ဒီေန ့ေခတ္က ပဂၢလိကလြတ္လပ္ခြင့္ ကို အထူးအေလးထား ေျပာႀကားေနတဲ့ ေခတ္ျဖစ္တယ္။ လူတစ္ဦးတစ္ေယာက္ရဲ့ ပဂၢလိက
လြတ္လပ္ခြင့္က တျခားလူတစ္ဦးတစ္ေယာက္ရဲ့ ပဂၢလိကလြတ္လပ္ခြင့္ကို ထိပါးနစ္နာေစတဲ့ အျဖစ္မ်ိဳး ႀကံဳေတြ ့ရတဲ့အခါ
က်ေတာ့လည္း ပုဂၢလိကလြတ္လပ္ခြင့္က ဘယ္အတိုင္းအတာအထိ ရိွသင့္သလဲဆိုတာ ေဆြးေႏြးျငင္းခုန္ ေဝဖန္ႀကတာေတြ
လုပ္ႀကရျပန္တယ္။
ပုဂၢလိက လြတ္လပ္ခြင့္နဲ ့အတူ စာနယ္ဇင္း လြတ္လပ္ခြင့္ကိုလည္း အထူး အေလးထားခဲ့ႀကတယ္။ ဒါေပမယ့္ ထိုစာနယ္ဇင္း
လြတ္လပ္ခြင့္က လူတစ္ဦးတစ္ေယာက္ရဲ့ ပုဂၢလိကလြတ္လပ္ခြင့္ကို ထိပါးနစ္နာေစတဲ့ အျဖစ္မ်ိဳးႀကံဳေတြ ့ရတဲ့အခါမ်ိဳး
က်ေတာ့လည္း စာနယ္ဇင္းသမားေတြကိုယ္တိုင္က ေဆြးေႏြးျငင္းခုံေဝဖန္တာေတြ လုပ္လာခဲ့ႀကတယ္။
၁၉၇၀ ခုနွစ္မ်ားအတြင္းက အေမရိကန္စာနယ္ဇင္းေလာက တစ္ခုလုံး အုံးအုံးႀကြက္ႀကြက္ျဖစ္သြားေစတဲ့ အျငင္းပြားမႈႀကီး
တစ္ခု ေပၚထြက္လာခဲ့တယ္။ အဲဒါကေတာ့ ဒီမိုကရက္တစ္ပါတီ သမၼတေလာင္းေရြးပဲြမွာ ေရွ ့တန္းကေျပးေနသူ Hart ရဲ့
ကိုယ္ေရးကိုယ္တာ ကိစၥမ်ားကို The Miami Herald သတင္းစာႀကီးက သတ္ငးေထာက္ေတြဟာ ခ်ံဳေတြထဲ ပုန္းေအာင္း
ျပီး အေဝးဆဲြတယ္လီတပ္ ကင္မရာေတြနဲ ့ Hart နဲ ့ အေဖာ္တစ္သိုက္ မိန္းမေခ်ာေလးေတြနဲ ့ သြားလာေနႀကတာ၊ ရြက္ေလွ
ေပၚမွာ ဘီကီနီဝတ္ မိန္းမေခ်ာေလးတစ္ေယာက္က ဟာတ္ရဲ့ ေပါင္ေပၚထိုင္ေနတာ စတဲ့ပုံေတြကို ရိုက္ကူးေဖာ္ျပ
ခဲ့ႀကတယ္။
အက်ိဳးဆက္အျဖစ္ သမၼတေလာင္းျဖစ္ဖို ့ ေရပန္းစားေနသူ Hart ျပိဳင္ပဲြက ႏႈတ္ထြက္သြားခဲ့ရတယ္။ စာနယ္ဇင္းဆိုတာ
သတင္းကို ေဖာ္ျပဖို ့ တာဝန္ရိွတာမွန္တယ္။ ဒါေပမဲ့ သတင္းကို ဘယ္လိုနည္းနဲ ့ ရယူခဲ့သလဲ ဆိုတာ မစဥ္းစားသင့္ဘူးလား
လို ့ စာနယ္ဇင္း ဆရာတခ်ိဳ ့က ေမးခြန္းထုတ္ခဲ့ႀကတယ္။
အဲဒီေနာက္ အေမရိကန္နိုင္ငံသာမက ကမၻာတစ္ခုလုံး တုန္လႈတ္ေျခာက္ျခားေစတဲ့ ဒိုင္ယာနာမင္းသမီး ေသဆုံးခဲ့ရတဲ့ကိစၥ
ႀကီး ျဖစ္ေပၚလာတဲ့အခါက်ေတာ့ စာနယ္ဇင္းဆရာေတြက ေမးခြန္းထုတ္ရံုသာ မကေတာ့ဘဲ၊ ေနာက္က တစ္ေကာက္ေကာက္
လိုက္ႀကတဲ့ ဓာတ္ပုံသမားေတြကို အျပင္းအထန္ရႈတ္ခ်ခဲ့ႀကတယ္။ ျဗိတိသၽွ် ပါလီမန္က စာနယ္ဇင္း လြတ္လပ္ခြင့္ကို
ကန္ ့သတ္ဖို ့အထိေတာင္ စဥ္းစားခဲ့ႀကတယ္။ စိတ္လႈပ္ရွားမႈေတြ ျငိမ္သက္သြားတဲ့အခါ က်ေတာ့ ဆင္ျခင္တုံတရား ျပန္လည္
လႊမ္းမိုးျပီး တကယ္လက္ေတြ ့ ကန္ ့သတ္ဥပေဒေတြ မျပဠာန္းခဲ့လို ့သာ ေတာ္ေတာ့တယ္။
ပုဂၢလိကလြတ္လပ္ခြင့္ကို ေရွ ့တန္းတင္လြန္းတဲ့ လူ ့အဖဲြ ့အစည္းမွာ လူသားတို ့ရဲ့ က်င့္ဝတ္သီလေတြ ေလ်ာ့ပါးက်ဆင္း
လာရတာ ဓမၼတာ ျဖစ္တယ္။ စာနယ္ဇင္းသမားေတြထဲမွာလည္း စာနယ္ဇင္းက်င့္ဝတ္ ေဖာက္ဖ်က္သူေတြ မ်ားလာတာ
ေႀကာင့္ စာနယ္ဇင္းေတြအေပၚ ျပည္သူ လူထုရဲ့ယုံႀကည္ကိုးစားမႈ တစ္ေန ့တျခား က်ဆင္းသထက္ က်ဆင္းလာခဲ့ရတယ္။
အေမရိကန္နိုင္ငံရိွ The National Opinion Research Center ဆိုတဲ့ သုေတသနအဖဲြ ့ ႀကီးက ေကာက္ယူခဲ့တဲ့ စစ္တမ္္း
တစ္ခုအရ၊ အေမရိကန္ျပည္သူလူထုရဲ့ စာနယ္ဇင္းမ်ားအေပၚ ယုံႀကည္ကိုးစားမႈ ႏႈန္းဟာ ၁၉၇၆ မွာ ၂၈ ရာႏႈန္း ရိွရာက
၁၉၈၃ မွာ ၁၃.၄ သာ ရိွေတာ့ေႀကာင္း သိရိွခဲ့ရတယ္။
လူထုရဲ့ ယုံႀကည္မႈေလ်ာ့ပါးက်ဆင္းလာခဲ့ရတာဟာ စာနယ္ဇင္းသမားတို ့ရဲ့ စာနယ္ဇင္းက်င့္ဝတ္နဲ ့ လူ ့က်င့္ဝတ္
ခ်ိဳးေဖာက္မႈမ်ားေႀကာင့္ ျဖစ္ရတယလို ့ သုံးသပ္ႀကတယ္။ ကယ္လီဖိုးနီးယားက Blade-Tribune သတင္းစာရဲ့
သတင္းေထာက္တစ္ဦးဟာ အျခားသူတစ္ဦး ေရးခဲ့တဲ့ သတင္းေဆာင္းပါးတစ္ပုဒ္ကို “၏သည္” မလဲြ ကူးယူေဖာ္ျပ
