Released

On 11 December, my friend Moe Thway and his 7 fellow protest organizer colleagues were released from prison, as well as Ashin Gambira. It was an unexpected but bittersweet relief.

They still face lengthy court cases on charges of committing an offence against the State and disturbing public tranquility. Judging from other cases that many of them still face, these court hearings will likely draw on for months. Rather than providing a means to justice, the legal system seems to be designed to keep activists busy with court hearings in which nothing happens, so as to waste their time and try to keep them from organizing further protests.

But protests against the Letpadaung copper mine and the violent crackdown on monks and protesters are continuing throughout the country – including large demonstrations by monks that recall the Saffron Revolution. Protesters also continue to be arrested. Some are released shortly after being arrested; others are still detained.

After his release, Moe Thway told Radio Free Asia, “This kind of action under unjust laws causes doubt among the people that [the government] are reforming the country, and is weakening the people’s trust, I think. They shouldn’t do this.”

A Personal Appeal for a Dear Friend

Over the last year and a half, there has been a lot of news about Burma’s democratic transition, and the impressive speed with which it seems to be happening. On the ground, however, there is still a long way to go on many issues, including the rights of the country’s ethnic minorities and freedom of expression.

For months there have been protests by villagers and farmers in Monywa in the northwestern part of Burma against the Letpadaung copper mine, which is run jointly by a military-backed company and a subsidiary of China’s Norinco, a weapons manufacturer (it also used to be financed by the Canadian company Ivanhoe). The copper mine has displaced villagers whose land was confiscated for the project; those who remained in the area have to deal with open acid pits, contaminated streams and farmlands, and birth defects in their children.

Last week in the middle of the night, there was a brutal crackdown on monks and villagers who were protesting the mine. Riot police fired water cannons, tear gas and set the camps on fire, injuring more than 100 people, mostly monks. The photos are too gruesome to share – more photos of burned monks and people, which those of you in the Tibet movement have seen enough of in the last year.

At protests in Rangoon last week, Moe Thway, one of my closest friends was arrested for helping to organize protests against the copper mine and the crackdown. He had been in hiding for several days after 6 of his colleagues were arrested at earlier protests. Despite a warrant for his arrest, the crackdown in Letpadaung compelled him to lead the protests again.

The Long Road to Ending Armed Conflict in Burma

On 21 September, people around the world marked the United Nations’ International Day of Peace, a day that highlighted just how far there remains to go to achieve lasting peace in Burma.

While Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was being feted on her first trip to the US in more than two decades, Kachin community members called on Daw Suu to do more for the people in Kachin State. As many as 90,000 people have been displaced due to armed conflict between the Burma Army and the Kachin Independence Army, and have little access to urgently needed humanitarian assistance.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in Rangoon on 21 September to call for peace in Burma, and especially in Kachin State. They wore blue headbands and carried signs reading “Stop Civil War” and “Justice Guarantees Lasting Peace” as they walked from City Hall to Inya Lake. Another group of protesters were stopped from traveling to Naypyidaw where they had planned to protest in front of the office of the Burma Army’s Commander-in-Chief; they instead joined the main group.

While authorities did not stop the main protest in Rangoon, the police later questioned 15 activists and have filed charges against them for violating Article 18 of the problematic Law Relating to Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession for demonstrating without official permission. The activists say that they had applied for permission to protest and submitted all the necessary documents, but had been denied by authorities without being given any reason.

UN Special Rapporteur Calls for Investigations, Accountability and Reconciliation in Burma

Last week, Tomás Ojea Quintana, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma undertook his sixth visit to the country. His statement upon leaving Rangoon touched on many crucial issues, including the release of political prisoners, the situation in Arakan State and the need for a truth commission.

Quintana welcomed the release of Phyo Wai Aung, a young man falsely accused, tortured and imprisoned for his alleged involvement in bombings during the Thingyan water festival in 2010. While this was a welcome gesture from President Thein Sein, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners reports that there are an estimated 448 political prisoners still behind bars. Each of these individuals must be released immediately, for as Quintana himself stated, “National reconciliation and democratic transition cannot move forward without this necessary step.”

Fire Under the Snow

At this year’s Montreal Human Rights Film Festival, I went to see “Fire Under the Snow”, a film about Palden Gyatso, a Tibetan Buddhist monk who spent 33 years in Chinese jails. The documentary was simple but well made – it captured the real nature of the monk who drew me into the Tibet movement nine years ago.

I first heard about Palden Gyatso in high school. I was then a member of the Amnesty International club at school and had just learned about the situation in Tibet. A friend of mine, who was a member of Students for a Free Tibet, insisted that I come to see Palden’s public talk.

Just like in his talk nine years ago, in “Fire Under the Snow” Palden la tells the story of how he was arrested for protesting against China’s invasion of Tibet in 1959. He shows the tools the Chinese prison guards used to torture him and the other inmates, describing in gory detail how he was tied up, hanged, shocked, and beaten. And yet, despite the horrible pain inflicted on him, Palden la never gave in to his interrogators’ demands that he denounce his teacher as a spy nor did he lie about his motivations for protesting. Whenever questioned, he honestly told the prison guards that Tibet was independent and that he protested for it to be so yet again. After 23 years in several prisons and 10 years in hard labour camps, Palden la was released and escaped to Dharamsala, India, where he still lives. Instead of staying in a monastery with fellow monks, Palden la chose to live in a small room that I used to pass on my way to temple so that he could continue to work for Tibetan independence.

Nine years ago, Palden Gyatso’s story moved me more than any other political prisoner’s case had. I was amazed by the small, smiling monk who sat humbly but resolute at the front of the room, with a great sense of humour and deep compassion for the Chinese people and his prison guards, even after so many years of brutal torture. Because of his talk, I joined the local chapter of Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) who had helped organize his cross-Canada tour.

Last year, Palden la was attending a press conference in Dharamsala that SFT had helped organize for the Spanish lawsuit against the Chinese government, in which he is a main witness of the genocide being carried out in Tibet. A friend, knowing that Palden la had inspired me to join the Tibet movement, took me to meet him after the press conference. When we were introduced, Palden la held my hand, smiled sincerely, and said “good friends!”

It is the strength and dedication of Tibetans like Palden Gyatso who keep me involved in the movement. If they still have hope, then so will I. It’s infectious – as I’m sure the rest of the audience at “Fire Under the Snow” would agree.