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Myanmar's swelling protests are in the global spotlight with the
help of hi-tech gadgets in the era of YouTube -- a stark contrast to
the 1988 uprising in the pre-Internet age.
The peaceful protests, led by Buddhist
monks, have turned into the biggest mass movement since the military
regime violently quelled student-led protests in 1988, killing at
least 3,000 people.
Those massacres happened far from the
world's view because Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, was then
sealed off from the outside world before the age of the Internet and
cell phones.
But 20 years later, monk-led rallies have
received wide coverage in the international media thanks to the
Internet, mobile phones and digital cameras, which have proved more
powerful than the junta's censors.
"The technology is making a huge
difference. Now everyone in the world can know what is happening in
Burma via the Internet," said Sein Win, managing editor of
Mizzima News, an India-based news group run by exiled dissidents,
"It is a reality of globalization.
Whether the junta likes it or not, the government cannot isolate
itself from the international community," Sein Win said.
Since the protest broke out in Yangon on
August 19 after a massive hike in fuel prices, the government has
tightened Internet access across the nation that has been under
military rule since 1962.
But some 200 Internet cafes in Yangon have
continued to operate, drawing tech-savvy university students who
have transmitted pictures and video clips taken on mobile phones and
digital cameras around the clock.
"Young people know how to get around
Internet controls. Not just from Yangon, we received pictures and
video clips from Mandalay," said Aung Din, policy director of
US Campaign for Burma, a Washington-based democracy lobbying group.
Mandalay is the second largest city after Yangon.
Aung Din, who joined the 1988 uprising, said
he was overwhelmed by the difference between now and then.
"In 1988, we did not have the Internet
or even phones to get our message out of Burma. Nobody in the
international community knew about the 1988 uprising. But the world
knows about the current protests. It's just amazing," Aung Din
said.
The California-based Mandalay Gazette said
it has received dozens of pictures and video clips every day from
Myanmar.
"Students and even monks are using
mobile phones and digital cameras. Everyone can send us pictures. In
a way, the Internet makes everybody equal," said one US-based
editor who declined to be named.
The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders
has called Myanmar a "paradise for censors" and listed the
military-ruled nation as one of the world's most restrictive for
press freedoms.
The military government attempts to block
almost every website that carries news or information about the
Southeast Asian country, and even bars access to web-based email.
--Tech Times Online
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