Today marks the second anniversary of the attempted military coup in Burma.
We say attempted because the military still haven’t succeeded in the coup, thanks to the incredibly brave resistance of the people of Burma.
At least 3,000 people have been killed by the military, and more than a million have been forced to flee their homes because of Burmese military attacks, but still the military cannot crush resistance to their rule.
Today in Burma there is a silent strike. Shops are closed, the streets are quiet as people show their opposition to the coup, knowing if they took to the streets and protested they would be shot.
More international support needed
Outside of Burma we need to do everything we can to support the people resisting the attempted coup. Cutting arms and sources of revenue, and most urgently, cutting the supplies of aviation fuel which enables the military to carry out airstrikes.
Yesterday we saw positive results from the campaign for stronger international action. The UK, Canada, USA and Australia all imposed sanctions targeting sources of revenue and arms. These were the first sanctions from Australia.
In a big success for our campaign to cut off sources of aviation fuel, Canada imposed a complete ban on sales of aviation fuel to Burma, and the UK sanctioned the main Burmese company involved in aviation fuel distribution to the military.
Our campaign is working. We have won the argument on the need for action. But the sanctions are coming too slowly. That’s why we need to step up the campaign for stronger and faster international action, and we need your support to do it.
