Before I take off for Malaysia, I thought it would be worthwhile to post a general overview of the situation with Burmese refugees there, and what I will be doing.

My first trip to Malaysia was just over a year ago - I stayed there during November and December after I left Thailand, and before I returned home to the U.S. I went after being asked to do so by Victor, a Chin community leader who lives and works in Chiang Mai. The idea was to help the Chin Refugee Committee with improving their office operations - stuff like organizing, writing reports and grant applications etc. At least, I think that's what the idea was, although I'm not sure how much I actually helped with that. I did write up a few reports for grant applications, and I wrote a couple official letters to other agencies. I also helped facilitate a few meetings with the Executive Committee to determine priorities for the CRC's future development, and come up with ideas for restructuring the organization to fix some problems they were facing. Unforutanetly, many of these solutions, like having staff members who were focused on community outreach, and developing a communications strategy, required money that's hard to come by. The CRC was formed with the moral support of the UNHCR, and they were tasked with managing the Chin community and handling pre-registration of asylum-seekers, but to the best of my knowledge, that moral support was not backed up by financial support. All of the CRC staff were volunteers, working for room and board, and small stipends to cover some work related costs.   more »

I missed blogging about the video of Thandar Shwe's wedding video when it first hit the internet a few weeks ago. If you happened to have missed all the fuss, there are now multiple video clips from what would appear to be nearly an hour-long video up at YouTube. Odds are slim I'd be able to find the reference, but I seem to recall one commentator referring to the wedding of Senior General Than Shwe's daughter as having the style of the gaudy (or was it tacky?) nouveau-riche. That sums it up fairly accurately.

One of the YouTube users who's posted multiple clips of the wedding is maungde, from whom I received an email last week about his (or her) most recent video posting. Thanks to Google Earth, we are treated to rather clear footage via sattelite of the new capital of Naypyidaw, as well as the General's own home. The video clips go by pretty quick, so it's worth pausing at the end to get a decent look at his palace. It comes complete with an inground pool and what's likely a pool house, and more rooves than you could shake a stick at.   more »

When Richard and I started work on the Books for Burma campaign just over a month ago, I honestly had no idea what to expect. Richard's enthusiasm for the project was definitely a great motivation for me, and I decided the best course of action was just to focus on the immediate tasks at hand. 90% of the work for us has been just getting the word out, with the other 10% being waiting and hoping that we can inspire someone to help. Despite my lack of expectations, I can honestly say I've been overwhelmed by the response.

The response rate we've gotten may not be as high as some campaigns or NGOs get, but I feel like the quality of responses must certainly make up the difference. Taking the time to pack a book and ship it to us really takes a lot more effort than just dropping your pennies into a change jar at the grocery store, but so many people have gone the extra mile not only to ship books, but to ship a lot of books, and also to ask their friends, colleagues, and professors for books too.   more »

Dictator Watch now has an article up on speculations about the Junta's involvement in the proliferation of nuclear technology (NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION AND BURMA: THE HIDDEN CONNECTION). It's no secret that Burma has cultivated close ties with other 'rogue' states, like North Korea and Iran. They are also known to have purchased missiles from China, North Korea, Ukraine, and Russia. Despite the lack of enemies or potential conflicts beyond their own borders.   more »

The Burmese military must be taking some lessons from the North Korean government, as they are now sponsoring a performance troupe extolling the virtues of the regime.

It's hard to know what is a healthy balance of being horrified and laughing out loud when reading articles like this. Perhaps the junta is getting a little concerned over bad publicity, and think that perhaps entertaining villagers with propaganda until all hours of them morning will eventually win them over. It's quite an insidious plan.

True to form though, they manage to leap over that line into reprehensible quite easily. Businessmen are being extorted for 'donations' to support the public performances.

As for what they are performing, audiences reporte that "the army troupe has presented many programs, including dramas and operas, in the open night shows, but most of the programs relate to the Burmese army and the struggle for Burmese independence from Britain and the establishment of the country."   more »

Throughout November, books, magazines, and cd-roms will be collected here in the U.S. and shipped to exiled student, youth, and refugee organizations in Thailand, Malaysia, India, and Bangladesh. The books will help them to build resource libraries and to educate themselves and their children.

More information about the campaign, donation guidelines, and participating organizations can be found at www.freesuukyi.org.

You can also help by bookmarking this blog and making some of your holiday purchases through the affiliate and product links here. All the proceeds will support the Books for Burma campaign! Our products are offered through Goodstorm's MeCommerce.

To donate materials, or ask any questions, send an email to us at booksforburma@gmail.com. Thanks for your support!

