Saffron Revolution: Burma- Amber, Loris
1.) What methods did the group(s) use to express their frustrations and ultimately lead to a revolution? The saffron revolution in Myanmar first started on August, 15, 2007, with the Buddhist monks demanding more freedom and democracy. The monks displayed they’re frustration by street protesting. The “saffron revolution” was mainly triggered by the unannounced increase in diesel and petrol by almost 100%, causing students, opposition political activists and Buddhist monks to protest against the corrupt government. Not only did the massive increase in oil affect transporting devices, it also affected the prices of basic commodities such as food. The Burmese civilians had enough of the military dictatorship. Although the protesters were in deep frustration, they did not resort to violent tactics.
2.) How is your revolution similar and/or different to one of the revolutions previously studied? The saffron revolution has several connections with the previous revolutions we learned about. For example the “people power” revolution in the Philippines, was a very similar case. The Filipino activists were all requesting to get rid of the military dictatorship. Just like in the saffron revolution, both the Filipino and Burmese activists did not resort to violence to end the military dictatorships. The Filipinos just like the Burmese, used street protesting and peaceful conversations with the corrupt government, to stop the countries from pursuing with a dictator led government. Unfortunately, the Burmese revolution did not succeed in getting rid of the military dictatorship.
3.) What was the eventual outcome of the revolution, and did the nation/people become better due to the revolution? The eventual result of the Burmese Revolution was sadly unsuccessful. The outcome of the revolution-which was triggered by the high increase in oil prices- was the same as it was before the revolution, the people of Burma didn’t get what they wanted, which was to overthrow the military ruled government. The once peaceful nation of Burma and the government of Myanmar didn’t improve at all after the protesting of the monks and the activists, which lead to many deaths. The people of Burma are still miserably ruled by the military junta who continue to destroy the nation.
4.) Was the revolution justified? Would other methods have worked?
We consider the attempt for revolution in Burma justified because the middle class people of Burma were suffering with the high rising oil prices. The revolution wouldn’t have been successful if the monks used violence against the military junta because monks are known for being peaceful human beings and if they used weapons to help them gain their rights, they would have lost all the people who respected them for being humans who are completely against violence.
5.) Briefly state whether or not your revolution follows Crane Brinton’s Stages of Revolution. The Saffron revolution doesn’t completely follow Crane Brinton’s Stages of a Revolution; however there are a few similarities:
- The saffron revolution started with the hundreds of monks expressing their anger towards the high rising oil prices. This action represents the first point of the first stage (Symptoms), according to Crane Brinton ‘The middle class loudly expresses its anger over the economic restraints placed upon it by the government. While these restrictions are not overbearing, they are enough to cause extreme anger.’
- After the monks started protesting, they were joined by the student activists and other people who were tired of the system of their government, later, the military junta put in to action their first attempt to stop the protesting citizens, but they were unsuccessful. This action represents the second point of the first stage (Symptoms), according to Crane Brinton ‘The government is ineffective and is unable to effectively manage the country. This could be due to an inept leader or to a chronic money shortage within the government.’
Since the revolution itself was unsuccessful it only went this far in Crane Brinton’s Anatomy of a Revolution.
February 10th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
This revolution was well summarized and all the answers were easy to understand. This revolution is a lot like the velvet revolution because both groups used non-violence and both revolutions had student activists as one of the first protestors. -allison
February 11th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
This revolution answerd all of its questions very well. Not only does this revolution follow the velvet revolution due to the non violence, but it also follows the Tiananmen Revolution because also in this revolution, the student and the other intellectuals came out to protest
February 19th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Nick
Your questions were average and could be improved. Spelling and grammatical mistakes need to be fixed so that your questions aren’t difficult to read. I say great job on answering questions 2 and 3 I thought that they were your best answers and sounded like you had done a lot of research on your topic. Overall well done and i thought that it was a put together podcast.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
The questions that you answered have a few mistakes but i know what youre talking about and i can follow along. You do have a few grammar mistakes though you all answered your questions fully which is pretty good. -kathy s.