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Burma used to be one of the wealthiest countries in South East Asia. Even today, it would have all the natural prerequisites of wealth. It is fertile and abounds in natural resources, it has plenty of art treasures and incomparable archaeological masterpieces and it is a stunningly beautiful country.
The most beautiful aspect of Burma are its people. 43 million people live in an area 2,5 times bigger than Italy. All in all, there are 136 different ethnic groups with various languages and dialects, as well as manifold cultures and traditions. The people of Burma are cordial and amiable. In spite of their painful experiences, they have managed to keep their innate friendliness and honesty. Their smile is a gift from the heart, given without second thoughts.
In the year 1962, the dictator Ne Win came to power after a coup d'etat. He isolated the country from the rest of the world and tried to establish a socialist-totalitarian state system based on the model of Stalin and Mao Tse Tung. At that time, the suffering of the ethnic groups began to worsen. Most of these groups have their own language and a distinctive set of genuine traditions and cultural values, inherent in the history of the people and an essential element of their daily lives. Naturally, the people wanted to keep their own culture along with a certain autonomy.
However, the military regime would not allow any autonomy or any minor deviation from the central government's political course. This situation was the reason for an atrocious war, which is aimed at assimilating the individual ethnic groups and exploiting the valuable natural resources in their territories. This has been happening for decades, mostly unnoticed by the international community.
There were moments of hope, when a new military regime came to power and replaced Ne Win in 1988. This time, the government had no ideological aims (apart from increasing their own personal wealth). The students started protest marches in the streets and demanded democratic change.
On August 8th 1988, the regime gave firing orders. More than 10.000 students died in a hail of bullets, shot by their compatriots. Many others died later on in the notorious prisons from torture, forced labor, violence and diseases. Even today, many activists are still imprisoned, many of them in conditions of aggravated solitary confinement.
A courageous woman, Aung San Suu Kyi, became the leader of the democracy movement in Burma. It was due to her efforts and the increasing international political pressure that free elections were held in 1990, which she and her National League of Democracy won with more than 80% of the votes. However, the regime did not acknowledge the result of the elections and imprisoned many of the elected representatives. Aung San Suu Kyi was put under house arrest. In the year 1991, Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
A trade embargo put some pressure on the country and the regime and there were some minor concessions. In May 2002, the government finally released Aung San Suu Kyi and even permitted her to travel the country and to revive the NLD.
But the international community didn't react as the generals had expected. The trade embargo was not relieved; too often had the West been deceived by the regime. As a foreseeable consequence, the Junta had Aung San Suu Kyi arrested again. During the military operation that led to her arrest, more than 50 people were killed, among them many NLD activists.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been kept in a so-called "guest house" of the regime since that day. She is denied almost any contact with the outside world, even the International Red Cross has only very limited access to the premises.
Further information:
Please visit our links for further information about the democracy movement in Burma and issues related to the refugee situation.
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