Burma events show need for awareness

I must say, it feels great to have the right to say whatever the heck I want.

Admittedly, many people have issues when others speak their mind. The infamous University of Florida student was tasered while directing awkward questions at former presidential candidate John Kerry. He probably deserved it for being so obnoxious, but nonetheless, the situation prompted many Americans to question the validity of our First Amendment rights of free speech.

We as Americans have the right to say things like "Bush is a nincompoop, dunderhead, buffoon..." and so on. Even those half-wit "Homo sex is sin" protesters have the right to say and do what they want when they march around the Campanile with their children.

But just for a second, I would like you to imagine a society where those rights never existed. It is unfortunate that so many of these regimes still exist in the world, ones where a centralized government has absolute control over public opinion.

In some other countries, people are killed for expressing any of their thoughts that are contrary to the opinions of the ruling government, even to this day. Perhaps the most notable example of this in the present time is the Burmese government's brutal repression of a peaceful protest.

To give a little bit of background, Burma (which is known officially as Myanmar because of the changes imposed by the ruling military junta) is a southeast Asian country that was a former colony of the United Kingdom, gaining independence relatively recently in 1948. An authoritarian military junta, which has been in power since 1962, controls the economy, the media and many other aspects of life. Many residents of the country have been forced into hard labor camps in dire conditions. The controversy generated by the junta has scared away foreign investment to the point where skyscrapers in Yangon (the largest city) remain empty.

In the past month or so, revolution has been brewing in Burma, led by an unlikely demographic group: the Buddhist monks. Burma is a majority Buddhist country, and the monks are highly respected by the general populace. The junta's sudden removal of fuel subsidies in August caused a sharp increase in fuel prices, up to fivefold. This prompted a protest staged by the monks, known as the Saffron Revolution, named after the color of the monks' robes.

Tens of thousands of monks joined by the general public took to the streets in the largest stand against the military junta since it took power nearly fifty years ago. For many weeks the monks marched day in and day out in peaceful protest, demanding changes in the way the military dictatorship was treating the Burmese people.

This posed a serious dilemma for the military junta, for crushing the revolution would be controversial due to the highly respected status of the monks in the country. But rather than risking a loss in power, the military junta began violently suppressing the protests in late September, kidnapping, killing and torturing monks and protesters. Censorship of the internet and media began immediately, and the junta succeeded in ridding the streets of the protesters within the span of a few days.

In the United States, this would be a grave crisis: a nonviolent protest being brutally suppressed by the government is in violation of everything that this country stands for. But sometimes, I feel that for being such a technologically savvy nation that arguably exhibits a higher level of connectivity than anywhere else in the world, we sometimes turn a blind eye toward events around the world.

I do not think that the majority of us Americans intentionally glaze over the severity of the problems that other nations experience, but I do think that happenings in the world such as the crisis in Burma deserve more attention and thought.

My point is that free speech here is so easily taken for granted when there exist other places in the world where expressing a thought could result in death or prosecution. We as Americans use our freedom of speech mostly for expressing discontent for our country's state of affairs. We enjoy the freedom to say what we want, so why not speak up for the peoples around the world whose voices are rendered silent by oppressive forces?

As heroic as it would be, we do not need to get involved militarily, because the last thing we want is another Vietnam, Korea or Iraq. I do believe, however, that knowledge is the strongest catalyst for change. It is our responsibility to remain cognizant of the global events that affect not only us, but also people on the other side of the planet.

I firmly believe that a sense of social consciousness is needed to fully appreciate and understand our constitutional rights, which should be used not only for our benefit, but also for the sake of others. Even if it is a small action, such as writing a letter to a legislator, joining a Facebook group that supports the cause or simply telling a friend about the situation, we as members of the human race can help improve the status of people in oppressed situations.