Tag Archive for 'Burma'Page 2 of 2

24
May

Burma: In the Name of Development

The enslavement, torture, displacement, and genocide of people in Burma continues

From the Asia Tribune: According to the Free Burma Rangers, a relief organisation working in the area, soldiers from Light Infantry Battalions 542 and 544 attacked Ber Ka Lay Ko village, northern Toungoo District in north-western Karen State on 12 May. They reportedly captured, raped and killed a woman.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide revealed in a statement, “Three days later, troops attacked again as villagers worked in their fields. Many were able to flee due to the noise made by the Burma Army, but one man, Saw Hsar Mee, aged 55, was deaf and was unable to hear the attacking troops. He was shot and killed. Another man, Saw Mu Der, aged 36 was also shot dead, and Saw Kwa Kwa, aged 20, was captured and executed. At least 14 other …

Published on
May 24, 2007
  0 Comments 938 views

18
Feb

Karen Indigenous Women Targeted in Burmese Terror Campaign

Karen Indigenous Women Directly Targeted in Burmese Regime’s Terror Campaign in Karen State
Press Release, February 12, 2007

State of Terror, a report launched today by the Karen Women’s Organization, provides graphic evidence of the widespread terror tactics being employed by the military regime’s troops against women across Burma’s Karen State.

As the atrocities continue, the KWO appeals for concerted international pressure on the regime to bring about an immediate nationwide ceasefire and withdrawal of Burmese Army Troops from the ethnic states.

“We deeply regret the veto by China and Russia and SouthAfrica’s vote against the UN Security Council Resolution on Burma last month,” said KWO Secretary Naw Zipporah Sein. “It is equivalent to endorsing the regime’s terror campaign in Karen State. They are giving us a death sentence.”

The report documents 4,000 cases of abuse, including rape, murder, torture and forced labour, mainly over the past few years, in …

Published on
February 18, 2007
  0 Comments 1,037 views

24
Jan

Civil War in Burma, Karen Women in Exile

Civil War in Burma, Karen Women in Exile
From: Making Contact
January 24, 2007

Burma is a country run by one of the strictest military juntas in the world. For nearly 60 years, the country has been embroiled in civil war. More than 1 million people have been displaced and hundreds of thousands of ethnic minorities have fled to refugee camps in neighboring Thailand escaping forced labor, rapes, killings and imprisonment. The situation has deteriorated so badly that last September the U.N. Security Counsel added Burma to its formal agenda.

The Karen tribe is the largest ethnic minority in Burma. They continue to fight the junta. They say they will not surrender until there is peace and a separate state for the Karen people. Producer Jack Chance and the international documentary team Outer Voices went to Burma and Thailand to interview refugee activists from the Karen Women’s Organization. This is their story.

This had …

Published on
January 24, 2007
  0 Comments 824 views

16
Jan

Karen people forced to flee Burma’s genocide

Karen people forced to flee Burma’s genocide
by Pete Pattisson, The Independent (UK)
January 16, 2007

Karen State: When the Burmese soldiers arrived at his village, Maung Taungy knew what would happen next. Seven villagers were arrested, their feet bound together with rope, and they hung upside down for hours. Exhausted and with their ankles lacerated, the men, suspected of being linked to the Karen resistance army, were then beaten. The soldiers did not stop until they were dead.

“After that,” remembers Maung Taungy, an ethnic-minority Karen from eastern Burma, “we became the virtual slaves of the army. They ordered us to clear the whole jungle so that they could see approaching enemies. We had to wade through chest-deep water full of snakes to get the area cleared. The work was endless, we made roads, dug trenches, cut bamboo and made fences. We had no choice but to escape.”

Maung Taungy now lives in Ei …

Published on
January 16, 2007
  0 Comments 768 views

24
Dec

Report on Burmese army attacking the Karen People

Shoot on Sight: The ongoing SPDC offensive against villagers in northern Karen State December 2006

The Burmese army launched a large scale offensive in the districts of Toungoo, Nyaung Lay Bin and Muthraw in northern Karen State in November 2005 targeting the civilian Karen population. This offensive has been ongoing for over a year and it continues today. Villages are being shelled with mortars, looted and burnt to the ground. Crops and food supplies are being destroyed. Burmese soldiers are ordered to shoot on sight, regardless of whether it is a combatant or a defenseless civilian. As a result more than 27,000 people have been forced from their homes, either hiding in the jungle or trying to find refuge in Thailand. The Burmese army continues to increase its military presence in these areas and carry out attacks against villagers.

In addition to the increased number of military attacks and militarisation …

Published on
December 24, 2006
  0 Comments 632 views

Video activism and the Chiapas Media Project

In the following presentation, Claudia Magallanes-Blanco from the University of Western Sydney talks about the role of video activism as a world-wide tool for empowerment and the Chiapas Media Project, a collaborative effort based in Mexico that provides indigenous Zapatistas in Chiapas and peasants in Guerrero with training and equipment to produce their own videos.

Since forming in 1998, CMP has distributed over 6000 videos, including: Zapata’s Garden, a film that looks at the society the Zapatista’s are building; …


I Am A Defender of the Rainforest

Known as ‘Soy defensor de la selva’ in Spanish, I am a Defender of the Rainforest is an award-winning documentary that was filmed, edited, and directed by members of the Sarayaku community in southern Ecuador.

The film shows how the …


Underreported Struggles #19, October 2008

In this month’s Underreported Struggles: 400,000 Guatemalans Reject Development Model, Philippines Indigenous People Unite for the Land, Riot Police Target Algonquin Blockade, Chagos Islanders Denied the Right of Return, and 17 other stories …


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