ခဲ့တာေႀကာင့္ အလုပ္က ႏႈတ္ထြက္ေစခဲ့ရတယ္။ ၁၉၈၁ ခုနွစ္က အေကာင္းဆုံးသတင္းအျဖစ္ ပူလစ္ဇာဆုရရိွခဲ့တဲ့
ဝါရွင္တန္ပို ့စ္က သတင္းေထာက္ အမ်ိဳးသမီးတစ္ဦးဟာလည္း ၈ နွစ္သား ကေလးတစ္ေယာက္ မူးယစ္ေဆးစဲြေန
တဲ့ သတင္းဟာ အမွန္မဟုတ္ဘဲ လုပ္ႀကံဖန္တီးျပီးေရးခဲ့ေႀကာင္း ေပၚသြားတဲ့အတြက္ အလုပ္က ထုတ္ပစ္ခဲ့ရတယ္။
ပူလစ္ဇာဆုကိုလည္း ျပန္အပ္ခဲ့ရတယ္။ CBS ကနာမည္ႀကီး မီဒီယာသမား Walter Cronkite ဟာ CBS က
အနားယူလိုက္တဲ့အခါ Pan American World Hirwa ရဲ့ ဒါရိုက္တာအဖဲြ ့ဝင္တစ္ဦးအျဖစ္ ခန္ ့ထားခံခဲ့ရတယ္။
သူဟာ CBS ကအနားယူလိုက္ေပမယ့္ ေလေႀကာင္းလုပ္ငန္းမ်ားနဲ ့ပတ္သက္တဲ့ CBS ရဲ့ အထူးသတင္းေထာက္
အျဖစ္ တာဝန္ယူခဲ့တယ္။ ဒီကိစၥမွာ Conflict of Interest ျဖစ္ေစတယ္လို ့ ဝိုင္းျပီး ေဝဖန္ႀကတာေႀကာင့္ ခရြန္ကိုက္
ဟာ ရာထူးလက္ခံျပီး ၆ လ အႀကာမွာ Pan American က ႏႈတ္ထြက္သြားခဲ့ရတယ္။
စာနယ္ဇင္းက်င့္ဝတ္နဲ ့ပတ္သက္ျပီး The Des Moines Register သတင္းစာက သူ ့တိုက္တြန္းခ်မွတ္ထားတဲ့ က်င့္ဝတ္
မ်ားကို ေလ့လာနိုင္ေအာင္ တင္ျပခ်င္ပါတယ္။
“ကၽြႏ္ုပ္တို ့ သတင္းစာ၏ အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္ေရးပိုင္းနွင့္ တျခားဝန္ထမ္းမ်ား အားလုံးသည္ အထူးအက်ိဳးစီးပြားအတြက္ ေဆာင္ရြက္
ေနႀကသည့္ အသင္းအဖဲြ ့မ်ားနွင့္ ကင္းကင္းရွင္းရွင္း ရိွေစရမည္။ အက်ိဳးစီးပြားခ်င္း ထိပ္တိုက္ျဖစ္ေစမည့္ကိစၥမ်ား၊
ယုံမွားသံသယျဖစ္ေစနိုင္သည့္ ကိစၥမ်ားကိုလည္း ေရွာင္ရွားရမည္” သတင္းကစၥေဆာင္ရြက္ရင္း ထမင္းစားပဲြမ်ား၊
အျခားဧည့္ခံပဲြမ်ားတက္ေရာက္ရသည့္အခါတြင္ ကိုယ့္စားရိတ္ကို ကိုယ့္ဟာကိုယ္ေပးရမည္။ ခ်က္ခ်င္းေပးခြင့္ မႀကံဳ
ခဲ့လ်ွင္ ေနာင္တစ္ခ်ိန္ခ်ိန္မွာစားစရိတ္ကို ျပန္ေပးရမည္။
နိုင္ငံေရးေဟာေျပာပဲြမ်ားအတြက္ျဖစ္ေစ၊ အားကစားအသင္းအဖဲြ ့မ်ားနွင့္ ျဖစ္ေစ၊ အတူလိုက္ပါ ခရီးသြားရသည့္အခါ
တြင္လည္း ကိုယ့္စရိတ္ကိုယ္ေပးျပီး လိုက္ပါရမည္။
မည္သည့္ဝန္ထမ္းမွ မည္သို ့ေသာ အခမဲ့လက္မွတ္၊ ေမတၱာလက္ေဆာင္ လက္မွတ္ စသည္မ်ား လက္မခံရ။
သတင္းစာတိုက္ဝန္ထမ္းမ်ားသည္ ျပင္ပလုပ္ငန္းမ်ား အသင္းအဖဲြ ့မ်ားတြင္ ဒါရိုက္တာအဖဲြ ့စသည့္ ရာထူးတာဝန္မ်ား
ယူျပီး၊ ယင္း လုပ္ငန္းမ်ားအတြက္ သတင္းေဆာင္းပါးေရးေပးရသ္ည့ တာဝန္မ်ား မယူရ။
ဒါဟာ သတင္းစာတစ္ေစာင္ရဲ့ တိုက္တြန္းက်င့္ဝတ္ စည္းကမ္းမွ်သာျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ နမူနာအျဖစ္တင္ျပလိုက္တာပါ။
ေနာက္အပတ္မ်ားမွာ “စာနယ္ဇင္းက်င့္ဝတ္” မ်ားနဲ ့ ပတ္သက္ျပီး ဆက္လက္ေရးသားတင္ျပပါဦးမယ္။
Ref: 1. Basic News Writing by Melvin Mencher.
2. Committed Journalism by Edmund B. Lambelk.
3. News Values by Jack Fuller.
Monday, November 10, 2008
စာနယ္ဇင္းက်င့္ဝတ္(၁)-လူထုဦးစိန္ဝင္း
Gain an Insight into the Japanese Broadband Market with This Focus on Major Broadband Markets, Key Statistics and the Current Market
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Gain-Insight-Japanese-Broadband-Market/story.aspx?guid=%7B4EE60D51-D502-4D7C-AFF5-31C5046F2C75%7D
Last update: 9:00 p.m. EST Nov. 9, 2008
