Apprehensive Burmese Await Arrival of New Banknote

RANGOON — The arrival of a new Burmese bank note with a face value of 5,000 kyat (about US $5) is being viewed with concern and suspicion by many people, from housewives to economists. Some see it as a move by junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe to consolidate his power after consulting soothsayers.

A cross section of Burmese public opinion interviewed by The Irrawaddy in Rangoon agreed that the arrival of a 5,000 kyat note in an economy where the highest denomination at present is 1,000 kyat ($1) will mean a rise in the cost of living. The announcement alone that a 5,000 kyat note is to be issued on Oct. 1 caused the exchange rate of the Burmese currency to drop and gold prices to rise.

A woman selling nuts falls asleep as she waits for customers in a market place in Rangoon. (Photo: AP)

Economists interviewed by The Irrawaddy agreed that the new banknote was being introduced at an unfavorable time into an uncertain economic environment.

"While the current global economic crisis drove gold prices lower and created instability for the US dollar, the Burmese kyat appreciated in value,” said one Rangoon economist. “Burmese producers and business people trusted the kyat rather than gold or dollars. The government should have maintained the kyat in this position of trust and should not have issued this new note.”

Many academics and experts agreed that the government was introducing the 5,000 kyat note to ease the budget deficit problems created by excessive spending.

“The government built Naypyidaw, it has increased the salaries of public servants many times over, the military has been consuming more and more. It is obvious that the junta is issuing the new currency notes because of its budget deficit", the Rangoon economist said.

At street level, the introduction of the 5,000 kyat note is likely to hit Burmese traders and consumers alike, experts agreed.

Banknotes in denominations of 50, 100 and 200 kyat are already in short supply and could become rarer after they are joined by 5,000 kyat notes.

“There will definitely be a problem when it comes to changing money and prices will inevitably rise,” said a Dagon University economics lecturer.

“For instance, if there is a limited supply of smaller notes in circulation, goods previously priced at 250 kyat could be sold at 300 kyat, a 400 kyat price tag could become 500 kyat,” he explained.

Economists agreed that the government could help ease inflationary pressures if it kept the general public fully informed about its economic policies.

"The government can prevent hyper-inflation if it lets the public know the total value of the new notes and also makes sure there are sufficient supplies of the smaller notes in circulation,” said one university economist.

“I’m not saying there won’t be inflation, however,” he said. “The new notes will definitely have an inflationary impact.”

One researcher said it could take six months or a year for the inflationary effect of the new banknote to take effect, although there could be further short-term movements in the price of gold and the exchange rate of the dollar as business people looked for secure places to park their kyat holdings.

"Industrialists and business people fearful of a drop in the value of their assets will look for alternatives, such as gold, US dollars or real estate,” said a Rangoon businessman. “The prices of these assets will then soar.”

Many Burmese believe the reason for the introduction of the 5,000 kyat note is based not on the material foundations of economic policy but on another of Than Shwe’s whims.

The Burmese for the number 5,000 is nga htaung—which also happens to mean “I am still standing” or “I am surviving.”

Some draw attention to the bizarre decision by the former dictator Ne Win to introduce new banknotes in denominations of 45 kyat and 90 kyat. “Nine was his lucky number,” said a Rangoon resident. Similarly, Than Shwe is issuing a 5,000 kyat note after advice from his astrologer.”

The white elephant that appears on one side of the new note also has mystical meaning, according to some.

Burma: On the Irrawaddy in search of the truth about Burmese tour

Please read detail story 
HERE

The country was Burma, where there is currently a fad for military helmets, imported from China and worn in ignorance of what their insignia represent in the world outside. The Burmese are not encouraged by their masters to look beyond their borders.

Nor are we much encouraged by the travel trade to venture over theirs. Burma, or Myanmar (a local, formal name, the use of which the military regime has tried to make exclusive and compulsory), is a dictatorship. Only last week, the New York-based organisation Human Rights Watch reported that the number of political prisoners had doubled in the past two years; and Aung San Suu Kyi, the most famous detainee, was denied permission to appeal in person against the recent extension of her house arrest.
In Britain, organisations such as the Burma Campaign UK, Tourism Concern and Co-operative Travel argue that tourism aids the grasping generals. They cite a comment of Aung San Suu Kyi’s in a BBC interview in 2002: “We have not yet come to the point where we encourage people to come to Burma as tourists.”

As Telegraph Travel reported last month, Aung San Suu Kyi is said to have changed her mind. Through a former member of her party, the National League for Democracy, she has let it be known that she believes that private-sector tourism might be a good thing, both for her hard-up people and their battened-down country. Shortly after our report appeared, a party of tourists, customers of the Ultimate Travel Company, was due to leave London to cruise the Irrawaddy, the great river that flows north to south and cuts the country in two. I joined it for the first week.
In the picturesquely dilapidated southern city of Rangoon (Yangon) – which the generals abandoned as a capital in 2005 for Nay Pyi Taw, a Burmese LA-in-the-bush 370 miles north – our base was the Governor’s Residence, a property owned, like our ship, by Orient-Express. Every stick of furniture, and the sticks that fastened the club sandwiches served by the pool, seemed to be made of teak. Having arrived out of a clear sky, we were soon being treated to the lovely percussion of monsoon rain on a roof.

Letter of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to Senior General Than Shwe in English

(Unofficial translation)

To

Senior General Than Shwe
State Peace and Development Council
Naypyidaw

Date: September 25, 2009

Subject: Lifting sanctions imposed on Burma

1. I have already orally mentioned the authorities the following matters through the Special Branch of Police on 12.09.09 in order to effectively conduct the subject mentioned above.

2. I have proposed to cooperate with the SPDC for lifting sanctions imposed on Burma.

3. In order to effectively work for lifting sanctions imposed on Burma, I believe that we need to try at first to

a. Understand about all sanctions imposed on Burma

b. Understand about the extent of losses due to sanctions imposed on Burma

c. Understand about the positions of Governments which imposed sanctions on Burma.

4. In order to do so as described in the paragraph (3), I request to allow me to meet with

a. Charge d’affaires of the United States of America for Burma

b. Representative Ambassador of member countries of the European Union for Burma

c. Ambassador of Australia for Burma

5. I also request to allow me to discuss and have the position of National League for Democracy

Respectfully,
Aung San Suu Kyi

--
all the best
mmhk

Monk Renews Call for Apology or Boycott

MAE SOT — “I walked out and saw the Burmese military putting up barriers outside of Shwedagon Pagoda. It did not scare us though, it just made us more determined,” said King Zero, a monk who recently wrote a statement again demanding an apology from the military.

A similar statement two years ago led to the “Saffron Revolution” of September 2007.

A Buddhist monk offering prayers at Shwedagon pagoda. (Photo: Getty Images)

Two years ago this month, King Zero, a Burmese monk, was walking back from an Internet café after e-mailing photographs of the previous day’s protests to various media organizations around the world. The monks had been marching in Rangoon for five days and despite receiving information that the soldiers would shoot, they continued.

King Zero, speaking in his library in Mae Sot, Thailand, told The Irrawaddy Burmese monks will never surrender in the fight for democracy.

“The monks will never give up. We will continue to risk our lives so the people of Burma can have freedom from suffering,” he said.

King Zero works with U Gambira, who is now serving a 63-year sentence for his leadership in the uprising, which led to hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets of Rangoon and other cities in September 2007.

King Zero quietly toured the county handing out pamphlets to monasteries and encouraging monks to participate in peaceful marches. Changing monasteries every day, he worked to create an underground monk network to relay news and information around Burma.

Then on Sept. 7, King Zero wrote the statement that called on the military junta to apologize for its treatment of monks in Pakokku, where dozens were beaten by government soldiers.

Now two years later, King Zero has written another statement calling again on the military to make a public apology by October or risk another boycott of alms from members of the military. If the monks’ new demands are not met, then once again monks will turn over their bowls and refuse donations from members of the military and their families, he said.

Since the statement was announced, the government has launched a widespread crackdown on activists and monks in Burma. In recent weeks, eight monks have been arrested and surveillance has been beefed up with monks being followed and searched around the country.

Despite the current situation, King Zero remains hopeful and determined that the boycott will materialize into an uprising that can overturn the generals.

“In September 2007 they were arresting student leaders like Min Ko Naing, but we carried on. Now they are arresting our fellow monks, but again, we will carry on and never give up,” he said.

The night King Zero returned from witnessing the barricades being put up, the government launched a full scale crack down on the demonstrations. At 1 am, many monks arrested and hauled off to interrogation centers.

Ignoring the threats, thousands took to the streets the next day in defiance of the orders to stop the marches. It took the government five days to start shooting and beating protestors because the battalion stationed in Rangoon refused to attack the monks.

The junta replaced the battalion with the notorious 66th Battalion.

Defectors have reported that the generals indoctrinated the soldiers with the idea that the monks who were demonstrating were bogus and that had been given alcohol before they went into the streets. As a result, the 66th Battalion reaped havoc in the following days, killing and beating demonstrators across Rangoon and creating scenes of violence which filled newspapers and TVs screens around the world.

What had started out as a time of unity and hope, ended up showing the brutality of a dictatorship that would kill monks to hold on to power. By the end of the crackdown, the monastic order was in tatters, with thousands of people imprisoned, and many dead and many and injured.

