Reuters care of Ko Htike's Blog
http://ko-htike.blogspot.com/2007/11/we-burmese-people-have-already-known.html
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Pakistan Crisis -- "Musharraf went ballistic"
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/11/06/pakistan.crisis/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
How USA has no good options and Musharraf's regime is also caught in a bind.
How USA has no good options and Musharraf's regime is also caught in a bind.
The U.S. Senate Hearing on Burma of Oct.2, 2007 by Kyi May Kaung
US Campaign for Burma's Ko Aung Din testifies before Barbara Boxer at the Senate Hearing on Oct. 2. Photo copyright Kyi May Kaung.(This piece was written in mid-October)
As we all know, or should by now, there were cathartic mass demonstrations in Burma this monsoon season, first led by a few activists in mid-August protesting fuel price raises and culminating in the monks coming out in the streets accompanied by applauding civilians, numbering 100,000 on the peak day of September 25th. Alas,the military junta which rules Burma knew no other way to “handle” the Burmese peoples’ legitimate and peaceful demands for a system change and clamped down again with brutal force on the 26th and 27th. We now know that an estimated 200 died and thousands are under arrest. Disturbing photos and videos of the atrocities committed by the army have leaked out via the Internet and according to all reports, continue, with only a surface calm. The junta’s response caused mass international outrage.
There have been Senate and well as Congressional Hearings. I was so fortunate as to be able to attend the special Senate Foreign Relations Sub-committee Hearing on Burma in the Dirksen Building at 2.30 PM, on October 2nd.
The Hearing was attended by over 60 Burmese dissidents and democracy supporters. The DC based U.S. Coalition for Burma was well represented and almost all attendees wore USCB T-shirts calling on the front of the shirts for an arms embargo on Burma and with a sign on the back symbolizing how bloody the upcoming Beijing Olympics will seem. Burma (called Myanmar by the junta) has the largest trade ties with Thailand, China and India, and China and Russia supply it with arms. USCB and others are pressuring China to effect change in Burma.
Barbara Boxer opened the session by stating what unimaginable horrors the people of Burma have suffered. She held up photographs taken by citizen journalists inside Burma which had been printed in a large format by USCB staff. Senator John Kerry made a very strong statement, saying – “Shame on us if we take our eyes off this. Words must transfer into action. This is a bi-partisan matter.” He quoted Martin Luther King who said, “Freedom is never voluntarily given. It must be demanded by the oppressed.” Kerry said that it is time for Sr. General Than Shwe to step aside. Kerry said he had worked with Senator Mitch McConnell on Burma and there has now been years and years of oppression with the junta laying on excuses. He spoke of “their deceptions and their lies.”
Senator John Kerry: Now with this Saffron Revolution (referring to the saffron colored robes worn by the Buddhist monks), this is the second time in 20 years that this has happened and it has taken a human toll. In 1988, everyone spoke up, and then everyone lost focus. This time it is going to take a strategy or policy which has focus and applies on-going pressure.
Kerry said the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy on Burma, Mr. Ibriham Gambari had gone to Burma for a few days, and “left Burma without any sense of tangible process.” Kerry said the sanctions need to be multilateral. He mentioned that “four of us met with the Chinese ambassador on this issue. The generals in a bunker (their new capital Naypyidaw) in a bunker of a country are surviving because of China. The killing has to stop.”
Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) said Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, is the primary voice for reform in Burma. She said the Burmese junta “has effectively minimized the effect of sanctions by playing investors off against each other. Many of the largest investors are unwilling to go beyond words. It is a difficult balancing act for Burma’s neighbors. It is our job to get a balance of sanctions and engagement.” She mentioned the role of China and India as major trading partners of Burma, and said that one third of Thailand’s natural gas supply comes from Burma.
Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Diane Feinstein (D-CA), two well-known supporters of the democracy movement in Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi, then presented their individual statements. McConnell said that unilateral sanctions have almost never worked in Burma as China, India and Thailand have adapted to the permanent condition in Burma. He said no one is interested in applying real pressure, as it would be bad for business. He commented, “The ambivalence of India is surprising. The Europeans are somewhat better. The Burmese regime is a pariah regime like Iraq (was) and Iran is. The sanctions will only have bite if China, India and Thailand co-operate. We should all continue to pressure to bring this regime to its knees.”