DUBLIN, Ireland, Nov 09, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Research and Markets ( http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5402a9/japan_broadband) has announced the addition of the "Japan - Broadband Market - Overview & Statistics" report to their offering.
By September 2007, Japan had more than 27.7 million broadband lines in place, making it the third largest broadband country in the world after the US and China (China surpassed Japan earlier in 2004). Much of the success of broadband in Japan is owed to the stunning growth surge that occurred back in 2003; the growth took place on the back of DSL broadband technology. Other broadband services such as FttH have since attracted even greater interest in the Japanese market. This report looks at the nature of the broadband market, the major broadband providers and the available access methods - including cable modem, DSL, FttH, broadband over powerline and wireless broadband.
Key Topics Covered:
- Synopsis
- Broadband market
- Cable modems
- Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
- Fibre-to-the-Home (FttH)
- Broadband over powerline (BPL) / powerline communications (PLC)
- Wireless broadband
- Global LAN Ethernet
Thai firm to give Ledo Road in northern Burma new look
http://teakdoor.com/thailand-and-asia-news/38878-thai-firm-give-ledo-road-northern.html
Written by KNG
Friday, 07 November 2008 20:50
The historical Ledo Road also called Stilwell Road is being reconstructed. An 80 mile stretch between Myitkyina and Danai (Tanai) in Kachin State of northern Burma is being reinstructed by a Thai company, a subsidiary of the Yuzana Company since early this week, said locals.
Thai road construction workers with their families are living in car-houses and are reconstructing the road with the help of construction equipment from Namti city on the Myitkyina-Mandalay railway heading towards Danai city, said residents of Namti.
According to local eyewitnesses, the Thai company is repaving a 'Stony Road' on the damaged Ledo Road. The road is being rebuilt for summer transportation only.
U Htay Myint, chairman of the Rangoon-based Yuzana Company, is close to Burmese ruling junta's Vice-senior general Maung Aye. The company as such was given the contract to rebuild Ledo Road on the western part of Kachin State by the junta last year.
Before Yuzana Company was given the contract to reconstruct the road, the company bought over 200,000 acres of land in Hukawng (Hugawng) Valley, the world's largest tiger sanctuary from the ruling junta in 2006, an area where Ledo Road crosses.
Since late 2006, the company has started to clear forests in the areas 10 miles beyond the left and right of Ledo Road for crop plantation.
