Taking Hostages
The pictures are hauntingly reminiscent of the Christmas tsunami that swept away flimsy houses by the millions, and ended hundreds of thousands of lives in Thailand, Indonesia and even as far away as India. The assistance of nations all over the world was mobilized, rescue missions immediately launched, and huge numbers of devastated peoples were taken under the wing of any number of charitable bodies.
The spectacle of devastation has seemingly stricken a feeling of threat, not of humanity, in the military junta in Burma. We get inklings from reporters who are working undercover, shielding their names and faces.
Now the junta is taking away the aid that is being sent.
When distress inside a country inspires its leaders to fight against the effort to assist, the whole purpose of government is destroyed. There is a social contract that allows a populace to give power to a governing body.
When that contract is broken, the government has reversed its mandate, and is no longer legitimate. It is autocratic, and no longer serves its people. What is Burms'a government doing?
The subrogation of the public interest has become accepted procedure in military states that have leaders who are holding onto power - in denial of any right they might have to that power. When ambitions to power consume the holders of government offices, it becomes a battle against the rights of the people to hold onto that power.
The spectacle of a government fighting against the public interest is jarring. It's something the American public has always associated with other, foreign, bodies. This outbreak of outright hostilities against delivering care to its own people is chilling, and reminiscent of the kind of disaster that occurred when Katrina devastated much of our Gulf Coast. The fight by our government to minimize its justified effort was frightening. While our military wasn't deployed to prevent an outpouring of aid from foreign countries, it was deployed without really serving the affected victims.
Hopefully we can turn the tide here before the kind of rank violence against humane efforts we see happening in Burma occurs closer to home.
The spectacle of devastation has seemingly stricken a feeling of threat, not of humanity, in the military junta in Burma. We get inklings from reporters who are working undercover, shielding their names and faces.
Now the junta is taking away the aid that is being sent.
The World Food Programme has halted aid shipments to Burma after the contents of its first delivery were impounded on arrival in the military-ruled country.
The UN body says the Burmese government seized tonnes of aid material flown in to help victims of Cyclone Nargis, which has killed tens of thousands.
The WFP said it had no choice but to halt aid until the matter was resolved.
Burma's ruling generals have faced mounting criticism over their handling of the crisis.
(snip)
"Three flights were scheduled for Saturday but now we have no choice but to suspend food aid until the food in the warehouse is released for WFP to distribute it," he told the BBC.
"It is sitting in a warehouse, it is not in trucks heading to Irrawaddy Delta where it is critically needed."
The WFP said that although flights were suspended, it would continue to pack up and prepare further supplies and negotiate with the Burmese authorities in the hope of releasing the aid and getting further flights in.
When distress inside a country inspires its leaders to fight against the effort to assist, the whole purpose of government is destroyed. There is a social contract that allows a populace to give power to a governing body.
Under a theory first articulated by Plato in his Socratic dialog Crito, members within a society implicitly agree to the terms of the social contract by their choice to stay within the society. Thus implicit in most forms of social contract is that freedom of movement is a fundamental or natural right which society may not legitimately require an individual to subrogate to the sovereign will.
When that contract is broken, the government has reversed its mandate, and is no longer legitimate. It is autocratic, and no longer serves its people. What is Burms'a government doing?
Yangon is Ground Zero; there are no more big trees left…Army Battalion no. 11, 22 and 77 are clearing the big roads. Otherwise, it’s mostly kohtu kohta (self-help). Monks are leading the cleaning-up process in the residential areas…
The subrogation of the public interest has become accepted procedure in military states that have leaders who are holding onto power - in denial of any right they might have to that power. When ambitions to power consume the holders of government offices, it becomes a battle against the rights of the people to hold onto that power.
The spectacle of a government fighting against the public interest is jarring. It's something the American public has always associated with other, foreign, bodies. This outbreak of outright hostilities against delivering care to its own people is chilling, and reminiscent of the kind of disaster that occurred when Katrina devastated much of our Gulf Coast. The fight by our government to minimize its justified effort was frightening. While our military wasn't deployed to prevent an outpouring of aid from foreign countries, it was deployed without really serving the affected victims.
Hopefully we can turn the tide here before the kind of rank violence against humane efforts we see happening in Burma occurs closer to home.
Labels: Banana Republic, Election 2008, Health Care
posted by Ruth at 8:57 AM
2 Comments:
Add to that: a referendum to give the generals more power. They will get it by 84% (yes, the outcome is pre-set of course). Add that IF foreign relief goods reach the needy, they are stickered with the heads of the famous 3 generals. Add that the big leader since the cyclone has not shown his ugly face anywhere. Nice.
Do you know, I gave the junta room, on the possibility they might call off the mock vote. But no! Just incredible.
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