Wear Red This Friday for Myanmar

Oh my poor, neglected blog! I am so sorry if you have been checking here regularly, only to find stale news and old rants. The autumn air, the slight chill in the air brings with it a new focus on schedules and regimens, creative pursuits and maybe even time to read my book club books (what? 450 pages about the Holocaust by next Friday??)...but let's take one thing at a time.

First, The Lagunan's attention has been captured by Buddhist monks in cinnamon robes half a world away. Despite the threat of beatings and death by the repressive military junta that governs that nation, monks in Myanmar (Burma) have taken to the streets in droves, chanting prayers and calmly announcing their opposition. On Monday there was merely a military presence where protests occurred, then tear gas was fired into crowds, and yesterday they started firing automatic weapons at protesters.

With the international community now watching closely, it will be surprising but not unimaginable that the violence could continue. In Laguna Beach, what can you do? Wear red this Friday in solidarity with the freedom-seeking monks who are out there chanting prayers in front of semiautomatic weapons. It's the least we can do here -- and pray, if that's your thing.

Background from today's NEW YORK TIMES ('cuz they write better than I):
The violence of the past two days has answered the question of whether the military would fire on Buddhist monks, the highly revered moral core of Burmese society. For the past 10 days, the monks have led demonstrations that grew to as many as 100,000 before the crackdown began.

“The military is the one who proudly claims to preserve and protect Buddhism in the country, but now they are killing the monks,” said Aung Zaw, editor of The Irrawaddy, a Thailand-based magazine that has extensive contacts inside Myanmar.
Like others monitoring the crisis, which began on Aug. 19 with scattered protests against steep fuel price increases, he said it was difficult to learn the numbers of dead in a chaotic situation in which hospital sources are sometimes reluctant to talk. He said he had been told of one death today when soldiers attacked two columns of monks and other people.

“The military trucks, I was told, just drove in and soldiers jumped out and started shooting,” he said, describing a scene that was reminiscent of the mass killings in 1988, when the current junta came to power after suppressing a similar peaceful public uprising. On Wednesday, the junta acknowledged the death of one man, but news agencies and exile groups put the number as high as seven.