On the front lines: Burma

Recently returned from a visit to Burma, our East Asia Team Leader Benedict Rogers explains his hopes and fears for a nation at a pivotal moment in its history.

I was in Burma for Easter, and was struck by just how relevant the Easter story is for this country. The Catholic Archbishop of Rangoon said that for the people of Burma “resurrection is not just a dogma or an act of faith. We went through our way of the Cross…A cross where the five nails of dictatorship, war, displacement, poverty and oppression were brutally inflicted.” However, he continues: “But there are streaks of hope in this nation today.”

In the past three years, some extraordinary changes have occurred. Many political prisoners have been released, ceasefires have been established, and Burma’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her colleagues from her party now sit in parliament rather than in prison. But there is still a very long way to go. Everyone I spoke to said that the reform process has “stalled”, and a dramatic rise in religious intolerance is casting a dark shadow over the nation. Is it a false dawn? “A nagging feeling rips our hearts as we see powers of darkness compete today with the paths of hope,” said the Archbishop.

I left Burma with profoundly mixed feelings, but with a renewed commitment to redouble my prayers and efforts, to help ensure that the glimmers of hope turn into a lasting freedom and peace for all the peoples of Burma.

See a photo story of a recent CSW visit to Burma at www.csw.org.uk/burma