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Dictators
only save their skins - never their people
Chris McGreal, Guardian (UK)
May 11, 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/11/burma.cyclonenargis
To understand the indifference
of Burma's military rulers to the suffering of cyclone Nargis survivors,
look no further than the large gold lettering on the gates of the
army's officer training school. It proclaims the young officers
to be 'the Triumphant Elite of the Future', which sums up the attitude
of the men who have run Burma for 46 years and regard themselves
as above the people, with the perpetual right to tell them what
to do. It's much the same in Zimbabwe where Robert Mugabe's recent
campaign slogan was 'Get behind the fist' with a picture of his,
firmly clenched. Mugabe's message - that his opponents are traitors
to the liberation movement and not true Zimbabweans - was clear
and those not behind the fist are liable to be crushed by it. In
winning the war against white domination, he regards his Zanu PF
party as also having won the right to rule indefinitely.
The two regimes have
much in common besides decades in power and a deep-seated paranoia.
The crisis in Burma lays bare how both regard their own survival,
and enrichment, as paramount, no matter how many of their citizens
die along the way. It's a common trait in authoritarian regimes.
The Burmese army doesn't really think it is better able to deliver
aid than the World Food Programme. But the regime is fearful of
allowing in hordes of foreigners from countries it blames for Burma's
problems because that would be an admission of its own failings
and limitations. General Than Shwe and the rest of the junta know
they are deeply unpopular and that only fear and a sense that the
army is all-powerful is what keeps the population from rising up.
So large numbers of Burmese who survived the cyclone are likely
to die because their government, like the regime in Zimbabwe, is
really afraid of its own people.
They were dying unnecessarily,
through neglect, in Burma even without a cyclone. Health care is
dire. Hospitals are ill-equipped and antiquated. Parts of the country
were fed by the WFP long before Nargis hit. Burmese live about 15
years less than people in Thailand or Vietnam. Not that the generals
show any concern so long as they are building mansions from the
profits of Burma's natural gas. Zimbabweans are dying in vast numbers
too, with the lowest life expectancy in the world because of acute
shortages of food, medicines and work, while the Zanu PF elite enriches
itself. It's the same callous disregard for life shown by authoritarian
regimes from Mobutu Sese Seko's decades of derelict rule in Zaire
to successive Nigerian military juntas that plundered billions of
dollars from their nation's vast oil wealth while its people struggled
to survive.
For all that, the regimes
in Burma and Zimbabwe feel the need to seek legitimacy through the
ballot box. The results might be rigged or coerced, but Robert Mugabe
and Than Shwe still want to be able to tell the world they are acting
in the name of the people. So Zimbabwe held an election in March,
Mugabe sat on the results for weeks and, even after admitting he
lost, continues to cling to power by delaying a second round of
voting while his forces kill and maim in an effort to break support
for the opposition. Burma's junta pressed ahead yesterday with a
referendum on a new constitution effectively designed to extend
military rule. Given a free vote, it's likely that a majority of
Burmese would opt to get the soldiers out of government. The army
knows that and has resorted to an extensive campaign of intimidation
and nationalist propaganda to win and it probably will. But for
all claims to be serving the interests of the people, Zimbabweans
and Burmese know that their rulers are only serving themselves.
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