UTICA —A Utica resident is a key figure in an Oscar-nominated documentary about civilian protest in one of the world’s most repressive nations. In September 2007, U Gawsita led fellow monks and tens of thousands of Burmese residents through Rangoon in Myanmar (formerly Burma), in opposition to the country’s longstanding military regime.

“We young monks who follow Buddha’s teachings must now join the protest,” U Gawsita shouted into a bullhorn, demanding reconciliation, dialogue and the release of political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi, who is a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

It would all be captured by undercover video journalists whose footage would be spread throughout the country and the world.

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By CASSAUNDRA BABER (The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, NY)