Diane Feinstein related her long involvement, over ten years, with the Burmese democracy movement. In 1997 she co-authored legislation requiring the President to ban new investment in Burma. President Clinton signed the order in 1997 and it remains on the books today. In 2003, after the regime attempted to assassinate Daw Suu Kyi in the incident now known as the Depayin Massacre of May 30, 2003, McConnell and Feinstein introduced the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003, which placed a complete ban on imports from Burma. It was signed into law and renewed one year at a time for the last 4 years. Feinstein stressed that for these sanctions to work, all nations need to join the United States. She encouraged China to persuade Burma to stop the killing and free all political prisoners and sent a message to the people of Burma – “We are watching – and we will not give up our shared vision of a free and democratic Burma.”
Among the witnesses, Scott Marciel, Deputy Asst. Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Department of State, said that the Burmese military has insinuated itself into every fiber of the country. Senator Boxer spoke of the large loophole whereby Chevron was “grandfathered in” by the 1997 law, and doing a business worth 400-600m USD annually, “is the biggest revenue raiser used to fund the crackdown.” Boxer asked Mr. Marciel what other options might be available under the Patriot Act (to pressure Burma). Kerry said he heard “a slow walk diplomacy in an urgent situation” and asked what the State Department is doing as leverage.
The second witness, Micheal Green, former National Security Council Asia Director, worried about the international community falling back into complacency, spoke of the need for an arms embargo and to organize diplomacy better with a special envoy to talk to China, India and Thailand.
Aung Din, Co-founder of the USCB and a 1988 veteran, updated on how on September 25th alone, a hundred dead bodies were counted at the Rangoon General Hospital. The official count from the junta was 10 dead, including the Japanese photojournalist Kenji Nagai who was shot point blank and died as a citizen journalist was filming. Aung Din described soldiers searching house to house with photos in hand and the monks under arrest in shackles and on hunger strike.
Tom Malinowski, Washington Advocacy Director of Human Rights Watch, who used to be an aid to the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, an early advocate for change in Burma, said that the junta’s going after the monks crosses a line and they will rue the day. He argued for more focused sanctions but declined to go into details in a public setting. Aung Din added that “the Burmese people are sick of UN envoys. The junta knows how to trick and trip these envoys. He (Mr. Razali, the former UN Envoy) comes back saying he saw a light at the end of the tunnel but it is a fire.” In response to questions, Aung Din also replied that there is no real mutiny among the Burmese army, as some analysts have suggested. He complained about Ban Ki-moon’s “bad use of language” during the height of the clampdown, when Mr. Ban urged all sides to avoid provocating. “We are the people beat upon, and we are to avoid provocation?” Aung Din asked.
There have been Senate and well as Congressional Hearings. I was so fortunate as to be able to attend the special Senate Foreign Relations Sub-committee Hearing on Burma in the Dirksen Building at 2.30 PM, on October 2nd.
The Hearing was attended by over 60 Burmese dissidents and democracy supporters. The DC based U.S. Coalition for Burma was well represented and almost all attendees wore USCB T-shirts calling on the front of the shirts for an arms embargo on Burma and with a sign on the back symbolizing how bloody the upcoming Beijing Olympics will seem. Burma (called Myanmar by the junta) has the largest trade ties with Thailand, China and India, and China and Russia supply it with arms. USCB and others are pressuring China to effect change in Burma.
Barbara Boxer opened the session by stating what unimaginable horrors the people of Burma have suffered. She held up photographs taken by citizen journalists inside Burma which had been printed in a large format by USCB staff. Senator John Kerry made a very strong statement, saying – “Shame on us if we take our eyes off this. Words must transfer into action. This is a bi-partisan matter.” He quoted Martin Luther King who said, “Freedom is never voluntarily given. It must be demanded by the oppressed.” Kerry said that it is time for Sr. General Than Shwe to step aside. Kerry said he had worked with Senator Mitch McConnell on Burma and there has now been years and years of oppression with the junta laying on excuses. He spoke of “their deceptions and their lies.”
Senator John Kerry: Now with this Saffron Revolution (referring to the saffron colored robes worn by the Buddhist monks), this is the second time in 20 years that this has happened and it has taken a human toll. In 1988, everyone spoke up, and then everyone lost focus. This time it is going to take a strategy or policy which has focus and applies on-going pressure.
