We must not be silent..
September 28, 2007 by Dusty
The uprising in Burma is getting worse by the day. People are dying simply because they are speaking out..because they are protesting and trying to let the world know how horrible it is ‘over there’. The Independant has an article up that I felt the need to share. As some know my family is dealing with a death here in our extended family. A death that left more questions than answers. The same goes for the death of this Japanese reporter and the monks who are also risking their lives to get the truth out. His death must be recognized for what it is..a government trying to silence the people, in whatever fashion they can. We can not be silent..for those that paid with their lives.. we must get the word out.
Shot dead trying to show the real picture of Burma
Images suggest that Japanese video journalist was a victim of Burma’s repressive junta
By Claire Soares
Published: 28 September 2007
Dodging the bloodstained sandals and the panic-stricken masses who fled troops near Sule Pagoda in the centre of the Burmese capital Rangoon yesterday, Kenji Nagai kept his camera rolling, recording vital footage of Burma’s closed society and providing a lifeline to the outside world for the protesting monks and civilians who were risking their lives for much-needed change.
Then, in one dreadful moment, the Japanese video journalist took a bullet in the chest – almost certainly from the gun of a Burmese soldier.
We cannot be certain of the exact circumstances in which Mr Nagai died, but a series of pictures appears to suggest he was callously gunned down, a victim of the repressive junta who are almost as keen to quell the worldwide media coverage of the protests as they are to quell the protests themselves. Burmese state television has been running news bulletins accusing global broadcasters of pumping out a “Skyful of lies”.
It fell to Mr Nagai’s father to identify his son, who was working for the Japanese news agency APF News, from photos and videos taken in the street where he was killed. Japan has lodged a protest with the Burmese authorities. Mr Nagai was one of at least nine people known to have been killed in Rangoon yesterday. There may have been more. It seems unlikely that they will have been the last.
Tags: Kenji Nagai , Burma, Myanmar
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Yet the people of Myanmar still march, only armed with the conviction that their government is unjust and that it can be changed through non-violent means. They are awe-inspiring and humbling, not only for their courage, but for their steadfast committment to dignity in the face of in indignity.
Days like this make me both admire the human spirit towards freedom and despair for our chances as a collective of freedom-lovers to ever truly reach the pinnacle, to really succeed in toppling the ugly side of human nature, the side that craves oppression. Will we ever win? It seems unlikely.
But when I feel like that, I remind myself of this quote from Camus:
Everyday I see those monks walking down the street I am deeply inspired and ashamed at my self for lack of activism.
I have the video up on my personal site that shows the soldiers basically firing at point blank range and killing the Japanese journalist who was armed with only a video camera.
The Monks also did this in South Vietnam prior to the beginning of the Vietnam War if you recall…