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| Freeing Burma By Nisha Anand
Colonialism’s
Long Shadow The nation once admired for its fruitful land, its self-sufficiency, its high literacy rates and exemplary educational practices and its diversity followed a path similar to that of other British colonies. Divide-and-conquer strategies stirred ethnic strife that continues today. Imperialism gave way to isolationism after independence. Military and governmental structures foreign to the country were set up and, whether they were accepted or rejected, changed the nature of the country forever. Under British rule, the Karens, Burma’s second-largest ethnic group, received preferential treatment over the more numerous Burman. The Karens were therefore, as a group, loyal to the British, while Burman insurgents struggled—sometimes with Japanese help—to overthrow the British colonial structure, fighting against their Karen neighbors for independence. In 1946, before the other British colonies, Burma won its independence. But on the eve of formal independence, the great leaders of the struggle, including national hero General Aung San, were assassinated before taking office. A shaky democracy was nevertheless set up and lasted until 1962, when military chief General Ne Win staged a coup. He and his Burman military cohorts have been ruling the country ever since, brutally crushing resistance by Karens and other ethnic groups.
In the 1970s and ’80s a pro-democracy movement gained strength, and in 1988 the military regime killed 10,000 nonviolent demonstrators and arrested and detained thousands of others, creating a refugee population that is now around 300,000. In 1990, confident in their ability to win now that all their opposition was either dead, in prison, terrified or exiled, the generals held an election. Their plan backfired. The National League for Democracy, headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of the slain hero General Aung San and winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, won more than 80 percent of the parliamentary seats. The NLD leaders were locked up and brutalized by the military and never allowed to take office. Some of the newly elected members of Parliament fled and formed the current government-in-exile. Missing:
Human Rights The human rights abuses are well documented. Small non-governmental organizations such as Earthrights International, large NGOs like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, governmental bodies such as the U.S. State Department and international structures like the U.N.’s International Labor Organization have all issued well-researched reports on the conditions in Burma. Day-to-day occurrences at the hands of the military regime include forced labor for the military regime, child labor, political and extrajudicial killings and disappearances, rape and trafficking of women, arbitrary arrest, imprisonment, detention, and exile, denial of the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and fair trials, and discrimination and even torture based on religion, sex, race, language, ethnicity and disability. Grassroots
Organizing Burmese solidarity activists believe that now is the critical time for international activism on a larger scale. The escalating repression of the NLD has led international governments to speak out against the regime once again. This time, the grassroots community does not believe words are enough. They want the world to take action. In the spirit of the movement against apartheid in South Africa, activists for Burma are launching their “UNseat” campaign. In 1974, the U.N. General Assembly refused to recognize the credentials of the representatives of South Africa’s apartheid regime. Stating that the regime was a crime against humanity and not representative of its people, the General Assembly denied the representatives the right to participate in the international organization. Similarly, the brutal regime that sits in the seat designated “Myanmar” was unequivocally rejected by its people in the 1990 elections. The regime rules by force and audaciously claims that its ability to rule the country comes from the international recognition of its rule. Burmese exiles and international activists hope to dispel this myth in the coming years by asking everyone in the international community to reject the State Peace and Development Council and recognize the SPDC for what it is: a crime against humanity.
WRL Field Organizer Nisha Anand is also Local Coordinator for the Free Burma Coalition. | |||||
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urma
activists took to the streets of New York and Washington in September as the self-described
“largest gathering of heads of state in history” met at the United Nations for
the much-hyped Millennium Summit. At the Burmese mission to the United Nations
in New York City, more than 80 demonstrators—along with an 11-foot fighting peacock
puppet—assembled September 8 for speeches, street theater and protest in connection
with the larger “People’s Summit” demonstrations of the day (see www.peoplessummit.org).
On the same day, in Washington, where there had been vigils for weeks in support
of the freedom of movement and release of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi and other National League for Democracy members, protesters unfurled a
Burmese freedom flag with the fighting peacock emblem over the military regime’s
illegal Embassy building. At the time of this writing, activists are seeking one
million signatures from around the world for a petition demanding the unseating
of the Burma junta’s U.N. delegation, which they plan to present to the U.N.Credentials
Committee when it meets in October. (They also plan another round of demonstrations
while the Credentials Committee meets.) 