Despite the carnage, King Zero said that good has come out of the demonstrations because the people of Burma are now more aware and interested in politics, since they saw how the government treated the monks, who enjoy widespread respect.

“Now they know that the generals are not real Buddhists. No real Buddhist can given an order to shoot or beat a monk,” he said. “The generals know in their minds they are not Buddhist, but they pretend they are.

The Burmese military authority has continued arresting Arakanese youth and students

Please read detail story HERE

Sittwe: The Burmese military authority has continued arresting Arakanese youth and students on Monday, with the number arrested reaching 16 after a youth from Buthidaung Township in northern Arakan was taken into custody on Monday.

21-year-old Maung Naing Soe, the son of U Maung Tha Pru from Nyung Chaung Village in Buthidaung Township was arrested by officers from Special Police Force No. 2 in Rangoon.

A relative of the youth told Narinjara over the phone that a special force police officer from Rangoon came to the village of Nyung Chaung and arrested him with the help of local police.

Afterwards, Maung Naing Soe was taken to Buthidaung and detained at the police lock-up there.

According to the source, the youth will be brought on Tuesday from Buthidaung to Rangoon where at least ten Arakanese youth have been detained since the first week of this month. The Burmese special police force has arrested many Arakanese youth in Rangoon and Arakan State since early this month on suspicion that they have connections with exiled Arakanese student groups based on the Thai-Burma border.

On 7 September, special police forces arrested seven Arakanese youth and students from Layden Ward near the former University of Rangoon Art and Science in a raid of a hostel where they were living.

Burmese-American Tortured in Prison: AI

Amnesty international has issued a statement of grave concern about Burmese-American activist Nyi Nyi Aung (aka Kyaw Zaw Lwin), who it says has been tortured and suffered other ill-treatment while in detention in Insein Prison in Rangon.

Nyi Nyi Aung, who has dual citizenship, was arrested in Rangoon on Sept. 3 after returning from exile.

While in detention he has been tortured including beatings and kicking, lack of food for seven days, no sleep and denial of medical treatment for injuries sustained while tortured, said the report.

The New Light of Myanmar, the state-backed newspaper, reported in detail on Thursday on Nyi Nyi Aung’s arrest. The report included photographs of Nyi Nyi Aung, explosives and a satellite phone he was alleged to have had in his possession.

The story described underground activities allegedly undertaken by Nyi Nyi Aung and connections between dissidents inside and outside Burma.

Nyi Nyi Aung’s mother, San San Tin, is severing a 5-year prison sentence and his cousin, Thet Thet Aung, is serving a 65-year prison sentence for participating in the anti-government demonstrations in September 2007.

Meanwhile, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) released a statement on Thursday that welcomed the amnesty of prisoners and noted reports of torture undergone by some detainees during interrogation and imprisonment.

The AHRC said torture and abuse of prisoners is endemic across Burma and singled out Myo Yan Naung Thein, Bo Bo and Aung Myint as having been tortured after their arrest and imprisonment followed by a lack of appropriate medical treatment.

The statement called on the junta to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit detention facilities in Burma without further delay.

Also, the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia) issued a statement criticizing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) silence on Burma at the recent UN Human Rights Council meeting and called on Asean to stand with victims of human rights abuses in Burma.

Yap Swee Seng, the executive director of Forum-Asia, said “While we appreciate the efforts of some governments to make a joint appeal of the Asean at the General Assembly for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, we deeply regret that the same effort has not been taken at the Human Rights Council nor has any Asean member country spoke out on Burma in its own national capacity.”

No September Burma Mtg, But Plenty of News

Friends,

Due to various scheduling difficulties, there is no meeting for the month
of September. We'll resume in October, when we'll meet on the 1st
WEDNESDAY at the UNIVERSITY DISTRICT BRANCH OF THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

In the meantime, we're gathering donated prizes for our 8th annual raffle
to benefit basic education for children of internally displaced (IDP)
communities inside Burma. Over the years we've raised well over $30,000
and helped thousands of children. 100% of money raised is passed through.
If you know of a restaurant or store that is willing to donate a gift or
gift certificate, please get one (or two!).

The past weeks have seen a lot of activity related to Burma. Democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi was convicted in the bizarre case of a deranged
American who swam to her home, and was sentenced to a further 18 months of
house arrest. This will keep her from participating in the Burmese
military's stage-managed elections planned for 2010.

US Senator Jim Webb (D-Virginia) went to Burma, was warmly welcomed by
junta leaders, and had the opportunity to meet briefly with Suu Kyi. He
stated at a press conference that she had said she was open to the US
removing at least some sanctions on the regime. Within days, Suu Kyi
passed a message through her lawyer contradicting Webb's claim, saying
that "she had not discussed the issue with anyone recently."

Since then, a number of key voices in the Burmese pro-democracy movement
have attacked Webb. U Win Tin, a senior figure in the National League for
Democracy, who spent 19 years in prison, much of that time in solitary
confinement, wrote a column for the Washington Post (see
http://www.washingt onpost.com/ wp-dyn/content/ article/2009/ 09/08/AR20090908 02959.html)
that Webb has "been damaging to our democracy movement." Within days U
Win Tin, aged 80, was taken in by Burmese authorities for interrogation,
though he was quickly released.

Yesterday, Secretary of State Clinton articulated the new Obama
adminstration policy on Burma, though other details will continue to
emerge. In shorthand, it appears to be the Bush adminstration policy plus
engagement.

It is not entirely clear what that engagement will entail. A report from
Earthrights International (whose Executive Director Ka Hsaw Wa was just
awarded a Magsaysay Prize) looked at the largest "engagement" between the
West and the Burmese junta. This in the Yadana pipeline, a $1.2 billion
partnership between the Burmese generals, Chevron, Total of France and PTT
of Thailand. Based on International Monetary Fund research, it was found
that the generals have stashed more than 99% of the revenues from this
project in personal accounts in a pair of Singapore banks. See
http://www.thenatio nal.ae/apps/ pbcs.dll/ article?AID= /20090913/ FOREIGN/70912985 0/1002

It appears that the net result of this engagment is: Burmese natural gas
is piped to Thailand, where it is used for electricity generation. The
revenues are shared between foreign multinationals and the personal
accounts of the Burmese dictators. Less that 1% of the revenues are
entered into the national budget, a budget that itself has one of the
smallest commitments to education and public health of any in the world.
Ordinary Burmese see virtually nothing. Engagement, or organized crime?

All for now, see you in October.

Larry Dohrs

~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~
BURMA ACTION GROUP
SAO Box 119, HUB
University of Washington     http://students. washington. edu/burma/
Seattle, WA 98195

Burmese Junta Asks Thai Military to Mediate with Shan

The Burmese junta has asked Thai military officials to encourage the Shan State Army-South (SSA-South) to enter into cease-fire talks, according to the Shan Herald Agency for News.

Saeng Juen, an editor at the Thailand-based news agency, said that a leading Thai peace mediator told him that the Burmese government wants the SSA-South to get involved in building the Union of Burma.

However, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, Sai Sheng Murng, the deputy spokesman of the SSA-South, said that they haven’t been contacted by Thai or Burmese officials.

“We always welcome them with an open door for peace talks. But, I don’t think the junta wants peace in Burma because if they did why don’t they talk with other ethnic ceasefire groups to solve the political conflicts in the country,” he said.

“Instead of solving political conflicts, I only see them mobilizing their troops in Shan State, and one day they will announce that they’re going to war.”

The Burmese junta rarely sought peace talks with the SSA-South in previous years because it accused the SSA-South of involvement with Khun Sa, a drug lord in Shan State who was known for his widespread involvement with opium and other illegal drugs.

Meanwhile, the SSA-South has reportedly invited several ethnic armed cease-fire groups including the United Wa State Army, the largest ethnic armed group with 25,000 soldiers, to form an alliance.

Saeng Juen said that the junta is worried that other armed ethnic cease-fire groups will join with the SSA-South, and the peace talks are a way to discredit the Shan group.

In the past, the Burmese junta successfully used the UWSA to fight the SSA in Shan State.

Burma analysts say that the junta doesn’t want to see ethnic armed groups form an alliance and it’s attempting to use a “divide-and-rule” tactic.

The junta offered to hold peace talks with the  SSA-South in 2007, but the proposal fell apart when the two sides couldn’t agree on a location.

After many years of civil war in Shan State, thousands of ethnic Shan have fled to Thailand. In July, about 10,000 Shan were forced to relocate in Laika Township in central Shan State because of incursions by junta troops. Many villagers were arrested and tortured while junta troops launched military operations against the SSA-South, according to the Shan Women’s Action Network and the Shan Human Rights Foundation, both based in Chiang Mai.

Seventeen ethnic armed groups have signed cease-fire agreements with the junta. One cease-fire group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, has agreed to form a border guard force with its troops, while the other groups do not support the plan.

In August, junta troops occupied the Kokang area around Laogai Township in northern Shan State and more than 35,000 Kokang refugees fled to China. Many villagers in Shan State believe that war with the junta will break out again in the region.

The Kokang area was peaceful for more than a decade after the Kokang signed a cease-fire agreement.

The junta is moving reinforcements into Mong Yang Township in northeastern Shan State, where Infantry Battalions 279 and 281 are located. Analysts say the total number of troops will number about 10,000.

The region is known as the largest producer of opium in Southeast Asia. The junta has accused ethnic cease-fire groups of using opium and illegal drugs to fund their armies and businesses.

