Nine Burmese demonstrators killed in one day. The news sites say that the conflict in Burma pits the country’s two most powerful forces, the monasteries and the Junta against one another. Guns against spiritual force – a kind of symmetry.
Eleven killed in Palestine the same day. Israel may be hoping the events in Burma will keep Palestine out of the news. The same day, eleven rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel. All of them missed, it’s true, but now everyone has a reason to continue.
A friend writes that we should all wear red shirts for Burma on Friday. Is it the red of the blood spilled, or the red of the monks whose blood has been spilled? Either way it’s a suitable colour.