Aung San Suu Kyi's 63rd Birthday

Dear friends,

We want to quickly thank everyone who helped out on Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday.

Also, we want to share with you a short but powerful essay written by a woman human rights activist who is "on the run" hiding from the military dictators in Burma. She has been separated from her young daughter now for over 10 months as the military regime is trying to arrest her. This courageous woman risked her life by exposing her conscience in the writing of the essay -- reminding the world that we are working not only to change statistics about human rights, but to help our fellow human beings -- everyday people who share our values and beliefs in liberty and human rights.

Her essay is pasted below. First though, quickly, we wanted to highlight a few things that happened leading up to Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday. Our goal of "celebrating" her birthday is to keep her in the news and at the forefront of discussions in governments, at the United Nations, and everywhere else we can. Burma campaign groups throughout the world worked very hard on this.

A few highlights:

- Because of our work, Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday was reported by over 500 news organizations throughout the world

- Inside Burma, the All Burma Monks Organization issued a call for the leader of the military dictatorship in Burma, Than Shwe, to be taken to the International Criminal Court and tried for committing crimes against humanity

- Also inside Burma, hundreds of protestors led a demonstration calling for Aung San Suu Kyi's release -- at least one dozen were arrested and we greatly fear for their well-being

- Our campaign Burma It Can't Wait was profiled on the MySpace celebrity section (http://celebrity.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=celebrity.impact)

- French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a joint call for Aung San Suu Kyi's release. It is very uncommon for French and British leaders to unite on any issue, so we are quite pleased.

- In the United States, we organized over 200 events across the country. At most events, participants "arrested themselves" -- staying at home for 24 hours in solidarity with Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest. During a portion of their "arrest", they invited friends and family over to watch videos on Burma, enjoy Burmese food, and raise money for US Campaign for Burma.

- Many women Nobel Peace Prize recipients (from Kenya, United States, Iran, etc.) issued a joint call for Aung San Suu Kyi's release.

- After pressure from Congress, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice spoke about Aung San Suu Kyi at the UN Security Council

- In the U.S. Congress, over 100 supporters of human rights, members of Congress, and others gathered to issue a joint, public demand for Aung San Suu Kyi's release

- A few weeks ago, Anjelica Huston held a press conference inside the United Nations building calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi -- the first-ever press conference by a entertainment/cultural figure on Burma.

All human rights struggles are long and difficult, but with your support the efforts of Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese people are growing stronger by the day. For example, over the past year, our email list has expanded from under 6,000 supporters to over 50,000.

There is still much work to be done, but we wanted to take a minute to THANK YOU for all of your work, compassion, and dedication.

Many warm thanks,

Jeremy and Jack

==================================
Who Will Save Burma's Women and Children?

By Nilar Thein
Published on June 19, 2008 (The Nation)
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/06/19/opinion/opinion_30075891.php

"I woke up from a dream in the middle of the night. I was with my daughter, playing in a small garden.

We were playing hide and seek. I was looking at her from behind a tree. She was so beautiful, with the prettiest smile on her face, looking for me happily. I couldn't hide anymore. I wanted her to find me. I wanted to hold her in my arms and kiss her face gently. I started to show myself to her, but, suddenly I saw three men -with black coats and ugly faces - watching from the shadows near my daughter. I stepped back. I wanted to be found by my daughter, not by them. I still saw my daughter, still looking for me with her innocent smile. I didn't want to hide anymore. I wanted her to find me, but these men would take me away and put me in hell. Then I woke up, with tears on my cheeks.

I have been separated from my daughter for nearly ten months. A midnight knock at our door in August last year changed our lives dramatically. The military junta's security forces took my husband Kyaw Min Yu (also known as Jimmy) on the night of August 21, 2007. He is a leader of the prominent dissident group, the 88 Generation Students, comprising former student leaders and former political prisoners. He and other leaders were taken from their homes that night by the authorities. As a former student activist and a former political prisoner myself, I knew very well how my husband and friends would be treated in the junta's interrogation cells. Therefore, when they came back to arrest me, I went into hiding.

