Maung Zarni on Burma

 

To my deep dismay, I have noted the Burmese labour leadership over the last 35 years have shown no principles or even any real analysis of Capital, beyond the immediate bread and butter concerns - whether the genocide of Rohingyas in their backyard or other international cases of egregious rights violations anywhere in the world.   But then again racism has been the Archille's Heel of working class movements wherein the managerial classes team up with right wing politicians in power and effectively redirect the rage and frustrations, which too often private labouring classes typically squeezed by the Capital, towards any scapegoated vulnerable groups in the capitalist society, or some kind of manufactured "foreign threats".   But then again the anti-authoritarian movements in Burma have shown no real structural or political economy analyses of the Power they fight.    The last time we Burmese connected ourselves and our movements with the global anti-imperialist currents were first in the 1930's after the worldwide Great Depression and then again in the 1950's during with the Third World and the Non-aligned Movement were birthed.  Even the Saudi, the Jordanians, the Egyptians etc teamed up with other Asian and African anti-imperialists to forge a global solidarity movement.     After their participation at the historic Bandung Conference in Indonesia in 1950's hosted by the country's socialist leader Sukarno (deposed by the CIA-backed mass-murderer General Suharto in 1965), Che and Castro came to visit Rangoon.    The local English language papers interviewed the famed revolutionary duo from Cuba as they puffed their signature export - Cuban cigars - at the old colonial era Strand Hotel on Rangoon River bank.   Both were horrified to learn that it was from TIME magazine the English speaking Burmese elite class got their news  about the Cuban Revolution - which ended Washington's puppet regime in Havana and the American economic vice on Cubans' national economy through the US Sugar Inc.  

Such has been a long running Neanderthal ideological character of the Burmese on the "liberal right" - yes, there is such a thing.   Aung San Suu Kyi personified this analysis-less nationalist, anti-feminist rightist reactionary values.   On the left in pre- and post-independence Burma, especially since the British-involved assassination of her father in 1947, who in my informed opinion, was the most astute, analytically minded Marxist revolutionary of his times.    He publicly split with doctrinal Communists, his old comrades, who essentially parroted the undigested chunks of Marxist-Leninist writings, and ended up self-destroying in due course, beginning around the time of Mao's Cultural Revolution.   [The Burmese Left was also no less racist and nationalist than their "liberal right" rivals.

 

 Still to the British right wing which included Winston Churchill, Aung San was too radical in his outlooks when he drew up the economic policies for an independent Burma - he planned state control of crucial industries.  Post WWII has seen a rather obvious & society-destroying trend whereby USA and UK have been taking out, directly or indirectly (through their local "bastards"), any emerging national leaders, who showed semblance of principles and concerns primarily for the welfare of their own peoples - long Euro-colonized for centuries (as long as 300+ years in places like the two archaepalpgoes which became Indonesia and Philippines), thereby posing a serious threat to their attempts to build the Capitalist World Order with the facade of "liberal/individual freedoms" (with zero regards for national communities as a whole).  Here is a short list of Western-backed regime changes in the newly independent world:  Iran, Chile, Egypt, numerous African countries, Indonesia, Burma (Aung San assassination in July 1947 with British-issued machine guns and Ne Win's coup of 1962), the Koreas, Philippines etc.      Conversely, the Capitalist Western powers would manufacture "leaders" through their media and other propaganda appartuses ("awards" and "honours") who have absolutely no analysis of Capital/Imperialism.   We as  societies have become torn apart in the leadership contest between Western-celebrated charlatans (Suu Kyi is only the most famous or infamous case) and homegrown brutes in generals' uniform.   This is  a chicken and egg scenario.  Burma will remain in this vicious cycle for a foreseeable future.     Neither pragmatism informed by some progressive ideals nor any real revolutionary idealism can be sensed in the unfolding armed resistance against the ruling criminal junta.   Have a great day!

         Zarni

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