Will Wear Red for Burma Friday Cross Over to SL?
by Alphaville Herald on 28/09/07 at 7:43 am
by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk
This morning, I woke to a message on the mojo wire from Stef Wade, of Das SecondLife-Blog. Stef is wondering if the wear red for Burma this friday movement will cross over into Second Life – an interesting question. Certainly, long time SL should be sympathetic to the plight of those living under a violent, repressive regime – we have personal experience with that here in the metaverse. Mass demonstrations are bit more difficult in SL given the population limits on the sims, but this sort of fashion as political statement could take hold – I’m looking for a saffron colored t-shirt in my inventory.
Wear Red for Burma
In Second Life, this should be even easier than in RL: Wear a red t-shirt or a red top to show your support to the peaceful demonstrators in Burma. Something appropriate should be found in every inventory.
If/when somebody designs a special top for the campaign, please let me know in the comments, so many people can get and wear it.
Too bad I am always wearing red in SL – should I put on some red hair, then?
English links:
http://elizabethwong.wordpress.com/2007/09/27/wear-red-for-burma-this-friday/
http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2007/09/27/myanmar-wearing-red-on-friday
http://lucialai.org/2007/09/27/petition-and-red-t-shirt-for-burmese/
http://theunspunblog.com/2007/09/27/have-facebook-will-protest-2-wear-a-red-shirt-for-burma/
http://www.kquee.com/blog/2007/09/28/singaporeans-wear-a-red-shirt-on-friday-for-burma/
[reprinted from Das Second Life]
dandellion Kimban
Sep 28th, 2007
I’m in!
Kahni Poitier
Sep 28th, 2007
It’s the LEAST you can do. Seriously.
Iris Seale
Sep 28th, 2007
I made a special shirt for today. You can pick it up for 1L at my Mischief Cove store: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Mischief/197/172/23/
GreenLantern Excelsior
Sep 28th, 2007
Years ago, when women were routinely beaten on the streets of Kabul for showing an ankle, and Afghan girls were not allowed to attend school, there were petitions circulating to protest that treatment. The Taliban took no notice of those petitions, just like the government of Burma will take no notice of what people in other countries are wearing today. And since the government has shut down the Internet in Burma, the Burmese people will not be able to come to Second Life to thank us for wearing red.
This type of “support” does nothing for the people in Burma. If you want to support their cause, it would be better to find a place to contribute money to them rather than engage in symbolic gestures.
.
Sep 28th, 2007
Pixeleen:
Comparing Linden Labs policies to the atrocoties going on in Myanmar is shockingly ignorant, and immature to boot. Please.
Tenshi Vielle
Sep 28th, 2007
Well, Pix, if it wasn’t going to cross into SL before it will now that you said something
Jessica Holyoke
Sep 28th, 2007
Sorry if that last one went through, I hit enter too soon.
Anyway, the symbolic gesture is not solely for the people in Burma, or afghanistan or wherever, but also as a means of educating other people on what’s going on by asking, why are you wearing red for Burma?
Tenshi Vielle
Sep 28th, 2007
@GreenLantern: It does help to know people are morally supporting you. But since when does throwing money at a problem make it go away, either?
Ananda
Sep 28th, 2007
Saffron is a darkish yellow shade. But most of the monks in Burma are in red robes so red makes sense for solidarity if nothing else.
GreenLantern Excelsior
Sep 28th, 2007
Throwing money at a problem isn’t a sure cure. Contributing money to the good guys is a good start, though. Or you could go to http://www.freeburma.org/ and learn how to influence world leaders to do something about the problem. Visit http://www.freeburmacoalition.org/ and educate yourself about the problem. Go to http://hrw.org/doc/?t=asia&c=burma for the Human Rights Watch page about Burma, or visit http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/ for the UK Burma Campaign.
There is much more to be done than wearing a red shirt for one day. If people are really serious about this, why not create a Second Life Burma exhibit similar to Camp Darfur? Who will donate land for the exhibit? Who will contact these different campaigns and invite them to SL? Who will build the informational displays? Inquiring minds want to know!