9/24 Rally for Human Rights in China

Dear Friend,
Please join us for a rally for human rights in China  in calling for the release of prisoners of conscience this Thursday, September  24.
         
Please  also reserve  the date of September 30, Wednesday for a Memorial to the Victims of 60 years of PRC founding. 
         
See you then,
Ann Lau
* * * *
What:  Rally for Human Rights in China
            Call for the release of prisoners of conscience

When: Thursday, September 24, 2009 6:00 p.m.

Where:  On the sidewalk of the San Gabriel
Hilton Hotel
            225 West Valley Boulevard, San
Gabriel, Ca. 91776
Please Wear:  White or Black T-shirt
Please Bring:  Photos of prisoners of
conscience
Contact:   Sponsors: Asian-Pacific Human Rights Foundation
                China Democracy Educational
Foundation
                China Democracy Party
                Chinese Alliance for Democracy
                Hong Kong Forum
                Visual Artists Guild

Burmese-American Held in Rangoon for 3 weeks

RANGOON — The US Embassy said Tuesday that it has been allowed to visit a Burma-born American detained in the country for the past three weeks but refused to divulge details about his health or whereabouts.

Embassy spokesman Drake Weisert said officials were allowed to visit Kyaw Zaw Lwin, also known as Nyi Nyi Aung, on Sunday and have since contacted his family. He had a visa to visit the country, but it is unclear why he traveled to Rangoon.

Dissident groups have said the Maryland-based Kyaw Zaw Lwin arrived in Rangoon on Sept. 3 and has not been heard from since. It is not known why the junta detained him, but many of his family members have been held over the years for their pro-democracy activities.

Kyaw Zaw Lwin's mother is serving a five-year jail term while his sister was sentenced to 65 years in prison for her role in pro-democracy protests two years ago.

The news of Kyaw Zaw Lwin's whereabouts comes just days after the junta announced it was granting early release to 7,114 prisoners for good behavior on humanitarian grounds. The country is believed to hold roughly 65,000 prisoners, including more than 2,200 political detainees, according to estimates by human rights groups.

Only 119 of those released Friday were political prisoners and the amnesty did not include the country's best-known political prisoner, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is head of the National League for Democracy and remains under house arrest.

The junta has repeatedly denied holding any political prisoners, saying all inmates have been found guilty of criminal offenses.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said the number of political prisoners has more than doubled in the past two years, and more than 100 dissidents have been jailed in recent months.

Among those imprisoned in the past two years include people involved in peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations in 2007 and some who assisted victims of the cyclone in 2008. The group said some were handed decades-long sentences.

It said the country has 43 known prisons holding political activists and more than 50 labor camps.

Honor the Spirit of Saffron Revolution

 Two years ago this week, thousands of monks and citizens flooded the streets of Burma protesting against military rule. The courage of the initial protesters spurred over 100,000 more to participate in the largest demonstrations to take place in Burma in 20 years.

Dubbed the Saffron Revolution, this event inspired many around the globe, and people staged solidarity protests in countries such as: Malaysia, Thailand, Czech Republic, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In the aftermath of the Saffron Revolution, the world community renewed interest in Burma and governments began to increase pressure on the regime. Since the uprising, the UN has increased its pressure on the military junta, with last November's call by Ban Ki-moon's "Friends of Myanmar" group to free all political prisoners, including Nobel Prize winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Here in the United Sates, grassroots activism helped pass the Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act which prevents millions of US dollars from flowing into the hands of the regime.

Though the uprising was brutally suppressed, the movement continues around the world today. At USCB we are working with our partners thoughout the world to press the UN Security Council to investigate crimes against humanity and war crimes that the regime has committed against ethnic minorities in Burma, as well as continuing our work in solidarity with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all those unjustly imprisoned in Burma.

Below is a time line of major events taking place around the country to pay tribute to those who stood up for freedom during the Saffron Revolution. Please take a look at these events and see if there are any in your area. We hope you can join us in remembering these courageous men, women, and children.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Woodrum and Mike Haack

PS. If you are planning an event that we missed, please let me know and we will spread the word to our networks in your area.

Shan Ethnic Boy Takes Bronze in Japan

Mong Thongdee, a 12-year-old ethnic Shan boy representing Thailand in an international paper plane contest, took third place in the individual championship in Japan on Sunday after winning gold for his three-man Thai team on Saturday.

Mong took first place for the Thai team after his paper plane stayed in the air for 11 seconds. During a warm-up, Mong recorded a time of 16.45 seconds.

Mong Thongdee prepares to release his paper plane during the individual indoor flight duration competition at the All-Japan Origami Airplane Contest in Makuhari, near Tokyo, on Sunday. (Photo: AP)



Last year, Mong won the national origami plane championship, organized by the National Metal and Materials Technology Center in Bangkok. His plane stayed in the air for 12.5 seconds, qualifying him to participate in 4th Origami Plane Competition in Japan.

Sai Nyunt, Mong’s father, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the family is preparing to go to Bangkok to join the welcome celebrations for his son.

“I feel very happy and proud of my son. He will be a good example for other children in Thailand,” he said.

Mong was almost denied the chance to compete in the competition in Chiba, Japan, after Thailand’s Ministry of the Interior refused to issue him a travel document because his parents are Burmese migrants and he has no Thai ID, even though he was born in the kingdom.

After much media publicity, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva stepped into the limelight and offered Mong a passport after meeting him in Bangkok.

Mong’s photograph and personal story were published on the front page of English-language newspaper, The Bangkok Post, while several other Thai newspapers and TV channels also followed the story.

The Irrawaddy and other exiled Burmese exile media have also reported about Mong.

“I had to take some days off work because so many journalists called me,” said Mong’s mother, Nang Mo. “My boss didn’t like it.”

Mong said his real dream isn’t just to be a paper plane champion, but to be an airplane engineer.

He said many of his classmates have taken up paper plane flying now as well.

He said that he was told by Abhisit that he would meet him again if he won first prize in Japan.

Mong is a fourth-grade student at Ban Huay Sai Primary School in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand.

He was born in Fang, a rural district of Chiang Mai Province, where his parents were working as laborers in an orchard.

His parents, Sai Nyunt and Nang Mo, left Kho Lan village in southern Shan State in 1995 in search of a better life in Thailand.

Mong’s family is on a Thai government list of people to be considered for repatriation to Burma in February 2010.

Crackdown Threats Remain

Burmese opposition groups and local Burmese NGOs operating in Thailand have temporarily closed their offices for fear of further crackdowns by Thai police, according to sources along the Thai-Burmese border.

Several offices in the Thai border towns of Mae Sariang, Mae Sot and Sangkhlaburi are closed at the moment, the sources said.

A member of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland said this is the first time this year that Thai security officials have ordered their office in Sangkhlaburi in Kanchanaburi Province to be closed, adding that no reasons were given for the closure.

Sources said the offices of several other Mon groups dealing with education, media, relief and youth were also ordered closed in Sangkhlaburi.

The closures are thought to be temporary, but Thai security officials have given no reason for the orders, sources said.

Win Min, a Chiang Mai-based analyst of Burmese affairs, said a Burmese military attaché in Bangkok may have played a role in requesting Thai security officials to harass Burmese opposition groups in exile.

Thai police raided several exiled Burmese opposition groups in Chiang Mai last week, including the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma, the Burmese Women’s Union and the National Health and Education Committee.

About 10 Burmese women attending a capacity-building workshop were arrested for illegal entry into Thailand. They were fined and later released.

After the raids, several Burmese opposition groups and NGOs based in Chiang Mai closed offices for a few days.

A Western diplomat in Bangkok said the Thais may have targeted less prominent Burmese organizations that are not strongly affiliated to international organizations.

Western diplomats have raised the issue of the surprise raids on Burmese groups in Chiang Mai last week with Thai officials.

International human rights groups and Western governments periodically express concern for the safety of exiled Burmese dissidents living in Thailand.

Several exiled Burmese and foreign groups have opened NGOs and advocacy offices in Thailand in recent years.

Week of Action to Stop Mass Atrocities in Burma

Dear All,

Burma's military regime is committing brutal crimes against humanity against the Burmese people -- including rape, recruitment of child soldiers, and a scorched-earth campaign against ethnic minorities. 

After similar atrocities in Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and elsewhere the world pledged to stop these abuses -- yet, despite many members of Congress and UN officials calling for action, almost nothing has been done to end crimes against humanity in Burma.

Thankfully, there is a brand-new film about the situation in Burma and we are using the film to help rally the world to stop crimes in Burma.  Will you help us stop these atrocities by signing up today to participate in a week of action at your school, church, or in your community? 

Crimes against humanity and war crimes include:
Recruitment of ten of thousands of child soldiers
Over 3,300 ethnic minority villages have been destroyed
The use of sexual violence and rape as a weapon of war
Over one million refugees and internally displaced have fled their homes
Even worse, the Burmese regime is seeking to consolidate its power  through showcase elections next year and the regime's violence against the Burmese people is likely to increase in the coming months.  As you saw from our previous messages, over 40,000 more people fled from attacks in the last three months alone.

