In response to the humanitarian and civil rights crisis in Burma (Myanmar) sparked by the military coup in February, activists and artists in the San Francisco Bay Area have banded together to organize the Burma Spring Benefit Film Festival, streaming online from June 3rd through 14th, in a curated selection of films and live talks.
Since coming out of a lengthy military rule, the country of Myanmar has transitioned into a democratic government with a Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, as its prime minister. However, despite the political changes, latent ethnic tensions and anti-Muslim sentiments have remained the same, and a recent book suggests that they reach […]
Last month, Ethical Traveler’s News Feed included a report of rumors in Burma that the health of legally elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi had been deteriorating. When the military junta ruling Burma extended Suu Kyi’s house arrest, these rumors strengthened, despite assurances that a high UN official had seen Suu Kyi and her health […]
Recent promising reports of talks between the Burmese military junta and the Aung San Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy (NLD), which convincingly won the country’s 1990 elections but was prevented from taking its role in the government, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1956562.stm , have been overshadowed by questions of Aung San Suu Kyi’s health and status. A letter […]
The ruling military junta of Burma is moving the country’s governing headquarters to a remote compound in the northern jungle. Media reports in mid-November confirmed that civil servants in the capital city, Yangon (Rangoon), are rapidly being transferred to a site called Pyinmanaa that permits limited unsupervised communication with or from the outside world. The […]
A case brought by Burmese villagers against U.S. oil company Unocal was settled out of court in late March. The company was accused of allowing human rights abuses – including murder, rape and forced labor – to occur during construction of the Yadana oil pipeline in rural Burma (Myanmar) during the 1990s. The settlement came […]
