Dublin Supports Myanmar/Burma

About a week ago I received, from a regular email, details of a demonstration to be held in central Dublin concerning the plight of the people of Burma/Myanmar. The event was scheduled for Friday 8th August (a very significant date to the Burmese people) and assembly was to be at 12pm. On the morning of the 8th I dashed into the city to at least see/participate in some of the due protest. I arrived about 20 minutes late but at that stage the meeting was still in its infancy.

There had been a small stage erected in the middle of O'Connell Street and people had congregated there. Various posters proclaiming solidarity with the Burmese were held aloft and there was an atmosphere of chatter and joviality amongst the gathering. Having got there late, I hadn't been issued with a poster or an orange neckchief which everyone seemed to have tied around their necks. All of a sudden an elderly gentleman, with white hair and a ruddy complexion, got up to speak and this signalled the opening to roughly 45 minutes of activities.

Everyone was thanked for coming and then we were told of the horrible treatment of the Burmese people by the military junta there with regard to the massacre of over 3,000 people, by the military, exactly 20 years ago today (8th August 1988). Colm O'Gorman (Chief Executive Amnesty International/Irish Section) was introduced to us. He gave a short speech in which he passionately spoke of the Human Rights problems faced by the Burmese people on an ongoing basis. Following Mr O'Gorman's comments, the microphone was passed back to the white haired gentleman once more and he made people aware of some native Burmese who are, at present, residing in Ireland. They are from the KAREN region of Burma. I was later told that KAREN is where around 40% of the population of Burma are located and they are especially badly treated by the authorities. Not surprising these people, present in O'Connell Street today, looked extremely unhappy, even miserable.They were now staying in Co. Mayo (reason enough to despair, you might say).

The artist Robert Ballagh (a man with a strong campaigning record) then spoke. He hadn't come with a prepared speech he told the congregation. Instead he recited a speech from the legendary, Burmese democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi and we listened with reverence. A supplement of music was then perfomed by an Uileann Piper who played a slow air and it was quite stirring. Unfortunately, with the engines and beeping of passing cars and buses, the sound wasn't that good but I'm never sure that pipers need amplification anyhow. After the musical interlude we were addressed by an NGO representative, Brendan Butler, who I thought was very committed to his cause. He challenged the Chinese leaders and their record on Human Rights. The protest coincided with the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing and Mr Butler voiced his disquiet at the presence of an Irish government Minister's attendance at the Chinese capital for the games. Everyone present were supportive of his pleas to the host nation.

I found the whole rally very eye-opening and the rather small amount of people in attendance (50-100 people) very good natured. Reporters were busy filing information for Television news and there was plenty of scribbling into notebooks by the various print journalists present. For me the highlight of the early afternoon event was the recitement of Metta Satta - The Buddha's Words on Kindness. I found it comforting and became slightly emotional on hearing it. Powerful. People are the same the world over. We all live. We all die. One couldn't have been more moved and calmed by the words of that script.

With the end of the demo all that was left for me was to speak to some of the people present and to get an eye on the suffering and silence of the people of Myanmar/Burma. These injustices could happen anywhere. They ARE happening globally. Right now!