Friday 19th June, Aung San Suu Kyi 64th Birthday-Message by Burma Democratic Concern

Lunch offering to Monks and Saying Prayers for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

Time: 10:00am – 11:30am
Venue: Sasana Ramsi Vihara (Colindale Monastery)
83 Booth Road, Colindale, London NW9 5JU
Map: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=NW95JU

Demonstration at Military Regime Embassy

Time: 13:00- 14:00
Myanmar/Burma Embassy 19A, Charles St, London W1J 5DX.
Tube: Green Park | Map: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=W1J5DX
Birthday Celebration – Burmese cultural event

Time: 6pm – 11pm
Greenford Assembly Hall, Ruislip Road, Greenford, Middlesex UB6 9QN
Tube: Greenford (Central Line) then take bus 105 or E6
Map: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=UB69QN

Traditional Songs, Dances and Comedy Play

Thee Lay Thee Performance
(A Burmese Comedy Group touring democratic countries – this is Zarganar’s comedy troupe – he is a famous Burmese comedian. Arrested in 2008 he is currently serving a 35 year prison sentence – he annoyed the junta by leading entertainers in giving out Cyclone Nargis aid, which helped 42 villages. BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7741653.stm

Contact details:

U Nwe Aung: 07988207293 (Burma Bureau Germany)
Dr. Win Naing: 07785568154 (NLD-LA)
Ko Kyaw Zwa: 07828890224 (BMA)
Ko Myo Thein: 07877882386 (BDC)

Forum of Burmese in Europe Conference

Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st June 2009

Time: 9am – 6pm Saturday (20th) and Sunday (21st) June London Southbank University, 90 London Road, London SE1 6LN

Tube: Elephant & Castle | Map: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=SE16LN

Contact details:

U Nwe Aung: 07988207293
Dr. Win Naing: 07785568154
Ko Kyaw Zwa: 07828890224
Ko Myo Thein: 07877882386

Little Burmese Tea Shop at Glastonbury Festival

Wednesday 24th – Sunday 28th June 2009

Tea shops are an intrinsic part of Burmese life – people meet in tea shops throughout the country to speak in hushed tones of the political situation in Burma. The pro-democracy demonstrations of 1988 were sparked off by the killing of a student, Phone Maw, at a Rangoon Tea shop. For any of you who might be at The Glastonbury Festival in the UK this year. If you find yourself in The New Green Field then pop by The Little Burmese Tea Shop for a free cup of Burmese Tea and a chat.

Location: Green Futures Field, Glastonbury Festival

http://greenfieldsinfo.pbworks.com/Green-Futures-Field
http://greenfuturesfestivals.org.uk/glastonbury.htm
http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/

Burma Cultural Event in Oxford

Sunday 5th July 2009

Time: 12:00 – 15:00
Oxford Town Hall
St Aldate’s, OX1 1BX
Oxford, UK.

Contact details:

Ma Thin Sandar: 07834593617 (On Behalf of Women of Burma – UK)

Facebook account will be needed to see this link. http://www.facebook.com/events.php?ref=sb#/event.php?eid=85658913604

http://www.bdcburma.org/EventDetails.asp?msg_id=67

Warning to members is a threat to party: U Win Tin

by Salai Pi Pi
Monday, 08 June 2009 22:52

New Delhi (Mizzima) – The National League for Democracy (NLD) is faced with a new threat with the ruling junta having warned and restricted it from issuing statements, an executive member of the party said on Monday.

Win Tin, a veteran journalist and Central Executive Committee (CEC) member of the NLD, said the junta’s warning to party leaders and youths came in the wake of a statement issued last week by the Youth Working Group. It is a new threat to the party and also signals an increasing crackdown on party activities.

The NLD Youth Working Group on June 2 issued a statement condemning the ongoing trial of party leader Aung San Suu Kyi saying that the junta is applying an ineffective law of the 1974 constitution to sue her and to continue to detain her.

The youth group also said that the trial was not free and fair as the defendant was only allowed one witness while the prosecution presented 14.

In a vindictive response to the statement, the junta authorities on Friday summoned the NLD CEC members along with leaders of the Youth Working Group and warned them. They made them sign a pledge not to repeat such accusations.

