Aung San Suu Kyi is free! Now free Burma!

It's about time the junta set her free. Of course, they waited until after the elections. Maybe Arizona will consider doing the same thing, now that the powers that be think they've won the war: maybe Pearce and Brewer will set all of our political prisoners free...

Here's hoping.

-------------------------from Amnesty International----------------------------

Myanmar should free all prisoners of conscience following Aung San Suu Kyi’s release

Amnesty International today welcomes the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, but calls on the government of Myanmar to immediately release all of the prisoners of conscience in the country.

Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s best-known prisoner of conscience, has spent more than 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest. She was one of more than 2,200 political prisoners, including prisoners of conscience , currently being held in deplorable conditions for simply exercising their right to peaceful protest.

“While Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s release is certainly welcome, it only marks the end of an unfair sentence that was illegally extended, and is by no means a concession on the part of the authorities”, said Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Salil Shetty.

“The fact remains that authorities should never have arrested her or the many other prisoners of conscience in Myanmar in the first place, locking them out of the political process."

The Nobel Peace laureate had been detained since 30 May 2003 after government-backed thugs attacked her motorcade in Depayin, killing an unknown number of people, and injuring scores. This was the third time she was held under house arrest, having previously been detained from 1989 to 1995, and from 2000 to 2002.

“This time the authorities must ensure Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s security”, said Salil Shetty.

“It is high time the government of Myanmar put an end to the ongoing injustice of political imprisonment in the country, while the international community—including China, India, ASEAN and the UN—must act together to prevent Myanmar from abusing its legal system to penalize peaceful opponents. The release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi must not make them forget other prisoners of conscience”.

There are more than 2,200 political prisoners in Myanmar still held under vague laws frequently used by the government to criminalize peaceful political dissent.

They are being held in grim conditions, with inadequate food and sanitation. Many are in poor health and do not receive proper medical treatment.

Many were tortured during their initial interrogation and detention, and still risk torture as a punishment at the hands of prison officers.

Amnesty International believes the vast majority of those held are prisoners of conscience who are being punished merely for peacefully exercising their rights to free expression, assembly, and association.

Many of those still being held took part in the 2007 Saffron Revolution, sparked by protests against sharp fuel and commodity price rises.

In the past three years, hundreds of political prisoners have been moved to extremely remote prisons, restricting their access to relatives, lawyers and medical care. Reports of torture and other ill-treatment are rife.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has been denied access to prisons in Myanmar since December 2005.

Background

Just two weeks before her detention order was due to expire in 2009, Aung San Suu Kyi was again arrested and charged with violating the terms of her house arrest. On 11 August 2009, after a trial widely condemned by the international community, she was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, which was later commuted to 18 months’ house arrest.

Her release comes just six days after the first general elections in Myanmar in 20 years, which were held against a backdrop of political repression. Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won the majority of seats in those 1990 elections, but were prevented from taking power by Myanmar military leaders who have controlled the country for decades.

Amnesty International is also calling for the release of all prisoners of conscience, including:

• Former student leader and pro-democracy activist Min Ko Naing, 47, serving a prison sentence of 65 years for his part in demonstrations in 2007.
• U Gambira of the All Burma Monks Alliance (ABMA), sentenced to 63 years for his part in monk-led demonstrations in 2007.
• U Khun Htun Oo, 67, chair of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), sentenced to 93 years' imprisonment for disagreeing with the government’s plans for a new constitution. He suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure.

Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

Amnesty International won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.

Happy Birthday, Aung San Suu Kyi.

America remembers you and your comrades today. Thank you for all you have collectively done for the cause of human liberation. We hope you will all be free, too, someday soon.

-------------------

Dear Margaret, Aung San Suu Kyi's last birthday was spent in the infamous Insein (pronounced "insane") prison – notorious for its foul conditions and unrelenting use of torture. Today, more than 2,100 political prisoners are being held in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), many of whom are hidden away in the prison's darkest corners. But in honor of Suu Kyi's 65th birthday on June 19th, we're doing all we can to fill those corners with light and expose Myanmar's treatment of political dissents for what it really is…insane. Help drive our ongoing work to protect human rights in Myanmar. Less than a month ago, a youth member of the former National League for Democracy, the political party headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, had his sentence in Insein prison extended by 10 years.

Life without human rights is insane Myanmar's Insein Prison, where thousands of political prisoners are believed to be held.