Kerry said the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy on Burma, Mr. Ibriham Gambari had gone to Burma for a few days, and “left Burma without any sense of tangible process.” Kerry said the sanctions need to be multilateral. He mentioned that “four of us met with the Chinese ambassador on this issue. The generals in a bunker (their new capital Naypyidaw) in a bunker of a country are surviving because of China. The killing has to stop.”
Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) said Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, is the primary voice for reform in Burma. She said the Burmese junta “has effectively minimized the effect of sanctions by playing investors off against each other. Many of the largest investors are unwilling to go beyond words. It is a difficult balancing act for Burma’s neighbors. It is our job to get a balance of sanctions and engagement.” She mentioned the role of China and India as major trading partners of Burma, and said that one third of Thailand’s natural gas supply comes from Burma.
Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Diane Feinstein (D-CA), two well-known supporters of the democracy movement in Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi, then presented their individual statements. McConnell said that unilateral sanctions have almost never worked in Burma as China, India and Thailand have adapted to the permanent condition in Burma. He said no one is interested in applying real pressure, as it would be bad for business. He commented, “The ambivalence of India is surprising. The Europeans are somewhat better. The Burmese regime is a pariah regime like Iraq (was) and Iran is. The sanctions will only have bite if China, India and Thailand co-operate. We should all continue to pressure to bring this regime to its knees.”
Diane Feinstein related her long involvement, over ten years, with the Burmese democracy movement. In 1997 she co-authored legislation requiring the President to ban new investment in Burma. President Clinton signed the order in 1997 and it remains on the books today. In 2003, after the regime attempted to assassinate Daw Suu Kyi in the incident now known as the Depayin Massacre of May 30, 2003, McConnell and Feinstein introduced the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003, which placed a complete ban on imports from Burma. It was signed into law and renewed one year at a time for the last 4 years. Feinstein stressed that for these sanctions to work, all nations need to join the United States. She encouraged China to persuade Burma to stop the killing and free all political prisoners and sent a message to the people of Burma – “We are watching – and we will not give up our shared vision of a free and democratic Burma.”
Among the witnesses, Scott Marciel, Deputy Asst. Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Department of State, said that the Burmese military has insinuated itself into every fiber of the country. Senator Boxer spoke of the large loophole whereby Chevron was “grandfathered in” by the 1997 law, and doing a business worth 400-600m USD annually, “is the biggest revenue raiser used to fund the crackdown.” Boxer asked Mr. Marciel what other options might be available under the Patriot Act (to pressure Burma). Kerry said he heard “a slow walk diplomacy in an urgent situation” and asked what the State Department is doing as leverage.
The second witness, Micheal Green, former National Security Council Asia Director, worried about the international community falling back into complacency, spoke of the need for an arms embargo and to organize diplomacy better with a special envoy to talk to China, India and Thailand.
Aung Din, Co-founder of the USCB and a 1988 veteran, updated on how on September 25th alone, a hundred dead bodies were counted at the Rangoon General Hospital. The official count from the junta was 10 dead, including the Japanese photojournalist Kenji Nagai who was shot point blank and died as a citizen journalist was filming. Aung Din described soldiers searching house to house with photos in hand and the monks under arrest in shackles and on hunger strike.
Tom Malinowski, Washington Advocacy Director of Human Rights Watch, who used to be an aid to the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, an early advocate for change in Burma, said that the junta’s going after the monks crosses a line and they will rue the day. He argued for more focused sanctions but declined to go into details in a public setting. Aung Din added that “the Burmese people are sick of UN envoys. The junta knows how to trick and trip these envoys. He (Mr. Razali, the former UN Envoy) comes back saying he saw a light at the end of the tunnel but it is a fire.” In response to questions, Aung Din also replied that there is no real mutiny among the Burmese army, as some analysts have suggested. He complained about Ban Ki-moon’s “bad use of language” during the height of the clampdown, when Mr. Ban urged all sides to avoid provocating. “We are the people beat upon, and we are to avoid provocation?” Aung Din asked.
Update: Events since the Senate Hearing.