Organize an event during "Ignite for Burma" week! October 24th-28th

We are organizing over 100 events across the country, and are asking you to join us by organizing an event of your own.
Sign-up and U.S. Campaign for Burma will send you everything you need:
a DVD of the new, outstanding documentary Crossing Midnight
an action pack with ways for you and your audience to take action

Here's what you can do during your event:
Pass around our petition asking for United Nations action on Burma during the film screening
Host a call in-day and help others on your campus or community to call their Senators for Burma.  The U.S. Congress can not remain silent while crimes are perpetrated in Burma
Participate in a live, online chat with us and our partner organizations. (Discussion will be at the evening of the 28 at 6pm EST)

Help make sure your University or community isn't supporting crimes in Burma by investing in oil companies that facilitate funding for Burma's regime

A little more about the film that you will be showing:

Crossing Midnight tells the powerful story of courageous health workers who risk their lives to bring medical care to civilians in Burma's conflict areas.  It is a great introduction to the situation faced by Burma's ethnic minorities. We hosted the US premiere at our February 2009 National Organizing Meeting and received a really positive response. Since February, we have been receiving emails asking, "when will the film be available to show to my community."

Please sign up today.  The situation in Burma is urgent, and the Burmese people need your help.

10th Annual Burmese Literary talk on Saturday, Sept. 26

10th Annual Burmese Literary talk on Saturday, Sept. 26
With programs marking the Prominent Poet Saya Munthuwun 100th Birthday Anniversary

The 10th anniversary event will be held on Saturday, Sept 26, 2009 at the Los Cerritos Community Center; Fremont, 3377 Alder Ave (Cross St. Fremont Blvd), in Fremont. Highly recommended by our prominent and usual speakers, this year, newest additions to the literary-speaker family in the US are invited. They are Write May Nyane, Writer Khett Mar and poet Khaing Mar Kyaw Zaw.

Marking the Prominent Poet Saya Munthuwun 100th Birthday Anniversary, poems recitation by children and feature presentations will be included. Census 2010 T-Shirts will be distributed to all attendees free of charge. As usual, authentic Burmese dinner will be served.

Please join in and welcome our newest additions to the literary-speaker family in the US. Most importantly, have your evening filled with Burmese literature, culture, talks and friends at this once in a year event.

Saturday, Sept. 26, 5-10 pm  (Contents will be in Burmese)
Los Cerritos Community Center, 3377 Alder Avenue (Cross Street Fremont Blvd), Fremont, CA 94536
(Speakers, Dinner, Free T-Shirt and special attribute to Saya Minthuwun 100th birthday)

Speakers, titles and short bios:

May Nyane   
Kyett Mar   
Khaing Mar Kyaw Zaw   
May Nyane

May Nyane joined the Burmese Department, Rangoon University (Hlaing Campus) as tutor in 1986 and then served as lecturer at the Burmese Department, Dagon Tekkatho (College) until February, 2005.

She entered the literary realm in May 1987 with “Pyi Sone Chin” poem in Pay Phyu Hlwar magazine. She left Burma (Myanmar) in February, 2005 after the publication of  “Maing daing ah hmut Lay se” (Milestone Number 40) in Hmar Nat Maung magazine.

She has written over 100 short stories, 10 full-length novels, 1 volume of selected novels (including “Mon daing ye kyaw yoe”), and 1 biography; Co-authored numerous books; Short stories for readers who feel and appreciate …; Short stories in memory of Moe Moe (Inya) …

She is currently settling in Maryland and working for VOA (Voice of America).

More information, visit her three personal blogs: http://maynyane. blogspot. com/ ; http://maynyane- literature. blogspot. com/ ; http://maynyane- edu.blogspot. com/

Khett Mar

Khett Mar entered the literary realm writing magazine short stories in 1989. As a journalist she started writing cover sorties in 2001 on economic and social affairs in Dana Magazine.

Her literary work includes 200 magazine short and full-length stories; 100 magazine articles including cover articles, 1 volume of selected essays, 1  volume of selected short stories, 1  volume of selected magazine full-length stories and numerous volumes of selected short stories with other writes.

She also worked with fellow writers to set up the Sakawar Environmental Conservation Network and wrote as well as collected literature and news on environmental conservation in Burma. She is currently residing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with her family.

Khaing Mar Kyaw Zaw

Beginning 1994, Khaing Mar Kyaw Zaw wrote numerous poems and articles in publications at the Thai-Burma border: Tha Noe Htoo, Daung Ta Munn, Tet Hlant Than. Gyo Lin Pya, Daung Oo Way. Moe Kyo, and Kayin Daily She has also served as News Correspondent and later Chief Editor of Kayin Daily.

She was a Columnist in Khit Pyaing Journal from 2000 to 2003 writing articles depicting human lives and values. She has also composed poems and ratha articles (of literary taste) in Khit Pyaing. Irrawaddy, and MoeMaKa on-line magazine publication s.

She has published 2 poetry books, 1 collection of short novels, 1 collection of articles and 1 autobiography.

In 2003, she was awarded the Hellman-Hammett award given to literary workers and journalists by New York based Human Right Watch group. She currently broadcast articles as external columnist for Radio Free Asia (RFA). She is currently residing in Bakersfield, CA.

A texturally exciting dining experience

By: PATRICIA UNTERMAN
Special to The Examiner
September 11, 2009

Feast for the senses: Burmese Kitchen’s crispy fried pea salad features crunchy split peas and minced chicken in a flavorful melange of raw and deep-fried tidbits. (Bret Putnam/Special to The Examiner)
SAN FRANCISCO — For three years, Dennis Lin, the Chinese-Burmese owner of Larkin Express, ran this Civic Center lunch spot as a sandwich shop. He became famous for his daily roasted turkey sandwich ($4.95), served warm on whole wheat toast piled with hand carved meat, lettuce, pickles, onions and tomato — so thick and juicy, it satisfies like a hamburger. He still serves it.

However, Lin’s real passion is food from central Burma, near Rangoon. About a year ago, he transformed Larkin Express into the Burmese Kitchen, where Burmese home-style dishes now emanate from an open kitchen under a thatched roof. Rumbles from the ethnic food underground became so insistent that I made a visit, and then another and another. This little place is a find.

San Franciscans know from eating at Pagan and Burma Superstar that Burmese cooking can be texturally exciting, aromatic and moderately hot — a natural fusion of cuisines from neighboring India, southeast Asia and China. What they haven’t tasted is the luscious and labor-intensive versions of many of these dishes at the Burmese Kitchen.

Addictive, bite-size yellow tiles of fried tofu ($4.95), for example, are miracles of crunchiness and tenderness. To create a batter that fries up so magically, tofu and yellow split peas are stirred together for 45 minutes in one direction.

Crispy fried pea salad ($5.95) — my favorite dish on the menu — also explores texture, this time with crunchy yellow split peas and minced chicken in a tart, chile inflected, savory melange of raw and deep fried tidbits. Ginger salad ($5.95) intricately weaves together toasted peanuts, yellow split peas, cabbage, young ginger, fresh soybeans, fried coconut and fried shallot, so that each bite intrigues.

The Burmese cook with fresh, young, green tea leaves — Lin brings them back from Burma in suitcases. You can see the whole leaves in the tea leaf salad ($5.95), mixed with cabbage, tomato, sesame seeds and other fried bits.

In Burmese-style chicken biriyani ($7.95), each separate, yellow grain becomes a vehicle for the fragrance of sweet spices. Moist chicken thigh and leg, marinated for extra flavor, nestle into the rice. Each bite is exciting and multifaceted, a home-cooked triumph.

Curries and stews evoke southeast Asia. In eggs with tamarind sauce ($5.50), hard-boiled eggs take on a creamy texture from long cooking in a mild, tart sauce with caramel undertones.

Quiet-flavored pumpkin stew ($4.50) comes alive with a spoonful of balachaun ($5.50) or “dried shrimp paste,” as it is called on the menu. This pile of dried red chilies, dried shrimp, deep-fried shallots and garlic mixed together would make an old shoe taste great. (It’s always included on lunch combo plates.) An order of coconut rice ($2), flecked with grated young coconut makes all dishes eaten with it special.

Try these for dessert ($1.50): warm tapioca pudding made with coconut milk and a dash of salt; bouncy young coconut gelatin, clear as an ice cube, topped with shaved young coconut; buttery, crumbly, warm semolina cake. All are fun.

As for the ambiance, an artist friend summed up the problem: fluorescent lighting and a drab, monochromatic shade of brown on every surface. I go in the afternoon when natural light comes in from the front windows, though I’d eat on the sidewalk, if I had to. This lush, attentive, personal cooking is a gift.

Patricia Unterman is author of the second edition of the “San Francisco Food Lovers’ Pocket Guide.” Contact her at pattiu@concentric.net.

Burmese Kitchen
Location: 452 Larkin St. (between Golden Gate and Turk streets), San Francisco
Contact: (415) 474-5569
Hours: Monday, 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; closed Sundays
Price range: $4.95 to $7.95
Recommended dishes: Fried pea salad, ginger salad, fried tofu, chicken biriyani, eggs with tamarind sauce, roast turkey sandwich, young coconut gelatin
Credit cards: MasterCard, Visa
Reservations: Accepted

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/58667337.html#ixzz0wirYtzdd

Daughters of Former Prime Ministers of Burma joining political party

YANGON, MYANMAR - The daughters of two former Myanmar prime ministers are aiming to join a new political party that is being set up to take part in next year's elections, organisers said Tuesday.

The planned Democratic Party is being established by a veteran politician once the ruling junta passes a party political registration law for the polls scheduled for some time in 2010.

