Burmese monk update

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Following up on a post from the other day, in part on the tear-gassing of monks in Burma, it appears that the courageous opponents of that country's reprehensible totalitarian regime are refusing to back down even in the face of brutal oppression:

Leaders of protests by Buddhist monks in Burma say they intend to continue their peaceful demonstrations until the military government collapses.

The statement by the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks came as 1,500 monks took to the streets of Rangoon in their biggest protest yet.

This is the fifth straight day of marches by monks in protest at recent government attempts to silence critics.

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In a strongly-worded statement, seen by the BBC, the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks described the military government as "the enemy of the people".

It said the monks would keep up their protests until they had "wiped the military dictatorship from the land of Burma".

I applaud their efforts and wish them well. An enormous task lies in front of them, and success will not come without a great deal of sacrifice, but their cause is noble and just. The rest of the world -- and by that I mean the U.N., but also opponents of totalitarianism and other forms of political oppression everywhere -- would do well to come to their aid.