Monk Power

Yesterday I spoke on the passage from 1 Timothy that calls us to pray for those in positions of authority. I offered that prayer issues in action and that action is a form of prayer.

The same day thousands of Buddhist monks and nuns took to the streets of cities in Myanmar, formerly Burma. They were peacefully demonstrating against the oppressive military regime which has held sway for decades. So far the military has not responded even though they have quickly responded to protest in the past.

Wherever the monks and nuns have marched civilians have joined them, often joining hands to form protective cordons on either side. The poem below is by Aung San Suu Kyi, who has become a symbol of determined protest in Myanmar and who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. The film Beyond Rangoon (1995) offers a portrait of the turmoil in the earlier years of the junta.

In The Quiet Land( Aung San Suu Kyi)

In the Quiet Land, no one can tell

if there's someone who's listening for secrets they can sell.

The informers are paid in the blood of the land

and no one dares speak what the tyrants won't stand.
In the quiet land of Burma,no one laughs and no one thinks out loud.

In the quiet land of Burma,you can hear it in the silence of the crowd
In the Quiet Land, no one can say

when the soldiers are comingto carry them away.

The Chinese want a road; the French want the oil;

the Thais take the timber; and SLORC takes the spoils...
In the Quiet Land....In the Quiet Land, no one can hear

what is silenced by murder and covered up with fear.

But, despite what is forced, freedom's a sound

that liars can't fake and no shouting can drown.