Than Than Nu, 62, a daughter of Myanmar 's late first Prime Minister U Nu, said she would be the general secretary of the party. She returned from India in 2003 after leaving the country with her parents in 1969.

"We decided to take part in the coming elections as it is a chance for us and we expect to serve the country," Than Than Nu told AFP.

Her father U Nu served as Myanmar 's first prime minister after the country won independence in 1948. He was overthrown in 1962, when the army began a period of military rule that continues to this day, and died in 1995.

Nay Yee Ba Swe, a daughter of Myanmar's second prime minister Ba Swe, and Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein, a daughter a late former deputy prime minister, would also join the party, organisers said.

Ba Swe was the country's second prime minister and served from 1956 to 1957.

The Democratic Party is also expected contain some leading businessmen as well as former student activists.

"We have no right to say anything officially about the party as we have no party registration law and election law yet," said veteran politician Thu Wai, 77, who will be the chairman of the party.

"But we took this risk as we wanted to serve the people. We will not have much time after they announce the laws," he said.

Myanmar 's military government announced that it would hold elections in 2010 after approving a controversial constitution in May 2008, just days after devastating Cyclone Nargis hit the country.

Critics say the polls are a sham designed to legitimise the junta's iron grip on power.

Pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party won a landslide in 1990 elections but was never allowed to govern, had her house arrest extended in August until after the end of 2010. --AFP

Burma VJ

Anders Østergaardʼs award‐winning documentary shows a rare inside look into the 2007 uprising in Burma through the cameras of the independent journalist group, Democratic Voice of Burma. While 100,000 people (including 1,000s of Buddhist monks) took to the streets to protest the country’s repressive regime that has held them hostage for over 40 years, foreign news crews were banned to enter and the Internet was shut down. The Democratic Voice of Burma, a collective of 30 anonymous and underground video journalists (VJs) recorded these historic and dramatic events on handy cams and smuggled the footage out of the country, where it was broadcast worldwide via satellite. Risking torture and life imprisonment, the VJs vividly document the brutal clashes with the military and undercover police ‐ even after they themselves become targets of the authorities.

This is a living proof of how the Burma’s Junta (illegitimate military government of Burma) brutally cracked down the peaceful protests of Buddhist monks, nuns, and civilians of all ages, all religions, and killed in cold blood. You will witness the vicious act of the government’s men taken on its own (armless) people as they committed many times before, once again in September 2007.

***    Free Admission    ***
When    : Sunday, September 27, 2009 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Where : Baldwin Park Performing Arts Center 4640, Maine Ave
Baldwin Park, CA 91706 Seating: Seat numbers will be issued at the entrance at 1:30 PM.
Please follow http://laorganizers4burma.blogsopt.com for upcoming events in Los Angeles. Visit http://burmavjmovie.com/about_the_film/ for more about the film.

Crackdown on Burmese Dissidents in Chiang Mai

Thai police officers on Sunday raided the offices of several exiled Burmese opposition groups including the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma, the Burmese Women’s Union and the National Health and Education Committee.

A Burmese source confirmed that 10 Burmese women from the Burmese Women’s Union who were attending a capacity-building workshop in Chiang Mai were apprehended and are now in custody.

The police came with information and photos of the locations of Burmese offices. The arrests took place on Sunday when many offices were closed for the weekend.

The offices of several Chiang Mai-based Burmese opposition groups and media organizations have remained temporarily closed on Monday. The motive for the arrests and the reason why Burmese human rights workers and dissidents have been targeted is not yet known.

Several exiled Burmese and foreign groups have opened NGOs and advocacy offices in Chiang Mai in recent years.

Burmese groups faced the most repressive times under Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s administration in the early 2000s. Many offices were shut down for several weeks due to fears of intimidation and crackdowns.

International human rights groups and Western governments expressed concern for the safety of exiled Burmese dissidents living in Thailand at the time.

Under the current Thai government, Burmese groups in Thailand have enjoyed relative freedom without any major harassment.

According to diplomatic sources, Western embassies in Bangkok are closely watching the situation.

Powerful Article about Burma Election By U Win Tin

Dear All,

Two days ago, U Win Tin, a senior leader in Aung San Suu Kyi's political party the National League for Democracy (NLD), published an impassioned and powerful article in the Washington Post outlining a call for international support for the Burmese democracy struggle.  We usually do not send out newspaper articles, but this one is so important we want to encourage you to read it, in its entirety.

The author is risking his life by writing this article.  He already spent 19 years locked up as a political prisoner in Burma, and by speaking out against the military regime he is putting his own life on the line.

Some international observers, such as U.S. Senator Jim Webb, are using language of fear in pressuring the NLD to participate in showcase elections the Burmese regime has scheduled for next year.  This article is the Burmese democracy movement's rejection of that pressure and makes it clear that the election will only result in permanent military dictatorship.   

Detail Article can be found HERE

U Win Tin is a member of the Central Executive Committee and a founder of Burma's National League for Democracy party. He was a political prisoner from 1989 to 2008.

An 'Election' Burma's People Don't Need

Please detail story, read HERE

Much attention has been focused on Sen. James Webb's recent visit to my country and his meetings with Senior Gen. Than Shwe and incarcerated Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi. I understand Webb's desire to seek a meaningful dialogue with the Burmese ruling authorities. Unfortunately, his efforts have been damaging to our democracy movement and focus on the wrong issue -- the potential for an "election" that Webb wants us to consider participating in next year as part of a long-term political strategy. But the showcase election planned by the military regime makes a mockery of the freedom sought by our people and would make military dictatorship permanent.

In our last free election, the Burmese people rejected military rule in a landslide, awarding our National League for Democracy party more than 80 percent of the seats in parliament. Yet the military has refused to allow the NLD to form a government. In the 19 years since that election, Burmese democracy activists have faced imprisonment, intimidation, torture and death as they have peacefully voiced demands for justice, individual and ethnic rights, and a democratic form of government that is representative of all Burma's people.

While never ending our struggle for democracy, the NLD has continually sought to engage the regime and open a dialogue -- based on peace and mutual respect -- that could address Burma 's critical political as well as social problems. Make no mistake -- these two issues are linked. Burma was once the rice bowl of Asia . Today, because of the regime's destructive economic policies and its use of oppression to maintain military rule, Burma is a shattered, poverty-stricken country.

Time to Go ‘Down in Flames’ for Burma

By Jean Geran Saturday, September 5, 2009
Filed under: World Watch, Government & Politics

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said that after the Rwanda genocide she swore ‘that if I ever faced such a crisis again, I would come down on the side of dramatic action, going down in flames if that was required.’ She faces such a crisis again.

After six months, the Obama administration’ s review of U.S. policy toward Burma still does not appear to have focused on the one measure with the best chance of inducing the regime to change: a global arms embargo imposed by the United Nations Security Council. The case for Security Council action on Burma long has been compelling, but now is even stronger.
General Than Shwe and the military junta ruling Burma continue to wage a war against their own people. Recently, thousands of Burmese from the Kokang ethnic group living near Burma’s northeastern border have fled to China to escape a new military assault by the Burma army. Not only is the regime a threat to its own people, but there are growing signs that it undermines international security and stability as well. For example, the growing military relationship between Burma and North Korea likely includes North Korean support for a nascent nuclear program in Burma. Even China, long one of the junta’s most quietly consistent supporters, this week became sufficiently frustrated with the junta's reckless rule to issue a rebuke to Burma’s generals for provoking refugee flows across the border into China’s Yunnan Province.
As the United States assumes the presidency of the UN Security Council this month, it should renew a diplomatic effort at the council, coordinated with the United Kingdom and other allies, to pass a long-overdue arms embargo of Burma. This at least would deny the ruling junta its primary tools of oppression and help stop the atrocities it commits against its own people. It will not be easy. But such a push would be an effective, multilateral, and noble centerpiece for the Obama administration’ s policy toward Burma because both the justification for Security Council action and its chances for success have significantly increased.

If the collective suffering and human misery were to be added up, the crisis in Burma’s ethnic regions would dwarf many other mass atrocities, perhaps even Darfur.

Unfortunately, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the State Department seem to have allowed themselves once again to be distracted by the all-too-familiar delaying tactics of the Burmese generals and by circular policy debates about sanctions, levels of engagement, and humanitarian aid. Western governments often fall into this paralyzing internal argument, and the only winners are Than Shwe and his henchmen. The short-lived outcry over Aung San Suu Kyi’s ridiculous trial and re-sentencing has died down while the debate over economic sanctions and “diplomatic engagement” has been renewed by Senator Jim Webb’s recent misguided trip to Burma. While his humanitarian mission succeeded in freeing the imprisoned American John Yettaw, Webb’s trip otherwise only served to embolden the generals and to undermine Aung San Suu Kyi and the other 2,000-plus political prisoners in Burma.
Meanwhile, the situation for Burma’s people gets worse, not better. The massive human rights abuses by the Burmese military against civilians, often women and children, in ethnic minority regions of the country continue unabated and yet seem to barely register in the international media. These abuses are so severe, pervasive, and well-documented in official UN reports and resolutions that a Harvard Law School assessment commissioned by five prominent jurists from around the world has called for the Security Council to establish a commission of inquiry into crimes against humanity in Burma. If the collective suffering and human misery were to be added up—all the victims, the destruction, the rape, the lost limbs, the child soldiers, the refugees, and those displaced over the past six decades—the crisis in Burma’s ethnic regions would dwarf many other mass atrocities, perhaps even Darfur. Yet six decades of civil war and accompanying war crimes are still neglected by this post-Rwanda, purportedly “never again” generation.