But I must continue to lead the 88 Generation Students with my other colleagues, so that Burma may realise its freedom, and find justice and democracy someday. I must avoid being arrested. However, there are so many difficulties and hardships in moving secretly from one hiding place to another, and I didn't want my daughter to share these hardships. Therefore, I decided to send my three-month-old baby to my parents. Now, I miss her so much.

My mind wanders to University Avenue, where "the Lady", Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has been detained under house arrest for so many years. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, will have to spend her 63rd birthday today alone in detention. She will be missing her two sons, too. Her strength and determination helps me and many women in Burma stand up for justice. I thank her for being with us and leading our movement. She is a great reminder to the world that the military junta that rules our country forcibly separates mothers and children.

Coincidentally, the UN Security Council will hold a debate in New York today on "Women, Peace and Security". This debate is a discussion of UNSC Resolution 1325, which was passed unanimously in October, 2000. Resolution 1325 "Calls on all parties to armed conflict to take special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, and all other forms of violence in situations of armed conflict." It also "Emphasises the responsibility of all States to put an end to impunity and to prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes including those relating to sexual violence against women and girls, and in this regard, stresses the need to exclude these crimes, where feasible from amnesty provisions."

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to chair the debate, with many world leaders discussing the development of women, peace and security. Will they discuss Burma? Will they remember Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the women of Burma who are suffering all forms of abuse by the military junta?

Burma is now in the midst of two conflicts. One is the 50-year-old civil war, raging between the Burmese military and the minority resistance forces, predominately in the eastern part of the country. Burmese troops are raping with impunity tribal women and girls, some as young as eight years old. Burmese soldiers use women in conflict areas as porters to carry their military equipment and supplies during the day, and use them as sex slaves at night. Many women have been brutally killed to erase the evidence of these crimes.

The other conflict is a 20-year old war, waged by the Burmese junta against its own unarmed citizens, who are calling for freedom, justice and democracy. Women activists are beaten, arrested, tortured and then put in prison for many years. Many female activists are mistreated and sexually assaulted by their interrogators and jailers. Children are used as bait by the authorities to get their mothers arrested. Of the 2.5 million people severely affected by Cyclone Nargis - many of whom the military junta simply left to die through starvation and disease - at least a million are women and girls. Recently, a UN expert said that up to 35,000 pregnant women, all cyclone survivors, are at extreme risk of death. However, they will never receive any care from the military.

I hope that Secretary of State Rice and other leaders at the UN Security Council will give consideration to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the women of Burma during their debate. Resolution 1325 is a great development, but implementation and enforcement is still in question. When the government itself is the abuser of human rights and the perpetrator of rape and other forms of gender-based violence, who will protect the victims? Who will end their tragedy? Who will secure the joyful reunion of mothers with their children?

The appeasement policy of some bureaucrats is shameful. Effective and urgent action from the UN Security Council is necessary to help the women in Burma. No more debate. Take action. Please let me be happily reunited with my daughter."

Nilar Thein is a former student leader in the 1988 democracy uprising in Burma and spent more than nine years in prison.

The End of Intervention

"Op-Ed Contributor

By MADELEINE K. ALBRIGHT
Published: June 11, 2008

Washington

THE Burmese government’s criminally neglectful response to last month’s cyclone, and the world’s response to that response, illustrate three grim realities today: totalitarian governments are alive and well; their neighbors are reluctant to pressure them to change; and the notion of national sovereignty as sacred is gaining ground, helped in no small part by the disastrous results of the American invasion of Iraq. Indeed, many of the world’s necessary interventions in the decade before the invasion — in places like Haiti and the Balkans — would seem impossible in today’s climate.

The first and most obvious reality is the survival of totalitarian government in an age of global communications and democratic progress. Myanmar’s military junta employs the same set of tools used by the likes of Stalin to crush dissent and monitor the lives of citizens. The needs of the victims of Cyclone Nargis mean nothing to a regime focused solely on preserving its own authority.

Second is the unwillingness of Myanmar’s neighbors to use their collective leverage on behalf of change. A decade ago, when Myanmar was allowed to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, I was assured by leaders in the region that they would push the junta to open its economy and move in the direction of democracy. With a few honorable exceptions, this hasn’t happened.

