A country at war
Burma has never been at war againt another country for 60 years. Sixty years... And yet, 40% of the national budget goes to the army, making the parts for education and health really low. Burma is a country at war. Not against the exterior. Burma is at war with its own people.
On Friday 4th, I saw the war. Oh, not the real fighting. I am not mad enough to trespass into the zones forbidden to foreigners. And they are not mad enough to start the fights in the permitted areas...
On the road between the border and Chiang Tung, with my wide-open eyes, I noticed a change since last time. In January, I had seen soldiers in Chiang Tung only, for the visit of a General, and one or two here and there at some check-points.
On Friday it was different. At lunch time, I saw a truck full with soldiers driving to the south. It was the first time I'd seen soldiers in the countryside. One hour later, it was 8 soldiers walking along the road or waiting next to a roadblock, the gun flippantly put towards the direction we were coming from. They didnn't even look at us passing by. Already, I had seen more soldiers in 3 hours than last time in 4 days...
And then came a time when we stopped on the road side, behind the big bus. It hides the road ahead and I don't understand why we are stopping in the middle of nowhere. And then they came...
About fifteen tanks, soldiers sitting at the top. Two trucks full with soliders. And two trucks with supplies. They pass and pass by, and in your shocked mind, you have this feeling that it's never stopping. And you... you watch them going to the South and you know where they are going.
It's not the Champs Elysees on July 14th. Nor a play of a historical battle on the Ardennes war fields. They are real tanks going to a real fight.
You know they are going in an offensive against rebels and Tai Yai villages in the south of the Shan state. You know that these guys, in front of you, in not so much time, they will have killed. Or will be killed either. You know that the guys who will be in front of these tanks will be people fighting for 60 years for the government to recognize the independence the United Kingdom promised. Fighting to stop the soldiers from raping their wives and children, from torturing the men who dared to say "no", from destroying sistematically the crops, from putting landmines on the paths to school...
You know all this. And you can just watch them passing by, behind the colored window of your own bus. Thinking that the guy from Tian an Men, standing in front of the Chinese tanks... he was incredibly brave. But that it hadn't been so useful...
You resent yourself for not being able to do something. For knowing that you're totally powerless. That you can't stop them at all.
Your bus starts moving again. You saw war from far away and you didn't like it one little bit. And one week later on, you haven't forgotten this feeling...
On Friday 4th, I saw the war. Oh, not the real fighting. I am not mad enough to trespass into the zones forbidden to foreigners. And they are not mad enough to start the fights in the permitted areas...
On the road between the border and Chiang Tung, with my wide-open eyes, I noticed a change since last time. In January, I had seen soldiers in Chiang Tung only, for the visit of a General, and one or two here and there at some check-points.
On Friday it was different. At lunch time, I saw a truck full with soldiers driving to the south. It was the first time I'd seen soldiers in the countryside. One hour later, it was 8 soldiers walking along the road or waiting next to a roadblock, the gun flippantly put towards the direction we were coming from. They didnn't even look at us passing by. Already, I had seen more soldiers in 3 hours than last time in 4 days...
And then came a time when we stopped on the road side, behind the big bus. It hides the road ahead and I don't understand why we are stopping in the middle of nowhere. And then they came...
About fifteen tanks, soldiers sitting at the top. Two trucks full with soliders. And two trucks with supplies. They pass and pass by, and in your shocked mind, you have this feeling that it's never stopping. And you... you watch them going to the South and you know where they are going.
It's not the Champs Elysees on July 14th. Nor a play of a historical battle on the Ardennes war fields. They are real tanks going to a real fight.
You know they are going in an offensive against rebels and Tai Yai villages in the south of the Shan state. You know that these guys, in front of you, in not so much time, they will have killed. Or will be killed either. You know that the guys who will be in front of these tanks will be people fighting for 60 years for the government to recognize the independence the United Kingdom promised. Fighting to stop the soldiers from raping their wives and children, from torturing the men who dared to say "no", from destroying sistematically the crops, from putting landmines on the paths to school...
You know all this. And you can just watch them passing by, behind the colored window of your own bus. Thinking that the guy from Tian an Men, standing in front of the Chinese tanks... he was incredibly brave. But that it hadn't been so useful...
You resent yourself for not being able to do something. For knowing that you're totally powerless. That you can't stop them at all.
Your bus starts moving again. You saw war from far away and you didn't like it one little bit. And one week later on, you haven't forgotten this feeling...
Free Burma