Mr. Ibriham Gambari is again in Asia, but the U.S. is urging him to go to Burma again as soon as possible. Even as Mr. Gambari was in Burma, the junta was busy arresting people, and arrests are continuing. At least one dissident has died of torture in prison. The international community seems again to have settled into complacency. The Burmese junta’s air force chief was in Russia allegedly buying drones and other aircraft. In a Congressional Hearing, the head of the Voice of America Burmese Service, Than Lwin Htun, stressed that “the only way it is normal is that repression continues.” Meanwhile the junta is holding mass rallies in support of its own policies, which the population is forced to attend, and appears so confident as to hold a state funeral for its number four man PM Soe Win, who died of leukemia.
------------------
UN Envoy for Burma, Mr. Gambari not smiling --
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j8mg9B9SUJv5BaBQjpw3qhoCdn8w
1. Meetings are in new capital Naypyidaw up country, not in Rangoon.
2. Not meeting Sr. Gen. Than Shwe -- meeting PM who is holding something like a VP position.
3. Junta already said it will expell Charles Petrie, UN Development Program Resident Representative (ResRep) from Rangoon.
4. Mr. Gambari said to "not even have a cell phone when he is on his missions in Burma." At present has no office of his own, no permanent staff of his own, no international human rights abuses monitors on the ground in Burma.
5. We need to "push, push, push" as US Charge d'Affaires Shari Villarosa said during the crisis. The USA is doing that, but there is also of course the Iraq War, Iran issue and now Pakistan "on the plate."
Commentary points, copyright Kyi May Kaung.
1. Meetings are in new capital Naypyidaw up country, not in Rangoon.
2. Not meeting Sr. Gen. Than Shwe -- meeting PM who is holding something like a VP position.
3. Junta already said it will expell Charles Petrie, UN Development Program Resident Representative (ResRep) from Rangoon.
4. Mr. Gambari said to "not even have a cell phone when he is on his missions in Burma." At present has no office of his own, no permanent staff of his own, no international human rights abuses monitors on the ground in Burma.
5. We need to "push, push, push" as US Charge d'Affaires Shari Villarosa said during the crisis. The USA is doing that, but there is also of course the Iraq War, Iran issue and now Pakistan "on the plate."
Commentary points, copyright Kyi May Kaung.
Latest Burmese Refugees in Thailand Still not Safe --
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gIaL02FuO1KPRg4N4pA2bOwxeI3gD8SNFQIG0
Being allowed to live in refugee camps along the border is also not much.
Many have been stuck there for over a decade already.
Being allowed to live in refugee camps along the border is also not much.
Many have been stuck there for over a decade already.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Oprah is handling the abuse scandal at her school in South Africa very well.
See CNN
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/showbiz/2007/11/04/callan.australia.anchor.ch7
This is much much better than the way some scandals are handled -- or rather not handled by many organizations.
Things she is doing right:
1. Immediate action.
2. Looking into the problem herself.
3. Appointing an independent inquiry commission.
4. Meeting alleged victims directly.
5. Good follow up.
6. Being true to the original goals.
7. Checking relevant laws and getting legal advice.
In the Burmese case also, I have heard of several cases of abuse of refugees by people purporting to help them. After the tsunami, it was reported that human traffickers went to disaster sites immediately to "recruit victims."
Pay attention everyone.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/showbiz/2007/11/04/callan.australia.anchor.ch7
This is much much better than the way some scandals are handled -- or rather not handled by many organizations.
Things she is doing right:
1. Immediate action.
2. Looking into the problem herself.
3. Appointing an independent inquiry commission.
4. Meeting alleged victims directly.
5. Good follow up.
6. Being true to the original goals.
7. Checking relevant laws and getting legal advice.
In the Burmese case also, I have heard of several cases of abuse of refugees by people purporting to help them. After the tsunami, it was reported that human traffickers went to disaster sites immediately to "recruit victims."
Pay attention everyone.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Burma and Nuclear Power
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22693077-5013460,00.html
"The interesting thing about the engagement and isolation strategies is that neither has had the slightest effect in moderating the Burmese government's behavior."
Greg Sheridan, Unconventional Wisdom on Burma, in The Australian, Nov. 3, 2007.
In response to the pro-engagement matra "Sanctions don't work" we should counter with "Engagement has not worked either."
"The interesting thing about the engagement and isolation strategies is that neither has had the slightest effect in moderating the Burmese government's behavior."
Greg Sheridan, Unconventional Wisdom on Burma, in The Australian, Nov. 3, 2007.
