A Letter to Burmese General Than Shwe

May 15th, 2009 – The South-East Asian country of Burma is administered by a military dictatorship that has refused to hold fair elections since their power grab in 1988. In fact, the leader of the only party that would oppose it, Aung San Suu Kyi of the National League for Democracy has once again been imprisoned based on fabricated charges. Without counting the possible next five years she will spend under house arrest, she has spent over half of the past two decades incarcerated at the hands of Burma’s fascist junta and their glorious leader, General Than Shwe. I doubt the good General would read this blog as is so I decided to blatantly address him in letterform.

My letter

O glorious General, we have been hearing in the news about your troubles with Mrs. Suu Kyi and her democrats. It must really be frustrating to have such dissidence when you worked so hard to stabilise your rule over Burma over the past 21 years. I mean, on top of Suu Kyi’s disciples demanding her release after the 2007 expiry of the maximum 5-year prison term you gave her and the Buddhist monks that violently protested last year, few countries on earth even recognise your administration. Seriously, you took power by military coup, lost 1990 elections to Suu Kyi’s party in a landslide yet ignored it, moved the country’s capital to a secret location and alienated most international organisation; some African countries have surely done as much and are still allowed in the United Nations, you really shouldn’t be singled out and punished like that.

I also understand that you plan on overturning the situation, holding free elections in 2010 and finally legitimising your claim to Burma in the eyes of international scoffers. Unfortunately, what will prevent Suu Kyi from running and winning again? I mean, you may be offering the omnipresent security and invasive censorship that the population needs to be safe but she’s offering insane things like public and private liberties, healthy international relationships, periodic elections and basically the right to choose.

Oh, ah, now I see. This week, there was a crazy American that swam across a lake to Suu Kyi’s house. He was arrested and then Suu Kyi was changed with breaching the terms of her house arrest. Pure genius, I see it now, you allowed this man to get there and now are going to sentence Suu Kyi to 5 more years, making her ineligible to run for elections next year. I salute your brilliant scheme General but next time you might opt for more subtlety, international attention seems to be catching on, especially the part where there are police officers and soldiers everywhere yet a man was able to enter the country and swim miles up to the supervised prison compound. At least your “electors” will never know about it, you effectively control all national media. What they don’t know can’t hurt them right?

I not only sympathise with your troubles but will also offer a friendly warning. You should know that, as has been proven time and time again, imprisoning political dissidents not only doesn’t stop their ideas, it amplifies them and makes things a whole lot worse.

Ring a bell?

For example, when the British gouvernment of India imprisoned Mahatma Gandhi for the first time in 1922, he came back stronger than ever, devising a new non-cooperation movement and united the hundreds of millions of Hindi and Muslim people in India. When they jailed him for a second sentence in 1942, he encouraged the Quit India non-violent sovereignty movement from prison, resulting in the non-cooperation of Indian elements withing the British army who were desperately needed and also in the final overthrow of the brave British masters in 1947.

Around the same time, Nelson Mandela was being tried for sabotage and sedition in South Africa. He actively fought against the state mandated racism called apartheid and never lost momentum or support despite spending 27 years in jail. For encouraging violent revolt against the white dominant caste, he was not only successful (in 1994) but was attributed a Nobel Peace prize for crying out loud. Could you imagine if Suu Kyi and her followers were actually fighting back? That’s not something we want to encourage now is it?

On to the ever-so-righteous United-States, they were not above incarcerating seditious elements of their population in the mid XXth century. Unfortunately, even they were not safe from the fermenting of revolutionary thought in prison. Malcolm X was jailed for inciting violence and racism against the dominant white race. While in prison, he converted to the fundamentalist “Nation of Islam” and became one of the most feared advocates for African-American rights in American history. And that’s the US, you should REALLY be careful.

Finally, it may not be the most tasteful example, but it definitely fits my model of imprisonment for dissidence - having some time to think - revolutionary movement is amplified and succeeds. Adolf Hitler gathered a few friends in 1923 and decided to overthrow the German gouvernment. It was a monumental failure and thus he was sent to jail. While there, he gained quite a following as he decried the “November criminals” who had surrendered Germany in WW1, the republican and democratic leaders that were now making the country weak and the international Jewry orchestrating all of this behind the scenes. I submit to you, General, that it was in prison that Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, the dogmatic document of the Nazi Party which would permit him to overthrow and assassinate all German officials in the 1920s and 30s.

You would think it would be easier to just kill Aung San Suu Kyi but unfortunately, if she dies of anything except ripe old age, no matter how “accidental”, it will immediately be determined to be your doing and your people WILL overthrow you. You should try something crazy like including her and her democratic party into your own gouvernment. I know what you’re thinking but it WOULD work. She could be your vice-president, you extend some civil liberties and some olive branches internationally and voilà. You would be an elected and legitimate leader of Burma without having the ever-pending threat of revolution or civil war.

Think about it, I’m just saying.

Good luck.

(Pictured: Don't kid yourself, Gandhi was a bad-ass - If you're not careful, this little Asian lady will be your end.)

End.

(PS: I would include a picture of you although no one has ever been allowed to photograph you. Bummer.)