Posted on October 1, 2007
For decades, we as a nation have prided ourselves on our consistent moral belief in the right of all peoples to assert their basic human rights.
Our constitution enshrined these beliefs centuries ago, taking an astronomical step in the progression of humankind by saying for the first time in history that a nation’s power will truly rest within the hands of its people, that a populace has an innate right to protest the actions of its government either through utilizing a free press or by exercising its right to assemble. That founding document was the starting point for what has since been viewed as a worldwide evolution in the respect for and protection of human rights that are today thought of as fundamental elements of existence.
Yet we do not live in a utopian society where all is well in the world, where neighbors respect neighbors and all governments work for the interests of their people. Despite the technological advances that have allowed us to create a worldwide information superhighway in the Internet and a interplanetary voyager in the Mars space rover, we are still unable to stop the ruthless oppression of millions worldwide at the hands of what many leaders have the audacity to refer to as “governments of our people.”
Such governments exercise merciless control over their populations by restricting their religious, social and political freedoms. They employ arms and surveillance technology supplied to them by the “modernized” world to aid in this control.
The nation of Burma is a perfect example of this shocking reality. The military junta in power in that nation has recently moved beyond the mere control of information and squashing of dissent that has become commonplace for its people, it is now using military violence against the Burmese people who on the streets of their nation wield not guns or bombs, but cries for freedom and democracy.
These cries continued even as military forces threatened the use of deadly force on those who refused to comply with their demands to cease and desist, and the cries continue even today after scores have been killed or injured as government forces fired indiscriminately into crowds of peaceful protestors. Students who seek to learn and gain an intellectual prosperity are standing boldly in the face of unbridled regimental oppression.
These people are just like you and me, they seek a chance at life and an opportunity to expand their minds and control the destiny of their nation through the creation of a democratic society. Alongside them are monks who seek the same opportunities and continue their campaign even as hundreds of them are dragged out of their monasteries and beaten in the streets for contributing to the nationwide unrest.
What do we hear from the international community in response? We get the equivalent of a slap on the wrist accompanied by a list of minor economic sanctions by the United States with a similar response sure to come from the European Union. President Bush was quoted in The Washington Post as saying, “Every civilized nation has a responsibility to stand up for people suffering under a brutal military regime like the one that has ruled Burma for too long.” He is right in this but at the end of the day it is still just empty rhetoric.
In a modern world where we have a forum such as the UN, it is our duty to exert every possible pressure on China, on India, on Thailand, and on the entire international community to look past national self-interest in this situation. We are a nation of freedom and democracy and it is the epitome of hypocrisy to allow such atrocities to continue to be committed against people who merely seek the same freedoms we have come to take for granted. The protection of such freedoms should not merely be the “internal affairs” of one nation or another, but the affairs of humanity as a whole.
Patrick Callahan is a senior political science major.
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