BURMA DIGEST

BURMA DIGEST

08.10.2006

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Our Comrades

Our Team

For whom the bell tolls

(Homage to ‘88 Generation Students’)

_ By Taisamyone

Come forward comrades

Come forward brothers and sisters

Come forward men, women and children of Burma

Come forward if you love freedom

Come forward if you love liberty

Come forward if you love democracy

Come forward and sign the petition

Come forward and join the multitudinous throng

Stand up for your family

Stand up for your community

Stand up for your state and division

Stand up for your country

Stand up for your true patriots; patriots of freedom

Stand up and be counted

One among many, champion of all

Now is the time for change

Now is the time for peace

Now is the time for freedom

Now is the time for democracy

Join me now and we shall win

Walk boldly, tall and strong

Arm in arm, hand in hand

Together we shall go forward, to a bright future

Full of promise and freedom from strife

Freedom from spies and informers

Freedom from propaganda and repression

Freedom from torture and killing

Freedom from imprisonment and slavery

The age of the generals has come to an end

Only they don’t see it, heads buried in the sand

They stay in their garret, away from the crowd

Too afraid to meet the people face to face

Making up laws to keep themselves in power

Sending out minions to do their dirty work

Those who strut and bully while they think they can

They can’t get away with it any more

United we stand together, united we shall overcome

United we shall persevere, united in suffering and grief

United in triumph and glory, united in love and harmony

United in freedom and peace

Endnote:

For Whom the Bell Tolls is a 1940 novel by Ernest Hemingway, set during the Spanish Civil War. The novel clearly presents an ideological theme, of left versus right, democracy versus tyranny, Republican vs. Fascist, with declarations that the Republicans can win, if only the world will support them. The Fascists won, and Spain wasn’t free of the military junta until after Franco’s death in 1975, when they returned to a democratic government and have since prospered as a vibrant world nation. The title comes from a poem by John Donne. “Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

(Please sign the petition “We Want our Student Leaders Released Immediately”)

Comments:

Angle Naw said _

Thanks for that. Franco regime was clever in that it swam along with the European integration tide as Than Shwe did with ASEAN. In the 1970s, however, it was impossible for a country to remain dictatorial in increasingly liberalized Europe. Sadly Burma may remain dictatorial as long as the Southeast Asian region and China remain illiberal.

Your Comments here_