In response to the pro-engagement matra "Sanctions don't work" we should counter with "Engagement has not worked either."
Burma-- A Vision and a Strategy -- by Dr Khin Maung Kyi, Ronald Findlay and R.M. Sundrum
http://books.google.com/books?id=hFA9etqLyrEC&pg=PA229&lpg=PA229&dq=kyi+may+kaung&source=web&ots=dERi1YmzFi&sig=GcHUS5OdrSKXwQJuwoNTHPh5pPc#PPP1,M1
I was on the peer review committee of this book by my mentors, which remains highly relevant today.
We are about to launch the Burmese edition.
I was on the peer review committee of this book by my mentors, which remains highly relevant today.
We are about to launch the Burmese edition.
Some fiction suggestions to prepare for our Pakistan discussion
1. Krushwant Singh, A Train to Pakistan, A Novel.
I have not read this, but it sounds hopeful.
2. Paul Scott, The Raj Quartet.
3. Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children.
4. Salman Rushdie, Shame.
I have read 2, 3 and 4.
The Raj Quartet was made into an excellent Masterpiece Theatre series in early 1980s.
I have not read this, but it sounds hopeful.
2. Paul Scott, The Raj Quartet.
3. Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children.
4. Salman Rushdie, Shame.
I have read 2, 3 and 4.
The Raj Quartet was made into an excellent Masterpiece Theatre series in early 1980s.
Quote of the Day: Benazir Bhutto, returning from Dubai to visit family
says she had hoped to work towards civilian rule in Pakistan, but didn't know how she could work with Gen. Musharraf's government, as "it is very difficult to work with a dictator."
On Sat. Oct 18, within the first 8 hours after she returned from her long exile, a bomb went off killing over a hundred people as she and her supporters made their way through crowds to the tomb of Pakistan's founder, Jinnah.
By popular request, we are going to talk about current events in Pakistan in my book group, but don't have an exact date yet.
We don't have a Pakistan book yet either -- though I suggested Salman Rushdie's Shame, which features cameo roles of Benazir, her father and her mother and Rushdie's Midnight's Children, which is about the formation of India.
We could also watch the film Gandhi again. It includes unforgetable images of the Partition.
On Sat. Oct 18, within the first 8 hours after she returned from her long exile, a bomb went off killing over a hundred people as she and her supporters made their way through crowds to the tomb of Pakistan's founder, Jinnah.
By popular request, we are going to talk about current events in Pakistan in my book group, but don't have an exact date yet.
We don't have a Pakistan book yet either -- though I suggested Salman Rushdie's Shame, which features cameo roles of Benazir, her father and her mother and Rushdie's Midnight's Children, which is about the formation of India.
We could also watch the film Gandhi again. It includes unforgetable images of the Partition.
Dr. Kaung's Bookshelf -- First Book Discussion on Friday, Nov. 2., 2007.
A record number of people turned up for my first book discussion in this series. I thought it would be one of my last events in Silver Spring, as so few people had been showing up for author appearances lately. And I was having trouble finding new people to come to Silver Spring and talk on interesting topics, though the folk singers always draw a crowd. So do the dancers.
This book discussion on Udozinma Iweala's book, Beasts of No Nation, was scheduled months ago. Some people who came had read it, and one called it a "tour de force" which it is. As it's a book discussion, not an author appearance, and I had been so busy with the Burma thing, I had not made an attempt to find or invite the author. Maybe I should have, maybe not. Anyway, C. was so kind as to remember the first book discussion I did there about two years ago, on Orhan Pamuk's My Name is Red and his other super novel, Snow. And that was scheduled right at the time when Pamuk was undergoing his trial for "insulting Turkishness." Two people from the Turkish Embassy showed up and were very vocal, and hotly denied the Armenian genocide, but I gave the last word to a librarian who had read all of Pamuk's books. That seemed only fair. Pamuk went on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature a year later.
This time, C. said "Did you see the article about this guy's father in The Washington Post this morning? A nurse that his father had an affair with extorted money from his father," but has now lost the case.
http://saharareporters.com/www/news/detail/?id=431
I don't believe "the sins of others" father, mother etc. have anything to do with the children, and moreover I don't believe even the life of authors has anything much to do with a fictional novel.
