The recent images of Burmese oppression in newspapers and on the television were shocking. And we can only imagine what has happened away from the cellphone cameras of Burma's brave citizen journalists in the regime's prisons and back streets.
But there is a danger, now the military crackdown has stopped the daily protests and damned much of the flow of news, that the story goes away as election fever grips this country.
Yet this is the time when we must step up the pressure. Otherwise the generals will not only win, but will not even have been weakened.
On Saturday, trade unions, faith groups and NGOs will be showing solidarity with the Burmese people in a demonstration that will start by Tate Britain on London's Millbank at noon, and march to Trafalgar Square.
Unions will be marching not just because we support human rights and democracy, but to show solidarity with the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB). The Burmese military regime is propped up by the denial of all the core labour standards of the International Labour Organisation. Forced and child labour, discrimination at work, repression of collective bargaining and the right to join a trade union are systematic.
The news of marches in London and elsewhere will get through to the people of Burma and show that they are not alone, but will not be enough on their own to stop repression and dictatorship.
Governments, including the EU, and consumers need to put the squeeze on those companies still trading with Burma.
Nobel prize-winner (and more importantly the winner of Burma's most recent election) Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour were used to develop many tourist facilities.
This week, BBC Worldwide boughy Lonely Planet, which has for years urged people to holiday in Burma. I have written to the CEO of BBC Worldwide asking him to ensure that Lonely Planet stops advocating such tourism.
The Burma Campaign UK has published a dirty list of companies doing business with Burma - in oil, tourism or teak. The international and Burmese trade union movements want these companies to break their links with Burma. Such boycotts are backed by the Burmese people.
Governments also need to work through the UN to find a diplomatic solution - it's a tortuous process, but it needs our support. It's not, as some have suggested, an alternative to economic action, but should build on that.
The events in Burma over the last two weeks have been tragic, but the most tragic aspect of them has been that the Burmese have been suffering for so long.
We need to take action and we need the Burmese people - who will in the end be the ones who restore democracy and free their country - to know that we stand with them in solidarity.
