Even if the junta regains control of the streets, it has lost its last shred of credibility as the purported defender of national unity and traditional values. Since seizing power in 1962, the generals have enriched themselves while most Burmese have only grown poorer. Troops massacred thousands of protesters in 1988, but the spirit of resistance survived. A veteran of the 1988 uprising told NEWSWEEK in early September, after scattered protests over rising fuel prices, that the opposition was reaching out to the monks, confident that if they rose up, crowds of ordinary Burmese would join them. Last week, after thousands of monks did just that, soldiers began killing them and other protesters in the streets. The protests continued. “Ultimately it comes down to the resilience, the determination and the bravery of the people who have been marching,” says Canning.
The question is, where are they going? “The young [Burmese] are saying, ‘Get the military out of power’,” says David Steinberg, a Burma (a.k.a. Myanmar) expert at Georgetown University. “But if the government were to resign—which is 99.99 percent not going to happen—do you think you’d have democracy in that country?” Still, President George W. Bush ordered new sanctions on the generals and urged China and India, the junta’s best friends, to get tough. Some observers warn that if the generals feel cornered, there could be a repetition of 1988’s bloodbath. That may be. But it’s the junta that has boxed itself in.
