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Monks 'to be sent away'
The BBC reports that 4,000 monks have been rounded up, disrobed, and shackled, and will soon be sent away from Rangoon. Some reports say they are on a hunger strike. How shameful this all is, and how difficult to watch with so little information. (It's almost like the days before the internet and the 24-hour news cycle.) Pressure needs be put on China.
- Philip Ryan, Webmaster
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Stand with the Burmese Protesters
Sign this petition to show your support for the protesters in Burma.
Show your solidarity, from the U.S. Campaign for Burma
Sympathy protests in Japan. A Japanese journalist is said to have been killed by the junta -- will the Japanese government apply pressure? And the countries have the most influence over the junta seem reluctant to use it.
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Burma is Important
Our friends at the Worst Horse remind us all that Burma is Important. Please check this out.
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"Contained?"
Reports today that the protests have been contained and the monks sealed inside their monasteries by the junta, which was quick to use brutal force. If this is true, next come the reprisals. The world can't look away -- keep looking at Burma.
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Junta tries to shut down internet
The junta is censoring emails and blogs, trying desperately to keep word from getting out. But we will learn eventually. At least nine dead, what else? Here's one Burmese blogger that still seems to be posting now and then. (Blogs are perfect for this eyewitness stuff. History may remember this, eventually.)
The junta has a long history of violence -- Christian Science Monitor explains it all for you.
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Buddhist Channel on Burma
The Buddhist Channel is closely following the goings-on in Burma.
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Burma Action Plan
This email came yesterday from the U.S. Campaign for Burma:
Here's What You Can Do to Support the Saffron Revolution
Dear Supporter,
Courageous people of Burma, under the leadership of Buddhist monks, began a national strike today. Over 200,000 people, monks, nuns, students, actors, journalists, doctors, housewives, elders, people from all walks of live join in the national strike in Rangoon today and many other cities through out the country.
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More Thoughts on Burma
In a way global capitalism made this happen, if the protests in Burma were initially ignited by fuel oil prices -- coupled with the common human need for democracy? I don't think Bush and co. can claim much credit, but the U.S.'s longstanding support of global capitalism in all its brutal Walmart-enriching power certainly played a role. Is this a preview for Cuba or North Korea? Those countries are semi-insulated from the world marketplace, but so is Myanmar, and the internet and all our increased interconnections are bringing down walls. Could this be a preview for China twenty five years down the road? I think it was Orwell who wrote that if the people want to be free, they can simply do so, like a horse shaking off fleas. Or was it Jack London?...
Ah, oil!
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More from Jim Carrey
We were reminded that Jim Carrey has YouTubed more on Burma (video here) so we've posted the link here. Sorry for the oversight. Also see the U.S. Campaign for Burma site. Great to see Carrey and other celebs speaking out for a truly great cause, a cause we can all serve by not staying silent in the face of oppression and repression.
UPDATE: Up-to-the-minute account of happenings in Rangoon.
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Saffron Revolution
More on the so-called saffron revolution (even though Burmese monks' robes look more like red.) Violence continues in the streets; the UK Telegraph reports on how Buddhism permeates Burmese life (and thus the people empower the monks); an editorial in the Bangkok Post wonders what Buddhists outside Burma can do.
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The Crackdown Begins
The government has begun fighting back. Two monks and a civilian reported killed. Clubs, tear gas, shots into the crowd, and hundreds of arrests.
Update: More, worse.
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Buzz, Buzz
Need a buzz of bliss? Check out Nichiren's Coffeehouse for all your Nichiren needs. Actually, not all your needs: more about Nichiren here.
Have you heard about Survivor China?
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The Buddhism Bomb
There's so much on these Burma protests and I can't add much new information or insight, so here are some links:
Buddhists fear ‘white head’ monks will give junta excuse for violence - 'White head' is slang for new monks whose newly shaven heads are still white, or more specifically, undercover policemen posing as monks.
Bush Announces Tighter Sanctions on Myanmar - Cheney had to point it out on the map and tell W it's "not far from China."
British PM Calls for Harder EU Stance on Burma
and the best headline of all, from the LA Times: The Buddhism Bomb (which could blow
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"Dharma Family Values" by Clark Strand, and Progressive Buddhism
It seems like Clark Strand's piece "Dharma Family Values" in the latest Tricycle has struck a chord. It was written about (and Strand was interviewed) in Religionwriter.com and this was noticed in On Faith, an online conversation on -- you guessed it -- faith put out by Newsweek and the Washington Post. Strand's piece was also noticed by a blogger from the Courier-Journal out of Louisville, and the blog Thoughts Chase Thoughts.
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Healing Rage, Ask the Next President, and Breathing Space
Ruth King, author of the excellent new book Healing Rage, will be speaking at the New York Insight Meditation Center this Friday, September 28 (7–9:30pm, fee: $20) and Saturday, September 29 (10am–5pm, $40.) Register online for the Friday or Saturday session.
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Today in Internet History...
ICANN took over the internet in 1998. ICANN is responsible for accrediting domain name registrars.
Monks protesting in the western Burmese city of Sittwe were tear-gassed by the military junta.
A note on the Nashville Change Your Mind Day.
Zen and the art of handling a divorce -- but not Zen with a capital Z.
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Ayn Rand, Austrian Students, and the Vatican
Did you know that Ayn Rand was Buddhist? (Or that Alan Greenspan was an Objectivist? Yeesh.)
Rand’s idea of “the virtue of selfishness,” Ms. Moore said, “is a harsh phrase for the Buddhist idea that you have to take care of yourself.”
Ms. Moore is "Darla Moore, vice president of the private investment firm Rainwater Inc." People keep buying Ayn Rand's books and, according to this article, she keeps winning the hearts and minds of CEO's and corporate climbers to this day.
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