Message-ID: <Pine.SGI.3.91.960219200359.4098B-100000@badger.ac.BrockU.CA> Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 20:04:57 -0500 From: Martin Sieg <mailto:ms94dk@BADGER.AC.BROCKU.CA> Subject: Burma's Unfinished Struggle for Democracy (fwd) To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
This is worth reading.---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 00:09:38 -0600 From: zar ni <mailto:zni@students.wisc.edu> To: Multiple recipients of list <mailto:free-burma@lists.stdorg.wisc.edu> Subject: Burma's Unfinished Struggle for Democracy
My days in the student camp Myo Naing Zaw A cry of a child woke me up early in the morning. I tried to keep sleeping but the sound is getting loud. The sound of other people added into my hearing. It was impossible for me to continue my sleep. The two and a half hour walk, climbing hills up and down, made me tired and my whole body requested more rest in bed. Additionally, the cool weather of the mountainous area forced me to stay huddled beneath the two blankets. But I could not sleep anymore. Curiosity opened my eyes and kicked my body out of the bed, 5 am in the morning which was early dawn and still foggy. How come these babies and people woke up early and were busy? The curiosity made me get out of the barrack where I slept. I was surprised to see there were no people left in the barrack; I was the only one left. I hastily brushed my teeth and washed my face. I gave up the idea to take a bath in the stream. It was still very cool. I thanked my friends who gave me extra blankets before I went to bed last night. I zipped up my jacket and walked down along the main road of the camp. Surprisingly again, there were no people in any house. The doors were open. However, I heard the noise of the people from the head of the camp. I kept walking towards the voice. I realized where the people were when I saw the crowd near the volley ball playground. All were here -- the leaders of the camp, boys, men, girls and women and even their little children. I did not realize at once why all of them were here early in the morning. However, I later understood they were preparing to do something. They all brought their own instruments from their home such as shovels, knives, baskets etc. They were also looking at me. I felt bad that I did not know about this last night. I smiled at them and said "Hi". One of the students said, "Hi, you are late." "Sorry, I didn't know you had this. May I join you?" I asked. "Why not, join and work with us for preparation of 4th January, Independence Day. We are going to have some sports competition here and the ground needs to be cleaned up. "Are there any forced laborers?" I made a joke. Everybody laughed. One student said, "We all are unpaid but not forced laborers. Hey man, this is ABSDF camp you know. It's not Ye-Tavoy railway projects or other forced labor camps run by Slorc." We all laughed again. The male students made the ground level, digging out the stone and roots of the bushes. Girl students cut the grass and burnt the leaves. Children curiously watched what the adults were doing. Some were playing around. Everybody was working, joking with each other and smiling. I got an idea to take a picture of them. I ran back up to my barrack and brought my camera. When I was ready to shoot, one student shouted to the others: "Hey the guy is taking a picture of us. Let's smile and say cheese." They all smiled and laughed. It was totally different from the photos from Slorc-run New Light of Myanmar. The people in the papers were smiling too, but not as sweet or alive as these people here. They were glad and happy to work towards such a noble contribution for their celebration of 4th January (Independence Day of Burma). That made me recall what Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said in her year-long letter series to Japanese newspapers. Aung San Suu Kyi mentioned in her letter from Burma to the Mainichi Shimbun, Japan that, ".. no project could be successfully implemented without the willing cooperation of those concerned. People will contribute both hard work and money cheerfully if they are handled with kindness and care and if they are convinced that their contributions will truly benefit the public. Love and truth can move people more strongly than any form of coercion." Nobody forced these people to work like the way Slorc has been doing. These people, however, were willing to contribute to their cause. The work was completed very fast and nobody seemed tired. After the work, all were served sticky rice. I had my quota and returned back to my barrack. I cleaned up my hands and lingered around the camp. I had come here three months ago and had become familiar with all the camp members, students and their families. The camp was moving ahead, constructing more buildings and growing more vegetable small farms; it seemed more organized. Even though they had just finished their work at the volleyball playground, I saw some students were busy with their farms. They were watering the plantation and others were weeding their nurseries. The plantation was diverse, ranging from water green to egg plants and cabbages. I also saw some students and families were busy cooking their breakfast. When I passed by the small farms, my friend invited me to join him for dinner tonight: "Hey, come and let's have dinner together. I'll make a special dinner for you with my home-cultivated vegetables. What would you like to have, green cabbage or eggplant?" I replied without hesitance: "Anything, no problem for me." I understood that it must be especially generous to invite other people when the supplies were insufficient. However, this was quite common in Burmese custom inviting guests to join them for lunch or dinner at their home. They are very glad to treat the guests, even though they may have a very small amount of food at home. My friend continued to say, "We have to grow the vegetables for our daily needs. It's our self-reliance program. We raise some chickens and pigs, too. In this way, every household can match their daily needs ad run their own programs." I kept walking to the information department. There was a jungle studio where many programs for DVB (Democratic Voice of Burma), a radio station based in Oslo, Norway, were produced. The daily Burmese language broadcasting program is aired inside Burma. Many students from the ABSDF (All Burma Students Democratic Front) are working as DVB reporters and programmers. This studio is one of the two DVB studios on the border. The students document human rights abuses committed by the Slorc from inside Burma and along the borders. They report to the Norway station. Some make their regular programs for DVB. The studio is not very big nor does it have many instruments. I recalled the amateur studio at my friend's home in the USA. That studio was more equipped and sophisticated than this jungle studio here. This is a basic studio, but amazingly it is producing a lot of excellent programs for Burmese listeners inside Burma. During my chat with the student from the ABSDF Information Department, he explained, "We are producing various kinds of programs besides daily news to Norway. As we are close to the Burmese border, we have a greater chance to meet the refugees and victims who fled the human rights violations by the Slorc to Thailand. Therefore, from their stories and personal testimonies, we can make human rights programs. We also made a program called 'Letters from inside Burma' and some short story programs with other members of the ABSDF." He seemed proud of the studio's work. Incredibly, the ABSDF students have made numerous excellent music tapes not only for the ABSDF, but for the DVB. "We've just made 'Kayan' (an ethnic group in Karenni state) music tape," he continued. After spending some time in the studio, I walked to the camp's learning center. It was a hall with a thatch roof and bamboo walls. There were six different levels of English classes running during my time in the camp. One of my Australian friends was teaching the students. The classes were designated from the beginners to the advance levels depending on the students. When I got there, students were role-playing in groups. It was a different learning method from the teacher-to-student method used in Burma when they were in their homeland. The method in Burma was just leaning from the educators, without discussion or participation by the students in the classroom. The method used in this center is learning by participation. Students are urged to participate in the classroom activities and learn a foreign languages by "doing." All students looked like they were enjoying their studies and I reckoned that the relations between the educators and students was good. I also learned that the center is also used for other training and educational programs. I returned back to my barrack and had my lunch with my friends. The food was not so special -- a vegetable soup and fish paste. However, it was fresh and delicious. As soon as I finished my lunch, I got an idea to go around the library. I did not want to spend all my time reading in the barrack. I wished to see friends in the camp and explore their situation. The library was not very big. It was near the stream and quiet. Various books were kept on the book shelves systematically. I saw many different books and subjects in this library, both in Burmese and English. The collection included monthly magazines published in Burma, Times, Newsweek and other educational materials. Some students were enjoying reading books in the library. " Some students are book- worms. They want to read as many books as they can. They spend the whole afternoon reading until it's dark," the librarian explained. A former Rangoon Institute of technology (RIT) student, he then went onto say he was fond of reading books himself: "I enjoy being a librarian because I can read the books and also recommend the ones worth reading to other fellow students," he said with a smile. The location was very pleasant for me -- nice, clean and quiet. Many educational references and materials were available in the library, so that students could spend time in the library for educational purposes after the language classes. I also spent the rest of the afternoon in the library until dinner time. I got a chance to have a chat with the students after my dinner. The night was terribly cool (it was mid-December). Students set a fire near the barrack in order to fight the chilly weather. We talked about various issues from their daily life to the future perspective of Burma; it was a very frank and open discussion. I understood the morale of the students was still high, even though they have been struggling for over seven years. Their commitment for the democracy and human rights in their homeland was admirable. " I believe that we have learnt a lot within the past seven years in the jungle. I gained much practical knowledge and ideas tha we cannot learn in the classroom. It's a real good knowledge for the future of Burma," one student said emotionally. They frankly told me that sometimes they felt frustrated especially when they were forced to move to a new place due to the Slorc's attack on the student camps. I sympathized with them. One student who lost one of his legs during the fighting with Slorc commented, "We understand it's a struggle. Struggle does not smooth all the time. ometimes win and sometimes lose. We have decided to continue our struggle against the military dictatorship until we win. I neither want my next generation to live under the dictatorship in Burma nor still need to fight against it. We want to overthrow the military dictatorship so that the next generation will enjoy the fruit of our sacrifice." His voice was strong and clearly expressed his determination and commitment. So powerful were his words, that silence fell over the group. Everybody was thinking deeply. His words reaffirmed the group's spirit for the unfinished struggle for democracy in Burma. We talked pretty late on that night. I had a very tight schedule requiring me to leave the next day. I did not want to go back very soon. I wanted to stay with the students in the camp more and share ideas and listen to their views. However, I had to leave the next day so I said "Good night" to everybody. Before I fell asleep, I wondered how to work for these students and their cause of democracy in Burma. No matter where we are in the world, we are on the same path striving for democracy in Burma and must work together. As long as we ae unified by shared aims and objectives, we can cooperate, walking hand in hand for the struggle. As an Ethiopian proverb says, " WHEN SPIDERS UNITE THEY CAN TIE DOWN A LION." We can overthrow the Slorc with our solidarity and unity.