Aung San Suu Kyi and Las Hermanas Merabal
On the surface, there are a multitude of striking similarities between the Dominican Republic under the dictator Trujillo and the nation of Burma under the current military junta. The dominant political group of both nations used repression and extreme political control to maintain power. In both nations, opposition meant the threat of imprisonment and even death, both tools that were liberally utilized. In the Dominican Republic the opposition was figure headed by women, the Merabal sisters, while in Burma a woman, Aung San Suu Kyi, symbolizes the anti-dictatorial hopes of that nation. Here, however, the similarities end. The Dominican Republic’s Trujillo was eventually assassinated and his government removed from power. In contrast, Burma has experienced two popular uprisings, both ending in death and further repression. To comprehend why the anti-dictatorial movements of the Dominican Republic succeeded while those in Burma continue to fail, it is necessary to study the complex differences between their relative political systems, technologies, and the international political environment that impacts both nations.
Dominican Republic—History and the Rise of Trujillo
Hispanol, the island that would become both the Dominican Republic and Haiti, was discovered in 1492 by Christopher Columbus. Spain immediate colonized the Dominican Republic, where gold and other precious metals were found in small amounts. Of perhaps greater note is the Spanish treatment of the native population, the Taino “Indians,” as Columbus called them (Dominican Republic Guide). As with many cases of settlement in the new world, the native peoples were soon diminished to ever-shrinking numbers by disease and other factors. Over time Spanish control of the colony diminished and the French took control of part of the island using it for sugar plantations and as a major hub of the international slave trade. This section of Hispanol became known as Haiti (Dominican Republic Guide). The three cultures, native, European, and African slave melded into a people of “mixed European and African origins…the two heritages blend in the popular song and dance, the merengue” (BBC news Country Profile: Dominican Republic). As later discussions of ethnicity will reveal, however, the blending of cultures would not ensure equality of treatment or representation in the minority ethnic groups of this island nation.
Inspired by the French Revolution and other armed conflicts worldwide, the slaves of Haiti revolted, eventually taking over the Dominican Republic as well as their own nation. This rebellion was followed by a series of wars in which France, Spain, and finally the United States, took control of this island (Hartlyn 26, 27). Logically, such a series of conflicts would weaken the infrastructure of any nation, but especially that of a colonial holding, which had already switched allegiances once during the course of its early history. The Dominican people had developed an identity during these long years of warfare and wished to be independently ruled, to have true political sovereignty. It was the United States that would saddle the Dominican Republic with the worst ruler in its long history. Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina was “a military officer trained by the U.S. Marine Corps” (Haag 158). Trujillo “established his regime in 1930 with the approval of the United States, which had recently ended its occupation of the Dominican Republic and above all else desired stability in the region for economic and strategic reasons” (Haag 158). Although the US government approved Trujillo’s reign, it was a complex balance of factors that allowed this megalomaniac to remain in power.
One of Trujillo’s most clever actions as dictator was to cement his base of power carefully and thoroughly. According to Jonathan Hartlyn’s “The Struggle for Democratic Politics in the Dominican Republic, “the church was dramatically weakened during Haitian occupation…it was only under Trujillo that the church began to rebuild its wealth due to its close association with the dictator…extending rights and privileges to the church” (33). It is difficult, as a modern citizen of the United States, to understand the brilliance of Trujillo’s strategy in dealing with the Catholic Church. However, the Dominican Republic is predominantly Catholic in religious orientation (BBC news Country Profile: Dominican Republic). As was previously discussed, Trujillo already had the approval of the United States, which probably could have blocked his rise to power before it really began. Now he had taken control of the only major non-political infrastructure of the country—the church. In faithful communities, the subversive power of religious leaders cannot be overstated. If the church had disapproved of Trujillo’s rule from the beginning, it would have spread this message to parishioners, forcing Trujillo to use outright and violent repression. The country likely would have been swallowed in civil war rather than submitting to the subtle manipulations of their own dictator. However, Trujillo had cemented his political position brilliantly. Furthermore, the military dictator was cheered for his ability to accumulate wealth. “Within two decades, Trujillo had paid off the nation’s foreign debts, developed a national infrastructure, and laid the groundwork for economic development by promoting industrialization” (Hall 14). Trujillo worked immediately to create a modern nation out of a former colony, to create a Dominican identity, a nationalistic cornerstone for his regime. Many Dominicans, especially those of the small economic elite, respected Trujillo, at least at first after his rise to power.
