I’m not sure how many people are paying attention to what has been going on in Burma lately (or could even if they wanted to, thanks to the anemic state of journalism in this country anymore). But as a point of democratic resistance to authoritarian control, it is one of the most dramatic and important stories taking place.

This article originally published on Truthout contained the following point which I found particularly interesting and helpful in understanding what is likely an important and key aspect to truly effective democratic action….

“According to reports from pro-democracy groups inside the country, there are too many layers of leadership for the regime to attack simultaneously. The mass movement in Burma is unlikely to be defeated by removing its most visible components because they have organized themselves around a conceptualization of power that does not depend on the guidance of just a small group of people. The resistance is based on the notion of people-power, a genuinely bottom-up form of authority that finds its strength in numbers and scope, not in the charisma or strategy of one or two key individuals. So, the more the regime attacks, the more likely it is that movement’s numbers will actually increase.”

This is big news over in that region of the world, and the level of awareness and solidarity of support amongst the Buddhist community strikes me as rather impressive and an important factor in the tipping point of events potentially being reached there. The organizing taking place there also provides a point of emphasis to the critical flaw of any movement for democratic action overly-relying upon a ‘leader’, becoming distracted by the potentially distorting (and dependency-creating) influence of charisma and ‘cult of personality’, and the dangers of personal ego trumping the needs of the work at hand. It is why it is of real importance to find that effective balance between a universally coordinated strategic plan and the application of localized action and the provision for bottom-up initiatives and tactics.

Come to think of it, in regards to the situation in Burma, I wonder how much of a role Buddhism itself, what with the underlying nature of its philosophy and its pre-eminent influence and importance there, actually plays in the crafting of this kind of societal/political response to the criminal regime that we are currently seeing there?

And here are a couple more articles of note on this topic, including a posting by Matt Stoller on the role of the internet and independent bloggers in getting some of the information out on what is going down in Burma these days (excuse me, Myanmar, as the military junta had it renamed some years ago).

Burma’s Uprising: People Power, Not Political Puppetry

Internet Freedom and Burmese Bloggers

Burma’s Junta: Too Late To Turn Back The Clock

And just as an aside of absurdity, I find it darkly humorous that the Bush/Cheney re-election campaign of 2004 had a number of their campaign items such as hats, shirts, etc… manufactured in Burma. How fitting. Literally.

- Andy Valeri, USTV Media