His original offense - distributing a portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi. This blatant manipulation of laws and outright injustice has got to stop. We've fought tirelessly on behalf of Aung San Suu Kyi for the past 2 decades and such abuse of human rights only fuels our desire to bring violators to justice once and for all. Our team of researchers and experts are observing Myanmar closely and reporting back whenever there are new developments and opportunities for action. And given that national elections are planned for later this year, our teams are remaining particularly vigilant to ensure that no person is improperly detained during election-related crackdowns without setting off major alarms across the human rights spectrum. But we need your help. This kind of in-depth reporting is done by few, but requires resources and the support of many. Please say that you'll join the fight to protect political dissidents in Myanmar. Stand with us as we stand with Suu Kyi and the more than 2,100 political prisoners in Myanmar. Let Myanmar's government know that a light still shines for human rights even in the darkest corners. Thank you for your support, Michael O'Reilly Senior Campaign Director, Individuals at Risk Amnesty International USA

Migration, Slavery, and American Consumerism.

An estimated 27 million people - largely women and children - still live in slavery around the world so that we (mostly Americans) may have cheap consumer goods and investors can extract a somewhat better profit. At some point, as consumers (and "taxpayers"), we need to start looking more closely at where we invest our money: either it goes to reinforce the status quo - the oppression of billions - or it goes towards building new structures and institutions that will create a more sustainable future for all. Shrimp is not a necessity... Odd how it seems that acquiring luxuries for Americans creates more suffering, brutality, and death than the necessities do. I guess it pays off for someone - just not guys like Winko...

No wonder the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is ineffective in curtailing the abuses of the Burmese junta - the profits of their merchants depend on the perpetual poverty and desperation of Burma's unemployed and refugees.

Here is a link to the "Not For Sale" campaign to end human trafficking and slavery. Check it out. Among other things, they have an on-line store and some good holiday shopping ideas for avoiding products made by slave labor (10,000 Villages, fair trade, etc.). 

Now, if we could find a way to boycott the prisons - like tax resistance or something...the problem is that if we tell the legislature to spend less on prisons, they'll keep packing more people in - just under worse conditions and with less access to health care, rehabilitative or treatment services, etc. We need more than that - we need sentencing reform, investments in community-based options for restorative justice practices, and - in the meantime - we urgently need transparency and reform within the prisons themselves. People are dying in there on sentences they should live through and supposedly learn from...


While I'm at it, let's be real abolitionists and re-write the 13th Amendment, so that slavery is permanently abolished for everyone in America. If prisoners could earn at least a minimum wage, they could much more easily pay restitution, cover the expenses of being in prison (you must pay for most everything), save money to provide stability upon release, and support themselves and their own families while unable to engage in more substantial work (Ten cents an hour? A week's pay in America at that wage wouldn't even cover a single co-pay to see the prison doctor).

Diverting those resources to private multinational companies in the business of exploiting powerless people and an imprisoned labor force sucks not only material resources out of the community, it also erodes the integrity our collective soul...and we don't have much of that to lose anymore.


----------------

Is Your Seafood Harvested by Slaves?

Sunday 29 November 2009

by: Patrick Winn  |  GlobalPost

Samut Sakhon, Thailand - Soon after Winko joined his fellow captives on a Thai fishing vessel, he witnessed his first killing.

The murdered man was, like Winko, a newly acquired fishing slave unsure how to work the boat’s machinery. But while Winko kept quiet, the new man protested. He was kicked across the deck until he tumbled overboard and disappeared in the turquoise wake.

Life is hell for Thailand’s fishermen slaves, a largely Burmese workforce lured into the Thai fishing industry by brokers. As promised, jobs await these migrants, who pay $350 to be smuggled into Thailand and introduced to a fishing crew. But often, the work doesn’t pay and quitting is not an option.

Thailand is the world’s largest seafood exporter and the United States is its largest buyer. One third of America’s shrimp is imported from Thailand, home to a $2-billion shrimp industry and a major supplier of tuna, squid and other frozen seafood imports.

But it’s an open secret that the industry relies, in part, on forced labor. Experts believe a portion of America’s seafood is hauled from the sea by people like Winko: desperate, young Burmese men duped into forced labor. Now 24, he is an escapee hiding out in Samut Sakhon, an industrial port that is the heart of Thailand’s seafood industry.

“I was just a metal worker in Burma,” said Winko, who declined to give his full name for fear of retribution. “Back home, you don’t make enough to eat. I thought coming to Thailand would improve my life.”

