Aung Way’s Review - “The way to win the power within one year”

Original post in Burmese
Translated by Burmese Bloggers w/o Borders (with the help of MMM & TL)

INTRODUCTION

This review is from a poet for Burma Democracy Revolution. The poet has tried to mention his personal point of view on the Democracy Revolution. Hence it is named Aung Way’s Review. The main objective of this review is to win back the power within one year.

WHY DO WE NEED TO WIN THE POWER WITHIN ONE YEAR?

The Burmese people demonstrated in 1988 as the first time after 26 years of army regime. It was led by students. And then military junta took advantage on that demonstration and seized the power from the people and declared martial law under SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council). It has been 19 years since then. Hence, in September, the Burmese people again demonstrated against the military regime which has ruled the country for almost 20 years. The Monks took the lead in this peaceful demonstration. This time, (State Peace and Development Council) SPDC is trying to take advantage of the situation in Burma to tighten their power.


HOW ARE THEY TAKING ADVANTAGE?

It is very clear. SPDC can no longer ignore the people’s peaceful protests. They end up having to arrange for a dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Actually this dialogue is what all monks, students and people have been requesting through the peaceful protests. The fact that SPDC had to start talking about dialogue that they previously did not give serious consideration about, is the greatest achievement of this 2007 September movment. However, as usual SPDC is very tricky and they will try to hold on to the power as long as possible by pretending to make dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. We, Burmese People, need to be aware of their trick , which plays an important role in successfully destroying the dictatorship forever on our land.

Therefore our Burmese people should not wait and expect much from this pretentious dialogue. We need to speed up our revolution to be able to win back the power within a short period of time.

HOW CAN WE FIGHT AND WIN THE POWER?

We, Burmese People, need to arrange The Third and The Last Democracy Revolution. There are some do’s and don’ts in such revolution to be able to win.

There are two facts to avoid. These are policies of non-violence and compromise.

Everyone knows that the military junta (SPDC) brutally cracked down on the monks-led peaceful protest. If the burmese people wanted to continue in the same peaceful way, the junta would surely carry out the same kind of brutal suppression against them. It would be as if we are sacrificing our lives unncessarily. We don’t want that to happen again.

Each and every protestor for democracy has their own right to defend for themselves. These people who are demonstrating peacefully must be protected under the law. But there is no such law in Burma.

Therefore, the protestors have to defend themselves from the brutal crackdown without affecting the main aim of the revolution.

The second one is the policy of compromise. This is akin to surrendering to the enemy and we must avoid this strategy. There were numerous records in Burma’s history that once the enemy gave in just a little bit, some politicians and activists would end up combining forces with the enemy and betrayed the public.

These are two factors that everyone, who is fighting for democracy, must avoid at all cost regardless of whether they are leaders or supporters.

The revolution that the Burmese people are conducting is not merely a protest just to reduce the prices. We all must bear in mind that this revolution has been going on for the last 45 years with the aim of ending the entire dictatorship and must prepare to continue our fight till we win.

DO IT LIKE A REVOLUTION

Important facts to keep in mind during this struggle

1) "Three sons" (meaning monks, students and soldiers) have to be united
2) In order to increase the momentum of the current protest, connection has to be made between struggles within and those outside Burma.

Students played the leading role during the protest for Democracy in 1988 while monks were the leaders in 2007. For coming 2008, during the third and final protest, soldiers will be persuaded to join with the civilians and fight against the brutal military generals. Then, we will definitely have an ideal movement of "three sons" joining hand in hand, with the soldiers leading the movement. It is indeed of utmost importance for activists fighting for democracy to cleverly pave the way for such ideal movement to happen.

The second fact, increasing the momentum of civilian participation, will need to be done as follows.

First of all, all the organizations (be it “undergroud” or “non-underground”) should come together to form a united front. The organizations include the National League for Democracy (NLD, which won nationwide landslide election in 1991 but was denied to take office by the military regime), All-Burma Monks Association, students' organizations, nonviolence, triple-colored and CNG youths, political activists, professionals, elected officials, workers, farmers, etc. All these non-underground forces need to form Mass's Alliances for Democracy.

As for the underground forces,there are also seventeen armed groups who signed cease fire agreement with the military government and student leaders, political activists and religious leaders, who have gone into hiding. These underground forces need to be linked with those non-underground forces.

As for the forces outside Burma, there are two different groups: armed and unarmed. The armed groups are mainly made up of KNU with its force (KNLA), and KNPP (including ABSDF, Karen Ni, Rhakhine, Shan, Chin, etc). Organizations, unarmed but outside Burma, consist of international organizations such as NLD (LA), NCUB, NCGUB, DAB, FDB, etc.

As civilian protests within Burma increase their intensity of protests, political activists along the borders, abroad and from the international community will have to work towards having more attention from the international community on the progress of Burma so that they can place more pressure on the military government for reforms. At the same time, armed groups also need to increase their pace in their fights against the military junta.

There are 17 armed ethnic groups who have Gentleman's agreement with the government to cease fire. They cannot go out and protest with the civilians. And they also cannot go back to the arm struggle against the government. Our democratic forces need to use this situation very carefully. The important thing is that these ethnic armed groups should be in synchrony with the aim of the civilians’ movement. Therefore, a good strategy is neded for every battle.

GOALS AND FORM OF THE BATTLE

First of all, it is important to analyze the situation between the enemy and ourselves. There are 3 types of situations in every battle.

1) Having a defensive strategy on our side
2) Having an equivalent situation for strategy on either sides
3) Having an offensive strategy on our side

Currently, in Burma, the civilians can be considered as being in the offensive mode. The fact that the military government generals are restlessly negotiating with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, indicates the junta having to adopt a defensive mode.

Now that we are in the offensive front, what strategy should we uphold to finish the battle? In other words, what are the goals of the final battle? The following 3 demands should be our goals.

1) All political prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should be set free.
2) There should be immediate triangle-meeting among opposition political parties (NLD, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, etc), military government representatives and ethnic armed groups.
3) The short-term government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should be organized immediately.

In short, all political prisoners should be freed, the triangle-meeting should be held and the short-term government should be organized. These 3 statements should be carried out within a year and they are the basic of the battle.

What tactics should be used in this battle? How should the battle formation be shaped up? The form of the civilian protest is clear. For example, Mass's Alliances for Democracy, can lead and open an uprising centre at the Shwedagon Pagoda. Then, the peaceful demonstrations on the streets should follow, chanting the slogans to take over the military government's center "Napyidaw". Discipline shapes up the battle. Burmese and foreign bloggers and media, burmese people outside Burma, and buddhist monks can make up the other forms of the battle.

OTHER FORMS OF THE BATTLE

The Burmese people should also threaten the followers of SPDC by confronting and obstructing their actions so that they will not dare to remain in their assigned townships. The Burmese people in Burma should be united in carrying out whatever possible offensive action against the SPDC followers.

CONCLUSION

Without the belief for revolution, there will never be a revolution. Likewise, without a good leader, the revolution will not be successful.

The three demands mentioned above should be the goals of our revolution.
Mass’s Alliances for Democracy should take lead in this revolution.

In addition, I would like to add the following firmly:

- Do not blindly hold on to the policy of non-violence.
- Never compromise with the enemy.
- Must form a united, disciplined front who stands up for the truth.
- Never betray Daw Aung San Su Kyi and the revolution.
- Must win the revolution within a year.

Aung Way
[ From a temporary hiding place ]