A third reality is that the concept of national sovereignty as an inviolable and overriding principle of global law is once again gaining ground. Many diplomats and foreign policy experts had hoped that the fall of the Berlin Wall would lead to the creation of an integrated world system free from spheres of influence, in which the wounds created by colonial and cold war empires would heal.

In such a world, the international community would recognize a responsibility to override sovereignty in emergency situations — to prevent ethnic cleansing or genocide, arrest war criminals, restore democracy or provide disaster relief when national governments were either unable or unwilling to do so.

During the 1990s, certain precedents were created. The administration of George H. W. Bush intervened to prevent famine in Somalia and to aid Kurds in northern Iraq; the Clinton administration returned an elected leader to power in Haiti; NATO ended the war in Bosnia and stopped Slobodan Milosevic’s campaign of terror in Kosovo; the British halted a civil war in Sierra Leone; and the United Nations authorized life-saving missions in East Timor and elsewhere.

These actions were not steps toward a world government. They did reflect the view that the international system exists to advance certain core values, including development, justice and respect for human rights. In this view, sovereignty is still a central consideration, but cases may arise in which there is a responsibility to intervene — through sanctions or, in extreme cases, by force — to save lives.

The Bush administration’s decision to fight in Afghanistan after 9/11 did nothing to weaken this view because it was clearly motivated by self-defense. The invasion of Iraq, with the administration’s grandiose rhetoric about pre-emption, was another matter, however. It generated a negative reaction that has weakened support for cross-border interventions even for worthy purposes. Governments, especially in the developing world, are now determined to preserve the principle of sovereignty, even when the human costs of doing so are high.

Thus, Myanmar’s leaders have been shielded from the repercussions of their outrageous actions. Sudan has been able to dictate the terms of multinational operations inside Darfur. The government of Zimbabwe may yet succeed in stealing a presidential election.

Political leaders in Pakistan have told the Bush administration to back off, despite the growth of Al Qaeda and Taliban cells in the country’s wild northwest. African leaders (understandably perhaps) have said no to the creation of a regional American military command. And despite recent efforts to enshrine the doctrine of a “responsibility to protect” in international law, the concept of humanitarian intervention has lost momentum.

The global conscience is not asleep, but after the turbulence of recent years, it is profoundly confused. Some governments will oppose any exceptions to the principle of sovereignty because they fear criticism of their own policies. Others will defend the sanctity of sovereignty unless and until they again have confidence in the judgment of those proposing exceptions.

At the heart of the debate is the question of what the international system is. Is it just a collection of legal nuts and bolts cobbled together by governments to protect governments? Or is it a living framework of rules intended to make the world a more humane place?

We know how the government of Myanmar would answer that question, but what we need to listen to is the voice — and cry — of the Burmese people.

Madeleine K. Albright was the United States secretary of state from 1997 to 2001."

taken from The New York Times

Burma: It Can't Wait - Day 30: Tila Tequila

Burma: It Can't Wait - Day 28: Damian Marley

Burma: It Can't Wait - Day 27: Famke Jannssen & Jason Schwartzman

Burma: It Can't Wait - Day 26: Joseph Fiennes

Burma: It Can't Wait - Day 25: Michelle Krusiec

Burma: It Can't Wait - Day 24: Kim Kardashian

Hollywood celebrities urge human rights in Myanmar (Burma)

"Stars including Will Ferrell and Jennifer Aniston call for release of the Southeast Asian country's Nobel-winning Aung San Suu Kyi and establishment of democracy there.

By Richard C. Paddock, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
May 23, 2008

Dozens of Hollywood celebrities have joined together to call attention to the repressive military regime in Myanmar and the plight of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent more than a decade under house arrest.

In more than 30 public-service spots that are being released online daily this month, actors and artists including Will Ferrell, Sarah Silverman, Ellen Page and Sylvester Stallone call for Suu Kyi's release and the establishment of democracy in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

"A human rights crisis is happening right now in the Southeast Asian country of Burma," Ferrell says in the first of the series. "Every now and again a single person or event captures the imagination and inspiration of the world. This moment belongs to Burma and to Aung San Suu Kyi."

