8.27.02 @ 12:09AM
An evil regime is confronted by James Mawdsley, a hero of our times.
It's doubtless tempting for some to dismiss James Mawdsley as a
dilettante activist until they learn a little about his recent
past. Mawdsley, a crusader for democracy in Burma, spent much of
the last few years as a guest of the country's military
dictatorship in its dismal jails. Unlike the thousands of activists
who are content to write letters of protest or demonstrate in front
of Burmese embassies around the world, Mawdsley felt it was his --
some might say foolhardy -- duty to confront the regime on its own
turf. That story is detailed in
The Iron Road: A Stand for Truth and Democracy in Burma.
(North Point Press, 400 pages, $16 paper.)
Beginning in the late 1990s, Mawdsley repeatedly entered Burma
to aid ethnic groups in their fight against the government and to
spread pro-democracy literature in the streets, something that
brings attention quickly, as his adventures clearly show.
Mawdsley's theory was simple: as a foreigner the regime wouldn't
harm him -- at least not severely -- for fear of raising the ire of
other nations and his imprisonment would bring attention to his
cause.
"My main motivation for the protest in Rangoon was so that I
could meet some of the authorities for myself and so judge how open
they are to reason and appeal. I met and talked with a fair range
of them and undoubtedly most are good blokes," he writes at one
point in a letter to a fellow activist.
Good blokes or not, Mawdsley's repeated attempts to provoke the
regime caused him to spend nearly five years in Burmese prisons
under conditions that could politely be called difficult. With
solitary confinement the norm, Mawdsley suffered from a lack of
food, was beaten occasionally and even underwent outright torture
when his provocations became too much for the authorities to
bear.
Buttressed by a strong faith in God and a belief in the purity
of his quest, Mawdsley wasn't broken by his incarceration, but
rather almost seemed to relish it at times. Each encounter --
whether over the quality of food or a demand for a Bible -- with
prison guards or government officials turned into a game of
brinkmanship with the government oftentimes blinking first. Each
victory prompted Mawdsley to go one step further.
His time in prison was more than a quest for survival and
publicity for the cause of Burmese liberty. As Mawdsley states
early on, he's interested to learn about the type of men that it
takes to enslave a society and kill their fellow citizens.
Throughout his ordeal, he rarely fails to glean insights into the
totalitarian mindset, from the lowest officials afraid to make
decisions lest it land them in prison or worse to the upper level
decision makers afraid to anger foreign nations yet unwilling to
bend any more than they had to.
The nobility of Mawdsley's campaign isn't in question. As he
repeatedly points out to both the reader and the regime, Burma's
government is an illegal entity. It massacres ethnic minorities and
represses its citizens. It has breached the covenant that binds a
government to its citizens by failing to protect their rights and
ultimately their lives. Burma's government is a textbook example of
one that should and must be resisted.
Where one comes to question Mawdsley's campaign, however, is in
its efficacy. Although his case did bring international attention
to the conditions in Burma, at least for a short while, the reader
might begin to question whether his stint in prison was really
worth it. His actions could imply a Western arrogance that where
the citizens of Burma continue to fail, a foreigner might make the
difference. That's not to say that Mawdsley has a low opinion of
the Burmese. On the contrary, he often states and shows his
admiration for the people who continue to resist the government.
His affection for the people is genuine and his quest doesn't come
across as being his White Man's Burden.
Despite that, Mawdsley does occasionally appear to be perhaps a
bit naïve. Military dictatorships rarely, if ever, fall due to
the actions of outside activists. Revolutions, like the one that
brought Cory Aquino to power in the Philippines in 1986, are and
must be by their very nature an internal reaction to tyranny and
injustice. Despite Mawdsley's best efforts, it would appear that
most Burmese are unwilling or unable to unite against their
oppressors. That fact doesn't detract from Mawdsley's convictions
and courageousness, he did after all serve prison time in a just
cause, but it does beg the question whether he had completely
thought out the process before he launched it.
As a story, however, of one man's determined campaign to show
the inherent contradictions of a military dictatorship that
proclaims its love of the people while simultaneously repressing
them, The Iron Road is a stirring effort and Mawdsley is a
remarkable young man. Although his journey to bring down the regime
in Burma has a long way to go before it's successful, Mawdsley's
story is an inspiring one. Rarely are those in the West brought
face to face with the evil of tyranny and Mawdsley's insights into
his captors are worthwhile if only as a reminder of how lucky we
are. Naïve he may be, but Mawdsley's brand is the type that
can inspire, perhaps what people need the most when they confront
evil -- even if indirectly.
topics:
Books, Military