So I said, "It will sell more books." L. said, "They are selling well already."
Good, because it's a mighty good book and it draws attention to the problem of child soldiers in Africa and elsewhere. A few days ago Human Rights Watch published another report on child soldiers in Burma.
Iweala's Beasts of No Nation is written in an invented English that is charming and lyrical, all in the present continuous tense. M. said as she was reading the book, she got so absorbed she started talking the same kind of English herself.
That happens to me every time I read a good book, by a writer with a distinctive voice. I don't speak "the new language" aloud but I start to sound like the book I am currently reading when I write or talk to myself in my head, which I think everyone does all the time.
That's why it is so important to read appropriately while writing something. Some read only 16th century literature when writing a novel set in the 16th century.
I hope the Iweala family can put this all behind them, they truly sound very gifted, and that Uzodinma keeps writing.
Something I did not know before, the novel was developed from his Harvard Masters capstone. I did notice he thanked Jamaica Kincaid.
I did not know Kincaid taught at Harvard.
What do the rest of us who aren't in our twenties and not in an MFA program with a mentor willing and able to help us do?
I guess the answer is just keep on writing and sending out work.
A good book is the best revenge.
Copyright Kyi May Kaung
This book discussion on Udozinma Iweala's book, Beasts of No Nation, was scheduled months ago. Some people who came had read it, and one called it a "tour de force" which it is. As it's a book discussion, not an author appearance, and I had been so busy with the Burma thing, I had not made an attempt to find or invite the author. Maybe I should have, maybe not. Anyway, C. was so kind as to remember the first book discussion I did there about two years ago, on Orhan Pamuk's My Name is Red and his other super novel, Snow. And that was scheduled right at the time when Pamuk was undergoing his trial for "insulting Turkishness." Two people from the Turkish Embassy showed up and were very vocal, and hotly denied the Armenian genocide, but I gave the last word to a librarian who had read all of Pamuk's books. That seemed only fair. Pamuk went on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature a year later.
This time, C. said "Did you see the article about this guy's father in The Washington Post this morning? A nurse that his father had an affair with extorted money from his father," but has now lost the case.
http://saharareporters.com/www/news/detail/?id=431
I don't believe "the sins of others" father, mother etc. have anything to do with the children, and moreover I don't believe even the life of authors has anything much to do with a fictional novel.
So I said, "It will sell more books." L. said, "They are selling well already."
Good, because it's a mighty good book and it draws attention to the problem of child soldiers in Africa and elsewhere. A few days ago Human Rights Watch published another report on child soldiers in Burma.
Iweala's Beasts of No Nation is written in an invented English that is charming and lyrical, all in the present continuous tense. M. said as she was reading the book, she got so absorbed she started talking the same kind of English herself.
That happens to me every time I read a good book, by a writer with a distinctive voice. I don't speak "the new language" aloud but I start to sound like the book I am currently reading when I write or talk to myself in my head, which I think everyone does all the time.
That's why it is so important to read appropriately while writing something. Some read only 16th century literature when writing a novel set in the 16th century.
I hope the Iweala family can put this all behind them, they truly sound very gifted, and that Uzodinma keeps writing.
Something I did not know before, the novel was developed from his Harvard Masters capstone. I did notice he thanked Jamaica Kincaid.
I did not know Kincaid taught at Harvard.
What do the rest of us who aren't in our twenties and not in an MFA program with a mentor willing and able to help us do?
I guess the answer is just keep on writing and sending out work.
A good book is the best revenge.
Copyright Kyi May Kaung
Saturday, November 03, 2007
What Burma's Junta Must Fear by U Gambira
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/02/AR2007110201783.html
U Gambira is one of the leaders of the Saffron Revolution. He uses this pseudonym and is in hiding inside Burma.
U Gambira is one of the leaders of the Saffron Revolution. He uses this pseudonym and is in hiding inside Burma.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Burma - What Next -- from Dialogues in Civilization
Burma, what next?
They marched for days, braving the wrath of the regime. The Burmese demonstrators caught the attention of the world with their demands for democracy, freedom and dignity. Their weapons were mobile phones, and their leaders Buddhist monks who have reminded the world how religion can sometimes contain a unique energy. Now, however, those sacrifices and those deaths, demand that the lights do not go out on Burma. More than two months after the start of the protests, what has become of the “saffron revolution”? Much lies in the hands of China and India, the two main allies of the military junta. But the West, too, can still play its part.
