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WWW.GUILFORDIAN.COM
Some forgonen history of Burma
ByOkkarW.Pe
Contributing Writer
Monks marching, people joining in, sol
diers setting up blockades, and protesters
getting shot. Recent events in Burma have
stirred the international news. Most of the
media coverage, if not all, has been about
the human right violations by the govern
ment, the detainment of Aung San Su Kyi,
and the lack of democracy in the nation.
While all of these are true, no one ever men
tions how the military came to power, in
which lies the solution to all the problems.
When we had a presentation on campus
about the situation in Burma, it attract^ a
lot of attention. We should be proud that
we have a lot of people who care about
something happening half the world away.
However, the audience seemed to have the
preconception of guilty, greedy generals
and innocent, selfless monks colliding in
the country. But in reality the monks are
neither selfless nor innocent.
The essence of Buddhism is quite respect
able; however the Buddhism in Burma is
just another religion with its own agenda.
As long as the needs of the monasteries
are satisfied, monks care little about the
advancement of the people, which explains
why the military rule has lasted so long
when both the government and the mon
asteries preside as the supreme authorities
over the country.
The Buddhism in the cormtry is not an
institution of thought; it is an institution
that demands more goods and services
whenever anything bad happens. Donating
to the monlb betters karma and deters
unfortunate events. Why is it that people
still fear the government and yet are unable
to do much, when Buddhist monasteries
are the largest institution next to the mili
tary and they educate most of the people?
(There exist some monasteries that promote
true Buddhism, but by definition they are
little heard of.)
While we all should be receptive to
reports by popular media, we must assimi
late what is reported with care and analy
sis, especially when it comes to sensitive
and always one-sided reports regarding
Burma. It seems that anyone who is anti-
govemment about Burma is automatically
credible. If one were to look beyond what
newspapers have to say and dig a little
into the history, the facts will reveal that
Buddhism destabilized Burma right after
the country gained its independence from
Britain in 1948.
In 1950s, Burmese monks wanted to ban
non-Buddhist teachings from public schools,
make Buddhist lessons a requirement, and
declare Buddhism the state religion. When
the Prime Minister, U Nu, refused to do so,
they harassed the mosques, the churches,
and the Hindu temples, destroying build
ings and terrorizing people. U Nu, encour
aged by other religious leaders, had no
choice but to declare Buddhism the state
religion. This upset non-Buddhist ethnic
groups from the highlands who seceded
from the union, setting off all the chaos
which led to the military take over.
There were other circumstances that
led to the military coup; however, the
Buddhism in the country holds a major
responsibility. So before we praise ^e
monks who are taking to the streets, we
must imderstand what their involvement
represents, the inability of Burmese people
to separate the religion and the state, and
how religion is more important than the
human rights.
Freedom means the flourishing of
Buddhism, not the equality of people.
While the monks' protests are the result of
the actions by the economically incompe
tent government advisors, as long as they
are involved there will be no real progress.
If democracy is forced upon the coimtry, it
might very well become a Buddhist regime
that oppresses all other religions.
Most importantly, it is the people of
Burma whom must be held most account
able, who failed to unite, compromise, and
find a resolution for both majority Burmans
and the highland people during the final
years as a democratic nation.
After all, they form a larger institution,
the people, than both military and the mon
asteries combined. Only Burma's people
can bring a change, but everybody else can
make a difference by helping them open
their eyes, investing in their education,
promoting thoughts, not beliefe.
If democracy is forced upon the country, it might
very well become a Buddhist regime that oppresses
all other religions.
Footing the bill for new neighbors
By Reid Cranfill
Staff Writer
It's raining carpetbaggers - it seems
everybody and their cousin has decided to
move to the Old North State. So far die state
and l(xal governments have opened their
arms to the influx without regard to the real
cost the development has for its citizens.
The population of the Triangle (Raleigh,
Durham, and Qiapel Hill) has grown by
over300,000since levees on the Containment
Area for Relocated Yankees (CARY) were
topped seven years ago, and is expected
to dcmble in 13 years. That's an entirely
new metro area grown up overnight in the
Triangle alone.
We've suburbanized the tobacco fields
faster than the crop could cure, spent bil
lions in new highways, and continue to fight
a constant battle to put up enough schools
to handle the surge of new students. As a
result of this imchecked growth, the state is
continually updating its infrastructure, forc
ing original taxpaying Carolinians to front
an investment for new residents who have
yet to pay taxes.
New low-income residents have helped
us immeasurably. Our agriculture industry
has survived tnmks to illegal immigrants
and NC's guest worker program, but legal
immigrants with well paying jobs have
proved a drain on local citizens. They can
actually demand the best police protection.
highways, and schools before they even
move in, and local and state governments
have rushed to provide.