KNU Statement on SPDC-DKBA Combined Forces’ Offensive

KNU Statement on SPDC-DKBA Combined Forces’ OffensiveShare
Today at 22:58
OFFICE OF THE SUPREME HEADQUARTERS
KAREN NATIONAL UNION
KAWTHOOLEI

KNU Statement on SPDC-DKBA Combined Forces’ Offensive

June 8, 2009

1. The KNU has met with successive regimes in power for resolution of the civil war peacefully by political means, though it has been leading armed resistance for more than 60 years.
2. In the early part of 2009, the SPDC made an overture, through the Thai government, for resolution of conflict by peaceful means with armed organizations based along the Thai-Burma border. The KNU, on the basis of equality and mutual respect, made known through the Thai government, its willingness to undertake resolution of problems through political dialogue.
3. For the resolution of armed conflict through political negotiation, the KNU has consistently urged the SPDC, the regime in power, to create politically conducive atmosphere, and show sincerity and goodwill.
4. Up to this day, instead of decrease, there has been an increase in military attacks and various forms of human rights violations against the local Karen populations in the KNU areas, by the SPDC troops, according to their plan of expanding area of control. Similarly, the SPDC is putting Daw Su on trial for further incarceration of her, rejecting calls for release of all political prisoners and suppressing severely the legal activities of political parties and organizations.
5. Towards the end of last May, in accordance with the SPDC plan of transforming the DKBA troops into Border Guard Force, villages in the KNU areas have been ordered to send their quota of recruits to the DKBA forces.
6. In early June, thousands of villagers, who did not want to serve as DKBA soldiers, came fleeing for refuge to Lerber Herr IDP Camp, which had had a population of 1,300.
7. On June 3, when thousands of combined DKBA and SPDC troops approached Lerber Herr IDP Camp, clashes broke with the KNLA troops and over 3,000 Karen villagers had to cross into Thai territory for refuge.
8. Keeping the DKBA troops in front and carrying out military attacks by the SPDC against the Karen people like enemies, as it is, amounts to rejecting the necessity for national reconciliation and resolving, by peaceful means, the problem of civil war.
9. For that reason, we request, the international NGOs, the Karen people at home and abroad, and human rights protection organizations to provide, without delay, emergency assistance necessary for more than 3,000 Lerber Herr IDPs.
10. We, the KNU, earnestly urge the United Nations, the international communities, the regional and neighboring countries to concertedly pressure the SPDC for immediate acceptance of tri-partite dialogue process, for resolving the political and military conflicts in the country.

Central Executive Committee
Karen National Union

imagedaily by Kwekalu Karen News

http://www.kwekalu.net/imagedaily/kch.html

Mortar Bombs Hit Ler Per Her IDP Camp – Up To 200 Used As Slave Labour By Burma Campaign UK

Mortar Bombs Hit Ler Per Her IDP Camp – Up To 200 Used As Slave Labour
08 Jun 2009
The British government and United Nations have remained silent about a new military offensive in Karen State, Burma, which has forced around 4,000 people to flee their homes.

There are now almost 1,500 soldiers from the Burmese Army and its allies, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), involved in the new offensive in the Pa’an district of Karen State, on the Thailand Burma border. The Burma Campaign UK has visited the camp twice this year, hearing first hand testimony of abuses committed by the regime.

According to Burma Campaign UK sources, three mortar bombs have hit the Ler Per Her camp for Internally Displaced People. The camp was evacuated on Friday. The camp is two miles from the nearest Karen National Liberation Army base.

The Burmese Army are firing up to fifty 81mm mortar bombs a day into territory controlled by the Karen National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Karen National Union, a pro-democracy organisation resisting the rule of the dictatorship. Some mortar bombs have also landed across the border in Thailand.

Eye witnesses who have escaped from territory taken over by the Burmese Army and DKBA reported that between 150 and 200 villagers have been taken as slave labour by the DKBA. They are being forced to carry military equipment, including into areas where the attacks are taking place. Some have not been given food for five days and are forced to sleep in the open in the rain.

“Once against the international community is looking the other way while my people are attacked and forced to run for their lives,” said Zoya Phan, International Co-ordinator at Burma Campaign UK. Zoya Phan has twice been forced to flee her village after it was attacked by Burmese Army troops. “Why hasn’t a single government called for an end to these attacks? Why isn’t there any effort to secure a global arms embargo? The British government must push for a UN Commission of Inquiry into these crimes against humanity being committed by the dictatorship.”