The company transports timber from the forest for foreign export and the newly ploughed fields have been planted mainly with sugarcane, cassava plants and rubber plants, said residents of Hukawng Valley.
Deforestation has become a daily affair and is severely extending into Hukawng Valley for two reasons--- heavy gold mining by the junta-backed Chinese gold companies and clearing of forests for crop plantation by the junta-backed Yuzana Company, said Awng Wa, chairman of Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) which recently published the report "Valley of Darkness" on gold mining and militarization in Hukawng Valley.
The man-made rapid deforestation will impact the survival of natives and threaten the extinction of tigers in the Hukawng Tiger Sanctuary. The ecology of the region is doomed, he added.
kachinnews.com
__________________
"Keeping quiet while monks and other peaceful protesters are murdered and jailed is not evidence of constructive engagement." - Arvind Ganesan, Human Rights Watch.
"I think...I think it's in my basement. Let me go upstairs and check" - M.C. Escher
Trip to Mae Sot and Mae La Refugee Camp
http://asacreynolds.blogspot.com/2008/11/trip-to-mae-sot-and-mae-la-refugee-camp.html
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Last weekend was one of the most moving I have ever experience. We went to a city called Mae Sot in Tak Province, which is near the Burma-Thai border, and learned a lot about contemporary issues with Burma. We went and visited a lot of NGO groups, such as one that helps establish energy projects with water and solar energy in small villages, one that worked to help former political prisoners in Burma (who then came to Thailand), and one that helped with doing research and giving medical aid to Karen refugees. We always spent a few mornings in a Burmese tea shop eating nan bread and some kind of bean sauce which the most delicious breakfasts in my life. The weekend was not a whole lot of fun, but it wasn't meant to be. It was meant to show the effects of the oppressive regime in Burma on people in Burma and Thailand. We went to a medical clinic, which had welcomed Laura Bush a few months earlier (on the way to the Olympics in Beijing the Bush's went to Thailand) and saw the how people had to live that had been forced out of their own country for fear of their lives.
We saw a lot of good things, such as many western doctors coming to help people with degenerative eye conditions, and cleft lips. I was amazed to see how big it was, apparently the group (run by a woman known as the Mother Theresa of Thailand) is very well recognized and funded internationally. It was good to see that it was well funded, and that people were getting the help they needed, but one thing stood out in my mind. We went to the prosthetics section of the camp, were they made plastic limbs for people. Out of 17 people on a board of patients, 14 were victims of land mines. Land Mines. These are supposed to be outlawed, banned by the international community. But the Burmese government still uses them. It tries to prevent villagers who have run from the military to return by placing landmines around the village among other things. One man told a story about a man who had died from a landmine explosion. He had walked up to read a note posted by the Burmese military on a tree, but that tree had a landmine right in front of it. Also, a lot of people notice the land mines, but do not know how to cut the wires properly and are killed or severely wounded. Still, it was amazing to see first hand the work that is being done to help the people who are driven away from their country.
The next day we went to the Mae La refugee camp. Most refugees were Karen people. We went up on stage and were introduced to the students there. We told them our names and where we came from, and their president talked for a short time. They then stood up and sung two songs. I do not know what they sang about, but its was incredibly beautiful. While we were listening, I though about all the things the refugees must go through, leaving their country, their families, and the hardships of the camp, the fact that even if they do really well with their education they may never get a chance to leave the camp and work in Thailand. I didn't cry, but I was pretty close, it was really overwhelming. I could not imagine what would make a person or a regime do this to people. I could not image even the most power hungry general being able to see what he was doing and accepting it. We did not see too much else of the camp, but it was great to see most of the people there quite happy. Even though they lived in pretty bad conditions (although the conditions there were much better than I thought they would be), they still lived with pride and hope that they could one day return. After learning so much about Burma through lectures and readings, it was great to see some of the effects of the military regime on actual people. It made everything I have read a lot more real.
Posted by Asa Reynolds at 6:37 AM
RIGHTS-BURMA: Military Accused of Crimes Against Humanity
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44631
Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Nov 9 (IPS) - An onslaught by Burmese troops in the eastern part of the military-ruled country, running for three years now, is laying the junta open to charge of ‘crimes against humanity’.
This new charge adds to a growing list of human rights violations that the South-east Asian nation’s ruling military regime is being slammed for, including the use of rape as a weapon of war in military campaigns in areas that are home to the country’s ethnic minorities. The country has been under the grip of successive juntas since a 1962 military coup.
Eyewitness accounts from civilians fleeing the territory under attack reveal a grim picture of the ‘tatmadaw’, as the Burmese military is called, targeting unarmed men, women and children in a ‘’widespread and systematic way,’’ say human rights and humanitarian groups.
An increasing number of refugees have been crossing over to northern Thailand from among the Karen ethnic community, the second largest ethnic group in Burma, or Myanmar. Many of them live in the mountainous Karen State, the territory where South-east Asia’s longest --and largely ignored -- separatist conflict is being waged between Burmese troops and the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU).
‘’Myanmar’s troops are overtly targeting civilians; they are actively avoiding KNU military installations. That is why we are describing the attacks as ‘crimes against humanity’,’’ says Benjamin Zawacki, South-east Asia researcher for Amnesty International (AI), the global rights lobby. ‘’The violations are widespread and systematic.’’
‘’This campaign started in November 2005 and has escalated. They did not even stop during the annual monsoon period (from May to October), which was not the case before,’’ he explained during an IPS interview. ‘’There has been a shift in strategy and intensity. It is no more a dry season offensive.’’
