In shadow of Olympics, Myanmar mourns failed '88 uprising

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

BANGKOK (AFP) — As China celebrates the start of the Olympics on Friday with much fanfare, activists in neighbouring Myanmar will silently mourn the bloody end of an uprising that crushed their dreams of democracy 20 years ago.

In August 1988, cities and villages across the country then known as Burma were bursting with optimism.

The military dictator Ne Win had just stepped down after decades of iron-fisted rule, and Burma was inspired by a prophecy that it would become a free nation on August 8 -- known as 8-8-88.

Students who had already protested for almost a year against Ne Win's socialist government called for a national uprising on the auspicious date, drawing activists, Buddhist monks, and even young military cadets into the streets clamouring for...