Jim Carrey calls for people to support the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi. He also decries Burma's military regime for recruiting more child soldiers than any other country in the world, destroying 3,000 villages in eastern Burma, and forcing 1.5 million refugees to flee. He appeals to viewers to join two organizations:
The Human Rights Action Center
www.humanrightsactioncenter.org
U.S. Campaign for Burma
www.uscampaignforburma.org
To ACT NOW: www.witness.org/shootonsight. Video advocates BURMA ISSUES travel deep into the jungles of eastern Burma to document one of the world's most urgent and most forgotten emergencies. (The video was co-produced with WITNESS)
The Burmese military has embarked on one of the worst offensives in its 30 year campaign to destabilize the lives of rural ethnic minorities. Half a million live driven from their homes. INTERNATIONAL ACTION IS NEEDED!
Burma (Myanmar)
http://www.flyingmonk.com/myanmar.html
Myanmar is one of the most photogenic countries in SE Asia. The Land of Golden Spires smiles to you from every corner and the religious fervor that goes all the way to the ruthless generals makes it shine. Everybody is building gilded stupas hoping, a Buddhist belief, to gain merit and improve their accumulated bad karma.
We visited the temple spotted plane in Bagan built in about 200 years, representing the peak of the Burmese kingdom. Latter, we moved east to Shan State and visited the villages, markets and religious places of the hill-tribes the populate the region around Innle Lake, an area full of traditions where you have the feeling that time stood still. We continued to Mandalay, a 19th century capital city surrounded by the ancient capital cities of Sagaing, Inwa, Amarapura and Mingun. From there we stop in Bago and went to Mt. Kyaiktiyo, the most important pilgrimage place in the country, to visit and pray at the Golden Rock. We ended our tour admiring in awe Shwedagon Paya, the most important religious place in the country, located in the present capital, Yangon (Rangoon).
Watch our video and you'll never forget these places.
Pi Vat and Ledoh meet over a game of pool-billard in a bar in Thailand at the Burmese border and discover things in common: their escape abroad from the Burmese military dictatorship, because they are ethnic Karen.
The Burmese army wages war against the Karen. Their culture, their language and ulimatively themselves are exposed to systematic eradication -- to the effect of 56 years of civil war and hundred-thousands of Karen refugees.
Pi Vat loses the game against Ledoh and has to promise to guide him into the land of the Talarku Karen, who worship a living man-god in the jungle. Pi Vat is one of the most popular nature field guides in Thailand and Ledoh due to explore the isolated enclave of the Talarku Karen as an inspiration for his dance theatre back in San Francisco. Their venture will lead them illegally across the green border to Burma, through thick jungle into a Shangri-La of vivid traditions.
An odd cry for help addressed at the expert Pi Vat intervenes. A herd of wild elephants sabotages the extension of a zinc-mine run by the Karen National Liberation Army KNLA. The revenue of the mine is desperately needed to feed ten-thousands of displaced Karen refugees hiding in the jungle from the Burmese troops.
The most obvious solution holds plenty of dynamite: the Karen consider elephants not just as big animals, but powerful omens, mythological symbols, ancestors, tractors, means of transportation, endless source of organic fertilizer, gladiators, rowdies, re-incarnations of divine spirits and evil demons. To kill them would break every taboo.
The insoluble assignment leads Pi Vat and Ledoh directly into the heart of the war zone.
January 2000
We go in search of the baby faced and battle hardened child generals of the Karen guerrillas.
Twins Luther and Johnny Htoo stand amidst their child fighters and make faces at the camera. Luther's eyes roll as he sucks on a fat cigarette, Johnny smiles and pokes out his tongue. Last month's hostage crisis in the Thai hospital at Ratchaburi brought the world's attention to the God's Army. These twelve-year-old twins hit the headlines as the masterminds behind this and an earlier hostage incident at the Burmese Embassy. New pictures and footage of the boys provides an eerie glimpse into their crusade. For their dedicated followers they are divinely inspired leaders with the protection of an invisible horde of Karen warriors. "When they were born the sound of crowds was heard... when people went to look there were no footprints," reports Sister Roberts, an American nun who has counselled and watched the boys for the last 3 years. The twins lead with the Bible, reciting their favourite passages as an ideological platform. When in battle they talk like adults and are deeply respected. But just how long can their rag-tag band of 200 youths survive the combined roth of the Thai and Burmese military? We reveal that the twins may have escaped a recent Burmese army assault although their current whereabouts is unknown.
Monks'and eyewitness accounts of the Burmese crisis, 10/5/07 at Asia Society. With live call-in from the leader of the monks in Burma, and dramatic video.
FREE BURMA WE ARE BUDDHIST,TOO
Poetry reading for FREE BURMA,FREE Aung San Suu Kyi.
2008.4.19 EARTH DAY TOKYO
? ? DJ BAKU DUB MASTER X
?
"Poetry-reading against the military regime of Myanmar"
by Seiko Ito
Don't threaten the unresisting priests.
Don't strike the unresisting priests.
Don't imprison the unresisting priests.
Don't kill the unresisting priests.
They are out of the Power,
And living in conformity with the law that is totally different from the Power.
To threaten and strike them, To imprison and kill them,
Those are totally lack of understanding and totally violence
to "the people who live in conformity to the different law".
And thus, destroying Others.
And we are Others, too.
Don't threaten the unresisting us.
Don't strike the unresisting us.
Don't imprison the unresisting us.
Don't kill the unresisting us.
We are out of the Power,
and always have right to live in conformity to the different law.
To threaten and strike us, To imprison and kill us.
Those are totally lack of understanding and totally violence
to "the people who own free will".
And thus, destroying Others.
Don't destroy Others.
Don't destroy them, and us.
Don't threaten.
Don't strike.
Don't imprison.
Don't kill.
The military regime of Myanmar!
The goverment of China!
Free Aung San Suu Kyi.
Free Aung San Suu Kyi.
Free Dalai Lama.
Free Dalai Lama.
We are them, too.
They are us, too.
Don't refuse a conversation.
Because, conversation is the only way to link Others.
If the Others fail to link,
Threatening, striking, imprisoning and killing start.
So, carry on a conversation! Carry on a conversation!
And talk together to carry on a conversation!
Thus, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Press
is to prevent threatening, striking, imprisoning and killing.
To say carry on a conversation and to fall back on conversation,
are equall to stand squarely in the way of threatening, striking, imprisoning and killing.
The military regime of Myanmar.
The goverment of China.
Carry on a conversation. Don't threaten.
Carry on a conversation. Don't strike.
Carry on a conversation. Don't imprison.
Carry on a conversation. Don't kill.
Carry on a conversation!
We are them, too.
They are us, too.
Renowned Buddhist peace activist & teacher Thich Nhat Hanh talks about Burma, Iraq and "engaged buddhism," which he has advocated since the war in Vietnam. Interviewed by TIME religion correspondent David Van Biema; produced by Asia Society.
*Update: On May 2nd, 2008 a cyclone devastated this country which is already amongst the poorest in the world.
From Google: "Join recovery efforts mobilizing around the world to assist cyclone victims in Myanmar (Burma). Below, we've selected two among many worthy organizations. Your donation will help survivors and other disaster victims rebuild their communities and their lives. In addition, when you donate on this page, Google donates too. We'll donate up to $1 million to help organizations provide relief."
http://www.google.com/myanmarcyclone/
Myanmar (Burma), Aung San Suu Kyi, Monks killed and left in jungle, Jim Carrey, using satellite imagery to track atrocities, Facebook group for world-wide action (oct 6), free burma day action for bloggers (oct 4), U.S. Campaign for Burma