Last year, a Burmese broker accepted about $300 — Winko’s hard-earned savings — to smuggle him into Thailand and arrange a low-wage fishing job. Instead, Winko was sold to an illegal fishing syndicate. He spent his first night in Thailand in a dark chamber, padlocked from the outside, with about 10 other men. His cell was only one room in what he described as a dingy prison camp for hundreds of captives.

In short time, Winko was working the sea with a mostly Burmese crew. The captain pushed them until they nearly fainted from exhaustion, he said, and only allowed them to eat leftovers from the net. Winko was warned against complaining, a threat reinforced once he saw a crewmate kicked overboard.

“Anyone who didn’t know what to do was kicked,” Winko explained through a Burmese interpreter. “We were all treated so terribly.”

Winko’s nine months of slavery ended in a busy port in Chonburi, a province near Bangkok. The boat was docked. The captain was distracted. So Winko ran. He ran past the port, into the jungly underbrush, and hiked for four hours until he found a road.

“If someone had caught up to me, I was prepared to fight,” he said. “But I never looked back. I was thinking only of survival.”

Eventually, a sympathetic taxi driver offered to drive Winko to a factory where a friend was working several provinces over. Through a network of Burmese laborers, he was guided to the Labor Rights Promotion Network, an organization known for confronting law-breaking fishing crews. Its leadership is currently sheltering Winko as it pursues his broker.

“We get more than a thousand cases like this each year,” said Piyakrai Seelakort, manager of the network’s human rights team. Winko’s story, he said, is tame compared to others. For fishing syndicates, he said, the sea is a lawless haven where even murder has no consequence. Police are unlikely to notice that an illegal migrant has gone missing.

“Life aboard these boats depends on the captors,” Piyakrai said. “They own you.”

Near Piyakrai’s office in Samut Sakhon, a string of ports take in much of Thailand’s freshly caught seafood. Gaunt men emerge from fishing boats, their forearms straining to haul plastic buckets packed with seafood and crushed ice that quickly goes liquid in the heat.

The horizon here is industrial and pewter gray, a long coastline of squat factories processing more than 40 percent of Thailand’s seafood. Like the boats that supply their seafood, these plants too are sometimes accused of using forced laborers and underage workers.

A 2006 survey backed by researchers from Thailand’s Mahidol University found that the plants often employ workers younger than 15 working 12-hour-plus days. This is where seafood is prepared — the tuna heads lopped off, the shrimp deveined — and readied for the distributors who ship it to the U.S.

The supply chain eventually leads to America’s largest supermarkets, according to investigations by the Solidarity Center, a non-profit agency under the AFL-CIO.

Retailers Costco, Giant, Harris Teeter, Trader Joe’s and Walmart have all bought seafood originating from factories with substandard working conditions in Samut Sakhon, according to shipping manifests obtained by the center. Ascertaining conditions on the fishing boats that supply the plants, however, is more difficult.

The U.S. State Department, in a 2009 report, said there are no reliable means of knowing how many people in Thailand have fallen victim to forced labor. The Labor Rights Promotion Network estimates there are at least 200,000 Burmese migrants working in the Samut Sakhon seafood industry alone.

“After the seafood goes through these factories, the main markets are Europe and America,” Piyakrai said. “I wonder, do those people know they’re eating the product of forced labor? It’s delicious, but it’s at the expense of other people’s lives.”

While American officials have praised Thailand for stepping up crackdowns and building new shelters for escaped victims, officials insist forced labor remains endemic in the seafood industry. One police raid, according to Solidarity Center findings, exposed a shrimp factory owner who oversaw forced labor and children younger than 15. He was reportedly fined $2,100 and allowed to resume working.

“The Thai government still has little negotiating power with the fisheries,” Piyakrai said. “So it’s up to the person buying the seafood. Only they can really demand better conduct.”

But Winko feels no bitterness toward the people who’ve eaten the seafood he caught.

“My sadness, my anger, is directed towards the broker and the boat captain,” Winko said. “We were tricked.”

Burma Democracy Leader Detained after Editorial

This is a follow up to Win Tin's opinion piece, posted below...

 -----------

Washington Post
Saturday, September 12, 2009 

YANGON (Reuters) - Veteran Myanmar opposition leader Win Tin said he was taken in for questioning by police intelligence but released after a few hours late on Saturday with a warning he could be called in again.



The 80-year-old is a founding member of the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and was the longest-serving political prisoner in army-ruled Myanmar until his release in an amnesty in September last year.



"They said that they wanted to ask me some questions in connection with information they got from some people during interrogation under detention," Win Tin told Reuters, giving no details on the information or the other people.



"They treated me well but all their questions were groundless so I denied them all," he added.