The military campaign is the largest and the longest sustained drive in a decade. ‘’The Burmese army is rotating soldiers every six months and they have penetrated areas deep in the Karen area,’’ David Tharckabaw, vice president of the KNU, said in a telephone interview from an undisclosed location. ‘’Nothing is being spared. They are even destroying fruit plantations like mangosteen.’’
The list of abuse document by AI, and corroborated by other humanitarian groups, include villagers being beaten and stabbed to death, being shot by the ‘tatmadaw’ ‘’without any warning’’ and being tortured and subsequently killed. Karen civilians have also reportedly been subjected to forced labour, disappearances and their rice harvest being burned down.
‘’Before the soldiers left the village, they planted landmines, one of them in front of the church. An old man, maybe 70 years-old, stepped on a landmine and was killed,’’ a female rice farmer told an AI researcher of an incident in early 2006, when the ‘tatmadaw’ burned 20 of the 30 houses in her village.
‘’I lost everything -- kitchen, furniture, rice stocks -- not a single piece of paper was left,’’ she added. ‘’The same happened to the other 19 families whose houses were burned.’’
The unrelenting campaign, which has included the Burmese infantry and heavy use of 120 mm and 81mm mortar shells, has shrunk an already limited space for Karen civilians and internally displaced people (IDPs) to escape to. ‘’The more the Burmese military occupies areas in a worsening situation, the less space there is for civilians to escape to,’’ says Duncan McArthur, emergency relief coordinator of the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), an alliance of 11 humanitarian groups helping refugees from Burma along the Thai-Burmese border.
‘’Nearly 66,000 people from 38 townships have been forced to flee their homes due to the armed conflict and human rights abuses,’’ he told IPS. ‘’They had to because the violations are being committed in a climate of impunity.’’
Some of the victims have poured into north-west Thailand, where there are already nine camps that house 120,000 refugees who fled intense phases of the conflict going back over a decade. ‘’There are about 20,000 unregistered new arrivals and the natural growth in the camps,’’ added McArthur. ‘’There is no avenue for redress if they were to stay back.’’
That is reflected in Burma’s over half a million IDPs, nearly 451,000 of which live in the rural ethnic areas, according to TBBC. It places Burma in the same league as countries such as Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, which have internally displaced running into the hundreds of thousands.
But what sets Burma apart is the lack of any international agencies to help the victims and serve as neutral observers in the conflict zone.
Even the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which was helping to provide artificial limbs for landmine victims, was hampered by new restrictions to its operations in 2006. In mid-2007, the Geneva-based humanitarian agency broke its famed silence in an unprecedented attack on the junta to explain why it had to end its operations in Burma, including the Karen areas.
The ICRC’s denunciation of major and repeated violations in the conflict zones in eastern Burma confirmed what many analysts had said of a region that is cut away from international scrutiny and media exposure. ‘’The repeated abuses committed against men, women and children living along the Thai-Myanmar border violate many provisions of international humanitarian law,’’ the organisation said.
The Karens, who account for nearly seven million of Burma’s 57 million people, have their own distinctive culture and language and have Buddhists, Christians and animists among them. The Burmans, who are the majority, are predominantly Buddhist by faith, speak Burmese, and have a culture and history shaped by kings before being subjugated by British colonisation.
The Karen fight for independence began in 1949, a year after Burma got independence. And the KNU has refused to sign peace deals with the Burmese regime unlike some of the other separatist rebels from ethnic groups. The latter settled for ceasefire deals over the past two decades, only to learn, subsequently, that the junta’s promises of more political autonomy were hollow.
‘’The Burmese military’s latest strategy is to keep attacking the KNU and Karen civilians in order to drive them to the Thai-Burma border,’’ says Tharekabaw, of the KNU. ‘’Their goal is to control all the land and all the people, which has never been the case before.’’
‘’If they cannot control, they have to kill the people or to wipe them out,’’ he added. ‘’The regime is a fascist regime. Their ideology is extremism, racism and militarism.’’
