Myanmar

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." - Martin Luther King Jr.

Thirteen years ago, I made the first of three trips to Southeast Asia, and my family has hosted many students and young professionals over the years. I have also been fortunate to make many more friends through my connections with the Mike & Maureen Mansfield Center and the English Language Institute at UM – friends from Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Philippines and Myanmar. What wonderful and inspiring examples of leadership and civic responsibility I found in the young Southeast Asians I now call my friends! So, as I read the reports of the horrific violence in Myanmar since early February, I cannot help but feel the “single garment of destiny” that connects me to them. I remember the raw and devastating emotion I felt as I visited the Killing Fields in Cambodia where most of the population was murdered by the Khmer Rouge. The brutal murders and human rights violations occurring in Myanmar bring that emotion back to the surface for me. I am proud and awed by the brave young people there who are risking their lives to stand for justice and democracy and wondering if I would have the same courage. And as many governments around the world abandon them, wondering what can we do from so many miles away. At a minimum we can pay attention, read and educate ourselves about what is happening and then share what we learn. Some of us may be able to donate to organizations like the Civil Disobedience Movement supporting these young heroes or to the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, the democratically elected government working to restore democracy. Whatever small part we can play, let us do so to condemn the violence, support the struggling, grieving and displaced people of Myanmar.

Author: Betsy Mulligan-Dague | JRPC Executive Director