+ 2(,1 1/,1(Citation: 32 Fletcher F. World Aff. 125 2008
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Challenging theAuthoritarian State:Buddhist Monks and
Peaceful Protests in BurmaKYAw YIN HLAING
In September 2007, for the first time in more than 10 years,
largepeaceful demonstrations took place in the biggest cities in
Burma. To thoselong acquainted with the ruling junta's brutal
repression of its challeng-ers, the demonstrations came as a
surprise. Many activist monks them-selves were surprised by the
momentum the protests gathered and by thewholehearted support of
the Burmese people. One monk noted, "We wereinitially going to
protest for only a few days. We knew that people wouldsupport us,
but we did not think that they would support us openly...We did not
think that all of entire downtown Rangoon would be filledwith the
protesters.
" I
Similarly, the military junta initially did not think monks
would beable to sustain the protests for any length of time. A
government officialrecalled:
"Because we had arrested so many protestors, we believed the
monkswould be afraid of the actions the government would be
takingagainst them. We thought this would be enough to scare them.
Wethought that after they had expressed their unhappiness, they
woulddisperse. To our surprise, the protests lasted for several
days."2
Kyaw Yin Hlaing a native ofBurma, isAssistant Professor ofAsian
and InternationalStudies at the City University of Hong Kong. Note:
In 1989, the ruling military juntachanged the name of the
countryfrom Burma to Myanmar. In this article, the originalname,
Burma, has been used for consistency.
VOL. 32:1 WINTER 2008
