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| Southeast Asia |
| Protesters battle to keep world's eyes on Burma |
| 2007-09-30 |
| The last time Burmese soldiers fired on their own people there were few witnesses, and those who were there had no way of telling the story. Two decades and a technological revolution later, the protesters challenging the government are ready to risk their lives so the world can hear their story. Armed with mobile phone cameras, they have become the eyes of the "saffron revolution". No foreign TV crews have been able to enter the country and networks such as the BBC and CNN have been forced to report from neighbouring Thailand. From the point of view of television, the situation is the same as it was in 1988, when the massacre of nearly 3,000 people went unreported by most TV news programmes. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 That left a mark, groµ. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2007-09-30 11:15 |
| #2 Silly buggers---who do you think you are, Palestinians? |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-09-30 06:22 |
| #1 The cell phone camera may well end up being one of those ubiquitous consumer products that cause a huge paradigm shift in global culture. Witnesses to all sorts of criminal and despotic acts immediately will be able to bring them to the world's attention. It will be no surprise if these simple mobile devices prove far more effective in combatting evil than all of the public monitoring cameras combined. Anyone who doubts this need only note how repressive countries like Saudi Arabia already have attempted to outlaw them. This can only speak well on behalf of such elementary technology. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-09-30 02:43 |