Real power comes from service

real power

Governments get their legitimacy from service to the people says Cardinal Charles Bo.

“Real power, as Pope Francis often cited, comes from service. Not imposing power on the innocents,” the Myanmar cardinal said recently in a homily.

“For any government, in any just country, the government is not above the people.

“The government is one eye, the people the other eye. Two eyes and one vision.

“A nation built on justice. Anything else is idolatry.”

The cardinal mourns Mynmar, which was born with the great dream of peace and prosperity for all.

“Yet powerful people diluted this ideal. Created their own idols: power, possessions, extreme wealth at any cost, economic injustice, environmental injustice,” he said.

“For the last seven decades, idol worshippers have robbed the ideal of a nation built on peace and prosperity for all.

“A dream became a nightmare.”

Bo also spoke of the agony of the 1000-plus civilian deaths in the coup-hit country during the last six months.

“We have seen the selfish interests of a few, seeking the bread that perishes, [… robbing] millions of their bread of peace, their bread of life, their bread of prosperity.”

His comments highlight the background of turmoil besetting Myanmar since Aung San Suu Kyi’s administration was ousted in a February coup. Her removal has sparked huge pro-democracy protests and a bloody military crackdown.

Last Friday a Myanmar shadow government began working to overthrow the junta by launching a daily radio programme; first steps seeking to battle military-backed media for supremacy over the airwaves.

The twice-daily 30-minute radio programme went on air providing Covid-19 updates, details of alleged military atrocities and reading out letters from democracy supporters.

Another section was dedicated to local self-defence forces that have sprung up across Myanmar to battle junta forces — often using hunting rifles or weapons manufactured at makeshift jungle factories.

Security forces have killed more than 1,000 civilians since the February putsch, a monitoring group said Wednesday.

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