[UPDATE] Burma, Burma: Aid Refused, What to do? Ethical Questions

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

We all know that Burma is in a terrible crisis because of the devastation of Cyclone Nargis. Tens of thousands are confirmed dead. It may be hundreds of thousands. Millions are displaced and at risk of death due to lack of clean water and food. The first reports of cholera  are coming.

And now the World Food Programme of the UN has suspended aid, because the junta impounded the first shipments.

[UPDATE] UN will resume aid flights, per MSNBC. AP story: UN to resume food aid flights to Myanmar.

On Wednesday, the French Foreign minister invoked the responsibility to protect, the rationale used for humanitarian intervention even in the face of the government’s refusal to admit entry. The responsibility to protect, as a principle of international action, would override national sovereignty.

The French have been suggesting airddropping aid even without permission; although this is not a terribly effective way of delivering aid, it is something for people who so desperately need it. The British, however, are rebuking the French for suggesting humanitarian intervention without authorization of the junta.

Forcing aid to Burma ‘incendiary’

Threatening to air-drop aid into Burma without permission is “incendiary”, UK International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander has said.

He was responding to a call by France for aid to be flown into cyclone-hit areas to counter Burmese leaders’ reluctance to allow foreigners in.

…

Mr Alexander told BBC 2’s Newsnight that he was more interested in securing access than securing headlines with “incendiary statements”.

“Our responsibility is to make sure that our sole focus is getting the aid to the people who desperately need it.”

He said carrying out forced air-drops of supplies would be the wrong action to take.

“We believe that the best way forward would be for the junta to provide access, which the whole international community – including Ban Ki-moon [secretary general of the UN] – is requesting.

Former Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell pointed to the divergence of justice and law–the non-coincidence of moral and legal authority and obligation.

“I don’t think we have any legal right to impose it – we might have a moral obligation.

“But I don’t believe we could give effect to that moral obligation for this reason – Burma is essentially a state run by the generals with an extremely powerful army.

“Any effort to impose humanitarian aid might well be the subject of resistance which would have the effect of damaging yet more of the people of that blighted country.”

The question of humanitarian intervention, of the responsibility to protect is complex. Rightwingers oppose it as an infringement on sovereignty, both in terms of the nations on the receiving end of the intervention and those with the responsibility to protect. We have also seen how the responsibility to protect can be perverted and used to justify unilateral action; think about how BushCo at one point tried to frame the Iraq War as a humanitarian necessity, and an action undertaken in the absence of international action.

The responsibility to protect and humanitarian intervention are complex, potentially dangerous rationales to deploy, because they can be twisted to nefarious ends, but what other ways to we have to protect populations from genocide and other forms of mass suffering when governments fail to protect their citizens? We see the urgency and complexity of these questions now.

We all feel helpless. How can we help?

This is an action list I included in a diary the other day, now with some revisions. I am highlighting other diaries with information for aid at the top of this list:

• Consider contributing to direct aid for the Burmese people:
  
  zawmoo‘s Possibly better way to help Burma’s cyclone victims, and MS has more Ways to help the People of Burma. Avila suggests donating directly to the monks.
• Keep the issue front and center. Call your congresscritters to urge help and call for focus on this catastrophe.

Thankfully, the media is now more focused on this catastrophe.

• Educate ourselves and spread the word about this disaster. Check out the Burma news ladder.
• Pressure the media to keep this disaster front and center? Why is it not one of the top news stories? Because there isn’t enough “good” footage?
• Here are excellent groups devoted to the liberation of Myanmar that have as up to date information as possible, and links to places to donate:
• Campaigning for Human Rights and Democracy in Burma
• Democratic Voice of Burma
• U.S. Campaign on Burma
• Read the metta suta, the heart sutra, which the monks of Burma, the brave souls of the Saffron revolution, intoned:

  As a mother would risk her life
  
  to protect her child, her only child,
  
  even so should one cultivate a limitless heart
  
  with regard to all beings.
  
  With good will for the entire cosmos,
  
  cultivate a limitless heart:
  
  Above, below, & all around,
  
  unobstructed, without enmity or hate.
  
  Whether standing, walking,
  
  sitting, or lying down,
  
  as long as one is alert,
  
  one should be resolved on this mindfulness.
  
  This is called a sublime abiding
  
  here & now.