(END/2008)
Fw: 連続セミナー「外国籍の家族と子どもの今」（11月23日）
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ビルマ市民フォーラム メールマガジン 2008/11/10
People's Forum on Burma
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以下、アムネスティ・インターナショナル日本（難民チーム）と
日本キリスト教協議会主催のセミナーを紹介させていただきます。
トークショー2部では、ビルマ難民Mさんも参加されます。
（重複の際は何卒ご容赦ください。）
ＰＦＢ事務局
http://www1.jca.apc.org/pfb/
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2008年 11月 23日 (日) 14:00 ～ 17:30
連続セミナー「外国籍の家族と子どもの今」
第5回 日本の難民・移民の現在と未来
http://www.amnesty.or.jp/modules/piCal/index.php?action=View&event_id=0000001914
日本で暮らす外国人は200万人を超え、社会はすでに多様化が
始まっています。
さまざまな国から人々が来日する一方、日本で家族を形成し、
日本社会に溶けこんで暮らしている人も増えています。
連続セミナー第5回（最終回）では、「日本の難民・移民の現在
と未来」について、当事者の声を聞き、支援者の活動を知り、
また、これからの政策について国会議員をお招きして考えます。
【日時】１１月２３日 １４：００－１７：３０
【場所】日本キリスト教会館４F（早稲田奉仕園内）
→地図http://www.hoshien.or.jp/map/map.html
【参加費】５００円（資料代） ＊予約不要
【内容】
・ トークショー第1部 『移民の子どもたち』
「マルチカルチャーチルドレン」宮ヶ迫ナンシー理沙さん
「CCS 世界の子どもたちと手をつなぐ学生の会」代表 中西久恵さん
・ トークショー第2部 『難民の家族』
ビルマ難民Mさん家族
港町診療所 山村淳平医師
・ 特別講演 今野東参議院議員
・ 質疑応答
・ 交流会
【講演者プロフィール】
■宮ヶ迫ナンシー理沙さん
マルチカルチャーチルドレンの会所属。日系ブラジル人２世。９歳で来日。
外国人ルーツで日本育ちの仲間によるライフヒストリービデオを制作。
■ビルマ難民M さん
カチン族出身。夫と共に日本で難民申請を行う。
現在は3人の子どもを育てながら、在日カチン女性協会の
代表としても活動。
■中西久恵 さん
世界の子どもと手をつなぐ学生の会（CCS）代表。
CCSでは学生による学習教室の運営を通じて、在住外国人の子ども
たちの学習支援とエンパワーメントを行っている。
■山村淳平 医師
港町診療所勤務。
海外での医療救援活動に従事。在日難民および入管収容施設での
面会活動を行っている。
■今野東 参議院議員
法務委員会所属。国際・地球温暖化問題に関する調査会理事、
民主党参院国対副委員長。「難民・外国人の人権問題検討チーム」主査。
【主催・問い合わせ先】
アムネスティ・インターナショナル日本（難民チーム）
東京都千代田区神田錦町2-2 共同ビル４F
Tel: 03-3518-6777
Fax: 03-3518-6778
E-Mail: refugee_team@amnesty.or.jp
http://www.amnesty.or.jp/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=1915
日本キリスト教協議会
東京都新宿区西早稲田2-3-18-24
Tel:(03)3203-0372
Fax:(03)3204-9495
E-Mail: kitani@ncc-j.org
http://ncc-j.org/
【賛助団体】
移住労働者と連帯する全国ネットワーク
カトリック東京国際センター
難民・移住労働者問題キリスト教連絡会
※予約は不要です。
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View: Out of control within junta
http://burmadd.blogspot.com/
BDD
Source close to regime said that expansion of SPDC internal conflict is larger and super hardliners are total control in power. Many incidents were occurred; border conflicts, killing ceasefire groups' officials, accusations of bombing to the non-violent leaders, and sentencing defense lawyers of the pro-democracy activists seemed totally out of control in the SPDC day to day political development.
"Brutal battle against the pro-democracy movement is priority agenda for the current SPDC hardliners", source said. The hardliners have no excuse for the defense lawyers. They are nothing to do with the defendants; they do their profession and living.
But hardliners do not care the fundamental rights of citizens; they felt that why these lawyers are defending the activists and hence they are guilty. Senior General Than Shwe backs group of hardliners decided hush reaction against all if they felt that things were not right.
Recent confrontation with Bangladesh is a clear case; less than two weeks after junta second man general Maung Aye's official visit to Bangladesh, then they have a problem with it. "This is meant to discredit general Maung Aye's role in the regime", said source close to Maung Aye with suspicions.
"Next possible target is the prison doctors; if doctor would dare to treat the sick detained pro-democracy defendants, they might face a jail term for treating the activists. Professionalism is missed out in junta's handbook", Rangoon base journalist gaily noted.
Posted by BURMA DEMOCRACY & DEVELOPMENT at 11/10/2008 04:15:00 PM
Links to this post
The one thing that will help you drink more water
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/the-one-thing-that-will-help-you-drink-more-water-304953/
by Jessica Ashley, Shine staff, on Fri Nov 7, 2008 11:16am PST Read More from This Author » 159 Comments Post a Comment Report Abuse
Despite the back and forth about how much water we should be drinking, I know that I feel better when I get my 8 to 10 glasses in each day. I feel less tired, less hungry in between meals and my skin looks much better when I am on a water kick.
As a person currently struggling with getting enough sleep, however, I can easily let a glass of water sit untouched on my desk while I drink cup after cup of coffee. I was pouring my third cup of ambition last week began thinking about creative ways to entice myself into drinking more water. I'm not going to worry about cutting back the coffee just yet (that will come) but I can put a bit more effort into the beverage that makes me feel good (for more than an hour caffeine burst).
And then the thought hit my like some radical hydration revolution. No, it wasn't flavored water. Not even vitamin-infused, calorie-laden water. Not cranberry juice or lemon or cucumber slices. My brainstorm felt brilliant in its simplicity.
Yes, my solution to sipping more water is (get ready for this, it's a stunner) is a straw.
If you're thinking that I am giving myself way too much credit, know that I tried my straw trick and it really did help me power through my water day after day. OK, so it isn't exactly scientific research, but using a straw is upping my water consumption by three or four cups a day. Maybe it can work for you, too.
Of course, you can make it fun with silly, sassy, sophisticated, glass or geeked-out DIY straws. You can even opt for a straw that taps into your slurping, bubble-blowing inner child.
If using a straw in a glass isn't your thing, I've found that Camelbak bite and sip water bottles are a great alternative. My car research -- a to-go cup or regular water bottle versus the Camelbak with the built-in straw -- yields the same findings. While the Camelbak might seem expensive at $12 a bottle, it is reusable and worth the price to me if I'm well-hydrated.
What do you think? Will a straw help you be better hydrated too?