Myanmar has been ruled by military regimes for nearly all of the past 46 years. Suu Kyi's political party won a landslide victory in a 1990 election and she was slated to become the country's next leader, but the regime threw out the results and arrested her. Suu Kyi, who will turn 63 next month, is the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Most recently, the reclusive regime has come under harsh international criticism for refusing to accept foreign aid for victims of Cyclone Nargis, which killed at least 78,000 earlier this month and left hundreds of thousands more without adequate food, water or shelter.

The Web-based celebrity campaign, called "Burma: It Can't Wait," began May 1 but has been overshadowed by the cyclone, which struck Myanmar two days later. Organizers hope to raise Myanmar's profile in the same way that activists have put Chinese control of Tibet and the Darfur genocide on the map.

Another goal of the project is to sign up a million new members for the U.S. Campaign for Burma, a Washington-based organization that promotes democratic change in Myanmar.

The videos can be found at uscampaignforburma.org.

Some of the spots are sketches that try to draw attention to the troubled nation by injecting humor, such as one featuring Jennifer Aniston and a recalcitrant Woody Harrelson, who refuses to leave his trailer. "I'm not coming out until Burma is free," he shouts.

Others are serious, such as one directed by Anjelica Huston in which comedian Eddie Izzard praises the young people of Myanmar who led protests against the regime last year. "We must use our freedom to help them get theirs," he says.

Huston said in an interview that she took part in the project to highlight the injustices of the regime. "I am particularly drawn to the idea of this small, extraordinarily beautiful country that has been suppressed in this terrible way for so long and the fact that the leader of the democratic party has been shut up under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years," Huston said.

The campaign has attracted such celebrities as director Judd Apatow, Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona, actor Joseph Fiennes, singer Sheryl Crow, action star Steven Seagal, actress Felicity Huffman and producer Norman Lear.

One 90-second video features Iranian artist Davood, who is shown in time-elapsed photography painting a portrait of Suu Kyi. Only at the end does it become clear that she is wearing handcuffs.

In another, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" star Eric Szmanda and alumna Jorja Fox play a card game called "Forced Labor," in which he holds the cards of a Burmese soldier and she is dealt the hand of a civilian, who suffers rape, torture and murder.

"I don't think I like this game," Fox says.

"No one does," Szmanda replies.

Szmanda, who visited refugees along the Thai border and briefly crossed into Myanmar last year, said he was stunned by the heart-wrenching accounts of civilians who escaped the regime.

"Something came over me while I was there. I didn't feel a sense of pity, I felt a sense of urgency," he said. "I had a chance to meet a lot of former political prisoners who are now living on the border of Thailand. It's unbelievable what some of them had to do endure for nine or 10 years."

Actress Rosanna Arquette, who appears in a spot condemning the destruction of 3,200 villages by the regime, said she was moved to participate in the project because of the plight of Suu Kyi.

"She has done so much and she is still a prisoner," Arquette said in an interview. "And the world doesn't really know. There are no Americans there to help. It's really like a creepy secret."

Jack Healey, the former head of Amnesty International who helped raise that group's profile through celebrity concerts, had a key role in organizing the Burma project. He said one of his goals is to give Suu Kyi the kind of profile that Nelson Mandela had while he was imprisoned in South Africa.

"We want her to be the Mandela of her time," he said. "Maybe by the end we will all know who she is."

Fanista, a new "social commerce" shopping website, underwrote and produced many of the spots and offers customers a 10% rebate that they can donate to the U.S. Campaign for Burma.

In his spot, Stallone talks about his fourth "Rambo" movie, which was released earlier this year and casts the Myanmar dictatorship as the villain. The film depicts "atrocity de-mining," in which civilians are forced to walk ahead of the army at gunpoint to uncover hidden land mines. The regime banned the movie.

