What We Can Learn from the Brave Monks of Myanmar
The visual is stunning. Thousands of men, dressed in red robes, walking through the streets calling in solidarity for the return of their basic human rights. It is a peaceful protest of the most peaceful kind and it has caused many around the world – both politicians and journalists alike – to call for an end to the 19-year old tyrannical practices of the junta in power as well as for the release of former Nobel Peace prize winner Aung San Sun Kyi. Yet, we can be reminded of something else very powerful by these brave monks of Myanmar: the ideal of democratic hope.
The Economist made this point particular clear in a recent article in which it explained,
“[All] taking part were enormously moved by the defiance they achieved, as if that were an end in itself. Yet no one The Economist spoke to believed the government would yield...‘I don't think we can defeat the government; I can't imagine what will happen,’ said one young woman, “But we hope. We hope for the success of our revolution.”
At first glance this viewpoint of pre-determined failure is troubling. Why march, one might ask, if the end is a forgone conclusion? Why try to demand freedoms from a government who you know is being backed by China, one of the most powerful countries in the world?
Yet, upon deeper reflection this viewpoint that the people of Myanmar do not actually think they can defeat the government yet they continue to march on should serve as a reminder that the democratic process should not always be judged by its success, but rather by its belief in the possibility of success.
This is a message which goes far beyond the plight of the Myanmarese people. This is what democracy is fundamentally about. It is what my former Professor, Cornel West, called in his 2004 book Democracy Matters, “tragicomic hope.” A hope which he described was embodied by African American fighting to be free, a group which “all knew that even if the tears of the world are a constant quantity and that air is full our cries, we can and should still embark on a democratic quest for wisdom, justice, and freedom…This kind of tragicomic hope is dangerous—and potentially subversive—because it can never be extinguished…it is a form of elemental freedom that cannot be eliminated or snuffed out by any elite power (217).”
If those of us who live in democracies and fight for them everyday can only remember that, we are reminded not only of the fact that we should fight for the people of Myanmar, but that we should continue more broadly to fight for the promise of a stronger future despite the seemingly up-hill battles occur each and everyday. We cannot have democracy if we do not have hope. And we must remember Dr. King’s powerful teaching that “the arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice.”