the karen people in and just out of burma

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Gickies Gageeze

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im willing to bet a great deal of you dont know whats been happening to them over the past few decades.

i know i didnt until i talked to a couple of friends who visited a few of them in hiding in thailand.

i dont want to say too much, because i dont want to misinterpret the facts, but if you know what im talking about, id love to hear what you know.

what i do know though, is THIS is genocide at its worst.
 
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the fact that noone appears to know anything about this situation horrifies me even more about the iraq situation.
 
It's the OJ Syndrome. Deaths occur everyday. Tragedies can be found everywhere. But society tends to gravitate to one event to the exclusion of many others.

Are there any news links you can post?
 
i will look, but this is genocide at its worst.

i really wish foray would see this thread, she must know about this.

the only reason i know anything about this is because my friend was recently in the area and spoke to the people who are in hiding.

and its no secret that the burmese government is probably the worst in the world.
 
I guess as long as Burma doesn't acquire chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons, they are an a-ok regime! :huh:

Melon
 
This is what db's talking about:
http://www.ibiblio.org/freeburma/humanrights/khrg/archive/khrg92/92_04_21.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/freeburma/humanrights/khrg/archive/background.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3933-602859,00.html
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/075/nation/Within_Burma_s_outward_smiles_winces_of_pain+.shtml


I'm ashamed to say that the main thing I have been aware of re:Myanmar is its junta government and Aung San Suu Kyi's movement. Not the village genocides. When ASSK speaks, I literally cry; her strength is phenomenal. I knew about the totalitarian govt and how virtually the whole nation is paralysed. But not the genocides and rapes. Obviously, the fact that they are not allowed contact with the outside world contributes to their plight remaining a secret. In fact, we hardly hear about the Indo-Chinese region in Malaysian news. One reason is because they are completely different countries, so removed in terms of language and culture. Malaysians are more concerned about the plight of fellow Muslims in Indonesia, and so most of our attention and efforts go to them. Today I am very sad as I have been thinking about the amount of bombs that will befall the Iraqis - more bombs than in the gulf war - and now this. I thought of children avoiding debris raining on them. And women having to suffer what is every woman's nightmare, rape. I am scared. I am scared because for what is probably the first time in my life, I am angry with God.


foray
 
In the early 1990s I dated a beautiful Burmese girl.
They were wonderful people.

Her mom and sister fled Burma and came to the USA.
Her father was an ambassador.
True story.

DB9
 
Gickies Gageeze said:
im willing to bet a great deal of you dont know whats been happening to them over the past few decades.


actually bear i've been acutely aware of what's going on in burma since my mother travelled through indonesia and aisia in 1997.

she went to hong kong (then still under british rule), vietnam, korea, thailand, and bali (i'm sure i'm forgetting one).

she went into the DMZ in korea and said it was so frightening she didn't want to tell me what was happening at the time (seeing as i was 13). she said people were trying to make a break for the border - despite the massive amounts of guards and mines blocking them from doing so.

her hotel in one spot in thailand was about 10 miles from the burmese border, she could hear bullets during the day and see them at night.

same thing in cambodia though.
 
foray said:
This is what db's talking about:
http://www.ibiblio.org/freeburma/humanrights/khrg/archive/khrg92/92_04_21.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/freeburma/humanrights/khrg/archive/background.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3933-602859,00.html
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/075/nation/Within_Burma_s_outward_smiles_winces_of_pain+.shtml


I'm ashamed to say that the main thing I have been aware of re:Myanmar is its junta government and Aung San Suu Kyi's movement. Not the village genocides. When ASSK speaks, I literally cry; her strength is phenomenal. I knew about the totalitarian govt and how virtually the whole nation is paralysed. But not the genocides and rapes. Obviously, the fact that they are not allowed contact with the outside world contributes to their plight remaining a secret. In fact, we hardly hear about the Indo-Chinese region in Malaysian news. One reason is because they are completely different countries, so removed in terms of language and culture. Malaysians are more concerned about the plight of fellow Muslims in Indonesia, and so most of our attention and efforts go to them. Today I am very sad as I have been thinking about the amount of bombs that will befall the Iraqis - more bombs than in the gulf war - and now this. I thought of children avoiding debris raining on them. And women having to suffer what is every woman's nightmare, rape. I am scared. I am scared because for what is probably the first time in my life, I am angry with God.


foray

thank you for providing this, foray.
 
Lilly said:



actually bear i've been acutely aware of what's going on in burma since my mother travelled through indonesia and aisia in 1997.

she went to hong kong (then still under british rule), vietnam, korea, thailand, and bali (i'm sure i'm forgetting one).

she went into the DMZ in korea and said it was so frightening she didn't want to tell me what was happening at the time (seeing as i was 13). she said people were trying to make a break for the border - despite the massive amounts of guards and mines blocking them from doing so.

her hotel in one spot in thailand was about 10 miles from the burmese border, she could hear bullets during the day and see them at night.

same thing in cambodia though.

why oh why, if we must have war, cant we rid ourselves of the evils such as these?
 
i dunno...it's not like saddam is super peaceful either.

if we just went into burma or cambodia, would it not just be the same context?

edited to add: or it would at least be similar to the korean conflict or vietnam war....the u.s would still be super split on it i'm sure.
 
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economically there is nothing to gain from a regime change in poor old burma.

the united states could at least force the issue to light and put diplomatic pressure AND SEE if that does anything.

but theres nothing being done now because lets face it, if theres nothing to make our wallets greener, we dont really care.
 
i thought we had sanctions on burma.....maybe once i do my paper i'll look into our economic policy with them


this is rather interesting.
 
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