This regime, however, had a much more sinister side. Ethnic differences and tensions had existed within the Dominican Republic since the time of Columbus, as previously discussed. Although some aspects of culture had melded, such as song in the case of the merenge, there were still sharp divides between ethnicities. Trujillo took advantage of the tensions between ethnic groups to cement his own power structure. According to Richard Lee Turitus’s “A World Destroyed, A Nation Imposed: The 1937 Haitian Massacre in the Dominican Republic,” the Dominican-Haitian border was peopled with small farmers of Haitian and Dominican background, living in relative harmony (589-591). Playing to the “racist opposition of elite Dominicans to the bicultural conditions of the Dominican frontier,” Trujillo ordered the execution of thousands of ethnic Haitians in the border regions (600). There is some debate about Trujillo’s true motives in ordering this mass killing, and other executions over the course of his regime. Some, like Turitus, suggest that he was simply playing to the desires of the racist elites. Perhaps this measure was a logical outgrowth of establishing a nationalistic identity. One symptom of forced nation-building is the eliminating all of the outlying peoples that might claim citizenship within the nation. Trujillo, with his propensity to gather wealth, currying favor with the upper class and endorsing a national religion, while eliminating divergent populations, was, by this definition, an authoritarian state builder.
Burmese History and Politics
Burma has a similar colonial history to that of the Dominican Republic, although much simpler and more brief. Burma has a long history of empire and self-rule, although it was concurred by the British Empire in 1824 (CIA World Factbook). Life was not easy under British rule. Perhaps the most illustrative description of this period in Burmese history comes from the political leader Aung San Suu Kyi, herself. She writes that “The economy and people were exploited, and profits mainly enriched British and other foreign interests. The British moved tens of thousands of troops into Burma to quell revolutionary uprisings. Missionaries arrived to attempt to convert the overwhelmingly Buddhist population to Christianity, finding moderate success in a few ethnic minority groups, in particular the Karens” (qtd in Koistinen 349). To give this statement context, it is vital to remember that although “the largest group is the Burman people…Burman dominance over Karen, Shan, Rakhine, Mon, Chin, Kechin, and other minorities has been the source of considerable ethnic tension…”(BBC News Country Profile: Burma). As seen in the case of the Dominican Republic, ethnic tensions and the cruelty of dictators seeking scapegoat targets for destruction are inexorably linked.
Burma continued to be ruled by the British until it came to be considered as part of India in the lat 1940s (CIA: The World Factbook). Logic would dictate that this nation, like the Dominican Republic would experience an increasing wish for a return to self-rule as time continued to pass. However, when independence did come, it was not passed into the hands of the people. Instead, “since 1962, Burma has been ruled by an oppressive military junta that claims legitimacy through Buddhism” (Friedman 23).
The claim of Burma’s military leaders to the legitimate rule of Buddhism is significant. Burma is 89% Buddhist (CIA: The World Factbook). Like General Trujillo, who cemented his base of power by currying favor with the Catholic Church, the Generals of Burma’s military junta attempt to use the symbolism of the dominant religion to control the minds of the people. In a country as poor as Burma has become, it is vital to remember the incessant power of religion in daily life. Since breaking with the British Empire, and even during its colonial experience, Burma has suffered from extremes of poverty and daily hardships. Any government wishing to control the practices of the people and prevent revolution must find a method to control and give outlet to the negative aggressions of the people. Fear as a method of rule is an inarguably powerful tool, but fear will only take a ruler so far in exercising his or her will. A people must have hope to be able to continue with daily life—otherwise the chance of change through revolution outweighs the probability of violent death in challenging the military authorities. In Burma, the military junta has attempted to use the Buddhist religion to inspire hope, and therefore obedience, in the minds and hearts of the Burmese people.
Whenever a national figure rules through fear and death, leaders will arise to resist their claims to power. However, their own individual leadership styles sometimes matter less than the political systems already in place within their nation. In the context of the Dominican Republic, any resistance seemed doomed to fail against the power of Trujillo. Yet, as select few did resist. Among the leadership of the Dominican Republic’s anti-dictatorial movement are the Mirabal sisters. “Born into a family of landowners, the four Mirabal sisters—Patria, Minerva, Maria Teresa, and Dede—grew up in a highly conservative and sheltered atmosphere” (Haag 158). Given that Trujillo courted the good graces of the upper class, at least at first, it is surprising that these particular individuals would be involved in a movement to undermine this ruler’s claim to power.
The Mirabal’s resistance to Trujillo began because of an intensely personal experience. Minerva, “at age 22, having turned down sexual overtures from Trujillo…was jailed and banned from continuing her law studies” (Haag 159). Various casual way in which the crime of defying the physical wishes of Trujillo suggests that the practice of entering into physical relationships with young women was a fairly common one during his regime. Thus, with Minerva’s imprisonment, a relationship of mutual hate between the sisters and the dictator began.
