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Ewan Hardie in conversation about his walk from Edinburgh to London as part of his Barefoot for Burma act of solidarity. 02

Ewan Hardie in conversation with Jack Adams discussing how he came to feel empathy for the Burmese people in their struggle for human and democratic rights. Ewan describes how the murder of monks in Burma moved him to act and show solidarity with the plight of the Burmese people. This led to Ewan walking from Edinburgh to London barefoot in an attempt to raise awareness of the loss of life and repression the Burmese people have suffered and still suffer today.

Extract from Ewan's Blog :

Following the news of the uprising in Burma last week, I along with many Burmese civilians, felt optimistic that the involvement of the monks presented a real possibility for a bloodless transition to democracy.

Photographs of thousands of monks in their saffron robes peacefully marching through the streets filled me with a sense of hope despite the threats that were being issued by the military junta. Something about their shaven heads and calm, resolute expressions made them appear to me the very embodiment of life and bravery. I found the images very beautiful.

It was therefore extremely difficult to learn on Thursday that they had been fired upon and beaten. I simply could not imagine how anyone could fire a gun into a crowd of monks. My heart was filled with grief at the thought that such brutality exists in the world. I also felt deeply frustrated that there was nothing more I could do than to sign a petition appealing to the Chinese to exercise their influence on the country’s leaders.

My radio alarm awoke me on Friday with yet more terrible news. An unknown number of monks and civilians had been murdered. The next news item was about a tailback on the M5, followed by the weather, followed by another cheerful (but not very good) pop song. It struck me that not only do we live in a world with brutality and horror, but it has become so common that we do not even pause to contemplate it. We are so used to hearing of human life needlessly wasted that it can be reported in the same breath as the traffic report without this seeming abnormal. We are numbed to tragedy so that it rarely penetrates deeper than our peripheral awareness.

In an attempt to dissuade the small number of British companies who trade with Burma to immediately halt, Anne Clywd, chair of the UK parliament’s all-party group on human rights, said “Nobody with any kind of morality should trade with Burma. Continuing trade is unacceptable.” Surely this applies equally to China, Burma’s most important trading partner, and the host to next years Olympic Games. I, for one, cannot see how such an event can take place in a country without “any kind of morality”. China is the only country with sufficient influence over the Burmese generals to bring about the change that is so desperately needed.

If you have not already signed the petition that I mentioned above please follow the link below.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_burma/t.php?cl=21493371