It is estimated that 100,000 may have died from the cyclone which struck Burma and a further 1.5 million are at risk. The media has been filled with reports of international denunciations of the ruling military junta in Burma, whose failure to allow a speedy delivery of aid to those affected has resulted in many unnecessary deaths.

The military junta delayed the delivery of international aid by severely restricting the movements of international aid workers and aid shipments desperately needed by those most affected by the cyclone’s destruction.

George W. Bush had the audacity to denounce the junta for their cold-hearted intransigence before himself going on to attach his own conditions to an offer of aid to those in immediate danger, including the granting of access to US "disaster assessment" teams to the country. The fact that US imperialism is attaching “conditions” to the provision of vital necessities to a population in turmoil, while being outrageous in itself, is an indicator of the motivation behind the "humanitarian" concerns of US and international elites for the plight of the Burmese masses. The powerful American elite that Bush represents, has important economic interests in the region, including involvement in oil drilling by Chevron off the Burmese coast. It is these interests, and not those of the exploited majority of Burmese society that Bush and his allies are concerned with.

The Burmese junta is a repressive, authoritarian regime with a history of violent suppression of movements that represent the interests of workers and poor, who make up the overwhelming majority of society.

After the shattering experience of the cyclone, ordinary people were left wondering what took the state’s powerful armed forces and police so long to begin aid and relief work, when they had been so quickly deployed against the mass uprising demanding democracy which took place last year. It seems that it is only when the interests of the privileged regime are threatened by the power of workers, peasants and young people that they feel the need to act fast and efficiently.
The junta has one thing in common with the Bush regime: its pre-occupation with the interests of international big business. The majority of Burmese people are subject to destitution and third-world living standards, a reality which stems from the systematic exploitation of labour and resources in Burma and other third world countries which fuels the super-profits of the international capitalist class.

Vast areas of the mangrove forest along Burma’s coast has been cleared by the junta in order to use the area for food production and tourism. Yet as a result of the loss of this valuable natural protection many more lives will have been lost. A study published in 2005 said mangrove forests helped save Sri Lankan villagers during the tsunami disaster. Researchers who compared the death toll from two villages in Sri Lanka that were hit by the devastating giant wavesfound that while two people died in the settlement with dense mangrove and scrub forest, up to 6,000 people lost their lives in a nearby village without similar vegetation!

This is but one illustration of the irrationality and inhumanity of an international system which puts profits over the needs and rights of ordinary people. Only a socialist society, in which the wealth and resources of Burma and South East Asia are used to improve the lives of the millions, not the millionaires can offer a genuine solution to the suffering of the Burmese people.