The United States should renew a diplomatic effort at the UN Security Council, coordinated with the United Kingdom and other allies, to pass a long-overdue arms embargo of Burma.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice would lead any push on Burma at the Security Council and knows all too well the costs of not doing enough. In the Clinton administration, Rice served on the National Security Council during the Rwandan genocide. In a 2001 Atlantic Monthly article on the genocide, author Samantha Power (who, incidentally, is now the lead staff member on UN Affairs at the National Security Council) quotes Rice as saying, “I swore to myself that if I ever faced such a crisis again, I would come down on the side of dramatic action, going down in flames if that was required.” Unfortunately, the State Department’s insipid statement this week on the current military assault in Burma notes only that State is “monitoring developments carefully” and is “deeply concerned.” During the several years I worked on Burma human rights policy at the State Department, it was well known internally (almost as gallows humor) that anytime an official statement included phrases such as “monitoring developments carefully” and “deeply concerned,” the real meaning was “we are doing little to nothing.” But doing nothing should not be an option.
Of course, China remains a challenge at the Security Council, and has used its veto to block action on Burma in the past. China also remains the largest arms supplier to the Burmese regime. But Beijing’s calculations seem to be changing now that its national interests are implicated directly by thousands of refugees crossing its border. Even if the current refugee crisis abates, conflict conditions make future displacements likely. The fighting between the Burmese military and the Kokang and Wa armies is just the latest, most visible manifestation of growing unrest in ethnic regions. The regime’s planned “elections” in 2010 are being forced down the throats of all the ethnic minority groups with which the regime has maintained ceasefire agreements. Ethnic leaders from these groups who attended the tightly controlled constitution- drafting process in recent years to prepare for these supposed elections experienced the sham firsthand. Rumblings are also spreading over the Burmese military’s push to transform ceasefire groups into a border-guard force under its direct command. Up until now, most ceasefire agreements with ethnic armies allowed some level of command and control by ethnic leaders themselves. The border guard would end that, and now more than just the Kokang are threatening to take up arms again. This is very bad news for China. If China realizes that Aung San Suu Kyi is not only the best hope for democracy in Burma, but also for the border stability it prizes so highly, then Security Council action should become more palatable. Without China’s opposition, Russia would also drop its veto threat.

Senator Webb’s trip emboldened the generals and undermined Aung San Suu Kyi and the other 2,000-plus political prisoners in Burma.  

At the 2005 UN World Summit, world leaders first articulated the “responsibility to protect” as official UN doctrine. The power to intervene has always existed within the Security Council’s mandate, but this new language stipulated the conditions to prompt such intervention. The situation in Burma more than meets those conditions. With increasing public support, including across Asia, and with a coordinated diplomatic effort led by the United States to bring around China and Russia, a global arms embargo against the junta is possible. And for the people of Burma, it is essential.
Jean Geran is a senior fellow at the Legatum Institute. She served as the director for democracy and human rights on the National Security Council and as an abuse prevention officer on the U.S. Disaster Assistance Response Team in southern Iraq.
FURTHER READING: Geran previously wrote “No Hugs for the Thugs in Burma” on why Secretary of State Clinton should not go wobbly on the junta.
Image by Darren Wamboldt/Bergman Group.

Burma’s Attack against Ethnics Poses China Dilemma

BEIJING – Preoccupied with ethnic tensions in Tibet and Xinjiang, Beijing was caught off guard when Burma’s military regime decided in late August to use force against armed ethnic groups in the country’s north, resulting in military strife that forced thousands of refugees to flee into China.

While the armed conflict has calmed down, Beijing now faces the possibility of having to cope with two intransigent neighbors on its doorstep—North Korea in the northeast and Burma in the southwest.

For years, Beijing has supplied Burma’s military junta with all means for political survival—security guarantees at the United Nations, arms, investment and trade links, as well as development assistance. In exchange, it has gained access to Burma’s considerable mineral wealth and been allowed to become heavily involved in the country’s economic development. Chinese companies now operate across the board in industries from mining and timber to power generation.

So when the Burmese generals decided to ignore China’s wishes and launch a surprise offensive to crush the Kokang ethnic rebel group in the border area, it was perceived here as a breach of trust. Chinese diplomats have been involved in quiet negotiations with Naypyidaw, Burma’s administrative capital, urging the Burmese junta to resolve the ethnic issue in a peaceful way. The Kokang are ethnically Chinese and speak a Mandarin dialect but have lived for many decades inside Burma.

After the fighting broke out, the Chinese foreign ministry issued a muted rebuke of the regime, saying that “both sides were responsible for maintaining stability along the border.” Beijing quickly imposed a blackout on news about the tens of thousands of refugees fleeing across the border, fearing it might be seen as having failed to help them. Along with Burmese-born Chinese refugees, there are hundreds of Chinese businessmen living in the area, involved in gems, timber and other industries.

“It looks like the junta is becoming a bit uncomfortable at being in Beijing’s pocket, and is trying to rebalance its global ties,” said Ian Holliday, a Burma expert at the University of Hong Kong. “The generals are extremely nationalistic and would prefer to listen to no one. But they have no choice but to take some account of what China wants.”

The problem is that Beijing appears to be at a loss as to how to handle the dilemma of choosing between defending the interests of ethnic Chinese inside Burma, and continuing its strategic alliance with the military junta.

Historically, Beijing has supported the armed ethnic rebels. Under Mao Zedong, China aspired to be the leader of the world’s communist revolution and financed and trained long-running insurgencies over the whole of Southeast Asia. In Burma, it supported the now defunct Communist Party of Burma (CPB), which several times came close to winning power. The Wa and Chinese from the Kokang region were former members of the CPB.

While Beijing has emerged as the junta’s staunchest backer over the last 20 years, some Burmese military leaders remain distrustful of Beijing’s true intentions. The military, which seized power in 1962, has not forgotten the costly struggle it waged against the Chinese-backed CPB insurgency or the full-scale invasion mounted in 1968 by some 30,000 Chinese troops.

Beijing’s attempt to negotiate a political solution to the ethnic issue at the border has been seen as a tepid embrace of the Burmese junta’s efforts to pressure the rebels to surrender their arms before key elections planned for next year. The junta wants to integrate the ethnic ceasefire rebel groups, particularly the Kachin, Kokang and Wa, into a border guard force.

But Chinese experts say Beijing has done enough in providing political cover for the Burmese generals and ensuring their success in the upcoming elections. A multiethnic state itself, China would be loathe to see a democratic change on its border that might ignite simmering tensions between Burma’s ethnic majority Burmans and other ethnic groups that have been clamoring for secession since Burma regained its independence from British rule.

In early August, Chinese foreign ministry officials backed the regime’s decision to sentence detained Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi—the junta’s main challenge to power—to a further 18 months under house arrest, saying that the international community must respect Burma’s judicial sovereignty.

There are many other countries interested in exploiting Burma’s natural wealth, but democratic countries like India did not dare stand behind the junta on that one, said Tan Leshui, an independent observer who has visited Burma many times.

Burmese Shine the Light

Join Amnesty International Now!

With help from you and others in Amnesty's millions-strong global human rights movement, we've scored several key victories in the past few months.

Pledge your commitment to continuing Amnesty's life-saving human rights work by becoming a member today.

Your passion and support have helped Amnesty International achieve extraordinary human rights victories in the past few months. I wanted to share these achievements with you, and also say thank you — you've proven once again that Amnesty saves lives:

* You demanded justice for American-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi, who was given an eight-year prison sentence on trumped up charges of "espionage." She was freed from prison in May.
* Thanks in part to your appeals, Iranian human rights activist and lawyer Shadi Sadr was released on bail in July after 11 days in custody. She was beaten and abducted in the streets of Iran, targeted for her work as a human rights defender.
* You spoke up for Troy Davis, who remains sentenced to death in Georgia for a crime he says he didn't commit. In June, he received a stay of execution. And in August, the Supreme Court of the United States granted him the chance to present his strong claims of innocence.

Together we have built a powerful global movement. We've got momentum, and we can't stop now.

Become a member of Amnesty International by September 30th and your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a generous donor.

Our goal is to recruit 10,000 new members this month to help Amnesty carry out its biggest ever Global Write-a-thon. Through the Write-a-thon — the world's largest annual grassroots human rights event — thousands of Amnesty International members come together for one great purpose: to free prisoners of conscience from jail and bring brutal human rights abuses to an end.
Freedom. Thanks to you and Amnesty International. Ma Khin Khin Leh released.

The 2008 Write-a-thon helped secure the release of Ma Khin Khin Leh, a young mother accused of helping to plan a demonstration in Myanmar and sentenced to life in prison. Amnesty members wrote tens of thousands of letters seeking her release.

Become an Amnesty member today and double your impact.

Your letters, phone calls and faxes on behalf of people like Roxana, Shadi, Troy and Ma Khin Khin Leh kept them going in their darkest hours and gave them the faith to carry on.

Please make a tax-deductible donation to Amnesty International and your gift will be automatically doubled.

