 memorial on Národní to support Burmese protesters.

KURT VINION/THE PRAGUE POST

In light of their history under repressive rule, Czechs have long been concerned about Burma.

“People ask ‘Why are you protesting now?’ ” Christoph Amthor said, “but the question is ‘Why are you interested now?’ ”

Amthor, a German national, and his Burmese wife, Sabe, are co-founders of the Burma Center Prague. For them, the fight to free Burma from 40 years of military rule has been an ongoing struggle. In Burma (named Myanmar by the ruling regime), acts of defiance are a constant affair that do not get much mention in the international press, Amthor said.

The recent pro-democracy protests in Burma have changed that for the moment. Thousands of monks have been beaten and arrested and an undetermined number of people killed in recent days, a reminder of the thousands slaughtered during the last major uprising in 1988.

The ruling Burmese government has for years staunchly rejected attempts to ease its dictatorial rule. Nonetheless, a number of local groups are adding their voices to the global outcry against the junta, whose latest acts of repression have become a rallying point for international media, and have sparked condemnation from world leaders.

On the night of Sept. 28, the Burma Center Prague and a coalition of NGOs including Peace Work, People in Need and Amnesty International held a small march through Wenceslas Square. The following evening, roughly 300 people turned out for a rally at the Národní street memorial commemorating the nonviolent 1989 revolution that overthrew decades of communist rule.

Marek Benda, a Civic Democratic member of Parliament who attended Saturday’s rally, condemned the Burmese government and openly called on world leaders to boycott the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

After the rally however, Benda privately expressed doubt about the Czech government’s ability to influence Burmese affairs.

“What can a little country like the Czech Republic do?” he asked, standing just a few feet from the memorial, where dozens of candles had been lit and the fragrant smell of incense wafted through a crowded passageway.

“[This country] is a voice crying in the wilderness. The best we can do is pressure the larger countries not to trade with China.”

Another demonstration is planned for Oct. 4 at 4 p.m. outside the Chinese Embassy in Prague 6 in hopes of pressuring the Beijing government — one of Burma’s leading trading partners and its primary supporter at the United Nations — to rein in further violence. Amthor said China may be in no mood to be embarrassed by Burma’s bloody crackdown as it prepares to host the Summer Olympics.

A past of peaceful protest

Local leaders have long been concerned about the situation in Burma. In 1991, former President Václav Havel nominated Aung San Suu Kyi — the leader of Burma’s resistance movement who has been under house arrest for more than a decade — for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The government is contributing funding to the Burma Center to sponsor a conference Nov. 3 to discuss the developments in Burma, Amthor said. Representatives from both the European Burma Network and the Forum of Burmese in Europe — two major European advocacy groups — are expected to attend. It will be the first time the two organizations appear together, according to Amthor.

The conference is scheduled for the day after the opening of an exhibit at Kulturní centrum Zahrada by exiled Burmese political cartoonist Harn Lay, who publishes his works in the Thai magazine Irrawaddy. Despite this apparent flurry of activity, only about a dozen Burmese refugees live in Prague, Amthor said.

The swiftness of the Burmese government’s response to what began as peaceful protests against high fuel prices suggests the junta wants no repeat of 1989 Prague, when thousands of protesters gathered on Wenceslas Square, hands raised to the sky in a gesture that simply said “no more.”

The memorial was chosen as the site of Saturday’s demonstration to send a message to Burma that the Czech Republic has not forgotten it.

“The nonviolent struggle in Burma is inspired by the extraordinary nonviolent example that the Prague people gave to the world,” Amthor said.

As a sea of red- and orange-clad protesters lined the sidewalk, passengers in passing trams looked on with varying degrees of curiosity and bewilderment. A couple of young girls waved enthusiastically out the window as they sped along, shouting their approval to the crowd. Most people walking along the street, lined with shops and trendy restaurants, continued about their business.

Others, like Jan Liška, program officer for the Czech humanitarian organization People in Need, said they feel it their responsibility to stand in solidarity with Burma just as much of the world stood with them as the Soviet empire disintegrated.

“We as Czech people need to care about other things going on in the world,” Liška said. “They are risking their lives out there on the streets. It’s incredible.”

Miles White can be reached at news@praguepost.com

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