Benedict Rogers: Burma's bitter remembrance of 8/8/88

The world's eyes are on China today, as the Olympic games begin. But as the athletes compete, our attention is divided. Media talk is not simply of sport, but of China's human rights record and murky foreign policy. Meanwhile, the people of Burma remember the massacre of thousands of pro-democracy protestors on this day 20 years ago. On August 8 1988, after months of demonstrations, the military opened fire on civilians. In a single day, several thousand were killed, and "8/8/88" became etched in blood. Twenty years on, Burma's crisis has deteriorated even further. The protests last September, and the regime's calculated denial of aid to victims of Cyclone Nargis this year, brought rare world attention. Both events illustrated the true character of the illegal military regime that has terrorised Burma for 46 years. Burma's... [read full story]