Resistance and the struggle for a free Burma

Resistance is an active, campaigning organisation. We're in there where the struggle is. We don't just talk about standing up for the oppressed. We actually do it. Recently, we met members of the Burmese community in Canberra at a series of protests outside the Burmese embassy. When we met them, we naturally wanted to jump into the struggle right there alongside them. We were involved in the first meeting of the Canberra Network for Democracy in Burma (CNDB), and helped organise the protest on October 13 for the international day of solidarity with the Burmese struggle.

As a youth organisation, we wanted to organise alongside Burmese youth in Canberra. Together, we did some stalls and put up posters promoting the October 13 protest. I think it is really important that youth in Australia hear what the youth from Burma have to say. This is for two reasons: firstly, the Burmese youth have a lot to teach the rest of us about politics and about struggle. Secondly, they need the solidarity of non-Burmese youth in Australia. When governments and corporations all over the world are complicit in the plunder of Burma, the rest of us cannot leave it up to the Burmese to fight this struggle alone. The Australian people have a responsibility to hold the Australian government to account for its collaboration with the military regime. This is urgent. People are dying.

I think that Australian youth in particular have a responsibility to this struggle. The energy and confidence of young people are really important to a lot of protest movements in Australia, and this is no different. In Resistance, we are keen to do all we can to nurture this dialogue between Burmese and non-Burmese youth. This is why we helped to organise a CNDB public forum on Australian National University.

To get involved in the Canberra Network for Democracy in Burma, contact Hongsar on 0404 330 924. To get involved in Resistance in Canberra, contact Farida on 0412 109 160.

From GLW issue 728