DaveOner
Sep 28th, 2007
Support for Burma:
Yes!
Support for Pixeleen insulting the RL plight of people ACTUALLY sufferring from the oppression of their governments by comparing it to disagreeing with LL’s policies and product management:
Fuck no! Get a clue.
Prokofy Neva
Sep 28th, 2007
I disagree that such demonstrations have no effect. They sure do. They are part of what creates a groundswell of public pressure all over, gets in the news media, and begins to affect governments, including one’s own, to do more. There are Burmese monks all over the UN area now in New York, meditating and demonstration, and as diplomats walk to and from sessions of the General Assembly and Security Council now, they see these demonstrators peacefully chanting, and they see that they’re getting a lot of support. And that has a cumulative effect, as it has done for situations like this through history, whether Chile under Pinochet or Poland under Jaruzelski.
It’s all part of the puzzle that is needed to bring down tyrannical governments. It’s also mainly about solidarity with people who are oppressed, and not breaking faith with them.
Some people live in suburbia, or in a town with no place to demonstrate reasonably — but they could get together in Second Life, from different cities and countries, and have a presence, just as much as they could going on the Internet to sign a petition — and that means something.
I don’t exaggerate that “something” — in my view, calling a Congressional or parliamentary office in person, on the phone, or sending a fax, simply has a far greater impact. So I would definitely recommend that sort of action rather than something easier and more facile on the Internet or SL, where a real, live person is then in theory able to tell his bosses, hey, we have 100 faxes, or 200 phone calls, or whatever. That matters.
I imagine Jessica Holyoke will be busy toeing the Chinese line on this, and urging the Lindens to expel all the protesters in case Myanmar, and its backer at the Security Council, China, are upset, and decide to block their citizens from Second Life.
That sure was a blunder with Pixeleen making that wierd moral equivalence like that, as if spoiled children in a video game with leisure time and DSL lines could be compared to poor monks in Burma getting their heads beaten and getting dragged to jail. Ugh. But it’s what I’ve come to expect from the Voice of Pixeleen.
Even so, I hope people will get past that and wear the shirt and show up at the demo, it costs nothing and it’s effortless, the perfect sort of protest for the affluent and the sedentary. Of course, if you can do something more real in real life, try to do that, too. Even just from the Internet:
Go here, to Amnesty International’s Action Center, to join the petition campaign to Bush:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/c.jhKPIXPCIoE/b.2590179/k.C43E/Take_Action_Online/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&aid=9315&tr=y&auid=3037971
But on this particular issue, Bush just isn’t the problem, and this is one of my problems with the “surrogate advocacy” approach of Amnesty and other U.S. groups. In fact, the U.S. just sponsored a resolution on Burma at the SC that China blocked. China is the problem.
So go here and write a politely worded, brief note of concern to the Chinese Mission to the UN:
chinamission_un@fmprc.gov.cn
It’s also helpful to support non-governmental groups doing work in this area. There are really no established U.S. relief groups working in Burman/Myanmar because the government doesn’t give them a license, and it’s a closed country.
Here’s one of the few groups operating refugee camps along the Thai/Burmese border, and also assisting monks inside the country if you wish to make a direct donation to their work. It’s a Danish humanitarian organization:
http://www.danchurchaid.org/
It’s in partnership with ECHO (European Commission’s humanitarian agency) and is reputable.
Jessica Holyoke
Sep 29th, 2007
Prokofy,
Once again slightly getting the facts wrong to take a dig at me. Good job.
But he is right about China doing most of the action blocking any outside help to Burma/Myanmar. At least he is advocating direct action.
Maria Leveaux
Sep 29th, 2007
“we have personal experience with that here in the metaverse.”
I’m shocked anyone has the Brass plated Gaul to Suggest the petty inconveniences we experience in Playing SL are in any way even on the same Plane as The Violent repression the people of Burma face every day. I have Never read such self absorbed Infantile B.S. in all these threads, and That’s saying a Lot.
It’s like Listening to those Childish Morons who compare their receiving a parking ticket to being subjected to Stalinist Repression. For Gods Sake Grow a sense of proportion.