"While it is flattering to be part of a movie that is giving the Burmese people hope and it is cool to say 'I'm banned in Burma,' these people need real hope," Stallone says in the 80-second spot. "Let's do something we can be proud about."

richard.paddock@latimes .com"

article from Los Angeles Times

Burma: It Can't Wait - Day 23: Maradonna

Burma: It Can't Wait - Day 21: Sylvester Stallone

Burma: It Can't Wait - Day 20: Ellen Page

Burma: It Can't Wait - Day 19: Steven Seagal

Paranoid Burmese junta steps up security around Suu Kyi

By Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent
Friday, 16 May 2008


"It used to be you could ask any taxi driver and they would show you her house.

There could be no stopping and no taking photographs, but they would drive you along Rangoon's University Avenue and you could glimpse the property where Aung San Suu Kyi has spent almost 13 years under house arrest.

Now you cannot even do that. The day after Cyclone Nargis struck, the military authorities ordered that the security around her house be increased. So long a prisoner in her own home, she is now even more isolated from the Burmese people.

Given the devastation wrought by Nargis, one might have assumed the authorities had more pressing priorities. But their decision to block off the house of the leader of Burma's political opposition reveals the junta's concern over the power the 62-year-old woman holds.

After hundreds of monks gathered outside her house during September's pro-democracy demonstrations, the junta is apparently keen to ensure she does not again become a rallying point for people angry and frustrated by the regime's ineffective response to the damage caused by the storm.

Suu Kyi lives with two maids. Her meals are brought in every day – checked by guards outside her house. Foreign diplomats were once permitted to call but that was stopped; her doctor is her only regular visitor. But even those visits, every three weeks, have been halted.

"Whenever they are worried about her influencing the current situation they stop her doctor's visits," said a Western diplomat based in Rangoon. "After last September, her doctor was not allowed to visit until December."

Her unique position is partly the result of an absence of alternative political leaders. Almost all of the organisers of several demonstrations held in Rangoon last summer before the larger protests in September have been jailed. Of the remainder, some have left the country while others are in hiding. Suu Kyi remains the only visible opposition figure.

"Burma's half-million-strong army is terrified of her. She has the love and support of the people. She unites Burma's different political and ethnic groups. This makes her their greatest threat – she unites the people against the regime," said Mark Farmaner, of the Burma Campaign UK.

"The generals are trying to keep her completely isolated from her people and from the world. Her phone line is cut, they intercept all her post. No visitors are allowed. Her sons are not even allowed into the country and she has grandchildren that she has never seen."

Suu Kyi was last detained in May 2003. In the Alice-in-Wonderland world of the Burmese regime, the generals annually renew her imprisonment with a detention order delivered to her house.

"There may be a lot of younger people who do not agree with everything she says," said another Westerner who lives in Rangoon. "But if she was released everybody would rally around her. The regime is paranoid of the West and they are paranoid of her."

The opposition leader reportedly fills her time reading and meditating. It is unclear whether she still has a radio. She used to play the piano in her house but complained many years ago that it had fallen into disrepair."

from: The Independent

Burma: It Can't Wait - Day 16: Mana

Burma: It Can't Wait - Day 15 - Rosanna Arquette

Burma: It Can't Wait - Day 14: Thich Naht Hanh

Burma: It Can't Wait - Day 13 - Judd Apatow

Burma: It Can't Wait - Day 11: Jackson Browne

Burma: It Can't Wait - Day 10: Davood

Burma: It Can't Wait - Day 7: Eric Szmanda / Jorja Fox

Cyclone Update and Why Burma Needs a Million Supporters

"Many, many thanks to the hundreds of supporters that have donated money to help victims of the cyclone in Burma.
Sadly, news reports are indicating that the military regime is hampering relief efforts. The headline of USA Today reads "Cyclone Aid Hurt by Junta in Burma." It appears the regime is delaying travel visas for aid workers and letting aid supplies sit unused at airports. Considering this is the same military regime that continues to carry out a scorched-earth war on civilians in eastern Burma that has destroyed 3,200 ethnic minority villages -- and refuses real access to aid agencies that could help -- we are not suprised. It now appears that the death tolls have reached over 22,000 -- and perhaps up to 63,000.

