Burma, "The Land of a Thousand Pagodas", is a lush, predominately green landscape, saturated and alive. Gleaming golden temples emerge from the vast terrain, erecting themselves like ancient guards over every plain, hill and waterway. The Irrawady River slices through the country transporting people and goods to the isolated villages that hug its banks. Thousands of tourists travel to the country every year to discover a world still living in the past. This enigmatic place was once the richest country in Asia, furnishing the world with its prized teak and precious stones.

  Such is the case no longer. Though its monuments of wealth still stand, the ruling military regime, which took control in a 1962 coup, have succeeded in ripping the country out of the hands of its diverse citizens. It has been coasting along a downward spiral ever since. The people of this country have endured forced labor, murder, rape, censorship and propaganda, political imprisonment, extreme inflation and forced relocation, all laid on a foundation of fear.

       But the stories of Burma are not untold. Articles and documentaries circulate the globe. International governments impose sanctions and withhold aid in a quest to urge the regime to rectify their wrongs. NGO's flock to the borders to assist refugees and internally displaced people, sometimes risking their lives in active military zones to get food and health care to the ethnic minorities that have been burned out of their homes and off their land.

       Yet, the injustice ensues unabated. Change does not happen quickly; this is understood, but in Burma, it doesn't seem to happen at all. In 1991, Tiziano Terzani, a famous Italian journalist was handed a note while sitting on a bench in Rangoon. The crumpled up paper read, "Help us, we're being massacred."  Five years later, in 1996, an American journalist by the name of Barbara Victor was in the middle of a market in southern Burma when someone, hidden by the vast crowd, yelled, "Tell the world – Help us." Ironically enough, in my visit to Burma in 2007, the pleas have not changed their tune. The melody of suffering still resounds from every victim of this brutal regime. Though persecution lies in wait for anyone who dares to oppose the religion of military dictatorship in Burma, the asphyxiation of daily life compels some brave souls to reach out and tell their stories. And if you listen, you will discover that the same forced labor witnessed by Terzani in 1989 is still being endured by citizens today.

       In an unstable environment such as this, the fear of losing power felt by those at the top becomes the rationale for systematic oppression. From covert spies to blatant abuse, the government practices coercion on a grand scale and they mercilessly rip through the fabric of every layer of society. Because of years of violence and exploitation, the citizens of Burma find themselves on fragile seams. And the regime hits where it hurts the most.

       Those in control understand that an ill-educated society is severely crippled so they do all they can to amputate the future of the country's youth by stealing their education. "They are destroying our next generation," explains Moe Swe, a former student activist in the 1988 democracy demonstration-turned-massacre and former political prisoner who now runs a migrant rights organization in Mae Sot. "The general public has poor schooling while the families of the military and its cohorts enjoy great facilities and educated teachers. This way, the citizens cannot fight back and the government can more easily control the population."

          An illustration of this can be drawn from the experience of "Mr. Book," a National League for Democracy  secretary who chooses to remain unnamed. His daughter has just received a master's degree in philosophy, yet her understanding of the fundamental teachings of such figures as Aristotle, Socrates and Plato is extremely limited. "Now is that an education," he wonders. What are the students to do when their schools are purposely underfinanced by an apprehensive regime and frequently shut down, sometimes for years at a time.

            

 Insomuch as the tactics employed by the government of Burma are redundant and unoriginal, they succeed in crippling the upward mobilization of its citizens. And even though aid is withheld, money flows into the country rapidly. As more and more countries realize the significance of the natural resources abundant in Myanmar, excuses are made to allow business to flourish. Over 9 countries currently have oil/gas enterprises with the regime including the US, France, Thailand, China, India, Malaysia and Singapore. Tourism in Myanmar, especially “package tourism, increases every year, as more people are drawn to the mysteries of its temple-laden landscape. And in effect, money is given to support a government that refuses to grant even the most basic human rights to its citizens.

       There are many steps that need to be taken to help the citizens of this country to get back on their feet. Information on the web is abundant. For those that consider Myanmar a possible destination, Moe Swe wants you to realize that the roads you drive on were built with the forced labor of simple villagers, the hotels you stay in are in areas where the locals have been stripped from their land without compensation and the temples you visit were painted with the blood of thousands of imprisoned lives. He doesn't think it is the right time to visit Burma, but if you do, open your eyes, see with awareness, listen with your heart and bring back the stories with a sense of responsibility.

 

 

 

J.C.