Norfii Carolinians have spent decades
pouring vast amounts of money and effort
into making our colleges, hospitals, and
highways the best. But despite the heavy
cx^ we've put into the state, it seems this
investment wasn't meant for us to enjoy.
Prices in areas of high devdopment have
gone high enough to even price people out
of thdr own towns. Chapd Hill has become
so expensive. The University of North
Carolina at Chapd Hill has found that most
of the people who work for the Univeraty
can't even afford to live in Orange County
anymore, let alone Chapd Hill proper. It
now has to use charter busses to bring in its
workforce from other counties.
Meanwhile, Charlotte and Greensboro
have become the suburbs of a suburb of
a suburb with Atlanta-like traffic. We've
grown out, not up, and we've had to build
cobwebs of bypasses and bdtways like 1-540
around Charlotte and Raldgh.
A powerful draw to the state has been the
opportunity for families to take advantage
of our public universities and the system
has had to develop quickly to combat over
crowding. Currently both UNC and NCSU
are developing external campuses to handle
the growth, at a projected cost of over a
billion for N.C. State's Centennial campus
alone.
The state univeraty system creates the
talent that fiids our continued economic
devdopment and represents a source of
economic opportunity and advancement for
hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians
who could not afford it otherwise.
Every increase in tuition, every larger
dass, every dass taught by an overwork^
master's student instead of an overworked
professor is a direct threat to the econom
ic future of North Carolina. Worse, it's a
betrayal of the investment of billions in
public funding millions of Carolinians and
local industries have paid for gaierations to
devdop their childrai's futures.
Norfii Carolina's current pattern of devd
opment heavily favors the people who will
move here five or ten years from now at file
expense of its dtizens. North Carolina grows
in power and influence, but Carolinians are
learning a harsh lesson in the difference
between economic growth and economic
success as our government and devdopers
sell us out.
How can we stop other Americans
from seizing economic opportunity at our
expense? Secession? A large fence? Could
we send a bill to our new ndghbor's home
states after they move in?
Or do we dean house in Raldgh and start
raising taxes in our favor to control devdop
ment, making it sustainable and fair for local
residents who've already paid their dues,
and their new ndghbor's dues too.
FORUM
Conservative group tries to
establish campus presence
By Joanna Bernstein
Staff Writer
Forget Gender Equality NOW. Forget Students
Against Rape Culture. As a matter of fact, for
get The Guilfordian. What this campus needs is
groups that focus on strengthening national secu
rity, promoting traditional marriage, preventing
illegal immigration, and banning abortion.
At least Skat's what the Leadership Institute
thinks.
Based in Washington, D.C., the Leadership
Institute is a non-profit, "non-partisan" educa
tional organization that seeks to identify, recruit,
train, and place conservatives to fight, of their
own volition, on college campuses across the
nation.
The Leadership Institute places field represen
tatives in different regions of the country to help
students establish their own conservative organi
zations and conservative student newspapers on
campus.
I understand how newspapers may have liberal
or conservative slants in their coverage. But if a
paper is going to solely cover issues pertinent to
their political agenda (whether it be liberal or con
servative), then this paper will inherently neglect
to cover issues that are not ideologically relevant
to their cause.
Now, to be fair, I am not against students orga
nizing to address conservative issues on campus.
But, to have an outside group that aims to
promote an exclusive, oppressive political ide
ology throughout the nation be the root from
which these groups stem, perpetuates a system
that works to further divide our already divided
nation (and campus).
It's no secret. Not here or anywhere else. For
the most part, people with similar interests and
political views tend to bond together. Thus, we're
all sick of hearing about the student/ athlete and
conservative/liberal student divide at Guilford.
If we want to strengthen this divide, and get so
sick of hearing about the divide that people begin
to wish they were deaf, then let's greet the fine,
"non-partisan" folks from the Leadership Institute
with open arms.
If we don't want to see another 100 articles
written in this forum section about the divide,
then let us conservative and liberal students all
come together and tell the Leadership Institute to
take a hike.
The path leading up to Founders Hall that liter
ally splits the campus in half and boasts of our
core values, also figuratively splits it in half. To the
left and slightly up the hill is ffie Greenleaf Coffee
Co-operative. To the far right across the road is the
Armfield Athletic Center. Any questions?
Please, let's not form an official conservative
student organization and turn this walkway into
a wall.
To be fair, if the Leadership Institute wanted to
emphasize liberalism on Guilford's campus and
have a super leftist campus newspaper, I would
be equally opposed to it.
While I would be more likely to join designated
liberal organizations, the divide on this campus
would still be perpetuated, and those who are
sick and tired of Guilford's inherent divide would
become even more frustrated.
The Leadership Institute's principles and prac
tices that aim to recruit students to help them fight
towards the next conservative revolution soimd
too similar to those of the United States Army.
And the day that the Leadership Institute and
the United States Army set up adjacent tables
outside the cafeteria is the day the Founder's
walkway turns into a wall.