Lone Remaining Burmese Blogger Uses Lightweight Messaging Service to Broadcast to the World
The story of the monk-led protests in Myanmar, or Burma, and subsequent police crack-down is a widely reported one - but the story is not over yet. Bloggers have been particularly important as the events unfold, posting news accounts and photos to the internet from a country that very few outside reporters have access to. At least one blogger remains active in the country, posting to a lightweight messaging service with an embeddable widget for output; those entries appear live here on the left.
This morning the UK Times Online runs a story about bloggers now hunted by the Burmese government after the bulk of the action in the street has quieted. Computers in the country are all government licensed, ISPs are closely monitored and internet access has become increasingly intermittent as the protests proceeded.
Some Bloggers Remain Active
Despite the extensive repression, protests in Burma continue and a handful of bloggers remain active in reporting events to the world online. The US-based Committee to Protect Bloggers is tracking the situation closely and reports that a blogger posting under the name Niknayman appears to be the only one still posting from inside the country. Another, under the name Ko-Htike, is posting from London whenever information is able to escape from Burma.
Niknayman and associates are using a lightweight messaging service called CBox to post very short updates from inside the country. CBox doesn't look like much, but I think of it like Twitter - two small services making a big impact. Here’s Niknayman’s Burmese Cbox and here’s Niknayman’s English cbox.
CBox does not publish an RSS feed - but I've scraped one for Niknayman's posts using the service Feed43. You can subscribe to this feed for updates: http://feeds.feedburner.com/NewsBloggedFromBurma. It's a little bit funky but it's better than nothing. If you'd like to put this blog's widget on your site you can use the following code:
It's very interesting to me that hundreds of people are reading these messages but the channel is kept clear of disrespectful and distracting posts by readers.
Niknayman is very brave to continue documenting the actions of demonstrators around the country. Monks should not be beaten and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi should not have spent the past 17 years under house arrest for pro-democracy activities. It's a testimony to the power of the new internet that these kinds of historic events can now be chronicled by bloggers acting at the margins of society.
The most important story coming out of Burma right now isn't about bloggers - it's about freedom, spiritual and political, and authoritarian militarism. Make sure to read this important, if gruesome, coverage of the news there, from the UK's Daily Mail.
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Hey Randy, The "same old, same old" was pointed out in Linda's post.
The administrations blatant inaction in Burma is merely another example (Katrina, etc) of selective corporate (government)interests ignoring real human suffering while masquerading as "compassionate conservatism". Maybe do some research before you defend the indefensible.
Thanks for posting about Cbox - I've been following this story closely (check out the blog linked in my name for more details) and am very happy to be able to subscribe to the feed, even if it's a little funky.
It's funny how most of think about technology as something that is fun, fascinating, and makes our lives simpler (and that is all true), but a situation like this really shows how the web and digital technology can really make a huge impact - think about the difference between the current Myanmar/Burma protests and the ones in 1988.
It seems depressingly ironic that when there is clear bloggers' evidence of violence against democracy, the U.S. does not act more aggressively, yet will invade a country if it meets with its agenda, such as Iraq, on evidence that later turned out to be flimsy.
Thanks for sharing the links, Marshall--they provide a compelling image of the empowerment of the read/write web. The blogs are a struggle to get through--absolute horror. Prayers with the people of Burma.
Way to turn it anti-Bush, Linda. Same old same old. Be sure to ask the Kurds who lost fathers, mothers, children, grandchildren, etc. under Saddam about violence against democracy.
Another reason why repressive governments and busines/media empires are wary of bloggers and people using social media tools to spread their messages across the globe. May democracy descend upon Burma soon and in its own small or big ways blogging will play a crucial role.
Thanks for posting this. Its a great reminder that the Web can be a powerful tool for a lot more than shopping and games.
wish some one like US or UN could step in and do a bit more ...
its pathetic to be just watching and reporting it ...
Hey Marshall,
This is outstanding that these monks are finding non traditional blogging tools to publish information...especially when sites like cbox probably don't have their contents indexed by search engines, so it keeps it secret.
