It’s all over the place, the Times, Youtube, even flickr has a program for this most auspicious day 8808. Well we’re stealing a little bit of the thunder over here too, or rather redirecting that global spirit of unity for good.

You might not have known, but 8808 is also the 20-year anniversary of the 8-8-88 student massacre by Burma’s military leaders in Rangoon. Why care? Because the country’s currently lead by your typical maniacale, paranoid, crazy dictator Senior General Than Shwe, head of the self name “State Peace and Development Council” (SPDC… creapy).

Since 1988, he’s kept Burma one of the poorest countries in the world, locked down free press and free speech and has uses systematic rape, torture, summary execution and disappearances to control the people. (The Scarlet revolution and cyclone Nagaris are just two more recent and extreme examples of the regime’s amazing disregard for the people of Burma).

So we figured we might try celebrating the Olympics a little differently, by helping the Global Justice Center unite the many activists that have mobilized around the issue of Burma in the past year through a set of events to launch a campaign calld B8 Justice for Burma.

By uniting we mean bringing people together in London, Delhi, NY and SF, and by many activists, we mean thousands of supporters, politicians, human rights leaders, monks and you.

The goal: get the junta outta there–specifically by reffering the situation in Burma to the International Criminal Court to hold the SPDC accountable for criminal actions against the people of Burma.

It’s a tall order, but the good people (and lawyers) at the Global Justice Center are on it and the events and here to kick it off the effort. Held in art galleries and other spaces around the world, videos will be played, wine and food will be had, and monks will be ready to share their amazing smiles and stories. Only requirement, don some scarlette for the event. So mark your calendars (if 8808 hasn’t been burned into the back of your brain already) and celebrate that sense of unity with a call for humanity.

Auspicious indeed.

B8 Events have been scheduled in:

• London - University College London Institute of Child Health
• San Francisco – Frey Norris Gallery
• Delhi – India Habitat Center
• New York- Eli Klein Fine Art

Go to the B8 event page for more info and check here for the event on Facebook

If you can’t make the events, stop by the website www.globaljusticeforburma.org to sign the petition, get informed and find nformation for Bloggers and Press to make 8808 a day for Burma.