Bloggers and Hackers In Myanmar Team Up To Deliver Footage of Rallies To World

Recently, many, many Buddhist monks began protesting day after day the actions and rule of the military junta currently installed as the de facto government of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, a nation located in Southeast Asia. The country’s main force of power, has so far decided to let those walking the streets to continue walking the streets unimpeded, fearing national and international condemnation if it were to take action against the clear message of resistance.

And interestingly enough, more and more people in the region (and throughout the world, even) are familiarizing themselves quite well with the monks’ cause. How? With the help of Myanmar’s blogger and hacker complexes.

It’s been known for quite some time that the junta in charge have been keeping a tight check on Internet activity within the country. Blocks have been so thorough, that any independent website carrying news or information about Myanmar, good or bad, cannot be seen by its citizens. The AFP has reported that even Web-based email is inaccessible for the general populace.

But word about the country’s troubles is making its way out through holes opened and exploited by a number of tech-savvy folk, mainly based in the city of Yangon, the former capital. “An army of young techies,” says the AFP, “works around the clock to circumvent the censors, posting pictures and videos on blogs almost as soon as the protests happen.” Some of the images “have been picked up by mainstream news organizations,” as those organizations have been unable to produce such documentation and footage themselves.

Perhaps the most notable portraits taken to date by young bloggers of the growing uprising in Myanmar have been those made of Aung San Suu Kyi, a world-renowned promoter of democracy “outside her home in Yangon to greet marking monks as supporters.” She has been restricted to the confines of her home by the government in place.

International news groups have had to continue to rely on information and media gleaned from citizen journalists of Myanmar to closely cover the rallies currently underway, the quality of which is “very good,” in the words on one reporter under the employ of a Norway-based broadcaster, the Democratic Voice of Burma.

According to statements made by numerous rights groups, foreign journalists have been unable to enter the country since the start of the protests.