By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net
“STAND with the Burmese Protesters,” says an online petition inviting people around the world to support the ongoing protests in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, against the junta.
Hundreds of protesters, mostly monks, have been arrested and one Japanese national has already been reported killed after thousands of protesters took to the streets 10 days ago.
Led by Avaaz.org, the online protest hopes to gather about 150, 000 signatures, which would be submitted to the United Nations Security Council members and the media.
At this writing, online petition has already gathered over 100,000 supporters worldwide.
Avaaz.org is a global civic advocacy group founded by Res Publica. It has also been involved in Internet advocacy in the United States.
Res Publica is community of public sector professionals promoting good governance, civic virtue and deliberative democracy, its website said.
“After decades of military dictatorship, the people of Burma are rising — and they need our help. Marches begun by monks and nuns have snowballed, bringing hundreds of thousands to the streets. Now the crackdown has begun,” the Azaaz.org online petition read.
The online petition urges supporters to provide contact information, including their name, e-mail address, mobile phone number, and country of origin. After signing up, it also encourages supporters to pass on the invite to friends.
“When the Burmese last marched in 1988, the military massacred thousands. But if the world stands up and supports their struggle, this time they could succeed. We’ll send our petition to United Nations Security Council members (including the dictatorship’s main backer China) and to media at the UN, while also alerting the Burmese to our support,” the online petition said.
September 28th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
[...] Oliva reports on the online petition urging people to support the Myanmar protesters in Tech [...]