Remember the monks?

Looking back through the archives, I came across a post I made here about the protests by Monks in Mynamar (formerlly Burma) that was making headlines. I have been guilty of not paying attention and losing track of what happened. So I did a quick search and the first article I found summed up the current situation pretty well. Appreciate, dear readers, that I am risking the wrath of the Bush administration and the Patriot Act by citing this article by Al Jazeera.

The protests quickly spread to across the country and to Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, before the military turned its guns on the demonstrators.

Now those who took part in last year’s anti-government protests are scattered and on the run. But despite the crackdown, the dissident monks are preparing for another showdown.

He says the monks hopes had been buoyed by the international attention last year's protests received and he is ready to spread the word again once the protests resume.
"I had a small generator in my village and I sold it to buy a second-hand camera," he told Al Jazeera. "If the chance comes again, I can record what happens."

Other dissident leaders believe that the monks' actions last year have already weakened the government.

As a result a loose alliance has developed between different groups opposed to the military regime - among them, members of the student-led uprising in 1988 when Myanmar was known by its former name, Burma.