Surprisingly little data survives about the sisters’ underground activities with the resistance movement. It is notable that Minerva spent her time under arrest “painting watercolors and writing poetry about the suffering endured by the exploited poor of her country” (Haag 159, 160). In many ways Minerva, growing up in her sheltered, upper class environment, is a case study for other upper-class Dominicans. If she was aware of the problems of exploitation and poverty, others within her social strata also had to be aware that such conditions existed within their society. What is known about the sisters is that “by 1960, Patria, Minerva, Maria Teresa, and their husbands has become thoroughly enmeshed in the growing anti-Trujillo resistance movement that began to sweep the Dominican Republic” (Haag 160).
Understandably, but frustratingly, little information survives about the methodology of the underground movement against Trujillo. Trujillo was, however, relentless in his persecution of all resistance, “Inside the jails, his well-bred prisoners—doctors, engineers, sons of government officials, university professors, industrialists—were systematically humiliated by being stripped, handcuffed and tossed into communal cells” (Bishop’s Warning). As in many other repressive regimes, it was the intellectuals of society that suffered the direct punishment’s of Trujillo’s enforcers. Although Trujillo had at first established a strong base of power, he lost support over time from both the upper class and the church. As his rule was drawing to a close, Trujillo “sent his Foreign Minister hurrying off to the Vatican in an attempt to turn off church opposition” (Bishop’s Warning). It was clear, from direct observation, that the repression of Trujillo was failing, but it would take a significant flashpoint to finish this dictator’s rule once and for all.
Perhaps the most vital question about the Mirabal sisters is, if so little concrete information is widely available about their activities, how is their leadership in the resistance movement more significant than that of other members of their anti-dictatorial movement? The answer to this question lies not in the lives of the Mirabal sisters, but in their deaths. “Incensed by the opposition of these three attractive women who he would have preferred as bedroom conquests, Trujillo instructed Johnny Abbes, in the second week of November, to ‘terminate the Mirabal problem’” (Diederich 69). The solution to this problem was to entice the sisters into journeying to visit their husbands and friends in prison. On the road to Trujillo’s jail, the sisters were ambushed and beaten to death by Trujillo’s men, their bodies thrown over a nearby cliff (Haag 160, 161). The murder was easily traceable to Trujillo’s doorstep, and the backlash was significant. “The cowardly killing of three beautiful women had a greater effect…than most of Trujillo’s other crime…the Mirabals’ murder tempered the resolution of the conspirators plotting his end (Diederich 71, 72). In a mere two months, Trujillo lay dead from an assassin’s bullet (Haag 161). Little scholarly information about the sister’s leadership practice within the resistance movement is available for study, however, they were undoubtedly powerful forces within their society. Although Trujillo’s empire began to crumble when he lost the support of the church, and of international forces, it took the death of three sisters to truly finish his regime. Martyrdom is a powerful force, and many people who would not normally have had the courage to openly resist Trujillo did so because of the Mirabals’ sudden and tragic deaths. Therefore, the Mirabal sisters led through self-sacrifice. They were symbols for the people of the Dominican Republic—it was their deaths, more than their lives, which inspired revolutionary fervor in their people.
The case of Burma and the rise of Aung San Suu Kyi to political power is one of undeniable complexity. Against a military junta that controls almost every aspect of life, Aung San Suu Kyi stands, as the Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic, as a symbol of sacrifice, even martyrdom. Although Suu Kyi did not die for her people, she did give her life for them. Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of a Burmese national hero. It was Aung San, her father, who helped secure final Burmese freedom from the British Empire (Koistinen 349). Although she lived away from Burma for some time, she returned to her nation to care for her dying mother. It was a time of extreme political unrest, a Aung San Suu Kyi was adopted by the resistance movement as the obvious heir to her father’s political work for the freedom of the Burmese people. She left her husband and family in Great Britain to continue to work against the military junta in Burma (Koistinen 349). During the early part of her political career, and on and off ever since, Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest. The home is not a pleasant one, “the rooms are mostly bare, and whatever furniture had not been sold…to buy food while she was under house arrest is old and worn” (Victor 31). Aung San Suu Kyi is indeed a powerful symbol for the Burmese people. Although she had created a life for herself in Great Britain, she left it behind to become a political activist for the Burmese people. There are few individuals on the international stage who could not feel respect for a leader willing to sacrifice for her country. Indeed, Aung San Suu Kyi once won the Nobel Peace Prize, gaining international recognition for her bravery in trying to participate in the public sphere of Burma (Broughton 11). Public political work against a repressive military force is anything but easy. Unlike the Mirabal sisters, who work within an underground movement to undermine the rule of Trujillo, Aung San Suu Kyi is very public with her support for democracy. She once said
“We must make democracy the popular creed. We must try to build up a free Burma in
accordance with such a creed. If we should fail to do this, our people are bound to
suffer … Democracy is the only ideology which is consistent with freedom. It is also the
only ideology that promotes and strengthens peace. It is therefore the only ideology we
should aim for.” (qtd in Koistinen 351).
