MOMENTUM is growing in Second Life for residents to wear a red shirt on Friday, 28th September to show solidarity with the people of Myanmar (also known as Burma).This is to symbolise the crimson robes of the Burmese monks, who have been leading protests for democracy in the beleagured country.
A poster, created by Konoe Watanabe, giving websites for further information on the move to free the country's democratically elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is freely available from Konoe, or the front of the SL Newspaper office at Sunrise Reef.
While there are only four groups in SL dedicated to Burma or Myanmar, one group 'Moony' has had approximately 200 new members join in the past couple of days.
Groups you can search include Freedom Burma, Attention People of Earth, Moony and Demokratie in Myanmar. Pol McLaglen from Freedom Burma is also giving away free RED TEE-SHIRTS which bear a message from the Burmese monks during their protest.
The military crackdown against civilians began on Wednesday, when soldiers and police fired teargas and attacked protestors and arrested 200 monks who were leading a pro-democracy demonstration.
According to a Reuter's report, nine people have been killed during protests against the military junta, in what is regarded as the largest uprising in 20 years.
While elected to government by the people of Myanmar in 1990, pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been under house arrest by the military junta for most of that time.
She became politically active in 1988 when the long-time leader of the socialist ruling party stepped down, leading to mass demonstrations for democracy. These were violently suppressed and a new military junta took power.
Aung San Suu Kyi's father negotiated Burma's independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, and was assassinated by his rivals in the same year.
She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her non-violent struggle against the military dictatorship of her country.
Heavily influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence, Aung San Suu Kyi is known for her famous speech known as 'The Freedom From Fear" speech:
"It is not power that corrupts, but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power, corrupts those who are subject to it."
She has been released and put back under house arrest several times since with varying degrees of disapproval, outrage, action and inaction from various international human rights bodies.
Myanmar gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1948 as the 'Union of Burma' and in 1989, the State Law and Order Restoration Council adopted the name of 'Union of Myanmar' which was recognised by the United Nations, but not the United States or United Kingdom governments.
The Burmese miltary has dominated government since 1962 when a coup toppled the civilian government.
Further information on Myanmar and Aung San Suu Kyi is available at Wikipedia.
