MASSIVE WAVE OF IMPRISONMENTS IN BURMA/Send a Message to UN Secretary General

Nearly every day, Burma's military dictator Than Shwe is sending dozens of human rights activists to long terms in prison. Those sentenced to many years behind bars include poets, actors, comedians, students, journalists, volunteers who helped victims of Cyclone Nargis, hip-hop artists, and members of the political party of Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi. These sentences are the biggest news to come out of Burma in a long time, and we have been posting all the news about the arrests on our blog.
More importantly, we are working around the clock to galvanize a strong international response. Here is some examples of what the Burma movement has done so far:
We are pressing the United Nations Security Council to convene an immediate, emergency meeting on Burma in order to impose an international arms embargo on Burma's military regime


Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kay Bailey Hutchison, leaders of the United States Senate Womens' Caucus on Burma -- which includes all the women in the U.S. Senate -- issued a demand for the arrests to stop


Our members have sent thousands of messages to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urging him to travel to Burma and demand the immediate release of all political prisoners in Burma (mystifyingly, the Secretary General has done basically nothing about this crisis -- so keep sending those messages)


We have been providing the news media with round-the-clock updates on those sentenced to long prison terms in Burma. There have been thousands of news articles on the arrests


A coalition of 40 organizations sent a letter to the leaders of the Southeast Asian countries urging them to demand the release of all Burmese political prisoners at the upcoming ASEAN summit on December 15th in Thailand. This meeting represents a strong opportunity for Asian leaders to tell the Burmese military regime that the sentencing of political activists must stop


Members of parliament from all over Asia are galvanizing a strong effort (more on this coming soon...)


Many world leaders are preparing a major push to free all political prisoners in Burma (more on this coming soon...)


Our allies throughout the world have successfully pressed the governments of the United States, the UK, Estonia, Slovakia, Germany, Canada, and the European Union to condemn the arrests
We have much more work to do and you are going to see some even bigger actions in the weeks ahead, but we wanted to let you know some of what we are doing. And, we wanted to thank you because none of our work would be possible without your support.
Sincerely,

Aung Din, Jeremy Woodrum, Jennifer Quigley, Jacqui Pilch, Michael Haack


Support 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma:



http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1189/t/5102/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1407

Let Olympic Sponsors Know You Want Positive Change

We are asking people all over the world to voice their concern to Olympic Sponsors over the Chinese government's continual support of atrocities in Burma.

Please send an email to the corporate Olympic Sponsors and ask them to use their leverage with the Chinese government to urge political change of their policy towards Burma. The Olympics should not be tainted. Let them know that if China's policy does not change than you are planning on boycotting all Olympic merchandise and purchasing of their merchandise during the Oylmpics.


http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1189/t/5102/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=23631

Mass Atrocities Against Ethnic Minority Civilians - TAKE ACTION

US Campaign For Burma.org

Child Soldiers
Forced Labor
Sexual Violence
Health Crisis/Landmines
3200 Villages Destroyed

Eastern Burma is Asia's worst Internally Displaced People (IDP) crisis zone, with over half a million people on the run from the military dictatorship's vicious attacks and ethnic cleansing. Burma's ethnic nationality areas around the country are all subject to the military dictatorship's attacks and abuses.

The situation in Eastern Burma, however, is particularly dire: the armed conflict raging in Eastern Burma is the world's longest currently-running conflict. The military has destroyed over 3200 villages, and Eastern Burma is now the world's most heavily mined region. In 2006 alone, 82,000 people fled from or were forced from their homes to become IDPs in Eastern Burma, now living in camps guarded by ethnic resistance armies, barely surviving. These people have fled direct attacks aimed at ethnically cleansing resource-rich areas and consolidating the military dictatorship's control over the entire country. The military uses tactics such as rape, forced labor, abducting children to be soldiers, torture and executions to instill their reign of terror over eastern Burma.

The attacks on civilians in eastern Burma started for a number of different reasons. It is important to understand that the areas under attack by the ruling military junta have been controlled by ethnic groups in Burma for many years. The present military junta has never controlled these areas. The junta began carrying out a war in order to take over these areas from the ethnic minorities, which had their own government, security apparatus and commerce. The junta wants complete, totalitarian control of the entire region.

Watch the trailer to Witness‘ video “Shoot on Sight” to learn more.

http://uscampaignforburma.org/learn-about-burma/attacks-eastern-burma

Internal Displacement in Eastern Burma: 2007 Survey
- From Thailand Burma Border Consortium (www.tbbc.org) .

Campaign of Brutality
- From Free Burma Rangers (www.freeburmarangers.org). A report and analysis of Burma Army offensive Against the People of Northern Karen State, Eastern Burma, Feb 2006- Feb 2007. Free Burma Rangers is a good source for up to date information on the situation

Map of Displaced Villages 1996-2007
- From TBBC

Report on Satellite Imagery of the Conflict in Eastern Burma
- Produced by the Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights project as part of
the Science and Human Rights Program (SHRP; http://shr.aaas.org) of the American Association or the Advancement of Science (AAAS)