Photo by Anne Edelstam.
Commentary by Anne Edelstam.
Do we help Burma, by boycotting the country?
The country, larger than France with a population of fifty-five million, is ruled and de facto owned by a handful of madmen — a totalitarian cult — who run the country as they please. The majority of the population live in misery, subjected to censorship and in isolation from the rest of the world, without the possibility of even moving around in their own country without a permit that is sporadically, if ever, issued.
As a Burmese told me, “It is like living in a giant prison here.”
Then, added, “Only you, Europeans, can help us.”
And, how do we help — by boycotting the country?
As Hilary Clinton, the US secretary of state, stated, “Burma’s isolation has not improved the situation for its people, rather the opposite has happened.”
Recently, I travelled there to see for myself.
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