Burma

Within the last week, I wrote about Ishmael Beah's recent appearance at the University at Buffalo. Beah, a former child soldier, discussed his experiences and his rehabilitation.

Afterwards, due to how intriguing the issue is, I was interested in finding out where in the world are child soldiers fighting, whether for their government or for an opposition force.

Human Rights Watch assembled a list of 33 countries where child soldiers are known to be used. For the sake of this argument and discussion, here is that list again.

G indicates children are serving in government forces
P in paramilitaries, and
O in opposition forces.

Colombia (P,O)
Mexico (P,O)
Peru (O)
Russian Fed (O)
Turkey (O)
Yugoslavia (P,O)
Algeria (P,O)
Angola (G,O)
Burundi (G,O)
Chad, (G)
Repub of Congo, (G,O)
DRC (G,O)
Eritrea (G)
Ethiopia (G)
Rwanda (G,O)
Sierra Leone (all groups)
Somalia (all groups)
Sudan (G,P,O)
Uganda (G,O)
Afghanistan (all groups)
Iran (G,O)
Iraq (G,O)
Israel and OT (G,O)
Lebanon (O)
India (P,O)
Indonesia (P,O)
Myanmar (G,O)
Nepal (O)
Pakistan (O)
Philippines (O)
Solomon Islands (O)
Papua New Guniea (O)
Sri Lanka (O)

The crackdown in Burma continues while Chevron continues to make huge profits and while much of the world quietly shakes its collective head and says, "tsk, tsk."

Everyone is waggling their finger at the Burmese dictators, but as democracy is ONCE AGAIN crushed by those who refused to allow Burma's properly elected president take control very little effective is being done.

Here is the latest from UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari (from BBC News):

UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari has described as "extremely disturbing" new arrests in Burma, calling on the ruling junta to stop detaining democracy activists.

Several prominent Burmese student leaders were arrested over the weekend.

Mr Gambari said the detentions ran "counter to the spirit of mutual engagement" between the UN and Burma...

According to the same article, the EU is progressively using their economic might to put pressure on Burma to end the crackdown. Unfortunately the impact is likely to be minor because 90% of Burma's exports go to other Asian nations. Nevertheless, the EU is taking an increasingly strong stand against Burma's dictators and their massacre of students and priests. This has, if nothing else, one major message. To paraphrase the (then) Bishop Desmond Tutu when I heard him during an anti-apartheid protest in my college days, it "backs the right horse," whether or not it is effective. And backing the right horse is sometimes the best you can do.

As Burma lays low, hoping the world quickly forgets its brutal massacre and internment of Buddhist monks and democracy supporters, I for one intend to keep reminding people what they did.

So, here is a reminder of just what Burma's military junta is so scared of. This is Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize winner, the leader of the democracy movement of Burma and the woman who would be President of Burma had the junta allowed free and democratic elections:

The number one action you can take is to contact your Congress Critters, asking them to increase pressure on Burma to allow democracy to FINALLY take hold, and contact Chevron, America's #1 company doing business with the military dictators of Burma, and tell them to use their influence to stop the dictatorship in Burma. Many are calling for a boycott of Chevron.

Chevron:
6001 Bollinger Canyon Road
San Ramon, CA 94583, USA
Tel. +1 925-842-1000
comment@chevron.com

And sup

Today is the Blogger Day of Action for Burma. This is posted in solidarity with the students, monks and citizens of Burma. Click on the picture to learn more from Burmese Bloggers without Borders.

"Hey man! Guess what? I'm in front of history here. There's a protest!…It's awesome!"

That is what an excited passerby said on his cell phone while watching the Amnesty International Free Burma protest in front of the Permanent Mission of the Union of Myanmar (Burma) to the United Nations on 77th St. today.

First off, Burma or Myanmar? Which is it? The official name, according to both the United States and Britain, remains Burma. The current regime of military strongmen led by Than Shwe changed the official name from Burma to Myanmar. But since the US and UK do not officially recognize the regime of military strongmen as the legitimate government of the nation, that change is not officially recognized.

In reality the two words are, believe it or not, synonymous. According to BBC News:

The two words mean the same thing and one is derived from the other. Burmah, as it was spelt in the 19th Century, is a local corruption of the word Myanmar.

They have both been used within Burma for a long time, says anthropologist Gustaaf Houtman, who has written extensively about Burmese politics.

"There's a formal term which is Myanmar and the informal, everyday term which is Burma. Myanmar is the literary form, which is ceremonial and official and reeks of government. [The name change] is a form of censorship..."