Tina Smith: “I wish today to denounce the savage actions of Burma's military government. During this past week, a familiar pageantry…”

“I wish today to denounce the savage actions of Burma's military government. During this past week, a familiar pageantry of riot police and soldiers deployed to stop the peaceful demonstrations of Burmese monks and citizens. These protestors demanded an end to the dictatorship which has governed Burma for most of the past 4 rac{1}{2} decades. They carried no weapons, incited no violence, and made no demands beyond those which constitute basic human freedoms. Their military junta reacted as that government always has: with silence, with threats, and then at last with violence. I had hoped that the course of these protests would not conform to Burma's old pattern of repression. So often in this decade we have seen the forces of peaceful revolution triumph over the institutional relics of an earlier, more brutal age. In Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan the old regime was toppled with barely a hint of violence. Elsewhere, like Lebanon, strident democratic blows were struck against the ruling order. I remember not two decades ago, when the Soviet Union peacefully dissolved, its citizens having had finally enough of communism, misery, and the KGB. Sadly, these bloodless successes are not always the norm. Events in Uzbekistan and Belarus have shown us--as did Tiananmen Square 18 years ago--that governments which are serious about holding power do not topple easily.”