Buddhist Monks March for Freedom in Burma

Burma has been ruled under the iron fist of the State Peace and Development Council since 1988. The Junta controls all aspect of life, crushes descent, and renamed the country Myanmar. The people have had enough.

Earlier this month the junta announced it would be raising fuel prices across the board as much as five hundred percent. Buddhist monks in the country, who typical stay above politics, began marching to show how the policy would affect the poor. The marches have turned into anti-government protests.

There are questions of will these marches succeed or fail. The junta is desperate for power and may strike out against the monks. Anything but a crushing blow could lead to revolution but the already internationally shunned junta has nothing to lose by being violent.

In a time when democracies like Iraq and Lebanon are under siege and others like Russia are being corrupted within, it is refreshing and hopeful to see one struggle to be born.