At the end of September, at least half a million protesters marched through Rangoon and the towns and cities of Burma. They were led by men in saffron, the Buddhist monks. They talked of peaceful democracy. They were met with gunfire. How many were murdered is not clear. What is clear is they were killed for the �crime� of peaceful protest. In no way did these protesters threaten the state.
Those who are in the know about Burma are surprised that many more were not brutally dealt with. If you are overheard saying the �d� word by one of the numerous secret agents you may face nine years in a Burmese jail. You will also be tortured. Tens of thousands of Burmese are now political prisoners. They are systematically tortured. However, the world was watching and whilst the Junta decided to appear to be well behaved, it couldn�t appear to be weak and appear to lose control.
The USA has been embarrassed into sanctions of some sort. Bush finds the junta useful in his campaign to surround China, so he can turn a bit of a blind eye to the junta�s naked brutal military repression.
In many ways the US imperialists would prefer the National Democratic Movement led by Aung Sung Suu Kyi who is now under perpetual house arrest. Her crime is to want to stand for election and win more popular support than the junta. They would prefer her because she would open up Burma to the multinationals � open slather. The junta supports those multinationals that support them, multinationals like Total Oil of France. To what extent these multinationals will come to her aid remains to be seen. For the proletarians of Burma, a US-dominated Burma should not be an option to fight for. The proletariat must lead the Burmese revolution!
It is a matter of urgency that a proletarian vanguard be formed. It is odds on that Aung and her NDM will sell out either to the imperialists or to the junta (with some power sharing deal). Either way, working people will be the losers.
The junta must be overthrown and democratic rights restored. This must be carried out through the working class of Burma leading the struggle for proletarian revolution. We have no faith in Buddhist or bourgeois democrats!
The working class cannot win by itself alone. It needs allies. The importance of democratic demands is to win over sections of the petty bourgeoisie. Workers must win over sections of the peasantry through a programme of agrarian reform. Workers must take up the rights of national minorities suppressed by the junta. The reality for Burmese proletarians is death and repression. The future must be revolution.