Adventist grad student organizing pro-Burmese democracy protest

By Alexander Carpenter

An Adventist Forums member, Spectrum writer and USC political science doctoral student, Ron Osborn is organizing a Burma-supporting event in Los Angeles.
Ron Osborn writes:
The
news from Burma is grim. Unknown numbers of Buddhist monks have been
killed. Thousands more are being sent to remote prison camps as a
punishment for defying the generals. Shocked and dismayed, a group of
us students at the University of Southern California have been
struggling to think of how we in the United States can show our
solidarity with these courageous individuals. Here is what we have
decided:
We hope to stage an event on or before December 8 that
will: 1) call attention to the ongoing crisis in Burma; 2) let the
people of Burma know they are not forgotten; and 3) shame the Chinese
government into taking a more serious stand on human rights atrocities
in Burma before the Beijing Olympics.
●The event will be
called “LA-88” in honor of those killed not only over the past two
weeks but also during the pro-democracy demonstrations of August 8,
1988.
●We will meet in front of the Chinese Consulate
General’s Office in Los Angeles since it was China that blocked UN
action as the killings unfolded.
●A total of 88 of us will then publicly shave our heads in solidarity with Burma’s courageous monks.
We
are inviting students from other universities, celebrities and public
figures, and others from across the country to join us in any way they
can, whether with their presence at the event, their support from afar,
or their active participation.
We realize that LA-88 is not
going to change the harsh facts on the ground in Burma, and we are
daunted by the challenge of planning and organizing a
consciousness-raising event of this kind. We are determined, though, to
resist the temptation to despair and apathy and to do whatever we can
to focus attention on Burma’s plight. Our hope is that news will leak
through to Burmese monks even in remote prison cells that many hundreds
of people, in at least one American city, took symbolic action in
solidarity with them and are united with them in spirit.
If
you are willing to be a part of this public event in Los Angeles in any
way, please join the group. We need help from people with organizing
skills and media connections. We need sponsors. We need hair. Please
encourage your friends to join.

To learn more/support the action: rosborn@usc.edu
The LA 88 Facebook page.
“The only real prison is fear and the only real freedom is freedom from fear” – Aung San Suu Kyi