We have cancelled a long-planned trip to Myanmar as the GF has to save his leave for trips back to the UK that are an unfortunate necessity these days. I was very much looking forward to a journey through the country, but am relieved also not to be going. It seems very wrong with the Rohingya business.
Horrific as that is, I feel rather smug about the surprise that many seem to feel about Aung San Suu Kyi’s position; I was always rather sceptical about her. It’s hard as a Pakistani to trust a political leader in opposition, imprisoned or in exile, when she is attached to a political dynasty. The ‘she’ is very relevant here, I think.
I finished Orwell’s Burmese Days and emerged displeased, though not surprised, that it’s not as well known as Animal Farm and 1984. Displeased as it’s a good book and as excoriating about colonialism as the other two about other matters. Unsurprised as surely we’re all past colonialism, yadda yadda, it wasn’t us, we were as downtrodden as the natives. And then, the American adoption of his works against authoritarianism is one of the reasons they are so well known. Colonialism, as something the US and its allies are complicit in, is obviously a less popular target.
Among the many things I thought curious about it was how differently colonised cultures are seen, and this is a very recent change. In the book the accepted way for the English to regard local language, culture, dance, clothing, beauty, religious practice, music, etc is with contempt and lack of understanding. Today, even the most package tour tourist has some form of respect for precisely all of these, even if there is no interest or affinity. Strange how that which is considered repellant changes to become desirable in only a generation or two.