We have spoken with some people inside Burma and they are very angry at the military regime. Everyday Burmese are furious that the military regime turned out tens of thousands of troops to attack peaceful Buddhist monks and demonstrators in September-October 2007, but failed to adequately warn its own people of the oncoming cyclone -- a real humanitarian disaster.

The regime's lack of response to the cyclone begs the question: how has the military regime gotten away with destroying Burma for so long? If you look at our website or at burmaitcantwait.org, you will see that we, the Human Rights Action Center, and Fanista.com have organized a 30-day video campaign to educate Americans and others around the world about the military regime in Burma. The goal of this campaign is to mobilize 1 million people to sign up to take action, so that the regime can no longer crush the Burmese people behind closed doors. Just as the world came together to help free Nelson Mandela and South Africa in the 1980s, we are now organizing an effort to help Burma's imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma.

Today, you will see a video by comedian and actor Eddie Izzard, directed by Oscar-winning actress Anjelica Huston. The powerful, moving video explains that the young people in Burma have led the effort to end military rule in Burma. Yesterday, we posted a video by Julie Benz, which explained the military regime's attacks on civilians in eastern Burma. You can also see four previous videos at www.burmaitcantwait.org There will be one every day for 30 days, and today is the 6th day.

We urge you to share these videos with as many people as possible, to help people understand how and why this started in the first place. Then, urge them to sign up for the campaign of one million. Burma needs you."

Starting May 1st, Major New Voices for Burma: Help Us

Dear friends,

We wanted to inform you about a new, exciting effort we are launching next week. For the first time in history, dozens of leading voices from Hollywood, music, and the arts will be joining together to speak up about human rights and democracy in Burma.

Not since the campaign to release Nelson Mandela from arrest and free South Africa in the 1980s have so many people come together to take action for an imprisoned human rights leader and the people of a country. Mandela was locked up for almost two decades before the people of the world truly rallied to his cause.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been incarcerated now for more than 12 of the past 18 years, and the truth is that most people have no idea who she is. Even fewer know that Burma's military regime has recruited more child soldiers than any other country in the world and continues to carry out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against innocent people. Now, all that is about to change.

Every day for 30 days, a video from someone prominent (including Oscar and Emmy winners, comedians, and musicians) will be released. Each video will explain a different aspect of Burma's struggle for human rights.

We are asking you to tune in for 30 days on our website and watch each piece. After you watch each video every day, forward them to your friends, family, and colleagues.

We know that sometimes it is hard to talk to others about Burma; that's why the videos were designed for anyone to watch and be inspired to help. After watching the videos, we are urging people to sign up for the US Campaign for Burma and join the effort to free Burma.

We know that there are more than one million people in the United States and around the world who care about human rights, and we are asking all of them -- even if they are also involved with other issues -- to pitch in and help free Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma.

We are building a team of one million people to stand strong for Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma. Stay tuned, everything begins next Thursday, May 1st.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Woodrum and Jack Healey

Burma Democracy Leader Assassinated

"Dear friends,

We [US Campaign for Burma] write with great sadness to tell you of the assassinaton of one of Burma's most prominent leaders. Phado Mahn Sha, a leader of the Karen people, was killed last night while resting at his home. He was 64 years old.


While details are still unclear, it is likely that the assassination was organized by Burma's military regime and/or its cronies.

Many of our [US Campaign for Burma] staff members had met and worked with Mahn Sha in recent years. Aung Din and Jennifer saw him for the last time in January. Jeremy helped arrange for Mahn Sha to brief members of Congress when he traveled to the United States in 2003. He was one of the most principled and courageous people we have ever met, and now he has made the ultimate sacrifice for human rights, democracy, and self-determination.

Mahn Sha was the General Secretary of the Karen National Union, the leaders of the Karen ethnic nationality in Burma. The Karen are one of Burma's largest ethnic nationalities in Burma. In some ways politically similar to the Native Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries in the United States, Mahn Sha and the Karen people struggled to hold onto their ancestral homelands under the rule of Burma's brutal military regime.