For more information contact Zoya Phan on 020 7324 4710
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php/burma/news/mortar-bombs-hit-ler-per-her-idp-camp-up-to-200-used-as-slave-labour

WORLDLEADERS STOP THIS CRUEL JUNTA!!!!!

AAPP monthly chronology of political prisoner news May 2009

View this document on Scribd

Burmese Army prevents farmers from going to their farms, then steals from them-Mon Human Rights

Burmese Army prevents farmers from going to their farms, then steals from them
June 5, 2009
HURFOM: The Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 282 commander Nyi Nyi Soe warned villagers of insurgent group activity and wouldn’t allow farmers to return to their land.
Meanwhile, the troops reportedly stole food and cooking gear from the farms in Kaleinaung Sub – Township, Yebyu Township. Having also slaughtered some of the animals, they then tried selling their seized goods in the market.
According to the Alaesakhan villager, Ma Pher, “The troops stole betel nuts and cashews from our farms and sold them in the market. In addition, they also killed and cooked our farm animals (including chickens and ducks). The soldiers took all of our kitchen equipment to use in their camps.”
“Even though we know the soldiers are stealing our products and killing our animals, we can do and say nothing to them,” Ma Pher continued.
Villagers in the area, for fear of violence and torture, reported to HURFOM that they often feel forced to do whatever the military troops command of them.
According to another Alaesakhan villager, the soldiers initially posed as sawyers and ordinary villagers to gather information about Chan Dein insurgent group activities. When they heard something that interested them, they reported back to LIB 282. At that time, battalion commander Nyi Nyi Soe ordered the farmers not to go to their farms.
One member of the Village Peace and Development Council (VPDC) said, “When Nyi Nyi Soe arrived into the village, he allowed his soldiers to kill the villagers’ farm animals such as pigs, chickens and ducks.
The VPDC member added that, even after the troops had stolen all they wanted from the farms, “he also forced villagers to pay for the [soldiers’] rations of oil, rice, salt”

http://rehmonnya.org/archives/886

NCUB-International Labour Conference

View this document on Scribd

Suu Kyi Porn Site Sparks Outrage

A pro-Burmese junta blog site has sparked outrage among Burmese exiles and Burma observers by posting pornographic cartoons of Aung San Suu Kyi on its site over the past few weeks.

The blog site, which appears to have been authorized by the Ministry of Information, has plagiarized cartoons, including at least one belonging to The Irrawaddy’s cartoonist Harn Lay, and has superimposed figures such as US President Barack Obama and “Inya Lake Swimmer” John William Yettaw into images depicting sexual acts and lewd gestures.

Postcards of the pictures have also been circulating Rangoon, the sources said.

“When I saw the images, I wanted to kill the person who created them,” said a Burmese woman based in Singapore.

A person who wrote to The Irrawaddy said, “What can I say except these people [who designed the cartoons] are utterly and unspeakably low.”

“This indicates their level of maturity,” said a Burmese woman in Melbourne, Australia.

According to sources in the former capital, inappropriate slurs against the Nobel Peace Prize laureate were also aired on Burmese radio last week. Rangoon-based state-run station Padauk Myay FM reportedly launched a program titled “Yettaw and the Pretty Girl.”

Irrawaddy org

https://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/character-assassination-of-aung-san-suu-kyi/

The World is Ready for a President Aung San Suu Kyi

In a functioning democracy facing a general election, Aung San Suu Kyi would be president-in-waiting of a country yearning for her leadership. A fair and free election would give her the leadership mandate she and her party won in 1990, only to have it annulled by a regime determined to hold on to power.

After its defeat in 1990, the regime can now be expected to use every ruse to make sure it retains executive power after the 2010 election. The rigged constitution forced on the country in May 2008 bars Suu Kyi from holding high political office, while her National League for Democracy is already experiencing pre-election intimidation.

It’s painful indeed to see a country that would benefit immeasurably from Suu Kyi’s leadership being shoved by a frightened military regime deeper into the abyss. That scenario, however, should not be allowed to silence the legitimate demand for Suu Kyi to be recognized as the rightful president of Burma. The board of The Irrawaddy wholeheartedly endorses that demand.

She warrants that title not only through public acclaim but also because of her outstanding leadership qualities and strength of character, which more than 13 years of house arrest and now the additional ordeal of a stage-managed trial have done nothing to blunt.