I've been using cbox on my blog as a way for visitors to connect with me and each other, works as a chat message board (I call it a chat wall)...extra good 'cause it's free:
http://johntee.cbox.ws/
I've mentioned a few other of these tools on this post:
http://libraryclips.blogsome.com/2007/07/23/chinswing-audio-chat-rooms-and-more/
Marshall,
Thanks for posting this. I was born in Burma and immigrated the US when I was 4, so this hits close to home.
If others want to learn more about the situation in Burma, PBS Frontline did a very good documentary last year:
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/burma601/
- Mike
I posted the list of the 344 people who have been arrested by military regime so far in HTML so that people who cant download the Excell spread sheet can read it.
Its at: http://burma.buybuylist.com/list/
850 Diggs (at this time of writing. Nice work Marshall.
Richard, make sure you add "compassionate" to your reader demographics when Advertisers come asking :)
Awesome stuff!
Has anyone know of the fate of the blogger girl (Dawn1o9 at xanga site) in Burma? I read somewhere that a girl got arrested in Burma for blogging and wonder if that was her. She had all her personal info on the site I would think they would know how to track her easily. I am so concerned for her safety.
It is difficult to imagine that we have such disparate systems of government on our planet. While we have such huge and successful democracies like US and India, we also have nation states that severely restrict what would be considered almost a fundamental right in most democratic nations. Whether such autocratic autonomy should be "allowed" is a question for the "empowered" worldwide authorities and organizations (like UN) to answer ?
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http://www.noblehelp.org
Worldwide support is needed to result in voluntary funds for the people to protect themselves. If you do not wish to donate funds, that is no problem, spreading the word is a great deal.
Please, please would burmese people post examples of torture on my blogspot http.commom-sense-uk.blogspot.com, so readers can get a clear picture of exactly how immoral the abuse is, like nazi treatment. Would any person condone nazi torture and degradation. It is so sick, we need more information. 1000, 5000, 1 million examples will all help to open peoples' eyes so they can see the training of military is like training nazis. This military may one day become China's army, how will we stop the terror then???? Please anonomously post the examples, the burmese have been silenced for too long...............Examples of torture, realise 1 million plus examples...................
Freedom of speech cannot be stopped in this era
Myo Myint
lost a leg, an arm and an eye while fighting as a soldier for the Myanmar government, was arrested in 1989 after he quit the army and switched his loyalty to the pro-democracy movement.
He says his interrogators stripped him naked and tied him with a leather belt to a seesaw, placing him head down for four hours and pouring water in his face as he fell in and out of consciousness. Another time they put a bag over his head and kicked away his crutch.
"I still have nightmares," the 45-year-old says. "I wake up and my whole body is wet with sweat."
Oo Tezaniya
A 42-year-old monk spent eight years and three months in prison for opposing the government, clenched his hands in the folds of his saffron robe as he told how he was seized in the middle of the night in 1988.
He was brought to an interrogation center, beaten with guns, and then thrown into a dark cell for a month with two other men and no bathroom.
"There was excrement all over the floor," he said.
Mizzima Burmese Breaking News on 4 Oct] Even the street vendors were not spared. They were asked to pay 4k-6k Kyat according to the type of food that they were selling. They were also asked to sign documents stating that they would not talk to foreign media. Near Sule area, SPDC supports were going around in cars with the pictures of protestors and announcing that they would capture anyone who let those protestants to hide in their houses
Adam Nichols - Daily News - 4 October
Video footage smuggled out of violence-racked Myanmar shows cowering and terrified prisoners - arms flailing over bloodied heads - being beaten and kicked by soldiers cracking down on protesters.
As a secret camera rolls, a bucktoothed officer directs the horrific brutality - and grins.
Meanwhile, Myanmar's junta switched to an intimidation campaign yesterday.
Freedom of information can free people
It's news and articles like this that keep me committed to this donation to Amnesty International monthly. Not much, just a feeble effort on my part but it's a monthly commitment nevertheless. I was actually considering whether to suspend my monthly donations altogether, but this has changed my mind.
Thanks, and once again you are keeping me subscribed as a reader.
I am sitting here wishing to do more for the world. Perhaps I'll figure out after working out my ultimate to-do-list.