Palestine and my Burmese war story

Palestine and my Burmese war story.

A new unholy war in which a disarmed humanity, is forced to confront the most sophisticated armed mercenary forces, now lining up to shoot in that barrel filled with life which we call Gaza.

An active genocide of which the sponsors and facilitators, continue to call “alleged” the warcrimes and atrocities, even when the evidences and direct public statements of the war criminals, confirm their genocidal actions and premeditated nefarious intent.

As if sponsoring or covering up a Genocide would not constitute the crime of aiding and abetting Genocide, they continue with their campaign of hate and war crimes, thinking that they will be somehow spared from the consequences of what they are unleashing and trying to justify for to ultimately normalize.

Just like a bully, pretending to be right when what he or she is doing is absolutely wrong, continuing to massacre and maim innocents, fabricating excuses for trying to justify its warcrimes and atrocities, backed up by the viciousness of politicians put in power by propaganda and lies, and backed up by their mass media of propaganda of terror, they continue to bully their way through humanity, and will continue to do so till they are met with the same type of  viciousness and force which they enforce on all others.

That is the simple, but never changing attitude and posture of bullies, which as the atrophied brain of its kind, can not accept reality from any other prospective than its own one, and will continue to spread its bulling and horrors, till he is met with the brutality it as produced and unleashed on the rest.

And after 30+ years of teaching martial arts, and dealing also with some of the most bulling and  aggressive elements of society, I can reassure you that this is no theory but fact.

The bully must be humiliated, or else he will continue in its madness.

Only once the bully is humiliated at is own game, he or she will stop the bulling.

Here one more, if you give your other cheek to a bully, he will slap it harder than the first time he brutalized you.

That is because in the sick mind of the bully if you give the other cheek, he would be sure that you will not resist the bulling and take advantage,

So what to do?

Don’t let the bully hit you, and when he tries to hit you, hit him harder, and don’t stop till the bully is subdued.

Here I am talking in a figurative way, because bullism must always be confronted by legal action first, as an actual physical engagement which can result in serious injuries or worst is and must be always considered as the last resort, and only used when someone is physically attacked or  when no other alternatives are given.

Nevertheless, if someone is attacking you, like Tai-chi teaches, use the force of the aggressor, and turn it against him self, but most important, don’t let him hit you first.

We must stand strong in our commitments to peace and respect, as well as defend those who are not able to defend them selfs.

Here is one more.

Bruce lee told, with your enemies, you must be like water.

And I add, with the bullies, you must be like fire.

And here is one more.

I am like the bread, if I am nice and soft,  I’m good and feed the life, but if you make me hard, just like hard bread, I brake teeth.

(Other figure of speech, I broke someone teeth once, and felt very bad afterwords, also, to repair  the damage, costed me money as I eventually felt so bad that I payed to get his teeth fixed)

Anyhow you get my drift, peace is possible with peaceful people, bullies are not peaceful and must be dealt with the same coin they use.

A Burmese story.

Furthermore, I like to tell you about my personal experience as a paramedic in a war.

It was in the early 90s when I met a great Scottish guy, which had just returned from two years working as a free nurse in Burma.

He enchanted me with great stories of great places and beautiful and peaceful people, living under a dictatorship which considered its subjects as slaves, and the land and resources it’s personal property.

He told me of the kindness of the Burmese people and it’s freedom fighters, and how the a group called the Burma rangers, was in his opinion a cover entity, erected by foreigners for the control of the Burmese resistance. He also told me  how he managed to survive many of the incursions and attacks on the villages in which he worked, as well as how he was saved by the freedom fighters after one of the villages in which he was working came under bombardment by the myanmar  junta.

I was so taken by his stories that I decided that I also wanted to go there to work as a nurse or a doctor and without fighting, help the cause for the liberation of  Burma from its dictatorial military junta.

And so it was, after the season in India, I took a plane back to Thailand, from which I crossed the river and mines fields to reach the place I was told to go too by my friend.

After crossing the river and waking half a mile through the mines fields, I  was fortunately met by a group of farmers escorted by the armed resistance, which very pleased to see I did not blow my self up to get to them, guided me to their village.

Shortly after, some “then” unidentified nurse, was coming to meet me in the village.

He was accompanied by the Burmese rangers, he was a young and well spoken man which spoke with a strange accent, one which in all my years of traveling around the globe, I had never heard and could not recognize.

He would not tell me his name or from which country he was coming from, and the first thing which he tried to do, was to have me sign some papers to enlist me as a fighter for the Burmese rangers.

Then, after I refused his offer, and in kind, Made clear to him that I was not going to tell him my real name and country of birth, and after telling him that I would only work as nurse or first responder, and that I was there for the sole reason of “providing medical assistance to the villagers”, as well as I was not there to take part of any military operation or to join any armed force, he accepted my stand, and gave me the bag filled with medicines and gauzes he was carrying.

He then instructed me on the administration of antibiotics, “practically only medicines in the bag” and gave me a notebook an a pen to write on and keep as a log for the administration of the medicines I was to use.