Seeking to destroy the Karen and other ethnic nationalities' desire for self-determination, Burma's military regime has carried out a war on civilians in eastern Burma, destroying or forcing the abandonment of 3,200 villages in the last ten years. At least 1.5 million people have fled their homes. To put this in the context of a more well-known world crisis, it is estimated that this is twice as many villages as have been destroyed in Darfur.

The attacks on Karen and other ethnic minority civilians in eastern Burma are one of the most under-reported stories in the world. The attacks have been aimed at civilians -- destroying food supplies, rice fields and barns, homes, medical clinics, and schools.

Several consecutive United Nations General Assembly and Human Rights Council (previously Human Rights Commission) resolutions have called on Burma's military regime to enter into peaceful dialog with the Karen people and Burma's other ethnic minorities, along with the democracy movement led by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi. Mahn Sha and the KNU have been strong supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi and her political party the National League for Democracy. Like Suu Kyi, the KNU believe that peace, human rights, and equality among all ethnic nationalities will come to Burma through negotations under the auspices of the United Nations.

However, the regime has defied these UN requests, refusing to enter into talks while continuing its attacks on civilians. The regime is able to continue these attacks mainly because of China's protective cloak at the UN Security Council. The Security Council is the only body at the UN that has the authority to force countries to make changes, but because China holds veto power over all Council decisions, it has effectively paralyzed the entire United Nations. As a result of China's veto, the UN is making the same mistakes it made on Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur -- yet again.

We especially respected Mahn Sha because of his compassion toward child soldiers and other Burmese army deserters. Burma's military regime has conscripted more child soldiers than any other country in the world, up to 70,000. Child soldiers and other Burmese army deserters fleeing Burma's regime often sought refuge with the KNU and Mahn Sha provided homes and protection for many of former child soldiers and Burmese army deserters. His political integrity was clearly matched by the size of his heart.

Burma's regime has targeted numerous leaders of Burma's ethnic minorities. Instead of entering negotiations as called for by the UN, Burma's regime is violently attacking ethnic minorities. Three years ago, a leader of the Shan ethnic nationality, Khun Htun Oo, was sentenced to 93 years in prison along with several other Shan leaders. Khun Htun Oo is an elected member of parliament from the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, a party aligned with Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

We take some solace in the fortitude displayed by Mahn Sha. He was unwavering in his commitment to democracy and self-determination, and inspiring to thousands of people who were lucky enough to have worked with him.

All of us need to do more to bring an end to horrific human rights violations in Burma. Thank you so much for your strong support for our work. Keep an eye on this list in the coming couple of weeks as we launch a new effort aimed at focusing attention on China's propping up of Burma's military regime in the run-up to the Olympics. We will need your help.

Aung Din, Jeremy Woodrum, Jennifer Quigley, and Thelma Young"
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Support 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma.
Become a member of the United States Campaign for Burma today.

from US Campaign for Burma

'Burma's Announced Referendum and Election a Charade'

Dear All,

"We released a press release today condemning Burma's military junta for their announcement to legalize the new constitution. This new constitution is a ploy to formally legalize the military's hold on power. Some may see the military's announcement for a referendum and then elections as progress, but it is actually a gross step backwards.

"The promised vote continues the military regime's process of consolidating its grip on power. It is not a real referendum, it is a charade," said Aung Din, executive director of the US Campaign for Burma.

The announcement by the regime comes one week after the leader of Burma's democracy movement, imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi, said that democracy activists should "prepare for the worst." The regime's move also comes four months after a massive crackdown on Buddhist monks, student activists, and members of Aung San Suu Kyi's political party, the National League for Democracy.

"How can the regime hold a vote when the entire opposition is locked up behind bars?" added Aung Din, who was imprisoned for four years as a political activist in Burma.

Burma's regime also announced it would hold a multi-party election in 2010 to follow this year's planned referendum. The new constitution would grant supreme power to the commander in chief of the Burmese military, effectively forestalling any progress toward democracy. The underground coalition of Buddhist monks and students that organized nationwide demonstrations in September 2007 have already criticized the plan, calling it an effort to legalize military rule and sideline the legitimately elected leaders of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. The NLD won 82% of the seats in parliament in Burma's last election, a landslide victory that the regime has blocked from governing. Human rights activists see the upcoming votes as a way for the regime to erase the NLD's electoral victory while cementing its own grip on power.