“The opposition has no chance right now, but this is only the beginning” Maureen Aung-Thwin, of the Open Society Institute, interviewed by Daniele Castellani Perelli
“I saw them fighting. They have lost a battle, but they haven’t lost the war” Tony Birtley, Al Jazeera journalist, in conversation with Alessandra Cardinale
“Religion has been the true force” Father Bernardo Cervellera, editor of AsiaNews.it, interviewed by Elisabetta Ambrosi
A god-given opportunity for Beijing, by Dave Wang
India has nothing to lose, by Subir Bhaumik BOOKSSuad Amiry: “Irony will free us from the war”.
ResetDoC is a creation of Dialogues on Civilizations with the support of Intesa Sanpaolo e Telecom Progetto Italia
They marched for days, braving the wrath of the regime. The Burmese demonstrators caught the attention of the world with their demands for democracy, freedom and dignity. Their weapons were mobile phones, and their leaders Buddhist monks who have reminded the world how religion can sometimes contain a unique energy. Now, however, those sacrifices and those deaths, demand that the lights do not go out on Burma. More than two months after the start of the protests, what has become of the “saffron revolution”? Much lies in the hands of China and India, the two main allies of the military junta. But the West, too, can still play its part.
“The opposition has no chance right now, but this is only the beginning” Maureen Aung-Thwin, of the Open Society Institute, interviewed by Daniele Castellani Perelli
“I saw them fighting. They have lost a battle, but they haven’t lost the war” Tony Birtley, Al Jazeera journalist, in conversation with Alessandra Cardinale
“Religion has been the true force” Father Bernardo Cervellera, editor of AsiaNews.it, interviewed by Elisabetta Ambrosi
A god-given opportunity for Beijing, by Dave Wang
India has nothing to lose, by Subir Bhaumik BOOKSSuad Amiry: “Irony will free us from the war”.
ResetDoC is a creation of Dialogues on Civilizations with the support of Intesa Sanpaolo e Telecom Progetto Italia
Painting Kim Jung Il's Portrait in Artist's Own Blood --
http://potw.news.yahoo.com/s/potw/23115/strokes-of-genius
A brilliant artist with a refined social conscience.
A brilliant artist with a refined social conscience.
Hollywood Writers' Strike -- Burmese Intellectuals Need Similar Rights
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/02/hollywood.talks/index.html
Concerning the Citizen Journalists and Photographers who sent out such important footage during the recent and continuing Burma crisis, we received word that they are either on the run or being harrassed by the junta.
Other Burma bloggers and I are working on trying to find a way to guarantee Copyrights for the photos etc that they risked their lives to get.
I suggested calling this campaign Give Us Our Images Back.
We don't want them to suffer the double, triple or quadruple whammy of being harrassed, imprisoned or killed and also of having their intellectual property stolen.
We are looking for a pro-bono lawyer well versed in Intellectual Property and Human Rights Law.
If you can help us, or know anyone who can, please leave a message on this blog as a comment.
Kyi May Kaung
Concerning the Citizen Journalists and Photographers who sent out such important footage during the recent and continuing Burma crisis, we received word that they are either on the run or being harrassed by the junta.
Other Burma bloggers and I are working on trying to find a way to guarantee Copyrights for the photos etc that they risked their lives to get.
I suggested calling this campaign Give Us Our Images Back.
We don't want them to suffer the double, triple or quadruple whammy of being harrassed, imprisoned or killed and also of having their intellectual property stolen.
We are looking for a pro-bono lawyer well versed in Intellectual Property and Human Rights Law.
If you can help us, or know anyone who can, please leave a message on this blog as a comment.
Kyi May Kaung
Thursday, November 01, 2007
New American "U" visas for alien victims of crimes --
such as human trafficking -- Please forward this widely.
http://www.asianfortunenews.com/site/article_1107.php?article_id=104
This will most likely include Burmese victims -- find out more at Department of Homeland Security and at U.S. Embassies in your home country or country of first refuge.
http://www.asianfortunenews.com/site/article_1107.php?article_id=104
This will most likely include Burmese victims -- find out more at Department of Homeland Security and at U.S. Embassies in your home country or country of first refuge.
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