THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2007
NEWS
INTERNATIONAL
5A
Monks lead protests in Myanmar
Buddhist nuns and monks pray at Shwedagon Pagoda during a protest against the military government in Yangon, Myanmar, Sunday. About 20,000 Buddhist monks and citizens demonstrated against Myanmar's military junta in the country's largest city, with many shouting support for detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, witnesses said. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thousands turn out in fight for democracy against military government
ASSOCIATED PRESS
YANGON, Myanmar — The Buddhist monks and nuns gathered at a golden hilltop pagoda and led 20,000 people in Myanmar's biggest anti-government protest in two decades. Plainclothes police trailed behind without intervening.
But when a small crowd of about 400 people split off and headed for the house of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, security forces deployed in force to block them.
The march raised both expectations of possible political change and fear that the military might try to crush the demonstrations with violence, as it did in 1988 when thousands of pro-democracy protesters were killed nationwide.
On Saturday, more than 500 monks and sympathizers were allowed past barricades to walk to the house where Suu Kyi is detained. The Nobel Peace laureate greeted them from her gate in her first public appearance in more than four years — a meeting that symbolically linked the
current protests to her struggle for democracy.
But any optimism on the protesters' part was tempered when security forces thwarted the second march to Suu Kyi's house. The crowd peacefully abandoned their attempt after being turned back at two different approaches blocked by barbed wire barricades.
"In our country the monks are the highest moral authority. When the monks take the leading role, the people will follow," said Soe Aung, a spokesman for the National Council of the Union of Burma, a coalition of opposition groups based in neighboring Thailand.
Yet people have not forgotten the army's ferocity in crushing the 1988 pro-democracy uprising.
The latest protests began on Aug. 19 as a movement against economic hardship, after the government sharply raised fuel prices, increasing the overall cost of living. Arrests and intimidation saw the movement begin to falter until last week, when monks — who have long served as the country's conscience — became the protests' vanguard.
The march of 20,000 people downtown was led by 10,000 monks who gathered at the famous golden hilltop Shwedagon Pagoda before marching downtown to Sule Pagoda, witnesses said. For the first time, at least 100 white-robed nuns joined the demonstration.
Some monks shouted support for Suu Kyi while people in the crowd formed a human chain to protect the maroon-robed clerics.
While authorities did not intervene in Sunday's march, plainclothes police trailed the marchers. Some, armed with shotguns, were posted at street corners along the route.
A monk gave a speech Sunday calling for Suu Kyi's release and national reconciliation, the witnesses said, again positioning their cause with her long-running struggle for democracy.
The synergy could increase pressure on the junta to decide whether to crack down or compromise.
Other monks' demonstrations took place Sunday in the cities of Mandalay, Monywa, Kalay and the Kachin state capital of Myitkyina, said reports in Myanmar exile media.
take power by the military. She has been under detention continuously since May 2003.
Sui Kyi, 62, is the leader of the National League for Democracy party, which won a 1990 general election but was not allowed to
"The monks are the majority and they are leading the movement right now" Soe Aung told The Associated Press in Bangkok.
"Hopefully the international community will not keep quiet, and they will do something before terrible things take place in our country," he said.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Bush administration was watching the situation "very carefully."
She said President Bush would discuss the military regime's "brutality" when he meets other leaders at the upcoming U.N. General Assembly.
》 GLOBAL WARMING
Scientists dismiss doomsday talk
BY SETH BORENSTEIN ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Climate scientist Michael Mann runs down the list of bad global warming news: The world is spewing greenhouse gases at a faster rate. Summer Arctic sea ice is at record lows. The ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica are melting quicker than expected.
Is he the doomsayer global warming skeptics have called him?
Mann laughs. This Penn State University professor — and many other climate scientists — are sunny optimists. Hope blooms in the hottest of greenhouses.
Climate scientists say mankind is on the path for soaring temperatures that will melt polar ice sheets, raise seas to dangerous levels, and trigger mass extinctions. But they say the most catastrophic of consequences can and will be avoided.
They have hope. So should you, Mann said.
"Sometimes we fear that we are delivering too morose a message and not conveying enough that there is reason for optimism," Mann said.
Mann is not alone in laughing, even though the news he delivers could make people cry.
"It's hard at times," said University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver. "You can't give up hope because what else is there in life if you give up hope? When you give up hope, that's quitting and scientists don't like to quit."
That optimism is based on science and faith.
The science, Mann said, is because climate researchers are sure of one thing that the public isn't. The numbers show that there is still time to avert the worst.
NASA's James Hansen, who forecasts some of the bleakest outlooks on global warming, said in an e-mail: "I am always surprised when people get depressed rather than energized to do something. It's not too late to stabilize climate."
"I am not about to give up, Hansen wrote. He has hope, he says, because he has grandchildren.
The scientists say the public now understands how bad the problem is. So these researchers have faith that society will rally in time.
Bob Corell, an American Meteorological Society climate scientist, is hopeful because even industry is pushing for change and will make money in the deal.
If the world spews greenhouse gases at its current ever-rising rate, expect a 7-degree rise by the end of the century. If those gases are curbed, then warming can be kept to about 1 degree, an international panel of experts said earlier this year.
Mann points to an international agreement 20 years ago this month that stopped the worsening global problem of ozone depletion. The same can be done for global warming, he said.
How about Al Gore? Does he lose hope?
Optimism in the face of gloomy data isn't surprising, said psychologist David Myers of Hope College in Holland, Mich.
"No, because we can't afford to," said the former vice president, who has helped bring global warming to center stage. "It's a genuine planetary emergency."
"Human beings are remarkably resilient," said Myers, who studies the psychology of happiness. "To do what climate researchers are doing takes enough optimism to sustain their hope and enough realism to create their concern."
Stanford University climate scientist Stephen Schneider has battled cancer and it has colored his outlook. He said the key is not to get overwhelmed by the belief that something is too tough. Sure, a 2-degree rise in temperatures is bad. But 4 or 5 degrees would be even worse.
Schneider's wife, Stanford University biologist Terry Root, recalled how in 2002 she was sitting at the hospital as Schneider slept after cancer treatment. The oncology nurse came in, chatted and asked her what she did for a living.
Root said she studied how animals are being hurt by global warming. "That is such a depressing job," replied the nurse who daily deals with cancer patients.
Then they both laughed.
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HUMANITIES LECTURE SERIES 2007-2008
The Very Small Things of Life: An Evening with Alexander McCall Smith
September 24, 2007
7:30 p.m.
Lied Center
This event is free and open to the public.
No tickets are required.
785-864-4798
hallcenter@ku.edu
www.hallcenter.ku.edu
This series is co-sponsored by Kansas Public Radio Partial funding for the Humanities Lecture Series is provided by the National Endowment for the Humaniates 2000 Challenge Grant.
IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE
Presented by:
Major Andrew Harvey
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
7:30 PM, Simons Media Room
ROBERT J. DOLE
INSTITUTE OF POLITICS
The University of Kansas
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