Victory of oppression

Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms.

— Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers.

One of the more interesting short stories I have read is a piece of alternative history by Harry Turtledove called "The Last Article." In it, Gandhi and his compatriots attempt to free India from Nazi occupation after an Axis victory in World War II. His efforts fail when German troops slaughter peaceful protestors by the thousands and threaten to execute any Indian employee who goes on strike. While some soldiers refuse to fire, most follow orders and shoot down the marchers in cold blood. The story ends with Gandhi betrayed by the occupiers and executed by firing squad.

The point of the story is that a regime unconcerned with morality cannot be defeated without the use of force. If one's only principle is the pursuit and maintenance of personal power, then the righteousness of your opponents is unimportant. A disregard for human decency allows dictatorial enemies to do whatever they deem necessary, no matter how barbaric, to maintain control. Nonviolence is not always the answer.

Never was this more true than in the brutally suppressed uprising by Buddhist monks against the military junta ruling Myanmar. If anyone in the world is a perfect representative of nonviolence, it would be these monks who are forbidden to even touch another person and practice strict ahimsa. Soldiers wielding AK-47s were met by unarmed holy men chanting the Metta Sutra, a Buddhist prayer for unconditional love and kindness. The monks' demands were simple: democracy and freedom from tyranny. What they received was death and torture.

The soldiers came at night and raided the monasteries that served as the protestors' bases. Thousands were killed outright and countless others were beaten and tortured to death over the following days. The dead were dumped in the jungles to rot while the brutalized survivors were thrown into hellholes of prisons for indefinite detention. The people of Burma were "crying for (their) monks," but were too terrified to keep standing up to the murderers who had already shown a complete disregard for all standards of civilized behavior. The revolt was broken; totalitarianism had triumphed.

The response of the rest of the world was worthless hand-wringing and ineffective protest. Deploring the junta's actions as "tragic," "a gross and systemic violation of human rights" and "revolting" is pointless when Myanmar's actions were specifically calculated to be exactly those things. The generals wanted a public symbol of their willingness to do anything, no matter how odious and disgusting, to hold onto power. The Burmese people and the rest of the world got that message loud and clear.

The lesson of the 20th century should have been "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Time and again, whether at Munich in 1938, Rwanda in 1994 or now in Darfur, millions have perished because good nations refused to intervene to stop acts of unspeakable horror. When faced with ultimate evil, Western democracies have chosen acquiescence over resistance. We cry "never again" and then stand back as genocide happens again and again. Diplomacy and dialogue have been promoted as virtues in and of themselves as opposed to being constituent parts of a coherent and national policy. Talk cannot solve our problems alone, just as nonviolence alone could not free Burma.

The unfortunate truth is that the monks of Burma never stood a chance as long as the generals knew that the U.S. Army wasn't going to invade and the air force wasn't going to bomb. If we are only willing to condemn atrocities so that we can feel morally superior, we end up dooming thousands to suffering and death. It may be too late to save Burma this time, but it is not too late to act on other fronts. Iran is moving inexorably toward nuclear weapons because it believes that there is no stick to back up the carrots preferred by the United Nations and the European Union. The only way to avoid a nuclear holocaust two to five years down the line is to stop Iran now. This situation will be solved forcibly one way or the other; hopefully we can muster the strength to fix it before tens of millions die. Barry Caro is a history major from White Plains, N.Y. He can be reached at bcaro@princeton.edu.