On Monday, 10/29 Christina Fink, author or “Living Silence” spoke to us about Burma in orde to orient us to the situation within the country as well as what is happening in the border areas. Since 1962
Burma has been controlled by a military junta. This junta has been and continues to be completely repressive and cruel.
Burmais made up of many ethnic groups. The Burmans make up close to 70% of the population and the balance is made up from Shan, Karen, Rakhine, Chinese, Mon and others. Many of the ethnic peoples live along the border areas and are literally tribal and living in jungle villages. The borders between
Burma,
Thailand and
Laos are disputed and the ethnic groups/armies serve as a buffer. The ethnic peoples are anti-communist and the Thai government doesn’t want a merger of Thai and Burmese communists. There has been a historical “sacking” of the Thais by the Burmese and this has created a mythology and the Thais do not want armed conflict with the Burmese.
Burma is a former British colony and gained independence from
Britainin 1948 (sound familiar?). The ethnic autonomy movement began in 1948 and the ethnic Karen people have been at war with the central Burmese government continuously since 1949. There have been ceasefires with the other ethnic groups but not peace. The military junta took power in 1962 and all business’ were nationalized at that time. The military junta is very cruel and repressive. There has been no economic or other planning. It is common for the junta to conscript people into forced labor. Also, children as young as 10 years old are forcefully brought into the military in order to increase the numbers and further control the population. Since the junta controls all monies, the military, except for the Generals do not pay the soldiers and instruct the soldiers to “make due” in any way they see fit. This includes taking over rural villages and hill tribe ethnic areas, stealing their food and homes. This, as well as other activities has caused mass migrations of people into the jungle and to the border areas of
Thailand. The problems today consist of a struggle for ethnic autonomy and to restore democracy in a continuously worsening economic situation.
Burma’s population is 47 million and for millions, malnutrition, lack of access to healthcare, and complete personal and political repression is the norm. Most of the population is either too poor or too isolated to have a voice in change since their main “occupation” is simply survival. In
Burma, 10% of children die before reaching the age of 5 as opposed to 2% in
Thailand. A woman has a 1 in 75 chance of dying in childbirth as opposed to 1 in 900 in
Thailand. The Thai-Burma border is 1400 miles long and is disputed in areas. Heroin and methamphetamine cross freely over the border and drug use is a big problem in this part of the world.
Thailand also gets much of it’s energy from
Burma to the tune of $2 billion, which is 40% of
Burma’s total exports.
Thailand is
Burma’s largest trade partner.
China is also a very large trade partner and because of these “partnerships”, neither
Thailand nor
China apply any serious pressure on the military government.
For Burmese living in
Thailand, there are 140,000 refugees who have some degree of safety but live with many restrictions. There are around 1000 activists who have no legal status and 2 million migrant workers (only 10% of whom are registered) who are subject to human trafficking and exploitation. Many of these groups do not speak the Thai language, are isolated, and have no access to human services. Refugee camps in
Thailand were first established in 1984. Residents of these camps are literally people without a country and receive only basic needs.
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on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 at 16:34 and is filed under Uncategorized.
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