International Peace Day Activities

Today is World Peace Day, which I didn't realize, but a group of Thai and Burmese monks-in-exile led a walk through Mae Sot to the Burma border. I decided to join as they passed the clinic a few kilometers from the endpoint. I didn't exactly disobeying my cousin's advice to avoid political activities because this is more of a religious activity.

There were maybe two dozen monks leading the way with a hundred or more others following behind, many wearing orange shirts to match the monks robes. It was an official looking parade with Thai police escorting etc. It was meaningful to me to see people there who had been involved in past uprisings in Burma, specifically 1988 and 2007, and because of this had to flee to Mae Sot. It was miserably hot, and one of the monks said "If there is peace in your heart, you can stay out here all day, but we will not do that." The temperature isn't much different from Memphis, but I think that at this latitude the sun just hurts more.

There were people along the way taking pictures and videotaping. Many were sympathizers but some were likely with Burmese military intelligence. In the past I thought reports of their activities were exaggerated, but the more I learn the more accepting I am. An American friend working for another organization in town said she avoids things like this because she wants to keep a low-profile in hopes of not being refused a visa to Myanmar in the future. Apparently people who have their names attached to articles and reports relating to refugees are occasionally refused.

A documentary, Burma VJ, was recently released and features the Democratic Voice of Burma, a group of individuals who clandestinely recorded things in Burma with handheld cameras. They would often conceal the camera under their arm or in a wad of newspaper and simply record daily life and conversations with people. Often they would work far from home and with a false name so that if a member of the MI noticed them, they wouldn't be able to track them. Videos would then be sent electronically to Europe for processing.

This group's moment in the spotlight was during the protests in Sept. 2007. They were among the few to record what was going on, and captured footage of a soldier shooting the Japanese photographer Kenji Nagai in the back from three feet away. One scene I found very disturbing was well before the uprising. Much of what passed for protest would be one person standing up with a sign criticizing the government. DVB would be around to surreptitiously record it. In one example, within seconds of the man shouting out and lifting his sign, several men emerged from the crowd, passers-by who are informants for the MI, and wrestled him to the ground. Moments later an unmarked van pulled up and the man was carried into it.