Just as you do not have to like Vladimir Putin to dislike Alexei Navalny, or vice versa, so you do not have to like the Myanmar Army to dislike Aung San Suu Kyi, or vice versa.
My old friend Jonah Fisher has done sterling work in exposing the reality of Aung San Suu Kyi and the persecution of the Rohingya. When he started, then her crown was quite untarnished. But nobody sees her like that today.
Back in the heady days of Early Corbynism, I myself made a tiny contribution to helping to bring about a greater level of co-ordination among Britain's Rohingya, Chagossian and Dalit activists, now that there was finally a major political figure who cared about all three of their causes.
There is a kind of GCSE RE fiction that Buddhism is pacifist. But an examination of the relevant texts shows that violence in general and war in particular are fundamental to Buddhism. A rare balanced treatment of Buddhism and violence was broadcast in August 2013. The subject is also addressed in great detail here.
It hardly took Navalny to show Russia was run by a corrupt thug with secret Black Sea palaces who poisons and jails opposition leaders. Most of the hundreds of thousands aren’t really protesting for Navalny but against the vile kleptocracy he’s helped to expose.
ReplyDelete"Hundreds of thousands"? I spat out my tea laughing at that.
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