This was brought home to me recently when a co-worker at the slaughter house where I work who is from Myanmar (formerly Burma) asked me to go to a demonstration at city hall after work to protest the May 30 repression by the military junta against the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi. In 1990, the NLD, the bourgeois political opposition to the junta, won an election by a landslide but was barred from taking power, and the country has been under “transitional” military rule ever since.

The present junta came to power after crushing an uprising on Aug. 8, 1988. Thousands of students, who led the movement for democracy, were murdered by the army. At least four of my coworkers participated in the demonstration. All of them were active in the uprising as students and later participated in the armed resistance before leaving the country as refugees. Many of the students who arrived in Canada took jobs in meat packing and auto parts factories.

The action at city hall, which took place on June 3, was called by the Burmese Students’ Democratic Organization (Canada) as part of a series of demonstrations around the world. I was told by my coworkers that government thugs had ambushed Suu Kyi and several hundred supporters. The army arrived and began shooting, killing up to 70. There are reports that Suu Kyi received a head and shoulder wound. She was arrested by the military and her whereabouts are unknown as well as those of many of the oppositionists who were with her at the time. The military has postponed the opening of the universities for a new session.

The Toronto action was called from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. with many members of the Myanmar community coming and going during that time. Many brought their children. Signs said: “Burma is not a killing field”; “Free Suu Kyi and all political prisoners”; “Canadian government hypocrisy”; and “Start national reconciliation talks,” (between the NLD and the junta).

Yesterday my co-worker told me the United Nations has sent an envoy to find out what happened to Suu Kyi. He was not sure about the UN getting involved. “Where the UN goes, the Americans come after,” he said.

John Steele
Toronto, Ontario

Donation to prisoners’ fund
I found your publication of letters from the five Cuban revolutionaries in U.S. prisons to be very positive! I enclose a donation to the Militant Prisoners Fund. I for one am paying very close attention to these five as a bellwether in international politics. That may seem odd, but there it is!

Michael S.
Denver, Colorado

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