Just an opinion…

I fell in love with Burma (that is now Myanmar) more from Amitav Gosh’s ‘The Glass Palace‘ than anything else i have read about it. Amy Tan’s interestingly title ‘Saving Fish from Drowning‘ provided the context to understand this very interesting country that borders India’s north east. Another rare text that added to this was ‘Dancing in Cambodia, at large in Burma‘.

So, it is not surprising to me the way things are going in this junta-ruled nation of Buddhist monks and intermittent internet. But, this post is not about that (there is so much that has been blogged about that, i am sure).

This is about Josh Wolf’s blog’s title ‘The Revolution will be televised’. Josh Wolf is a blogger-journalist (?) who claimed the privileges of a mainstream journalist to protect his sources. He shot video of a protest in San Fransisco in 2005 where a police officer was injured, but refused to provide the tape of the video to authorities. He ended up spending time in jail for this. (Background)

If what is happening in Myanmar is a revolution, then this one sure is being televised. Youtube became a great way to post video. Even Facebook kicked in with an unexpected hero with a wierd name – Bookbinder. And the most important impact of the televisation is that fact that the issue has made it to the Security Council and an UN Envoy is trying to get some action from the junta. What would have happened if we did not have You Tube and camera phones and the internet?

I am anxiously following this ‘revolution’ to see where it goes. And Human Rights Watch is saying that India can exert some influence on the generals. But, aren’t we too busy with the nuclear deal, the Karnataka power transfer debacle and the Tamilnadu bandh. As usual.

While i am on the topic of revolution, do you realise that means it is about going round full circle? So what do the people of Myanmar want from this – a half revolution?