There has been a popular movement against the ruling State Law and Order Council for years, obviously, and this is part of a real revolt. The monks are an important and esteemed segment of society because they provide education and social services, whereas the dictatorship simply exploits people. So why should it be that the United States government has, for the last few years, been applying sanctions to Burma along with its allies? Why is it championing the main democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi? Only an ostrich would imagine it has anything to do with democracy. Well, it’s the same as East Timor in many ways. The West, after having backed a genocidal regime for years, has terrorised the opposition into accepting a neoliberal programme. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy has promised that, upon taking power, it will implement structural adjustments opening up huge parts of the economy to international investors. There is more than a parallel there: Suharto was one of the Burmese junta’s closest allies before an uprising threw him off, and a polyarchical neoliberal regime in both states will restore the symmetry to some extent. So, it’s another phase in the transition from anti-socialist dictatorships used by Washington to slightly less coercive regimes in which the opposition has basically been neutered. The experiment launched in Chile in 1973 was really that successful.

Also, this 1999 speech by Suu Kyi, though subtle, seems to indicates where she and her gov’t will be looking to receive (financial) assistance from if/when her the NLD takes power in Burma:

We must all lay this foundation correctly. Then we must build that house with a continuous flow of material which involves many many things. As I have stated earlier, we will need money. Without money, materials can not be purchased. We need to be able to evaluate the goods. Having money only will not do. We need to know their value.

Therefore knowledge of such things is essential. We must have friends who can advise us about these values. We can not be isolated and stand alone in this world. We need good friends. Even with good friends, money, human and material resources and knowledge, this generation can not erect and complete this building.

[...]

Don’t depend on assistance (without strings attached) from here to there. There is no such thing as “without strings attached”. Strings get attached automatically. We, believers in Buddhism, know well all about this. Every circumstance has a reason and an effect and one’s deed predetermines one’s future.

Suu Kyi has also made clear in previous dispatches that the country will transition from dictatorship to “liberal democracy;” judging by those who support her and the NDL (eg, Gordon Brown, Madeline Albright, George H.W. Bush, Margaret Thatcher, etc etc), it’s easy for one to conclude that an NLD gov’t won’t hesitate to embrace structural adjustment, strings and all.

This is not to suggest that the ruling junta is legit, or that the popular struggle in Burma doesn’t deserve solidarity; far from it. However, it should give one pause when those who are quick to jettison the democratic process when results prove strategically inconvenient (eg, Hamas’ victory in Palestine) are so keen to legitimate the will of the people in other cases.

by matttbastard
To all the folks @ Bread & Roses (Debra, Godammitkitty, fern, skdadl, berlynn, deBeauxOs etc etc etc); to JJ, Prole and pale; to boomgate, Isabel, and sassywho (best cobloggers EVAR) : thank you. For everything.
Love, muchly.
(big u…

From what I could see of Western press coverage, the bulk of the strike movement has simply been ignored (the Mahalla victory, for example, simply does not exist for readers of the major American and British newspapers). There have been reports on a few specific events however, for example the recent strike of media workers. That seemed to catch the press’ attention a bit more, ‘though I’m sure it’s gone again now.