“I disagree that such demonstrations have no effect. They sure do. They are part of what creates a groundswell of public pressure all over, gets in the news media, and begins to affect governments, including one’s own, to do more. There are Burmese monks all over the UN area now in New York, meditating and demonstration, and as diplomats walk to and from sessions of the General Assembly and Security Council now, they see these demonstrators peacefully chanting, and they see that they’re getting a lot of support. And that has a cumulative effect, as it has done for situations like this through history, whether Chile under Pinochet or Poland under Jaruzelski.
It’s all part of the puzzle that is needed to bring down tyrannical governments. It’s also mainly about solidarity with people who are oppressed, and not breaking faith with them.
Some people live in suburbia, or in a town with no place to demonstrate reasonably — but they could get together in Second Life, from different cities and countries, and have a presence, just as much as they could going on the Internet to sign a petition — and that means something.”
Hear hear.
The net like other Media DOES have the Power to Spread the truth about what is happening in Burma, That is why the Government thare has Cut it off along with the other media. IF they were not Afraid of what people Inside, AND outside the country would say, and do, they would not have taken that Step.
This Protest Would mean something if Staged in SL, and the Burmese Government knows it.
Maria.
GreenLantern Excelsior
Sep 30th, 2007
“This Protest Would mean something if Staged in SL, and the Burmese Government knows it.”
Do you actually believe that the government of Burma somehow monitors Second Life and counts the number of avatars wearing red shirts? I doubt that they are afraid of us in any way. The best thing we can do here is provide education to residents about what’s going on in Burma, and links to websites that will allow residents to take action in Real Life.
Free Burma!
Oct 1st, 2007
Free Burma!
International Bloggers’ Day for Burma on the 4th of October
International bloggers are preparing an action to support the peaceful revolution in Burma. We want to set a sign for freedom and show our sympathy for these people who are fighting their cruel regime without weapons. These Bloggers are planning to refrain from posting to their blogs on October 4 and just put up one Banner then, underlined with the words „Free Burma!“.
http://www.free-burma.org
The World Next Door
Oct 1st, 2007
Getting dressed gets more complicated
The photo above is of a rally in Delhi on Oct. 1 (Desmond Boylan, Reuters.) Around the world, people
Plot Tracer
Oct 2nd, 2007
Yep – there are ways to help protest against this disgusting regime. Some of which are listed on the SLLU blog. Also on the blog you will find out how to get your free red teeshirt with full perms to share with others.
Articles here:
http://slleftunity.blogspot.com/2007/10/second-life-activists-solidarity-across.html
and here
http://slleftunity.blogspot.com/2007/10/second-life-burma-protests-hi-rez-photo.html
and details of free teeshirt here
http://slleftunity.blogspot.com/2007/09/free-tee-shirt-freedom-for-burma.html
And for my friend Prok – another demo that seemed not to generate the usual “Pig bomb” publicity from the SL press – but this one was against IBM (hmmmm)
http://slleftunity.blogspot.com/2007/10/unions-20-how-virtual-protest-can-bring.html
Plot Tracer
Oct 2nd, 2007
By the way – should have added this – why don’t all of us in SL mark this anniversary -
“Aung San Suu Kyi, remains in detention, having been held under house arrest on and off for 18 years. On 9 October last year, she clocked up 4,000 days in detention. On 24 October, that will come to 12 years.”
Lola Lamington
Nov 3rd, 2007
I haven’t been in SL for a long time – mores the pity! – but this is amazing to see. In RL I am involved in the RED BAND FOR BURMA project. They are selling red wristbands to raise awareness and funds for charities working with the Burmese people. http://www.redbandforburma.com. I wonder if a SL red band would catch on. It would be pretty simple to do.. although my building skills aren’t up to it. Then avatars could easily always wear something red – people wont want to wear a red shirt every day I’m guessing.
And I DO think we can make a difference in this way. Showing your support for the cause in SL might not make the regime quake in their boots.. but it does help to keep Burma in the press and that means the people will not be forgotten, charities will get more donations and the international community will put more pressure on the regime!
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