This rhetoric is powerful and well-organized. It is clear that this political figure is speaking to the thoughts and wishes of her audience. The strength of her language is that she is showing the courage to speak the words that the common people cannot. In all actuality, Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy has the support of the people, winning a landslide victory in a 1990 election organized by the military junta (CIA World Factbook).
The real question is not one of Aung San Suu Kyi’s leadership abilities. Like the Mirabal sisters, Aung San Suu Kyi is considered a figure in opposition to dictatorial rule. However, unlike the Mirabals, Aung San Suu Kyi is a public figure, working overtly to overcome the unfair political progress. Instead of engaging in subversive activites, Suu Kyi has attempted to bring the plight of her people onto the international stage. The real question is this: why has the anti-dictatorial movement in Burma met with such extreme failure?
A case study vital to understanding why the military junta has not been removed from power is the recent protests in October of 2007. In this situation, Buddhist monks, powerful voices in a society in which religion is so ingrained, lead a massive protest against the government (Friedman 23). The aftermath to their peaceful march for human rights was “a scene of utter horror…local residents…told of soldiers lining up monks one by one, bashing their heads against the brick monastery walls until they were lifeless” (Friedman 23). The protest was followed by a social crackdown to accompany the deaths. In Burma “telephones…are tapped…but the lines are also cut intermittently, without warning…The chief censorship body of the media is the Press Scrutiny Board….which censors all references within the country to poverty, bravery and corruption” (Victor 12). Burma is not a free nation, paid spies imprison anyone who had “complained or talked against the SLORC (Burmese military government)” (Victor 14).
In joining with the monks to combat the government, the Burmese people lost what little freedom that they had. The US and EU spoke out against the violence and repression, but “neither the US or EU have significant influence on the country’s leadership” (BBC News Q&A: Protests in Burma). For now, it seems, neither internal religious resistance nor external pressures will change the form of government. It is no wonder then, that a imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner who speaks eloquently against the current regime is such a powerful symbol to her people. As a leader, Aung San Suu Kyi has given up a life with her husband and children to live under house arrest within her nation, imprisoned by a political party that lost a popular election to her own party. Whenever the Burmese speak out against the government, they are imprisoned, perhaps even killed, as seen in the case of the monks. However, the government cannot kill Aung San Suu Kyi without causing a popular uprising that would overthrow their rule, in spite of massive loss of life. Therefore, although Aung San Suu Kyi is imprisoned, she can speak while others are silenced. She is truly a symbol of her people. In the words of one Burmese taxi driver, “the Lady is Burma…she encompasses the hopes and dreams of the people” (Victor 27).
By extensively analyzing the colonial histories of the Dominican Republic and Burma, one can discover the divergent paths of two relatively similar colonial nations. It is an interesting case study to view two dictators rising out of a colonial past. In both cases, the authoritarian rulers became paranoid and violent, leading to widespread repression, yet the imperative difference is in the degree of repression. Trujillo repelled all resistance, such as the subversive movements of the Mirabal sisters, with outright violence. Violent repression has a limited effectiveness before armed rebellion appears safer to the individual than life under the repressive regime. Once this threshold is crossed, as seen in the murder and subsequent martyrdom of the Mirabal sisters, violent resistance ensues and the regime is generally overthrown. The methodology of Burma’s military junta is much more subtle and difficult to combat. Because daily life is so thoroughly controlled, the people of the nation are afraid to be subversive, afraid to resist in any way. Dissenters are imprisoned quickly and silently—this inspires not fear of death, but fear of disappearance into a forgotten obscurity. In addition, the government of Burma allows the people to have hope. Their leader, though under arrest, remains a public figure. Aung San Suu Kyi gives the people an outlet, therefore reducing open resistance. The junta is smart enough not to make her a martyr—making Aung San Suu Kyi a symbol of both hope for a better future and continued repression. Understanding the test cases of the Merabal sisters and Aung San Suu Kyi are vital to comprehending the forces that allowed the Dominican Republic to break free from dictatorship while Burma remains under repression. However, to understand and perhaps prevent, further dictatorial governments, it is vital to understand the histories of these two nations and the forces that allowed their repressive regimes to come to power. Only by comprehending both the history of repressive regimes and the combatants against these governments can one gain a full body of knowledge about the rise and fall of repressive regimes.
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