Asian stock markets gain on China stimulus plan
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081110/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets
By JEREMIAH MARQUEZ, AP Business Writer Jeremiah Marquez, Ap Business Writer – 23 mins ago Play Video ABC News – Stock Market Psychology
AP – Pedestrians look up at an electric market board in Tokyo, Monday, Nov. 10, 2008. Japan's key stock index … HONG KONG – Asian stock markets gained strongly Monday, with Shanghai's index spiking more than 7 percent, as investors welcomed China's $586 billion stimulus plan aimed at countering the effects of a global slowdown on its economy. European markets opened higher.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock average surged 498.43 points, or 5.8 percent, to 9,081.43, buoyed also by a weakening yen. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 501.20 points, or 3.5 percent, to 14,744.63, though traded well off its highs.
In mainland China, where the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index has fallen by more than two-thirds since peaking last October, the index soared 7.3 percent to 1,874.80. Markets in India, Australia, Singapore and South Korea joined the region's advance.
On Sunday, China unveiled a massive 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package in hopes of keeping economic growth from falling too fast. Demand from the U.S. and the country's other vital export markets has been waning as the global financial crisis takes an economic toll.
China's economic growth slowed to 9 percent in the third quarter, the lowest level in five years and a sharp decline from 11.9 percent the year before — perilously low for a government that needs to create jobs for millions of new workers and for other Asian countries that have come to depend heavily on Chinese demand.
"The global economy is in trouble and Chinese authorities understand that they can't wait anymore ... They're aware that exports next year will be terrible given the weakening economies in the U.S. and Europe," said Winson Fong, a Hong Kong-based managing director at SG Asset Management, which oversees about $3 billion in equities in Asia.
"This has been overdue," he said. "Investors in mainland China have been waiting for a complete rescue package since the beginning of the year."
Early in Europe, Britain's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and France's CAC-40 were each about 3 percent higher. Russian shares also gained.
China's announcement came as economic officials from 20 leading nations called Sunday for increased government spending to boost the troubled global economy.
At a meeting in Brazil, finance ministers and central bank presidents from the Group of 20, which includes major wealthy and developing nations, also said emerging economies deserve a prominent role in talks to overhaul the world financial system.
The markets got an added boost from Wall Street, where the major indexes gained Friday despite news that U.S. employers cut 240,000 jobs in October, pushing the jobless rate to a 14-year high of 6.5 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 248.02, or 2.85 percent, to 8,943.81.
U.S. stock index futures were up, suggesting New York trading would open higher. Dow futures were up 139 points, or 1.6 percent, to 9,136.
China's stimulus plan — a mix of spending, subsidies, looser credit policies and tax cuts that will benefit low-cost housing, rural infrastructure, power grids, social welfare programs and other areas — lifted shares across most sectors.
"You can imagine how excited investors are after seeing their long-term expectations become reality," said Gao Lingzhi, a strategist at Great Wall Securities in Shenzhen.
Property, resource and financial plays were among the biggest gainers, although energy firms also advanced. Top cement maker Anhui Conch and leading steel producer Baoshan Iron & Steel both spiked the daily maximum of 10 percent in mainland trade on expectations of new construction spending.
In Hong Kong, No. 2 steel maker Angang Steel exploded 28 percent and China Railway climbed almost 22 percent.
Commodity firms helped lead Australia's market higher on hopes a wave of Chinese building as a result of the stimulus measures would underpin demand for resources. BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company, added 7 percent, and Rio Tinto advanced almost 8 percent.
Australian shares also were helped by speculation that the country's central bank would cut interest rates further after it lowered its forecasts for economic growth over the next two years.
In Japan, Sony Corp. rose 7.6 percent and fellow electronics heavyweight Sharp Corp. was up 7.3 percent. Mitsubish Heavy Industries gained 6.3 percent to 391 yen.
Investors shrugged off bad news about capital investment in Japan, where core machinery orders dropped a record-tying 10.4 percent in the third quarter.
The dollar strengthened to 99.02 yen, up from 98.21 late Friday in New York.
Oil prices rose in tandem with the region's markets, with a barrel of light, sweet crude for December delivery gaining $2.87 to $63.91 in Asian trade. The contract settled at $61.04, up 27 cents, in Friday trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
___
AP reporters Elaine Kurtenbach in Shanghai and Shino Yuasa in Tokyo contributed to this report.
Japan's stressed princess welcomes Spanish royals
Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako greet guests during a welcoming ceremony for Spanish King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.
(AFP)
Mon Nov 10, 12:41 am ET AFP – Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako greet guests during a welcoming ceremony for …
Slideshow: Japan's Royal Family TOKYO (AFP) – Japan's Crown Princess Masako, who suffers from a stress-induced illness, joined an official welcome ceremony for the first time in five years Monday to greet Spanish King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia.
Masako, a 44-year-old former diplomat educated at Harvard and Oxford, has in recent years skipped official events and trips overseas due to her illness.
She was seen smiling as she accompanied Crown Prince Naruhito at the welcome ceremony at the imperial palace, which was also attended by Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko and included an honour guard.
The princess, who has struggled to adjust to life inside the world's oldest monarchy, did not accompany the crown prince on a trip to Spain in July.
The emperor and empress were to hold a state banquet for the Spanish king and queen on Monday evening.
The Spanish royals, who will stay in Japan until November 14, will visit various areas outside Tokyo, including the ancient capital of Kyoto.
Life in Burma: an expatriate's point of view
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/rss/fb20081109a1.html
By JEFF KINGSTON
BURMA CHRONICLES by Guy Delisle. Quebec, Canada: Drawn and Quarterly, 2008, 208 pp., $19.95 (cloth)
Over the past 20 years Burma has sunk ever further into an abyss of political oppression and economic malaise under a brutal military junta that shot monks on the streets of Yangon during the Saffron Revolution in September 2007, and then exacerbated the natural tragedy of cyclone Nargis this past May by hampering international relief efforts. Under this regime, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years and her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has not been allowed to take control of the government despite winning a landslide victory in the 1990 elections.