Sincerely,

Larry Cox

Larry Cox
Executive Director
Amnesty International USA

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-0XX-2009

3 September 2009

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---
BURMA : Monk falsely accused of planning to set fire to himself
ISSUES: Rule of law; military government; judicial system; illegal detention; torture
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---
Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has obtained detailed information about the case of a monk in Burma who is being tried without evidence for insulting religion. The monk, U Sandadhika, went like other onlookers to the outside of the court where Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her co-defendants were being tried in August. Afterwards a group of unidentified men picked him up and took him into custody where they accused him of planning to immolate himself in protest. They have no evidence to back the charge and the only witnesses in the case, which is continuing, are police. The detainee has been forcibly disrobed and assaulted in custody, resulting in a hernia.

CASE DETAILS:

U Sandadhika went to nearby the central prison on 11 August 2009 to meet with people who had gathered to await the verdict in the case of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and three others. The 36-year-old told relatives that as he was leaving the area a white car pulled up alongside him with three unidentified men inside. One of them told him that they had an offering of a drink to give him, but he replied that he had already taken his meal for the day and that it was unnecessary. Then they said that they had some things to ask him and told him to get in the car.

The men took Sandadhika to the Rangoon North District police premises where at least two police assaulted him with a bamboo rod, causing him to have a hernia and suffer other injuries. (Full details of the alleged perpetrators are included in the sample letter, below, as usual.) Thereafter they took him to be forcibly disrobed.

The police opened a criminal case against Sandadhika for allegedly insulting religion because, they claim, he had intended to burn himself in protest at the conviction of Aung San Suu Kyi. But under cross-examination in court they admitted that they have no evidence at all to support the claim: they did not find any kerosene or other materials on the defendant or elsewhere to suggest that there is any truth to it. They do not even have any independent witnesses: all of those deposing against the accused are police.

The trial is continuing on September 3.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The AHRC has been documenting numerous cases speaking to what it has described as Burma 's "injustice system" and provided a range of links on these in its most recent prior urgent appeal, on the case of Aung Aung Oo and his fellow defendants: AHRC-UA-107- 2009. In the aftermath of the September 2007 monk-led protests it also followed the cases of monks and nuns tried and imprisoned over those events, including U Gambira (AHRC-UA-248- 2008). At the time of the protests it set up a website that has a variety of relevant resources and topics: http://campaigns. ahrchk.net/ burmaprotests/

Two special reports have also been issued in the article 2 periodical, "Saffron Revolution imprisoned, law denied" (vol. 7, no. 3, September 2008) and "Burma, political psychosis and legal dementia" (vol. 6, no. 5-6, December 2007). There are also a number of related sites, including the AHRC Burmese-language blog, Pyithu Hittaing, and the 2008 AHRC Human Rights Report chapter on Burma.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the persons listed below to call for the case against U Sandadhika to be dropped. Please note that for the purpose of the letter, the country should be referred to by its official title of Myanmar , rather than Burma , and Yangon rather than Rangoon .

Please be informed that the AHRC is writing a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteurs on Myanmar and torture, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the regional human rights office for Southeast Asia calling for interventions into this case.

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear ___________,



MYANMAR: Monk falsely accused of planning to set fire to himself



Details of accused: U Sandadhika, a.k.a. Nyi Nyi Lwin/ Nyi Nyi San, 36, monk of the Daysunpar Temple , Laygyunmandaing Monastery, Bago , Myanmar

Police officers involved:

1. Inspector Zaw Pone Win, Serial No. La/167400, Yangon Division Police Headquarters (prosecuting officer)

2. Deputy Inspector Kyi Khaing Kyaw, Serial No. La/176001, Yangon Division Police HQ (witness & alleged torturer)

3. Deputy Inspector Hla Kyaw Oo, Serial No. La/168797, Yangon North District Police HQ (witness)

4. Deputy Inspector Aung Myint Thein, Serial No. La/148152, Insein Township Police Station (witness)

5. Inspector Kyaw Sein, Yangon North District Police Headquarters (alleged torturer)

Charges & trial: Penal Code section 295A, insulting religion; Felony No. 507/09, Bahan Township Court , Judge Daw Toe Toe Yein (Serial No. Ta/2270, Assistant Township Judge 1, Special Power) presiding



I am very sorry to hear of yet another evidence-free case against someone in Myanmar , this time against a monk who was forcibly disrobed and assaulted while in custody, causing him to have a hernia.



From the details that I have been given, U Sandadhika went to nearby where the hearings in the case of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and three other defendants were taking place at the Central Prison, Insein Township , on 11 August 2009. There three men in an unmarked vehicle picked him up and took him to the Yangon North District Police Headquarters, where he was assaulted with a bamboo rod, causing injuries including the hernia, which he has shown to the prison hospital.



The police accused him of having had a plan to self immolate as an act of protest, but Sandadhika has denied this and the police have since admitted in court that they have no material evidence to prove the allegation. They had him forcibly disrobed and charged in court with insulting religion. However, aside from not having material evidence to present, the police also had no independent witnesses and have listed only four police officers to appear against him.



I am deeply concerned that despite the lack of evidence and allegations of torture in this case, the accused will nonetheless be convicted on spurious and politically directed grounds. I urge that this not be the case and that the Township Law Office concerned at once review the case and drop the charges against the accused or that the responsible authorities otherwise take the necessary steps to see that the matter is laid to rest and that the accused is allowed to go free.



Finally, I take this opportunity to remind the Government of Myanmar of the need to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross access to places of detention, in accordance with its globally recognized mandate, including to all those monks and nuns imprisoned in the aftermath of the September 2007 protests, and to ensure that all prisoners obtain appropriate medical treatment for ailments suffered, such as those of U Sandadhika caused by the torture that he allegedly suffered.



Yours sincerely,



Tel: +95 67 412 079/ 549 393/ 549 663

Fax: +95 67 412 439



2. Lt-Gen. Thein Sein

Prime Minister

c/o Ministry of Defence

Naypyitaw

MYANMAR

Tel: + 95 1 372 681

Fax: + 95 1 652 624



3. U Aung Toe

Chief Justice

Office of the Supreme Court

Office No. 24

Naypyitaw

MYANMAR

Tel: + 95 67 404 080/ 071/ 078/ 067 or + 95 1 372 145

Fax: + 95 67 404 059



4. U Aye Maung

Attorney General

Office of the Attorney General

Office No. 25

Naypyitaw

MYANMAR

Tel: +95 67 404 088/ 090/ 092/ 094/ 097

Fax: +95 67 404 146/ 106



5. Brig-Gen. Khin Yi

Director General

Myanmar Police Force

Ministry of Home Affairs

Office No. 10

Naypyitaw

MYANMAR

Tel: +95 67 412 079/ 549 393/ 549 663

Fax: +951 549 663 / 549 208

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme

Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) (ua@ahrchk.org)

Clouds of War Move Over Shan State

More than 300 civilians from areas controlled by the United Wa State Army (UWSA) have fled their homes in fear of hostilities breaking out between the Wa army and the Burmese government forces, according to several sources.

“I heard that 300 to 400 people from Wa towns had left their homes recently and headed to other towns in Shan State or to the Chinese side of the border,” said Sein Kyi of the Thailand-based Shan Herald Agency for News.

Burma analyst Aung Kyaw Zaw, who is based in Ruili on the Sino-Burmese border, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that Wa sources had confirmed that hundreds of villagers from the townships of Hopang, Konlong and Panlong had fled to other towns in Shan State or to China to avoid being caught in the crossfire of a potentially bloody armed conflict.

The precautions come less than one week after an estimated 30,000 Kokang civilians fled to the Chinese side of the border due to a series of clashes between government soldiers and Kokang troops from the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA).

The northeastern highlands of Burma are home to three major armed ethnic groups—the MNDAA, the UWSA and the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA)—all of which signed ceasefire agreements with the Burmese junta but have reportedly rejected its request to disarm and join its border guard force ahead of the 2010 election.

Last week, government troops captured Laogai, the Kokang capital, and at least 700 Kokang soldiers were forced to surrender their arms to the Chinese army after fleeing to Chinese soil.

Burma’s state-run daily, The New Light of Myanmar, reported on Wednesday that 5,811 refugees who fled to China had returned to the Kokang region.

“The region is now in stable condition and administrative machinery has become normal,” the state media said.

On Monday, the pro-junta newspaper reported that government troops had seized an illegal arms factory in the Kokang region.

However, many observers are skeptical about the restoration of stability in northeastern Burma as government forces build up their troop numbers in what would appear to be preparations for a continued offensive in the region.

Several analysts say the UWSA will be next on the military government’s hit list.

UWSA and NDAA

If, as predicted, the Burmese junta intensifies its military operations in northeastern Shan State, the greatest resistance will undoubtedly come from the UWSA, which Jane’s Intelligence journal estimates at 25,000 strong.

However, the Wa army is generally based on two fronts, one half in northern and the other half in southern Shan State with five divisions deployed along the Thai-Burmese border.

Last week, about 2,000 UWSA troops traveled to Kokang territory to join their allies, the MNDAA, against the regime’s army.

The northern three Wa divisions are currently on standby and say they expect an attack from the government army in the coming days.

Observers have said that a possible attack on the UWSA would be at Nandeng, a checkpoint town of 10,000 on the Sino-Burmese border.

Meanwhile, some analysts say the smaller force of the NDAA, also known as the Mongla group, based in eastern Shan state, would be the junta’s next target. The former Communist Party of Burma force now has an estimated 1,200 soldiers.

