censorship

Journalists number 10 and 11

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

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When I was living in Rangoon my boyfriend Morning (now my husband) brought me along to a birthday party for his friend’s daughter. I was excited to meet more of my Morning’s friends, and I thought this would probably become another interesting cultural experience. I would get to see how Burmese celebrate their children’s birthdays.

Soon after we arrived, the adults gathered in the back of the family room, chatting and drinking punch as they sat on chairs and sofas lined up against the wall. The young children sat on the floor in the middle of the room, playing games. The parents brought out a birthday cake, and everyone sang, “Happy Birthday,” in English. I was shocked— the celebration could have happened in New York.

It’s four years later, and I am sad to learn once again that life in Burma does work differently. A few weeks ago Morning’s friend, the birthday girl’s father, Thet Zin, was arrested by the Burmese junta and thrown in prison, where he remains today. His crime: having video CDs with footage of last September’s demonstrations and a copy of the report on the demonstrations by UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights to Burma Paulo Sergio Pinheiro.

Thet Zin is the editor-in-chief of Myanmar Nation, one of the few publications in Rangoon without ties to the junta. His office was raided February 15, and the publication has since been shut down. Thet Zin and office manager Sein Win Maung remain in prison. The Irrawaddy, a publication based in Thailand and run by Burmese exiles, reported today that the Myanmar Nation might be allowed to resume operations if the publisher agrees to become a mouthpiece for the junta.

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Burma: Junta Cuts Internet

Friday, September 28th, 2007

Soldiers
The Burmese junta cut off all internal access to the Internet on Friday morning as its crackdown on the demonstrations continues. The government has not allowed foreign correspondents into the country, so journalists have relied on the people inside Burma to smuggle out information, photos and videos. Their stories— mostly sent out by email— have enabled the world to watch the demonstrations and crackdown unfold.

The Wall Street Journal ran a cover story on Friday discussing the role of the Internet and citizen journalism in Burma (renamed Myanmar by the junta) over the past few weeks.

The article states: “Citizen witnesses are using cellphones and the Internet to beam out images of bloodied monks and street fires, subverting the Myanmar government’s effort to control media coverage and present a sanitized version of the uprising.”

The majority of phone lines have also been cut. Journalists based in other countries are now relying on the few people who still have phone access.

Until Friday morning, people inside Burma could send emails but had limited access to foreign news. Most news websites were banned due to the government’s tighter control during the two-weeks of demonstrations.

“Most of the Myanmar people don’t know what’s going on [in] their land,” a Burmese man emailed me on Thursday.

Despite the crackdown, the demonstrations continued Friday. They mark the 11th-straight day of protests and marches by monks and civilians in Rangoon, Mandalay and cities across Burma.

Photo: Soldiers arrive at Sule Pagoda on Thursday. Photo taken by an American in Rangoon during the demonstrations.
Contact: hingber@gmail.com

Burma: before the protests

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007

Monks protesting

On my second day living in Rangoon, Burma (renamed Yangon, Myanmar, by the ruling junta), I visited the blockaded American Embassy. After my passport was passed from person to person to person, I got in.

It was August 2003. Burma had been ruled by an oppressive, military dictatorship for more than 40 years.

I was 22, fresh out of college, and had come to work at the Myanmar Times and Business Review. Before my trip to Burma, foreign correspondents and Asia experts warned me about the situation there: don’t talk about the political crisis and don’t trust anyone, they said.

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Death of a Poet

Monday, January 29th, 2007

U Tin Moe

Yesterday was the funeral of one of Burma’s most famous poets, U Tin Moe. Yet the Burmese government refused to allow the media in the country to report on his death. And though he was living in Los Angeles, the U.S. mainstream media did not cover the event because the poet was virtually unknown here.

U Tin Moe had been living in exile since 1999 because of his support for the Burmese democracy movement, the National League for Democracy, and its leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Before the Burmese junta blacklisted U Tin Moe, who died at age 74, his poems were read in public schools. He was also well known for his kind, honest nature. About 200 people from the Burmese community in the United States attended his funeral at Rose Hills Memorial Park.

As the casket was taken away, a friend of U Tin Moe’s wailed: “You are still alive. You are still with us. We’ll continue to fight for Burma.”