He then told me that the rangers had spotted the movement of myanmar troops in the area, and that according to what they had learn, an attack on the villages was planned to take place after two days.

I was also told that some Rangers or some of the freedom fighters was going to arrive to the village the next day to guide the villagers to safety before the impending attack.

The conversation left me spooked and a bit in shock , I mean I did not trusted the guy for a second, fake accent, fake name, and typical attitude of an officer, there waring a freshly ironed white shirt,”in the middle of a freaking jungle”, and, anyway, acting too weird to be honest.

Never the less, I took the bag, and was brought around the village by a young guy which spoke a little Thai, and with which I could some how, through my bad Thai,  manage to communicate.

Fortunately, there was no serious injuries, many rotten teeth, and some typical tropical infections.

I then proceeded in writing down the details and names of my patients, for then dressing wounds and administrating the antibiotic.

I also remove a couple of teeth to alleviate the pain of a couple of older persons.

After my first day as a nurse and a dentist, I was shown the hut on which I was temporally going to live, for then being brought in the jungle, where I was shown a hole in the ground, which was made ready in case of an army incursion.

I was also explained that the villagers leave large baskets of fruits and vegetable next to sacks filled with water, always left outside of the hut, and that in case of an attack, I was to carrie as much food and water to the hiding place in which once in, I would have had to wait for 24 to 48 hours, before attempting to come out.

The hut was very nice, and was actually a full house, though only one room roughly divided in two

Many beds I think some 10 or 12, can’t quite remember, in the house was mainly the elders, and some mothers with their new born child on the other side of the wall

I remember of going to bed, and of thinking of the rude encounter with the mystery nurse, and I guess, restless from the buzz of this new reality, I was awake practically all night, but then I wasn’t, or at list for a second, I had fallen a sleep, to be woken up on the opposite side of the room, with my ears whistling and my harm covered in blood.

The sounds of explosions and that of the automatic guns firing, the images of horror and the fires burning all around me, I was petrified like a stone or a mountain.

And has I force my self awake from the shock, my young friend grabs my harm and pulls me up, I then rush to mothers and children and a grab the babies with one hand and a basket of bananas with the other and begin to run towards the hiding place, then I am jumping for the porch, my young friend tells me to drop the babies and go back to save the elders.

Which I didn’t, I dropped the bananas, gave him the babies, and told him to take them to safety, than went back and grabbed two of the older persons, for then running to the hole dragging also a basket of bananas and a sack of water.

There was no fighting, nobody in the village was armed, and no freedom fighters nor Rangers around.

It was a massacre, I took a second or third run to try to rescue some more and managed to pull out an other old woman who was in the hut next to mine, then run in the jungle to get to my designated hiding place, for then closing the hatch and in complete darkness, squeezed in with a dozen other people, begun to silently pray.

The air was thick, and smell of blood was overwhelming. I felt the hands around me , touching me with warmth and feeling me with hope, hope that I was in a safe place, and that this madness  was soon going to be over.

So I fell asleep, I had no watch and no possessions. I was wearing a lungi, which is basically a cloth, and a waist coat, no lighter not even a knife, my arm was a bit hurting but I soon discovered that most of the blood on me, was not mine.

I had something which looked like a part of someone else’s bone sticking out of my arm, but at list, I was sure it was not a piece of me.

I was actually really lucky because the person and bed which was in front of mine, had been shielding and pushing me away from the blast.

In the darkness I pulled out the thing which had stabbed me and with a piece of my lungi, I managed to rap around my wound well enough to stop the bleeding.

I then fell a sleep again, for then waking up in full panic mode.

The air was so thick, and smell of a dozen people squeezed in a hole and obviously without a toilet to go too, was horrific, also, no sounds was coming from the direction of the village, so I decided that I was going to take my chance, and come out from the hole.

So I did, closed back the hatch, I walked towards the village, after some meters, I realize that I was being followed.

So I turned around and in front of me two young soldiers carrying their rifles looking at me in shock.

In fact, they seamed to be more shocked of me, as they stood almost paralyzed as if they would have seen a giant king cobra or a ghosts.

They didn’t do or say anything, then one of them did something with his face, as if he was trying to say ho no, then I heard the sound of someone caulking a gun behind me, so I just lifted my arms, and turned around saying international, international, in the hope to avoid getting killed, I started my conversation with the man with the gun,  telling him that I probably got lost and that I had come from Thailand.

He then told me this is not Thailand, and that I had to follow him.

At the same time he was kicking the ground and searching for hiding holes, till he found one.

He uncovers the hatch and shot a couple of shots with his pistol in it, before I could some how manage to stop him.

I then made him understand that I wanted to shoot in the hole with his machine gun, to which He laughed, before handing me his 38 while keeping me under aim with his rifle.

I then proceeded in shooting a couple of rounds in the hole, trying to avoid killing anyone, till he lowered is rifle.

I was then pointing the gun at him and telling him to put his gun down.

The two boys soldiers behind me dropped their guns and jumped in the hole to help those hiding.