The referendum process stands in stark contrast to a call by the United Nations Security Council on October 11th, 2007 for the regime to participate in meaningful negotiations with Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD and the ethnic representatives. Additionally, 29 consecutive resolutions by the United Nations General Assembly, Commission on Human Rights, and Human Rights Council have called for "tri-partite" talks between the regime, NLD, and Burma's ethnic minorities. Instead of heeding the UN, the regime appears to be taking a one-sided approach and refusing to participate in genuine talks.

Observers expect the military will mobilize the "Union Solidarity and Development Association" and "Swan Arr Shin" to force the people to vote for its constitution. The two organizations have led brutal attacks on Aung San Suu Kyi, members of the NLD, and Buddhist monks that have left hundreds of activists dead and thousands imprisoned.

Burma's regime is among the worlds most brutal. The regime has locked up over 2,000 political prisoners including hundreds of students, Buddhist monks, and the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi. The regime has also recruited up to 70,000 child soldiers, more than any other country in the world, and destroyed 3,200 villages in eastern Burma, forcing 1.5 million people to flee their homes as refugees."

Support 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma.
Become a member of the United States Campaign for Burma today."

from US Campaign for Burma

Update on Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi

Dear all,

There is some news from Burma to report which has positive possibilities, though we are cautious. Today the military regime allowed Aung San Suu Kyi to leave her home to meet the leaders of the National League for Democracy, her political party. It was the first time she was able to see her friends since May 2003 after she survived the assassination attempt. That is very good for her personally. She is an incredibly strong woman (needless to say), but still everyone needs human interaction so we are very much pleased for her on a personal level.

The military regime also announced that it is willing to negotiate with her, and she responded by saying she is willing to negotiate with the military regime. Her statement was delivered through the United Nations. After seeing so many of her friends gunned down, her magnanimity and humility is breathtaking.

If the regime follows through on its promises, we should be seeing full-scale negotiations aimed a transition to democracy in the near future. Wow! However, the regime has made many similar statements in the past in order to decrease international pressure, so we are cautious. This is a regime that kills, so of course they tell lies too. Nevertheless, Aung San Suu Kyi believes in peaceful negotiations so she wants to give this a chance to see if it is real.

It is likely that the regime made these promises because of the heat from the UN Security Council. As you know, over the past two years we have led an effort to get the Security Council to require the regime to make changes. Unlike other parts of the UN system, the Security Council is the only body that can require a country a change -- such a requirement carries the full force of international law. We made a major step forward in September when the Council, for the first time in history, called on the regime to enter negotiations, free all political prisoners, and commence a transition to democracy.

The UN Secretary General then dispatched an envoy to travel to Burma to carry this message. He has been in Burma for the past week. If his trip would have been a disaster and the regime would have refused to budge, it was presumed that we could successfully press the Security Council to impose a global arms embargo on Burma in response. That would have made it illegal for all countries in the world to sell weapons to the military regime. However, since the regime promised to enter negotiations it will be easier for China to stop an arms embargo from happening. China can claim that as long as there is progress we shouldn't rock the boat.

So that is probably why the regime made these promises and allowed Suu Kyi to meet her colleagues -- to avoid the arms embargo. The intentions by the regime appear to be bad, although the outcome is good but small. Nevertheless, Suu Kyi wants to see what happens so she will attempt to proceed with the dialog process.

In the meantime, we have reached a tipping point on Burma and have to push forward. We are going to re-double our efforts at the UN Security Council, in the US Congress, and most importantly among people throughout the world. We hope that more and more voices will speak up calling for human rights in Burma and freedom for Aung San Suu Kyi. Our efforts are working, and now is the time to really turn things up.

In human rights work we have to savor the small steps forward, so wherever you are raise a glass to Aung San Suu Kyi tonight.

Jack and Jeremy