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Exiled Burmese monks dream of new uprising

In their distinctive russet red robes, the two Burmese monks sit cross-legged and meditate before sunrise in front of an altar topped with candles, offerings of fruit, water and flowers and a statue of Buddha.

By Philip Sherwell in Utica, New York , Last Updated: 9:26AM BST 14 Sep 2008

Released by Burma's opposition movement, this video gives an insight into the saffron revolution, and U Gawsita's role in it. ; http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1529569286/bctid1790966954

http://www.brightcove.com/channel.jsp?channel=1139053637
It is a ritual played out each morning in temples across Burma. But the two holy men are conducting their worship 8,500 miles from home in a highly improbable setting - a converted bedroom in a run-down clapboard boarding house in the upstate New York town of Utica.

U Gawsita, 28, and Abbot Pyinnya Jota, 48, played key roles in the Saffron Revolution when thousands of monks led mass peaceful demonstrations against the brutal junta that rules their homeland a year ago this week. But they were forced to flee into exile after the bloody suppression of the protests.

In scenes that captivated the world, ranks of shaven-headed barefoot young men turned their alms bowls upside down in a symbol of defiance then marched through the streets at the head of crowds that grew from hundreds into hundreds of thousands.

The generals who have run the country since 1962 originally appeared stunned by the remarkable displays of civil disobedience that began on September 18. But after eight days, they retaliated with characteristic viciousness, quashing the dreams of democratic change.

The monks, considered sacrosanct across the Buddhist world, bore the brunt of the regime's fury - hundreds were beaten, rounded up and detained and monasteries were raided and closed.

"Raiding monasteries is like raping Buddhism," said Pyinnya Jota, a veteran regime critic and founder of the All Burma Monks' Alliance who spent 11 years in jail and co-drafted the list of reform demands that fired the protests. "It is an unspeakable offence."

And U Gawsita became one of the most familiar faces of the protests when he was pictured in foreign news reports - on video footage smuggled out of the country - rousing the crowds with impassioned speeches.

The scar on the top of head is testimony to the harshness of the crackdown - the result of a baton smashed across his skull as, microphone in hand, he led a demonstration at Rangoon's Shwedagon Pagoda, the most sacred site in Burma.

In Utica, a depressed former textile mill town which has recently seen a large influx of Bosnian and Burmese exiles arranged by a local Lutheran refugee centre, preparations are underway for a rally today celebrating the anniversary of the Saffron Revolution.

But in Burma, alarming news is emerging of a fresh round of arrests of monks and raids on monasteries by a regime fearful of new protests marking the date.

There are also unconfirmed reports that Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader and Nobel peace prize winner who has spent much of the past 20 years under house arrest, is conducting a hunger strike.

A year after Pyinnya Jota and U Gawsita took incredible risks in the hope of inspiring a revolution in the former British colony, it is their own lives that have been turned upside down.

Both fled, separately and in disguise, through the jungle to seek sanctuary first in monasteries on the Thai border before being granted refugee status by the United States, where First Lady Laura Bush's personal interest in Burma has ensured that the country's plight is a White House priority.

Pyinnya Joya arrived just 10 days ago and in Utica last week he was being given an introduction to the complexities of the US banking system by a Burmese student who has also been granted asylum.

U Gawsita has been here since March and proudly shows visitors a signed photograph of President George W Bush with him in the White House, a memento of a recent trip there as part of delegation of Burmese exiles. "It was an honour to meet Mr Bush," he said proudly. "He is very committed to the freedom of the Burmese people."

But while he admires and praises American principles of democracy and freedom, he often strikes the melancholic note of an émigré robbed of his roots and culture.

"Burma is a country where you can be detained for one day or 10 years. People just disappear. There is no freedom," he said.

"That's the big difference with America. You can feel the freedom. You can see it in people in the street. But still I can't say that I'm happy here. I was born in Burma, I miss Burma, I belong in Burma."

He is still struggling with the culture shock of his new surroundings. He has learned little English and rarely leaves the house - when he does, his monk's robes draw curious stares, although he says people have been friendly. "And everyone here is always rushing. They are in a rush to be somewhere or do something. That's very different from Burma," he says with a sigh.

Both men talk with particular dread about the prospect of their first Utica winter, where heavy snows draw skiers to the town slope. Pyinnya Jota is already bemoaning the autumnal weather - temperatures dropped below 10C at night last week - but his new friends have warned him to expect much worse.

Before he was forced to flee, Pyinnya Jota was deputy abbot of Rangoon's Maggin monastery, renowned for providing hospice care for Aids patients. The monastery remains shuttered after a series of raids by the authorities. He was forced into hiding because of his high profile.

He knew from painful first-hand experience the fate of those arrested by the regime after he was beaten and tortured during previous terms of imprisonment. So reluctantly he opted for exile when word came that his safe house was about to be raided. He took a circuitous route to Thailand to avoid the security checkpoints set up to catch dissident monks, and a network of sympathisers hid him in towns along the way.

U Gawsita had also required subterfuge to get him through the road checks - he pretended to be a mechanic working on a bus driven by a friend and hence was not required to show his identity papers to the police.

The dejection as they fled was a bitter contrast to the incredible sense of exuberance and hope at the height of the protests. "Everyone was so happy and cheerful and hopeful," said U Gawsita. "The people finally felt the time had come and they could be free of the junta after all the years of discontent. I couldn't stand the oppression and injustice anymore. This was the time."

And he is bitter at the failure of the United Nations or the "international community' to come to their help. "The Burmese people will go back on the streets. They must do that to change things. But they will need support too," he said.

Pyinnya Jota is also in reflective mood after his recent arrival in the US. "We truly believed we could bring democracy to Burma. We knew that we couldn't rely on other countries or the United Nations to force change so we pushed it ourselves. But we also needed some outside help," he said.

"We thought we would win but then it all changed when the junta staged the crackdown. They sent spies into the monasteries, rounded up the monks and put the army on the streets. Nobody thought they would attack the monks. Then it was over."

He rejects the regime's accusation that the monks were playing politics. "Our actions were not about politics, they were about compassion and care for our fellow humans," he said, speaking in gentle but firm tones. "We often talk about metta (the Buddhist tenet of 'loving kindness') but this principle also needs to be practised. That is what we were doing."

From their unlikely new base Utica's Elm Street, the two monks defiantly insist that they will return home when the junta falls. But given the depressing durability of the dictatorship, propped up financially by China in return for allowing Red Army-owned companies to exploit Burma's lucrative supplies of timber and jade, it seems certain that U Gawsita and Pyinnya Jota will have plenty of time to get used to the local winters.

Burma's monks plan next stage of protests