I then proceeded in tying the rohingya  officer,  and after finding out that the area was clear, and got everyone else out, we ventured through the ruins of the village in the search for survivors.

The two soldiers, which I was then explained they were boys kidnapped from a nearby village and forced to be soldiers by the myanmar army, told us that they were told to wait by our village for two or 3 days for the army to arrive, and that that operation was done for the cutting of the ancient trees in and around the village.

Shortly after, freedom fighters came to our rescue, and with them we begun a journey to safety.

With them was also one of the first freedom fighters I had encounter, which after earring how I disarmed the soldiers, begged me to become their leader.

He went on explaining, that every Burmese is Buddhist, and that they are not allowed to fire on the enemy, they can only fire back once they are engaged, and that was the reason why they could never win against the junta, till they find someone able to guide them to victory.

On the other side, the myanmar junta, hires rohingya and other non Buddhist minorities, which have no problem in massacring and torturing the Buddhists Burmese.

I once again told that I was not going to part in the military operations, and that in fact, I was going to help the villagers to get to the safe place before going back to Thailand.

Yes, I suddenly realize that I was risking my life, for people which had in those settings, no chance for survival.

So We gathered the villagers, and we begun our journey through jungle and mountains, till we came to a place, from which we could see in the distance 3  trucks, two carrying trees, and a military one caring the escort.

So they set up a place for to ambush the trucks,  and as they came through a gorge, I told to open fire by the tires of the trucks.

So we did, causing both drivers and soldiers, “with Chinese uniforms” to stop and jump out of their trucks, for then run like chickens and disappear in the jungle.

We then proceeded to block the road with the two larger trucks, for then burning  then 2 trucks and taking the military one.

And that only after I convinced them that it was not stilling to take a truck which belongs to your enemy.

At this point i was told that we were anyway so close to the safe village that I decided to say good by and return from the same road  from which I had arrived.

So back through the mines field, across the river, I went back to what had become my second home, sweet Thailand.

After the experience the most shocking thing I learned, was from the holy Burmese, as from them I learned the importance of our elders, to them even more precious than their own kids.

I will never  forget the beautiful faces, and the warmth of the Burmese people, just as I will never forget the horrors of the myanmar junta, as I have experienced them on my own skin.

Nor will I ever forget that the horrors of wars, are the manifestation of a reality manufactured by greed.

They say , Every war is a rich men war, I say, every war is a sick men war.

My experience, which more then 30 years on keeps me awake at night, is nothing when compared to the one of the people which are living in conflict areas, and it may seem like a fairground tour, when compared to the atrocities committed on the Palestinian population in 2023.

I have only experienced an attack which lasted probably less than one hour, Gaza is being bombed 24/7 since more then two months.

And on the matter of warcrimes and genocide.

Both of my grand parents, who was both magistrates, told me that the crime of genocide, is a crime which differs from all others.

It is so inhumane that it is a crime which can never be allowed to take place.

They explained that when a person as the proof that such a crime against humanity is being committed, becomes the duty of the observer to intervene by all means possible, and should ever occur that some corrupted politician, would ignore the evidences or incite the continuation of such atrocity, it would then be the duty of the people to march on the courts, police stations and parliament to demand the removal of who ever is inciting the genocide, and to demand military intervention to stop the genocide.

They both also agreed on the fact that it becomes a crime to define a genocide as probable, when the evidences are overwhelming.    

This is the case of Gaza which can be already defined as the next step of genocide and ethnocide, in which case the definition is that of the “Palestinian holocaust”.

This is insanity, and can not and must not be allowed to continue or to ever repeat it self.

Accountability is paramount, and as we are dealing with seriously armed thugs controlled by a rogue supremacist entity easily comparable to the perception we are given of the nazis, we must understand that sanctions and embargo would likely not be enough and certainly not fast enough to achieve the immediate resolve of all hostilities, hence war on Israel may be the only way to prevent the already announced displacement, destruction of the land, and extermination of the people of Gaza.

A special note, the number of the dead, now given, (around twenty one thousands,) is the number of the recovered bodies.

There is also over twenty eight thousands missing which we know of, but more likely this numbers which I brings the count to close to fifty thousands dead, is only a fraction of the real number, as so many massacres and destruction as occurred that we may never know how many have been murdered and pulverized by the illegal multiple strikes “on the same location” which have turned some building with all of those sheltering in it, into dust.

The genocidal campaign waged on the Palestinian people, must be brought to an end, and the monsters who have participated in its implementation or provided the  armaments for its actuation, must be tried for the crimes of Genocide, and crimes against humanity.

The genocide convention must be invoked, and army must be set marching to stop the genocide and disarm the terrorist entity.

Apartheid regimes, must be met with sanctions, isolation and rejection, and all acts of terror on an entire population, condemned and prosecuted by the international courts and tribunals, and backed up by the armed forces of all those countries which have chosen to uphold the principles of the international law.

Stop the Genocide in Gaza and in Palestine.

And as a message to those in political or military power, Stop the war on humanity, or be ready to be swallowed by the hate you are promoting.

End apartheid and Genocide NOW!