Complaints Move From Burma to the U.N.
Protests in Myanmar to reach the U.N. as monks lead campaign against regime.
Sept. 24, 2007 — -- The 20,000 red-robed monks who are protesting the repressive regime in Myanmar will get some support from President Bush Tuesday when he addresses the United Nations on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The president will use the occasion to announce new sanctions aimed at key members of the leadership of Myanmar's military government, and visa bans for key individuals associated with the regime.
The sanctions come after a month of protests that began after the arrest of dissidents who rallied against a crippling hike, prompting the monks to join the cause.
Today the monks led a march of 100,000 people and put their lives in jeopardy as they vowed to topple the dictatorship with just their voices and sheer numbers.
While they shrugged off the threat of arrest and torture, tens of thousands of citizens have now joined the monks in a show of defiance normally unthinkable there.
"People are scared but if the government is not willing to compromise … with us, with the politicians or with the people itself, then there's no other options," said Win Naing, of the Burmese Democracy campaign.
Government vs. the Monks
Myanmar has been ruled ruthlessly by generals for four decades. In 1988, the military crushed a student-led uprising and killed 3,000 unarmed protesters.
They've also kept the leader of the democracy movement, Nobel Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years.
Some hope this time will be different, as monks are Myanmar's most respected moral authority, and technology is on their side.
Though journalists are barred from the country, members of the public are secretly filming the protests and posting them on blogs.
When asked if the government would refrain from violence if they know these pictures are distributed, Zoya Phan of the Burma Campaign UK said, "The regime, they control absolutely everything, they can do anything they want at any time."
Today the generals warned Buddhist leaders to restrain the monks, or the government would act. The monks say they won't stop without a revolution.