Burma's secret warThe Flash Player 8 and a browser with Javascript support are needed.. For most of the past 16 years the truly elected leader of Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been held under house arrest by a brutal military dictatorship that suppresses all opposition through a policy of rape, forced labour and systematic killings. This is a country unique in failing all five crucial tests by which the UN measures human rights, yet until now the world has all but ignored. Finally, the UN Security Council is beginning to debate how to deal with this renegade nation, in which Britain is the second biggest investor. Journalist Evan Williams goes undercover for Dispatches deep inside Burma on a highly dangerous journey to witness new levels of violence by the regime against its own people. Evan documents atrocities committed against the Karen people, and follows up by illegally entering Burma again - this time as a tourist. He meets dissidents willing to sacrifice their freedom so that people on the outside should know what is going on. Despite Aung San Suu Kyi's plea for an end to foreign investment in Burma, Evan discovers that - thanks to the tax loophole of a British Protectorate - Britain remains the second biggest investor in this systematically brutal dictatorship. Burma - Inside the Secret CityThe Flash Player 8 and a browser with Javascript support are needed.. Burma's new capital of Naypidaw is one of the most mysterious cities in the world. Few foreigners have been inside and now there are signs a chain of underground bunkers are being built nearby. Buried deep within the remote jungle is Naypidaw, Burma's new capital. The Generals are so paranoid about it they've imprisoned journalists for trying to do what our reporter did: film the city being built. Foreigners are banned from the nearby city of Pyinmana where sources say the military are building a network of underground bunkers. Tremors are often felt at night. Since moving the capital, the army has intensified its battle against the Karen, clearing out surrounding villages in an attempt to dominate the area. Nearly 3,000 Karen villages have been destroyed in the past decade and a million people displaced. Those who speak out risk imprisonment or torture. "The situation of people all over the country gets worse by the hour", laments journalist Ludu Sin Wein. "The whole country is sitting on a power keg that can explode at any time." But there are signs of resistance. Half a million Burmese residents signed a petition calling for the release of their political leaders. As Burmese reporter Ludu Sin Wein states: âSomeone has to take risks to let the world know what's going on." KawthooleiThe Flash Player 8 and a browser with Javascript support are needed.. This is a documentary of the Karen people group on the border of Myanmar(Burma) and Thailand and what one lady, Catherine-Riley Bryan is doing through complete trust and faith in God's providence to help as many people as she can. The Karen: kayin lu myo:)called by Burman , also known in Thailand as the Kariang or Yang. Pwa Ka Nyaw Po as they called themselves are an ethnic group in Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand. The Karen have fought for independene since 31 January 1949. Consequently 31 Janurary is recognised as Revolutionary Day amongst Karen. The Karen people live mostly in the hilly eastern border region of Myanmar, primarily in Karen State, with some in Kayah State (Karenni State), southern Shan State (MoBye Region), Ayeyarwady Division (Irrawaddy Division), Southern Kawthoolei (Tenasserim Coastal Region) and in western Thailand. As with many widely-used ethnonyms - i.e., Eskimo, Miao - Karen was originally applied pejoratively by enemies. However, the term has since been claimed by the Karen themselves as a badge of pride. The total number of Karen is difficult to estimate. The last reliable census of Myanmar was conducted in the 1930s. A 2006 VOA article cites an estimate of seven million in Myanmar. There are another 400,000 Karen in Thailand, where they are by far the largest of the hill tribes. Kawthoolei is the Karen name for the state that the Karen people of Myanmar have been trying to establish since the late 1940s. It means the Green Land, although, according to Martin Smith in Burma: Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity, it has a double meaning, and can also be rendered as the Land Burnt Black; hence the land that must be fought for. Kawthoolei roughly approximates to present-day Kayin State, although parts of the Burmese Ayeyarwady River delta with Karen populations have sometimes also been claimed. Kawthoolei as a name is a relatively recent invention, penned during the time of former Karen leader Ba U Gyi, who was assassinated around the time of Burma's independence from Britain. |
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