Even on an overcast day, the glint and glare around the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon can be overwhelming. If you’re not used to the light, it can, at first, be hard to stop squinting. Ordinarily the area surrounding the Pagoda is filled with merit-makers and tourists, and people sitting in prayer. It is a sprawling complex with associated religious sites nestled across its grounds.
As Yangon’s most famous landmark, and the nation’s best-known religious site, it has always been an obvious choice for important prayer vigils. During political turbulence in 1936, 1946 and 1988, it was also the site of landmark political protests.
There is now sporadic reporting that protests against the military regime - which, over the past three weeks, have developed in to a petition campaign – have moved forward. The International Herald Tribune and the Bangkok Post both provide more context on the small prayer vigil that has been held at the Shwedagon. A nation-wide week of prayer and reflection has been called by pro-democracy groups. It may soon spread beyond the capital.
Within the next few days, I imagine there may be a great deal of international reporting on this movement. New Mandala will be following developments closely.
2 responses so far ↓
1 New Mandala » “Burma: Inside the Secret City” // Nov 1, 2006 at 9:40 pm
[...] Australian broadcaster SBS has just shown a Dateline report on Burma by journalist Ginny Stein. Following is the promo from the Dateline website. A transcript should be available on the site soon. In the past week activists inside Burma, one of the world’s most repressive military dictatorships, have been testing the limits with a campaign of organised dissent. They’ve been holding prayer vigils across the country. While that may sound harmless, this is a country where even joking about the military regime can land you in prison. Burma, renamed as Myanmar by the military regime, is a nation where outside scrutiny is virtually impossible, its citizens generally kept quiet by a climate of fear. [...]
2 New Mandala » Buddhist Studies at Oxford // Nov 2, 2006 at 1:57 am
[...] In one way or another, this has been a big week for the discussion of Buddhist religious expression in Thailand and Burma. [...]
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