Burmese monks between ‘alignment’ (the Nazi Gleichschaltung) and rebellion

Tens of thousands of Buddhist monks are demonstrating in Burma for democracy and the overthrow of the military junta. They have even been calling for the "excommunication” of the ruling generals, declaring that they are no longer prepared to accept donations of food or money. Since the Buddhists traditionally look to earning rewards with these gifts for their next life the monks are exercising a very effective punishment with their refusal.

The monks used this strategy in 1988 following the bloody suppression of a rising by the military. At that time the army reacted with callousness and brutality. Buddhist monasteries were surrounded by soldiers and some of them were opened by force. Finally the generals forced the abbots to give up the "donation strike”.

There followed years of intimidation, repression and the ‘alignment’of the Buddhist clergy. Thousands of abbots were removed from the monasteries and many were arrested. All senior positions in the monasteries were filled with Buddhists who were politically loyal. In a controversial reform at the beginning of the 80s the government had already abolished the autonomy of the monasteries. All monks had to register officially so that they could no longer move from one monastery to another. About 1000 monks who resisted these compulsory measures were arrested.

The religious dignitaries are held in high esteem among the Burmese people, who are extremely devout. The ‘alignment’ of the Buddhist monks and nuns was then pursued systematically because the military junta saw here a prop to their power. The media, which are controlled by the government, have reported regularly on the "trustworthy cooperation” between the generals and the monks and emphasised that the Buddhist clergy were the pillars of society. Since the end of the 80s the Buddhist monks and nuns have no longer been appearing in political life as an independent and neutral power.

The fact that the monks as a political power had to be taken seriously, who could bring about considerable change in society, was something which the British colonial masters discovered in the 30s of the last century. At that time it was the monks who were at the forefront of the liberation movement and who gave refuge in their pagodas to strikers acting against the British colonial power. Their strength lies in the high moral esteem they enjoy in society and which the generals have clearly long disregarded.