Sunday, November 11, 2012

Buffalohair: Burma: Will US President Barack Obama be a Liberator or Colonizer?

Burma: Will US President Barack Obama be a Liberator or Colonizer?


With news President Barack Obama is headed to Burma the Burmese ask, “Will Barack Obama be a liberator or continue to ignore the genocide being committed in Kachin State?” The crisis in Rakhine State has gotten all the media attention with a tumultuous global response while Burma’s secret war in Kachin State has received little attention at all. Thein Sein’s government continues to grab land from citizens and farmers to accommodate western development interests. Will Obama address this atrocity as well? Don’t forget the over 600 political prisoners Than Shwe continues to torture in secret in an effort to break their spirits and their will.


According to sources within Burma and the US, they confirm the only real change in Burma was the introduction of more western corporations and the sugar coating of major corporations that continued to conduct business throughout the 60 years since the assassination of Aung San. In fact western interests have made trillions of dollars, lining the pockets of the hopelessly corrupt Tatmadaw while stripping Burma of her natural resources. The UN turned their heads as Asian corporations continued to raid Burma’s resources during the sham sanctions they imposed.


Can Barack Obama pick up the ball where Hillary Clinton dropped it with regard to the year and a half war in Kachin State? It will be a daunting task. If the truth be known, she was more a representative of western mining companies. There is no question they want access to resource rich Kachinland and they have everything to gain if and when the Burmese government succeeds in their eugenics program. Is this why Hillary turned a deaf ear to the cries of the Jinghpaw people of Kachin State?


Genocide is genocide and the Tatmadaw has stepped up their war efforts while the western media ignored this reality. Ironically the western media is ‘in bed’ with global mining interests who are clamoring at the bit to mine Kachinland into oblivion much like they have in Africa and the America’s, with impunity I might add. Surely you know about all the tribal chefs and activists who continue to be murdered throughout Central and South America for their protesting of the lost of land to make way for mines.


Land grabs continue throughout Burma as the government appeases western interests and people are protesting the loss of their livelihoods and tradition land. The western media is asleep at the wheel only purporting wonderful and fantastic change within Burma. Tell that to the farmers who lost their fields or the villagers who continue to lose their communities as dams spring up around the nation. The reality is, Burma is at another crossroads and civil unrest is fast becoming the next crisis that will spread like a cancer. One Burmese activist calls what is happening within Burma as ‘Re-colonization’. Others call it; ‘Just more of the same’ since repression is still at an all time high and people continue to disappear, but not in the western media’s eye. I call it ‘Burma’s Manifest Destiny’


Hillary was a failure as secretary of state but a success in the eyes of corporate cartels. She is puling out of US politics leaving America horribly foreshortened diplomatically speaking. In her wake she leaves the USA hated around the world for her continued support of corporate interests while leaving the cause of humanity in the diplomatic dumpster. Small wonder pro democracy advocates in the Mid-East are turning to the reviled Taliban, because we ignored them in their hour of need. Many people in the third world call her the ‘Queen of Death’ because she abandoned the suffering people who once looked to America with hope only to be betrayed and left to fight multinational corporations and their private armies.


Now Barack Obama is poised to visit Burma and people wonder what his position will be with regard to the continued genocide of the Kachin people and the rest of the Burmese ethnic populations that are being displaced for western development interests. Is Obama a friend or foe to the people of Burma? Will Burma be developed strictly for the purpose of garnering cheap slave labor with working conditions like to Foxconn where people work in sweatshop conditions while western corporations reap billions from the suffering of the Chinese people?


Will Obama be able to push aside the billions in corporate dollars he received for his re-election to foster positive change in Burma and stop the continued bloodshed in Kachin or Rakhine State? It is a daunting task by every stretch of the imagination and he will undoubtedly step on the toes of the international corporatist interests who are eager to exploit this beleaguered nation for cheap labor and it’s bounty of natural resources including but not limited to gold, uranium, rare earth minerals, gas & oil and a host of other resources. Or will Obama be just another Bill Clinton who promised the Haitians help in their hour of need only to rebuild roads to the iron ore mines in Haiti?


My hope is that he steps up to the plate and uses his prowess to stop the continued  but veiled tyranny that is Burma’s politics and use his leverage to make positive lasting changes in the lives of all Burmese people. In doing so, he would actually be Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s liberator since she is still in bondage. Maybe Thein Sein’s orders for a ceasefire in Kachinland would be honored by the military. Obama would gain the respect of Asia if he chose to stand for the Kachin and the other ethnic groups who continue to be raped and murdered throughout the country. He would prove to all of Asia that he is not the weak leader they believe. He would also be the answer to the prayers to 60 million Burmese who lived in tyranny for 60 years.


So the question remains; is President Barack Obama Burma’s the great liberator or just another colonizer? Only time will tell but I pray he grasps this moment in world history and makes a stand for justice and the suffering of Burma. The Kachin have already informed me they would do business with the west if they were free to do so. Legitimate enterprise would flourish and Burma would find its place in the global marketplace once again. The eyes of Asia are on Mr. Obama and it will take raw courage to do the right thing. But if he falters and is weak, this diplomatic disaster will resonate throughout all of Asia and it will haunt legitimate western interests in this region for many years to come.


If given the chance I would personally take President Obama and the global mining community directly to the Kachin leadership and other ethnic leadership I have access to so they could plot a course for fruitful development and positive growth. Burma is a wealthy nation, resource wise, and there is no excuse as to why citizens of all ethnic groups were forced into abject poverty. But with proper business planning while addressing the needs of the Burmese people, of all ethnic and religious backgrounds, the land of Alaungpaya would give rise to the second coming of the ‘Konbaung Dynasty’. I know because I am working on a very feasible business plan with my Jinghpaw brother and it would benefit every tribe with in Burma including the Bamar, lock stock and tomahawk.


Take me up on the offer Mr. President, we can make history together. Just land Air Force One at DFW, I’ll grab a clean longyi, a few Tanka Bars and a pack of smokes for the flight, don’t tell Michelle about the smokes though. You know how she gets eh….


Your Devi Advocate
Buffalohair (Shanthoi Gam)


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