<nettime> Burmah (Night) Oil ...

["Patrice Riemens" <patrice@xs4all.nl>]

In olden days, a standing joke about London private clubs (eg "The
Expolrers'" of Jules Verne fame) was that older gentlemen were spending
their afternoons swallowed-up by immense crapauds and sipped Sherry while
perusing 'The Times' and discussing "the situation in 'Beurmaah'".

I think we seriously should do the same, about 'Beurmaah', minus the
crapauds (and possibly the Sherry ;-) Highlighted by the bleak aftermath
of the cyclone disaster, the nightmarish nature of the Burma/ 'Myanmar'
regime is now for all to see, if not, alas, to understand: as our
political future. General Than Shwe and his gang of bemedalled SLORC
cronies represent the wet dream to which _all_ current politicians in
power the world over aspire in their rare moments of relaxation
(admittedly they're usually far to busy adressing the day-to-day
challenges of/to their leadership to dream very much).

Far from being a regression to some kind of brutal, primitive order, the
Burmese political dispensation is a hyper, infra-(and post-? ;-) modern
realisation of the cyberpunk (*) anti-societal format: dispense with the
people - we no longer need them. Or at least as human beeings. And since
the breed is ultra-resilient and apparently un-exterminable (remember
Indonesia after the Suharto coup?), they are totally expendable and we can
go on for ever, while enjoying our privileges, and paranoia.

Mark my words: we live in the twighlight of Human Rights. The more these
are asserted in theory and pronouncements, the more they are attacked in
hidden ideology and not-so-hidden practice. Alain Minc (in)famously
asserted that democracy was not the natural state of society. But then
neither is the market in the end, but the total night of the fatally
extermination-prone tyranny of the sick few. Exodus anyone?

Just like Bihar, but worse than Bihar: Burma is our future, in all its
horendous details (local applications may however vary).

No cheers this time from patrizio & Diiiinooos!

(*) OK I already hear Messrs Gibson, Sterling and Stephenson cringe...;-)


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