In recent days, the NDAA ordered some 400 Burmese workers in Mongla Township to leave the area in fear that there may be government spies among them. Several suspected Burmese army spies were reportedly arrested.

Sein Kyi said that Burmese military officials had in the past two days traveled to Mongla and advised the NDAA leaders that the clashes in the Kokang region were the result of an internal power struggle between Kokang leaders.

In recent days, the military government has claimed repeatedly that stability has returned to the Kokang region. However, observers note that the junta’s mission in the northeast would be incomplete if the ethnic ceasefire groups are not brought round into joining the border guard plan and thereby legitimizing the military-backed constitution and next year’s general election

A Burmese Childhood Spent Scavenging

RANGOON—Twelve-year-old Maung Chan Thar has only known poverty despite having a name that means “master of wealth.”

His parents gave him the name in the belief that it would bring good fortune to their eldest son.

With a meager household income, Maung Chan Thar's family of eight has to struggle to put enough food on the table each day, let alone buy clothes or things needed for school by his three younger brothers and two younger sisters.

The piles of rubbish in Rangoon are children’s sources of income. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)


Four years ago, when Maung Chan Thar was just eight, his parents sent him onto the streets to earn money because they could no longer afford to keep him at school.

Carrying a sack on his back, he has been working in the streets ever since, looking through the piles of rubbish on the streets, roaming the railway tracks, collecting empty water bottles, plastic bags—whatever he can resell.

The piles of rubbish at the markets and railway stations are his sources of income. On a good day, he can make the equivalent of more than US $1, but normally Maung Chan Thar only earns about 70 or 80 cents.

“I am so happy to see my mother smile when I put cash in her hands,” he said.

Maung Chan Thar is the second income earner in his family after his father, who makes about $1.50 a day pedaling a trishaw.

Though he is an important source of income for his family, his parents cannot take care of him.

Like tens of thousands of other street children in big cities such as Rangoon and Mandalay, Maung Chan Thar’s clothes are filthy and in tatters. His hair has not been washed for months, and his nails are long and dirty.

Maung Chan Thar thinks things are alright, however. He knows that in his job what matters is collecting as much recyclable material as possible.

"I hate seeing my younger brothers and sisters crying in hunger, so I work hard," he said, sifting through a pile of garbage near Kyimyindaing Railway Station. “I don’t want them to ever do work like this. I want them to keep going to school.”

When he started on the street, he was often bullied by stronger street children, who would sometimes steal what he made.

"I will never forget when three larger boys beat me up and took all my money,” Maung Chan Thar said. “When I got back home, my father beat me up again for being so weak."

Maung Chan Thar has learned how to avoid such incidents, and he has many friends who will come to his help if someone picks on him.

His worries are far from over, however. The municipal police and staff from the Yangon [Rangoon] City Development Committee are constantly making arrests.

The risk of arrest is higher when he sleeps at railway stations or bus stops in the downtown area, he said. Since his home is located in Shwepyithar in the outskirts of Rangoon, he often sleeps downtown with his friends if it is too late to go back.

“I’ve never been arrested,” he said. “I’m good at avoiding the police.

“People look down on street children like us, thinking we are thieves,” he said. “When we go around below large buildings picking up plastic bags, residents sometimes threaten us. We have to switch collecting sites quickly when that happens.

“I don’t understand why they look down on us like that,” Maung Chan Thar said, adding that he always followed his mother’s advice.

“My mother always told me never to steal or beg, but to work hard and be honest,” he said.

Though Maung Chan Thar seems destined to keep doing his lowly job, he firmly believes he will be rich one day.

“Every night my mother has this dream in which I am a rich man,” he said, squatting on the rubbish.

“Perhaps I will find something very precious in this rubbish one day,” he said. “Who is to say that I won’t?”

Join Burma Supporters at Solano Stroll Parade to spread awareness

San Francisco Bay Area Burma supporters to join the Solano Stroll Parade this year again to  speared awareness about  Burma,  Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as well as our culture. A one mile long street celebration is attended by more than 100,000 annually form Bay Area, California and other states.  See a YouTube Video about the Parade here: http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=DSziBGGW- fA. So, Join Join Join to help Burma.

Important to know:

* Parade begin at 10 AM with about 100 participating groups (Burmese will be one of them); it usually last about 1 1/2 hour.

* Parade participants to gather at 9:00 a.m. SHARP at the corner of FRESNO AVENUE and SOLANO AVENUE, Berkeley CA 94707;
  Look for people with Burmese dresses and drums. Bring sings and banners and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi photos. All Burma Supporters are welcome to join in. Call 510 485 3751 for questions/informati on.

* After the Parade, please visit Burma booth at  Solano Ave @ Santa Fe Ave (A block from Safeway). Also visit 75 Entertainers / 50 Food Booths / 120 Arts and Crafters and 150 Local Non-Profits. 26 Blocks of free fun!

Parade Participant FAQ: http://www.solanoav enueassn. org/strol/ stroll-docs/ SAS_Parade_ FAQ.pdf
More info on the Stroll: http://www.solanoav enueassn. org/strol. htm
Please join us at the Parade to help highlight the situation in Burma and speared the awareness about her to thousands. Burma needs you again!

Let's Parade for Burma at Solano Stroll! Please join! 

Solano Stroll is the East Bay’s largest street festival! The Solano Avenue Merchants Association invites you to come and see what makes Solano Avenue such a wonderful place. Participants and the event guests visit from everywhere throughout California; as well as neighboring states from Nevada to Maine. Every cuisine imaginable** Filling the streets with hundreds of thousands.

35th Annual, 2008 Solano Stroll - Street Celebration  
Sunday, September 13, 10am - 6pm
Solano Avenue in Berkeley & Albany, CA

Parade at 9 AM with about 100 participating groups (Burmese will be one of them); it usually last about 1 1/2 hour. Also visit 100 Entertainers / 50 Food Booths / 120 Arts and Crafters and 150 Local Non-Profits.  26 Blocks of free fun!   *** In 2002, the Stroll was honored by the Library of Congress as a National Local Legacy. ***

PRE-PARADE GATHERING SPOT TO JOIN BURMA SUPPORTERS!! !

At 9:00 a.m. SHARP at the corner of FRESNO AVENUE and SOLANO AVENUE, Berkeley CA 94707; Look for people with Burmese dresses and drums.

All are invited to participate in the parade with us. Feel free to show up that morning to join BADA and other Burma supporters at the corner of Fresno Avenue and Solano Avenue, Berkeley, CA. We'll be carrying the banners, sings, flags and photos of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders. 

More information, please contact Anil Verma at 510 485 3751, parade@badasf. org. Also visit www.badasf.org.

DRESSES, SIGNS AND BANNERS

1.  Please wear your national dress to celebrate our culture
2.  We will have flags, banners and signs for you to carry and help spread the awareness about situation in Burma
3.  You are encouraged to bring large photos of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and others
4. We will need some of you to volunteer and carry some banners and signs

Some Parade Rules

The Parade Participants shall begin checking in at 8:15AM and absolutely no later than 9:00AM!
Please do not stop for any reason except for a health and/or safety issue.
There will be no throwing candy during the parade.
The most important thing you must do in the parade is be safe. The second most important is to have fun

More info on the Stroll (What you can do after The Parade)

The fun begins at 8 a.m. with the traditional pancake breakfast at Veterans' Memorial Park in Albany, followed by the opening of Solano Avenue businesses and Stroll booths at 10AM. But the real kickoff is the theme parade with about 100 groups at 10AM. After the parade, you can visit one of 75 entertainers, 50 food booths, 120 juried arts and crafters, games, wacky art cars, and 150 community organizations, not to mention the unique and popular shops already here on the Avenue.

You will hear the best in local music, dance and other performances and absolutely stunning costumes from all over the globe!

Stop by Environmental Alley at the top of Solano where you can learn all about getting green, and what we can do as a planet to help sustain our environment!

Then, at the very bottom of Solano, 26 blocks down is Kidtown for the youngsters, with giant slides, Dr. Solar and his Traveling Medicine Show, carnival games, stilt walkers, face painters, jugglers, and much, much more.

This alcohol-free event promotes the unique traits of Solano Avenue, helping local businesses, local artists, and community organizations to thrive. The Stroll solidifies community spirit, neighbors find old friends, and families enjoy an afternoon in the sun.

Transportation information for Fair goers

Fairgoers can Stroll one way and ride the free shuttles the other way on parallel Marin Ave. The shuttles run 10AM-7PM from the North Berkeley BART station to The Alameda and Marin Avenue, one block South of Solano Avenue. There is a second free shuttle along Marin Avenue so you can Stroll one way and ride the other. Just flag it down at any corner between The Alameda, in Berkeley - to Kains Avenue, in Albany.

Shuttles are wheelchair accessible. Ride your bike and enjoy free valet bicycle parking at Wells Fargo Bank, 1800 Solano Avenue – Berkeley.

You can also use AC Transit – bus numbers #18, #72, or #79.
Special handicapped parking is available on the east and west sides of The Alameda, north of Solano.
Here's a link to a Google map of Solano Ave At The Alameda, Berkeley, CA 94707

Come be a part of this wonderful community event!
Organized by The Solano Avenue Association and Stroll 510.527.5358 / SolanoStroll. org