Can peaceful protest still be effective in Burma?
If you have peaceful protest and the government’s response is to shoot the people who protest, then I can’t imagine it effecting change. But I am in awe of peaceful protesters, for their moral stance. Against all the odds, these people walk up to city hall and say, “Free Aung San Suu Kyi.” It’s just one person and they know they’ll get arrested. The motivation to do that is incredible, but some people are driven to it. I can’t criticise peaceful protest; I think it’s very important. Do you see Burma breaking free from its leaders any time soon? The people I speak to in Burma are friends, so I feel I have a duty to remain hopeful. When I go there, I feel quite put to shame. In developed countries, we have so many resources – and then you go to Burma and you see these people who have nothing, and they just make so much out of what little they have. There are lessons to be learned from that tenacity and drive. Emma Larkin’s “Everything Is Broken: the Untold Story of Disaster Under Burma’s
