An expert on Burma affairs, retired Rutgers University professor Josef Silverstein, said the monks' post-storm mobilization is consistent with beliefs of Buddhist in the country.
"These beliefs didn't disappear because the military hit them over the head last year," he said by telephone. "The monks are angry and they're seeing that no one else is stepping forward" to lead relief efforts—or political opposition.
A Rangoon monk—one of a dozen interviewed by The Associated Press—said it was impossible to "close our eyes to a government that cares so little for the people that it allows them to suffer and die." He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the intense government scrutiny of monks and the sensitivity of discussing anti-government action in this tightly controlled nation.
His monastery has collected and distributed truckloads of blankets, tarpaulins and food to storm survivors. And, like hundreds of other monasteries throughout Burma's storm-struck southwest, it also became a temporary shelter for those who lost their homes.
Short and wiry with fiery eyes, the monk spoke in hushed but urgent tones as he blamed the ruling generals for failing to adequately warn people of the cyclone, which killed at least 78,000 and left an additional 56,000 missing.
He also blamed government restrictions on foreign aid and humanitarian workers for putting millions of survivors at risk of starvation and disease.
"As monks, it's our responsibility to fight for a change," said the monk, as he fingered a scar that he said came from a melee with authorities during last September's crackdown.
He displayed part of a secret cache, consisting of a half-dozen slingshots, and said he was working with monks in several cities to collect more weapons for storage at other secret locations. Most of them were rudimentary devices patched together from everyday objects such as bamboo rods and bicycle spokes and chains, he said, declining to give numbers and other details for security reasons.
The extent of the weapons gathering could not be independently confirmed.
But other monks interviewed in Rangoon and Mandalay said they had heard of colleagues building weapons stashes, though they stressed they were not hoarding weapons themselves.
Monks are also trying to obtain guns to make any clashes "less one-sided," said the Rangoon monk.
At least 31 people were killed when troops opened fire on demonstrators in Rangoon last year, according to the United Nations.
The "Saffron Revolution," which took its name from the color of the monks' traditional robes and began as a protest against high prices, was the largest show of dissent against the military regime in nearly two decades.
The junta's response was swift and stern. Monks were dragged from their monasteries in overnight raids, beaten, tortured and imprisoned, monks and human rights groups say. An unknown number remain behind bars, while many fled into exile. Those who stayed kept a low profile.
"These beliefs didn't disappear because the military hit them over the head last year," he said by telephone. "The monks are angry and they're seeing that no one else is stepping forward" to lead relief efforts—or political opposition.
A Rangoon monk—one of a dozen interviewed by The Associated Press—said it was impossible to "close our eyes to a government that cares so little for the people that it allows them to suffer and die." He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the intense government scrutiny of monks and the sensitivity of discussing anti-government action in this tightly controlled nation.
His monastery has collected and distributed truckloads of blankets, tarpaulins and food to storm survivors. And, like hundreds of other monasteries throughout Burma's storm-struck southwest, it also became a temporary shelter for those who lost their homes.
Short and wiry with fiery eyes, the monk spoke in hushed but urgent tones as he blamed the ruling generals for failing to adequately warn people of the cyclone, which killed at least 78,000 and left an additional 56,000 missing.
He also blamed government restrictions on foreign aid and humanitarian workers for putting millions of survivors at risk of starvation and disease.
"As monks, it's our responsibility to fight for a change," said the monk, as he fingered a scar that he said came from a melee with authorities during last September's crackdown.
He displayed part of a secret cache, consisting of a half-dozen slingshots, and said he was working with monks in several cities to collect more weapons for storage at other secret locations. Most of them were rudimentary devices patched together from everyday objects such as bamboo rods and bicycle spokes and chains, he said, declining to give numbers and other details for security reasons.
The extent of the weapons gathering could not be independently confirmed.
But other monks interviewed in Rangoon and Mandalay said they had heard of colleagues building weapons stashes, though they stressed they were not hoarding weapons themselves.
Monks are also trying to obtain guns to make any clashes "less one-sided," said the Rangoon monk.
At least 31 people were killed when troops opened fire on demonstrators in Rangoon last year, according to the United Nations.
The "Saffron Revolution," which took its name from the color of the monks' traditional robes and began as a protest against high prices, was the largest show of dissent against the military regime in nearly two decades.
The junta's response was swift and stern. Monks were dragged from their monasteries in overnight raids, beaten, tortured and imprisoned, monks and human rights groups say. An unknown number remain behind bars, while many fled into exile. Those who stayed kept a low profile.
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