The new constitution, "approved" in a rigged referendum held in May, disqualifies Aung San Suu Kyi, the nation's most prominent and popular political leader, from running for office and also institutionalizes a continuing political role for the military by reserving seats for it in Parliament. New elections are scheduled for 2010, but the junta is loading the dice so the people won't have a chance to give the "wrong" verdict again.
This witty and incisive graphic novel draws on the 14 months in 2005-06 when Guy Delisle accompanied his wife on a posting in Burma with Doctors Without Borders. Delisle, who has also published graphic novels about North Korea and China, mines the everyday life and experiences of an expatriate, often shared with his infant Louis. Even from within a relatively comfortable cocoon, Delisle helps readers understand what it means to live under an incompetent but scary dictatorship.
He muses about magazines with missing pages in the land of "censo-rama" and also makes resolutions . . . to get up and give alms to the monks every morning and to keep visiting the sentry post blocking Aung San Suu Kyi's street until he is allowed to pass . . . but lassitude prevails.
The author also draws our attention to the Buddhist doctrine of earning merit and how Burma's generals make lavish offerings and build new pagodas. Why do evil men try to earn merit? Delisle writes, "After spending one whole lifetime oppressing a nation, he wanted to avoid coming back as a rat or a frog in the next." These animals are mischievously rendered in dress uniform replete with medals.
International medical organizations have a difficult time getting access to the areas in Burma where their services are most in need because these are politically sensitive zones where armed conflict persists or is only in abeyance. Delisle has a wonderful graphic depicting the long line of uniformed ministers that need to sign off on travel permits and work permits, a tangle of red tape that constrains humanitarian initiatives and ensures that people's access to health care remains grossly inadequate.
One of the funnier segments focuses on the official newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar. He writes, "The propaganda is laid on so thick that you wonder whether a single person in the entire country believes it." We learn that the people's professed desires include, "Crush all internal and external destructive elements as the common enemy," heady words that are printed everywhere, even at park entrances and on DVDs. With portraits of Kim Jong Il in the background, he notes that this is "the xenophobic, paranoid and hawkish rhetoric that all dictatorships use." The news is heavily skewed to reporting the glorious contributions of the military while focusing on just how miserable conditions are in other countries.
However, with the advent of the Internet and vernacular radio broadcasts from Thailand, the people know well the grim realities of the gulag they live in.
They might not know so much about Golden Valley, an upscale neighborhood in Yangon for the generals and their cronies where access to electricity and water is steady year-round, an impossible dream for most citizens. Walking past the massive McMansions with their high fences and elaborate security, Delisle comments, "Barbed wire looks a bit nouveau riche, huh?"
In contrast, the troops travel in vintage trucks and rely on antiquated communication systems, causing the author to ask a friend, "With such a dilapidated army, you wonder how the junta holds onto power?" His friend responds, "Maybe it's the torture and imprisonment that do it?"
Delisle recounts various rumors and conspiracy theories about disappearances, bombings and bizarre government policies. He also ponders the new $50 million U.S. Embassy in Yangon, asking, "Why build a gigantic embassy in a country you don't recognize and that you've put under embargo?" Especially now that the capital has been moved from Yangon to distant Nay Pyi Taw.
Beyond having a laugh at the expat world and detailing the daily drudgery of life in Burma, the author reminds us that there is much to despair in the raging epidemics of AIDS, drug addiction, malaria and TB, a growing public health crisis that the junta has ignored to the peril of a people who have suffered indignities and incompetence for far too long. Deceptively innocent, this illustrated book is a searing indictment, brimming with shrewd insights and inspiring examples of resilience.
Japan General Election Won't Come in January, LDP's Hosoda Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aktpZdrY.qHY
By Takashi Hirokawa and Aya Takada
Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's prime minister won't dissolve parliament around Christmas and call a general election in January, the ruling party's No. 2 official said today, rejecting an opposition leader's call for an early vote.
``The timing is delayed a little further,'' Hiroyuki Hosoda, secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, said when asked on Fuji TV if the lower house may disband around Dec. 25. Yukio Hatoyama, secretary-general of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, earlier on the same program said the ruling coalition could dissolve the house in late December after submitting its budget for next year.
Prime Minister Taro Aso indicated on Oct. 30 he would delay an election until the global financial crisis subsides, promising to pump 5 trillion yen ($51 billion) into the economy to help households and small businesses.
An LDP internal poll predicted the party would lose a lower house election, the Nikkei newspaper reported Oct. 30. The DPJ would take more than 240 of 480 seats, the newspaper said, without saying how it obtained the poll data. The LDP has ruled Japan for all but 10 months since it was founded in 1955.
Aso's disapproval rating exceeded his support for the first time since he took office in September, the Yomiuri newspaper said last week, citing its own survey. A Mainichi newspaper poll on Oct. 20 showed 48 percent of respondents wanted the DPJ to win the next election, compared with 36 percent for the LDP.
Aso succeeded Yasuo Fukuda, who resigned less than a year after his predecessor Shintaro Abe quit. The prime minister must call an election by next September, when the five-year term of the current lower house expires.
To contact the reporter on this story: Takashi Hirokawa in Tokyo thirokawa@bloomberg.netAya Takada in Tokyo atakada2@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: November 9, 2008 00:48 EST
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