As promised, here's your first book review. All of the book reviews in the coming month will be books that I've actually read - albeit some more recently than others. Few of the books will actually relate to Burma, but all of them would be suitable for donation to the Books for Burma campaign.

This first book is Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. The author, Jack Weathorford, is an anthropologist who, along with a team of Mongolian scholars, has dedicated years of academic and feild work to filling in the many gaps of knowledge about Genghis Khan's life and the rise and fall of the Mongolian Empire.

In high school, I had read a few books on the Mongols, including a translation of "The Secret History of the Mongols". The Secret History was a document of much mystery for hundreds of years - originally written by Mongol historians during the time of the empire in the 13th century, documenting the life of Genghis Khan and his rise to power, it was often thought to be a myth. After the text was finally re-discovered in the early to mid-twentienth century, it was only released in translated versions years later, after painstaking work by scholars to transliterate and translate the ancient text. Weathorford uses the Secret History as a guide throughout his own research, using it as a map to find key locations in Ghenghis Khan's life. He traveled to his homeland, a taboo area protected from trespass first by mongol guards, and later by Russian occupiers looking to suppress any Mongol nationalism. Although much of the book focuses on the ancient Mongols, or the tribes that became Mongols, he weaves his modern day travels and the modern history of Mongolia into the story, showing us how the influence of Ghengis Khan and his accomplishments is still felt in ways both overt and subtle, even today.   more »

It's November 1st here in the United States, so that means it's the official first day of the Books for Burma campaign. Richard of Freedom Bloc is helping me with coordination of the project. Throughout the month of November, we will be collecting books, magazines, and cd-roms here in the US, and then will ship them to exiled Burmese refugee and activist groups in Thailand, Malaysia, and Bangladesh. Most Burma Underground readers are likely already quite familiar with the refugee situation in Southeast Asia, and can appreciate how useful learning materials will be to them. For those that aren't that familiar, here's a bit of background:

Estimates place the number of Burmese nationals living in Thailand at well over a million. There are tens of thousands more living in Malaysia. The majority belong to one of the dozens of ethnic minority nationalities, such as the Shan, Karen, or Kachin. Although over 600,000 of them are registered as migrant workers in Thailand, it is likely that most all of them are living in various states of exile - unwilling or unable to return home due to the Burmese junta's widespread oppression of ethnic minorities and political dissidents, and its stranglehold on a failing economy.

University students have long played an important role in Burmese politics and education is given a high priority. Students led the infamous 1988 protests, which resulted in thousands dead at the hands of the government and led to an exodus of political dissidents. Further student protests in 1996 resulted in the universities being shut down for an extended period, and led to more politically active students fleeing the country - many sacrificing their chance to finish their schooling.

Many of these student and refugee groups in Thailand and Malaysia are trying their best to educate their children. The Chin Student's Organization in Malaysia holds classes for dozens of kids several days a week in their small apartment/office. The AKSYU is trying to coordinate training and classes for both adults and kids in the north of Kachin State on the Chinese border.

We're trying our best to publicize the campaign on the internet, and have sent out emails to bloggers asking them to help by writing up a post and encouraging their readers to participate. On November 28th, I will be departing Portland for two and a half weeks in Kuala Lumpur, so some of the books collected here will be carried over in my suitcase and delivered personally. The rest of the books will be shipped over the next few months as funds become available.

Here at Burma Underground, I'll be promoting the campaign by posting regular book reviews throughout the month of November. I'd like to invite my readers to submit recommendations for books in various subjects that you feel would be good for donation. We are accepting non-fiction, although it's not a priority. You can see the full donation guidelines at the Books for Burma home, but basically, we're looking for books in nearly all subjects that are accessible to beginners or informed non-experts. For books on topics like politics, development, and human rights, almost any level from beginner to expert are welcome. We're also looking for children's books that can be used in a classroom setting. I would love to receive recommendations on titles from my readers, with a short synopsis/review of it if you have time, to post here, so we can create a useful list donors can refer to. It would also be helpful for us, in the event we have enough cash donations or possibly gift certificates to purchase some books.

You can email both Richard and I at booksforburma@gmail.com, with any questions, or to get the shipping address. If you're in the Portland area, and I know many of you are, you can either drop off books or have them picked up in person by me. It will save a lot in shipping! If you'd like to become more involved in the campaign, by helping to collect books, conducting a mini-book drive, or fundraising in your area, then by all means let us know! We'd love to have more people directly involved.

I will also be creating a link roll here in my side-bar of all the blogs that post about Books for Burma.

Stay tuned for more news and book reviews!!