"They said they would send me back home this time for health reasons but might call me in again if necessary."
Win Tin has had heart problems and recently had a pacemaker fitted.


He is a close aide to party leader Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest and has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention of one form or another.



Win Tin said he was not asked anything about an opinion piece written by him and published in the Washington Post last week, in which he criticized plans being drawn up by the military regime for an election next year in the former Burma.



In the article, Win Tin said "the showcase election planned by the military regime makes a mockery of the freedom sought by our people and would make military dictatorship permanent."



The United States is in the process of reviewing its policy toward Myanmar, although it has said closer ties would depend, among other things, on the release of political prisoners including Suu Kyi.


Win Tin wrote in the article: "Some international observers view next year's planned elections as an opportunity. But under the circumstances imposed by the military's constitution, the election will be a sham."



(Reporting by Aung Hla Tun; Editing by Alan Raybould and Jerry Norton)

The US, Burma, and Democracy

Forwarded by my friend, Liz, with AZ CODE Pink:

---------------------------
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…

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.

-----------------

Washington Post (Oped): An 'Election' Burma's People Don't Need

By U Win Tin

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

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.

The regime is seeking to place a veneer of legitimacy on itself through showcase "elections" and claiming that "disciplined democracy" will be instituted next year. Yet in May 2008, just days after a massive cyclone devastated Burma and killed more than 100,000 people, the regime used a farcical process to claim that 93 percent of voters chose to adopt a constitution that permanently enshrines military rule and prevents those with undefined "foreign ties" from holding public office -- catch-all provisions that would bar Suu Kyi and democracy activists from seeking office.

Some international observers view next year's planned elections as an opportunity. But under the circumstances imposed by the military's constitution, the election will be a sham. We will not sacrifice the democratic principles for which many millions of Burmese have marched, been arrested, been tortured and died to participate in a process that holds no hope whatsoever for bringing freedom to our country.

The demands of the NLD are reasonable. In April we issued another declaration to encourage engagement with the military that called for the release of all political prisoners, a full review of the constitution, reopening of all NLD offices and the right to freely organize. The regime's answer is the continued jailing of Suu Kyi and 2,000 other activists, massive military offensives against ethnic groups and the enforcement of rules to gag democracy.

How can the international community play a meaningful role? First, officials such as Webb should stop fear-mongering about China. His language about containing China, and working with Burma's regime to do so, is based on an outdated and unrealistic thesis. Suu Kyi rejected such notions by informing Webb that "we will not deal with anyone with fear and insecurity. We will deal with anyone, China, America, India, equally and friendly. As we can't choose our neighbors, we understand that we need to have a good relationship with China." Second, the NLD encourages other countries and international organizations to engage with Burma's military leaders to persuade them to engage with us and Burma's ethnic groups. The United States and many other nations have imposed sanctions on Burma. That is their decision and in keeping with their justified solidarity with the democratic values that we all hold so dear. If the regime genuinely engages with the NLD and ethnic representatives, releases political prisoners, ceases attacks against ethnic minorities and takes additional steps to build a true democratic state, these sanctions will be repealed at the right time.

In the meantime, let no one doubt our resolve. The NLD is a reflection of Burmese society. We will not be cowed or coerced into participating in a fatally flawed political process that robs the Burmese people of the freedom for which we struggle. We stand ready to engage, but we are more than willing to continue our struggle for the democratic values that so many have given their lives and their freedom to achieve.

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.

Burma: Democracy Convicted, 18 Months for Suu Kyi

At least Hillary demands Suu Kyi's release and makes a point of calling Burma by its "free" name (which even NYT won't do)...

Myanmar Sentence Draws International Criticism

New York Times 08/11/09

By ALAN COWELL and JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

PARIS — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton joined a chorus of predominantly Western voices condemning the sentencing of Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, on Tuesday, demanding her release and saying that, without a change in its human rights practices, Myanmar’s scheduled elections next year would be illegitimate.

“She should not have been tried, and she should not have been convicted,” Mrs. Clinton told reporters in Goma, Congo, where she is on an African tour. “We continue to call for her release.”

“We also call for the release of more than 2,000 political prisoners, including the American, John Yettaw,” she said, referring to a 53-year-old man who swam across a lake in central Yangon, Myanmar’s main city, last May and spent two nights in Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s villa. The episode led to the case against her on charges of violating the terms of her house arrest.

Mrs. Clinton said: “We are concerned about the harsh punishment. The Burmese junta should immediately end its repression.” She added that Myanmar’s leaders needed to start a dialogue with the political opposition and address human rights obligations, “otherwise the elections they have scheduled for next year will have absolutely no legitimacy.”

