Myanmar is a country of great interest this week as secretary of State Clinton embarks on what could be an uncertain engagement with a volatile "democracy". In quotations democracy is kept because the very foundations of the country is in question not just due to its military rulers but the very nature of laws passed to "protect" the citizens that actually cripple, weaken, or outright ignore the democratic process of freedom of speech and assembly. I would say the country is in more of an exploratory phase of democracy, or shallow democracy in order to participate on the world financial stage. The jailing of opposition leaders like aung Suu Kyi is a telling example of the limit that the people have in myanmar to speak out.
The article here describes the implementation of law to directly stifle protest and the ability of peaceful assembly by citizens. The picture drawn by the author who was in the protests broken up by police forces has a direct interest of seeing the tides of democracy come to his country. These laws are a direct violation of Myanmars own constitution and international norms of democracy. To make illegal the images of political parties and give the police free unregulated reign over protesters is not what democracy looks like. This is an issue the international community must address as this deals directly with human rights, peace, and security issues. Though there has been some progress in this direction many more steps should be taken to ensure a freer Myanmar.
This article gave me a look into the nature of the conflict in Myanmar that I was less aware of. I am not even sure what to call the country: Myanmar or Burma. I still need some more research on this whole topic. The information was presented in a well researched and fact based nature. The author is a law degree so the content is very much a product of this lens the author holds.
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