Not Twittering but CBoxing the saffron revolution

Twitter might be the trendy kid on the microblogging market, but it’s CBox that’s getting used. Here’s a ‘live’ sampling,

28 Sep 07, 17:43
Ko Hla: Protesters are shouting slogan on 33rd street (between 83rd and 84th Street) in Mandalay.
28 Sep 07, 17:40
forthecountry: Myanmar PM Soe Win is well in SG hospital. http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/STIStory_162156.html
28 Sep 07, 17:38
Ko Hla: Now, 300 students are protesting in TaMwe Township
28 Sep 07, 17:37
Ko Hla: Burmacat: I saw one man was beaten to death by riot-police, which is on CNN breaking news. They got this footage a couple of hours ago.
28 Sep 07, 17:35
Ko Hla: Burmese in Singapore will be gathering at Burmese Buddhist Temple in Toa Payoh to pray for monks and people in Myanmar.
28 Sep 07, 17:28
forthecountry: telephone massage;Mr.Gambari will arrive to Myanmar about 9pm tonight (yet to confirm)
28 Sep 07, 17:26
Ko Hla: In some quarters in Yangon, youngsters are blocking roads to stop the military to coming in and preparing to defend attacks from the military.
28 Sep 07, 17:15
Ko Hla: A Group of protesters are facing with the military group at East Gate of MahaMuni Pagoda in Mandalay City.
28 Sep 07, 17:07
forthecountry: 14:35 – MizzimaBurmese.com: Police took away a red fighting peacock flag, from students, at the end of 27th Street.
28 Sep 07, 17:04
forthecountry: Heard that some internet conections are back. But might be interrupted or monitered. Local users, be cautious. link

With the internet cut off in Burma, services that marry the web, IM and mobiles – like Cbox and Twitter – are perhaps coming into their own.
UPDATE: Niknayman is using Cbox mostly in Burmese. Plus Global Voices have more background – which I missed earlier 🙂

Information flow out of the country has been strictly monitored and even the amateur photographers are warned to be very careful as the Junta is hunting down the sources.
Numbers of blog posts have been reduced tremendously these days; nevertheless it’s very encouraging to see that some freedom bloggers are still in contact with the outside world and are working their best to keep the world up-to-date with latest Myanmar news.
Among them Niknayman excelled in the usage of CBox (blog comment box) facility to report live news of Burma activities. http://niknayman.cbox.ws/ is been viewed by thousands of visitors 24/7 and is one of the main source of news for overseas Myanmar. Usefulness and popularity of his CBox is growing rapidly and some of them created a clone English version CBox http://burmanews.cbox.ws/ for internationalization. link

UPDATE: Burma is blacked out now according to Nyein Chan Yar,

Internet cafes were closed down. Both MPT ISP and Myanmar Teleport ISP cut down internet access in Yangon and Mandalay since this morning. The Junta try to prevent more videos, photographs and information about their violent crackdown getting out. I got a news from my friends that last night some militray guys searched office computers from Traders and Sakura Tower building. Most of the downtown movement photos were took from office rooms of those high buildings. GSM phone lines and some land lines were also cut out and very diffficult to contact even in local. GSM short message sending service is not working also. Burma is blacked out now! link

UPDATE: The Power of nine opens up the astrological, superstitious conspiracy gates,

Yesterday’s (2009-09-27) protests in Myanmar highlight the power of number nine in Myanmar popular superstition:
Day: 27 = 2 + 7 = 9
Month: 9
Year: 2007 = 2 + 7 = 9
Number of reported deaths: 9 link via Irrawaddy on newsblog

There’s more here.
UPDATE: Karen Percy – like most foreign correspondents in the region – is left to pontificate from across the border in Thailand,

But, Karen, I gather that some information, even with the internet down, is starting to leak out?
KAREN PERCY: Yes, we’re starting to get some stories come across the wires. New video has also appeared. CNN has just showed some video. It is from yesterday, but apparently we are … there has been some way that the various people who’ve been feeding out information have been able to get around these restrictions.
We’re in fact hearing that shots have been fired in Rangoon. We cannot confirm this at this stage. There are reports of hundreds or thousands, depending on who you believe, of crowds in the city, but we do know that also, going on what has happened in the past couple of days, that the security forces will be on the lookout for anybody breaching the various bans that the Junta has put on on gatherings and the like.
We are also hearing, via some internet websites, that troops are on their way to the city, troops … divisions from central Burma are on their way to Rangoon.
Now, there is an extraordinary … some speculation going on. In fact, a couple of these divisions may well be preparing to retaliate against the troops who are already in Rangoon.
I do stress this is unconfirmed, it is speculation, but I will also say that a lot of the rumours and speculation that we have heard over this past week or so have turned out to be true, but I will still caution, I guess, what is going on there. We’re also hearing of military aircraft activity.
So there’s certainly a sense that the Junta, there’s activity, military activity, and the protesters are active again today. So confrontation of some sort is inevitable. link

UPDATE: Burma-Myanmar Genocide is a blog with up to the minute reports from Burma. Latest sample below,

28 Sep 07, 22:20 – This picture on the top right is part of the human brain of a young boy attacked by Burmese SPDC soldiers at Tarmwe Township, Yangon yesterday. Riot police were not using rubber-coated rods. They were using heavy iron rods instead, which broke the skull, putting the young man to the end on the spot. This photo was taken after the dead body was taken away by the notorious Burmese soldiers.
28 Sep 07, 21:40 – SoneSeaYar: Junta destroying all murder evidences. Tyrant Than Shwe’s SPDC soldiers are now destroying their murder evidences like they did in 1988. Eye witnesses reported that Toyota Dyna (number plate: Da-7270) carried many dead bodies, and dropped them in the Yangon River today. After every shooting, they ordered workers, seemed to be prisoners, to collect bullet shells to clean up their mess and evidence. All of this prove to be a “genocide”, a systematic extermination of people with democratic beliefs. link

UPDATE: CNN highlights the use of satellite imagery to track alleged abuses, relocations and the like in Burma. War is boring has more.
UPDATE: The Cbox feed has some intriguing rumours and facts,

29 Sep 07, 01:43
Admin: Go to this link for more details http://www.newsdeskspecial.co.uk/burma/
29 Sep 07, 01:43
Admin: Military sources in Rangoon are claiming that the regime’s number two, General Maung Aye (right), has staged a coup against Than Shwe, and that his troops are now guarding Aung San Suu Kyi’s home. A meeting between him and Suu Kyi is expected. Maung Aye is army commander-in-chief and a renowned pragmatist.
29 Sep 07, 01:18
Admin: URGENT : From internal source: It is heard that the junta has set a plot to assassinate the most senior venerable monks (Sanga Maha Naryaka) tonight as if it is done by the monks involved in the protest.
29 Sep 07, 01:17
Admin: From internal source: It is heard that the junta has set a plot to assassinate the most senior venerable monks (Sanga Maha Naryaka) tonight as if it is done by the monks involved in the protest. link

UPDATE: 21:38 Paris time – Video round up report of the day from the aforementioned Karen Percy. Some more tear gas scenes possibly also from today.
UPDATE: 21:58 Paris time – Ko htike updates with photos of a bloodied body in Burma.
UPDATE: 22:09 Paris time – Democratic voice of Burma says,

Soldiers have used slingshots to disperse demonstrations in Rangoon today, which have been less organised than on previous days.
Chants from the protestors have taken on a different tone from earlier messages of goodwill, with protestors calling for lightning to strike and kill those who had attacked monks.
“Before they were chanting metta, but now they are cursing the soldiers,” said a local resident. link