Mrs. Clinton spoke after European governments demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, threatening stricter sanctions against the military regime there to restrict arms supplies and curb its trade with the outside world.

In a statement, the 27-nation European Union said it was ready to impose “targeted measures against those responsible for the verdict” and to stiffen some earlier measures, including an arms export ban, visa restrictions and financial sanctions.

Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, called on the junta to “immediately and unconditionally release” Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi and “to engage with her without delay as an essential partner in the process of national dialogue and reconciliation.”

Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace prize in 1991. Fourteen other winners responded to the sentencing on Tuesday with a letter calling on the Security Council to investigate the junta for “war crimes and crimes against humanity.” In many parts of the world, her trial has been followed closely and her cause has been embraced by a broad range of politicians and human rights advocates.

“Citizens across the globe are asking world leaders to hold this brutal regime to account,” said Ricken Patel, director of an online campaign network called Avaaz.org. “Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention today on spurious charges removes any shred of legitimacy.”

Irene Khan, the secretary general of Amnesty International, said in a statement in London that, while the Myanmar authorities “will hope that a sentence that is shorter than the maximum will be seen by the international community as an act of leniency”, it “must not be seen as such.”

Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi “should never have been arrested in the first place. The only issue here is her immediate and unconditional release,” Ms. Khan said.

It was not immediately clear how Myanmar’s Asian neighbors would react. Asian nations generally react cautiously to events in Myanmar, though they do sometimes offer critical comments. Analysts said that, in this instance, they may be willing to accept Myanmar’s protestations of leniency.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, however, called the sentencing “brutal and unjust” and said European sanctions should focus on profitable industries including timber and ruby mining. The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said in a statement the European Union should impose new sanctions aimed at the Myanmar leadership “and sparing the civilian population, which we should continue to protect and assist.”

In Britain, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was “saddened and angry” at her sentencing and said it was designed by the ruling military leaders of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, to keep her out of elections next year.

In a statement, he said: “It is further proof that the military regime in Burma is determined to act with total disregard for accepted standards of the rule of law in defiance of international opinion.”

Calling on the Security Council to impose a global prohibition on arms sales, he added: “The facade of her prosecution is made more monstrous because its real objective is to sever her bond with the people for whom she is a beacon of hope and resistance.” France also called for an arms embargo.

The Obama administration has been reviewing American policy toward Myanmar since February, when Secretary of State Clinton declared that the existing sanctions against its military-run government had been ineffective.

At a meeting of the Association of South East Asian nations in Thailand last month, Mrs. Clinton spoke in unusually detailed terms in discussing the country’s human rights record and its treatment of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi.

“We are deeply concerned by the reports of continuing human rights abuses within Burma,” she said at the time, “and particularly by actions that are attributed to the Burmese military, concerning the mistreatment and abuse of young girls.”

She also dismissed the charges against Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi as “baseless and totally unacceptable” and said an improvement of ties with Washington depended on the Myanmar junta’s handling of human rights issues.

“Our position is that we are willing to have a more productive partnership with Burma if they take steps that are self-evident,” she said.

Alan Cowell reported from Paris, and Jeffrey Gettleman from Goma, Congo. Seth Mydans contributed reporting from Bangkok, and Steven Erlanger from Paris.

Happy Birthday Aung San Suu Kyi: FREE BURMA!

America has plenty of company when it comes to incarcerating political prisoners. Please click on Aung San Suu Kyi's picture to the left to connect with Amnesty International's campaign to free the leader of Burma's democratic opposition.

Aung San Suu Kyi, a nobel peace prize winner, has been detained 13 of the past 19 years under house arrest or in prison due to her political resistance to Burma's ruling military junta and the tremendous popularity she has with the Burmese masses. Her party claims to be the legitimate victors of the last democratically held elections in Burma in 1990.

With the military junta seeking to run and win the latest round of elections (none of which have been considered legitimately won by any of them), Suu Kyi is suddenly on trial again, and being held in the infamous maximum security Insein prison (yes, that's pronounced "insane") in Rangoon. She has just turned 64.

Burma - renamed Myanmar in 1989 by the junta - presently has an estimated 2,000 political prisoners detained, and has murdered countless others. Burma is the site of the Saffron Revolution in which there were mass protests in 2007 by Buddhist monks whose blood spilled everywhere in the streets following the brutal government crackdown.

Blessings to all the good people of Burma. May your country someday be free.