The Saffron Revolution (Burmese: ရွှေဝါရောင်တော်လှန်ရေး, romanized: Shwaywarraung Tawlhaanrayy; [sw̥èi wà jàʊɰ̃ tɔ̀ l̥àɰ̃ jéi]) was a series of economic and political protests and demonstrations that took place during August, September and October 2007 in Myanmar. The protests were triggered by the decision of the national military government to remove subsidies on the sales prices of fuel. The national government is the only supplier of fuels and the removal of the price subsidy immediately caused diesel and petrol prices to increase by 66–100% and the price of compressed natural gas for buses to increase 500% in less than a week. The various protests were led by students, political activists, including women, and Buddhist monks and took the form of a campaign of nonviolent resistance, sometimes also called civil resistance. In response to the protests, dozens of protesters were arrested or detained. Starting in September 2007 the protests were led by thousands of Buddhist monks, and those protests were allowed to proceed until a renewed government crackdown in late September 2007. Some news reports referred to the protests as the Saffron Revolution. The exact number of casualties from the 2007 protests is not known, but estimates range from 13 to 31 deaths resulting from either the protests or reprisals by the government. Several hundred people were arrested or detained, many (but not all) of whom were released. In the event, Senior General Than Shwe remained in power until he retired in 2011 at age 78.
Terminology
The phrase "Saffron Revolution" connects the protests against Myanmar's military dictatorship to the saffron-coloured robes widely associated with Buddhist monks, who were at the forefront of the demonstrations. The robes of Burmese monks are similar to the color of whole saffron. While similar terms for protests had been used elsewhere for the process of gradual or peaceful revolution in other nations (see colour revolution), this seems to be the first time it has been associated with a particular protest as it was unfolding, and the international press seized upon the term in reporting on the Burmese protests. However, the idea that the monkhood is connected to specifically Burmese ideas about revolution has been argued by British academic Gustaaf Houtman, partly in critique of an alternative view held by a political scientist, that Gen. Ne Win's 1962 revolution was the only successful revolution in Burma. Burmese concepts of "revolution", however, have a much longer history and are also employed in many but not all monastic ordinations. The military government of Burma was called the State Peace and Development Council or the "SPDC" from 1988 to 2011.
History
Background Prior to the 2007 summer protests, there had been growing unease in the population regarding the economic situation due to stagnant economic growth and its ranking among the 20 poorest countries in the world according to the United Nations. Many, including the United Nations have blamed the economic problems on the leadership of the military junta and the proportion of national income spent on the armed forces. In late 2006, the cost of basic commodities began rising sharply in Burma, with rice, eggs, and cooking oil increasing by 30–40%. According to the UN, one in three children is chronically malnourished, government spending on health and education is among the lowest anywhere in the world, and the average income is below $300 a year. Living a privileged, parallel existence, Burma's military forces appear virtually a "state within a state", free from the economic insecurity that afflicts the rest of the country. Many of the high ranking army generals have become immensely rich, as witnessed in the video of the wedding of senior general Than Shwe's daughter, who is shown wearing diamonds worth many millions of dollars. According to the BBC, on 22 February 2007, a small group of individuals protested the high consumer prices in the country. While the protest was small and careful not to be seen as directed at the military junta, officials jailed nine of the protesters. It was the first street protest seen in Rangoon for at least a decade. Jeff Kingston, in his article "Burma's Despair" stated that "Despair and fear are immobilizing a people who yearn for a better life and have fruitlessly risked much for a better government." This shows how afraid the Burmese were to take action in 2007. Kingston also stated that "The earlier brutal crackdown of 1988-when at least three thousand protesters were killed and thousands more imprisoned and tortured-has burned a place in the collective memory." Some of the prominent or symbolic individuals who figured in these events included:
Senior General Than Shwe, Commander in Chief of the Myanmar Armed forces Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese opposition figure and Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1991, Kenji Nagai, Japanese photojournalist who was killed during the protests, Zarganar, Burmese comedian and protester U Gambira, a leader of the Buddhist monks in opposition.
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