Myanmar’s besieged dictatorship declared war Friday on the Internet and cell phones, shutting down the former and confiscating the latter. Too late.
Images and descriptions of its suddenly murderous suppression of pro-democracy demonstrations had already reached the rest of the world in real time. Outside journalists – routinely banned from the country – had already reported the massive scale of the protests by following the Web. Outside supporters of the democracy movement had already set up a “Support the Monks’ Protest in Burma” page on Facebook; 110,000 people had joined it by Friday.
Diplomatic reaction followed the coverage, almost in real time. By Friday, President Bush had announced further sanctions against the Burmese regime. America, Europe, Japan and even China – the regime’s godfather – were applying pressure to end the violence. The United Nations was being pressed to take action.
There’s no telling now how this struggle for Myanmar’s soul will end. But if the democratic forces do prevail over the military junta, the victory will owe something to today’s extraordinary communications networks. If the junta ultimately prevails by force, the same technology will have indelibly exposed its depravity to the civilized world.
Contrast this with the violence the junta unleashed when it originally seized power in 1988. Then, too, it had to contend with a powerful challenge from pro-democracy forces on the streets. But there were no camera-equipped cell phones and no Internet. There was barely any television; phone service, such as it was, was all landline.
As a result – and because Burma was regarded as unimportant – the world took little note of the junta’s slaughter of perhaps 3,000 people.
Today, even after its crackdown on communications, the regime won’t be able to cut Myanmar off from the world. It will never be able to confiscate every cell phone. And while it has shut down the country’s Internet service providers, foreign companies and embassies can stay on the Web via satellite.
Some of history’s greatest crimes against humanity, including the Holocaust and the Turkish genocide of Armenians, were committed in darkness. Whatever the Burmese junta does, it will have to do in the harsh light of international scrutiny. Myanmar’s democracy movement has a precious ally – instant, speed-of-light communications – that past victims of brutal dictatorships couldn’t have dreamed of.
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