Burma Update: “We may fail, but we will win.” October 4, 2007

 

Yesterday, Oct 3rd:
*UN worker and her family were abducted

*One blogpost for Burma: Idea that all bloggers were to abstain from writing and post the simple graphic below. I’m not sure how well it worked, but creative!

*Matt and I attended the US Senate Hearing on the Saffron Revolution: The room was packed out. Supporters wearing shirts with the graphic above filled the front rows along with several monks and prominent leaders of the US Campaign for Burma. The discussion focused on economic sanctions especially from China, Thailand, and India. A witness from Human Rights Watch, Mr. Tom Malinowski, outlined targeted banking sanctions as a strategy for denying the military junta access to the wealth they currently have.

The Mme Chair of the committee, Senator Boxer, was awesome at exposing some of the inadequacies of the actions taken by the executive branch which were outlined by a witness from the State Department. Two of her feisty-er highlights were: those economic sanctions have “a loophole the size of a mack truck” and we’re interested in “giving you the back bone” to act further.

Senator Kerry was also present and certainly went on the record as grilling the State Department witness–but I’m not sure he was effective at doing much more than letting us all know he wanted to see some progress on Burma. Thanks for your 6 minutes Kerry, now back to some constructive sass from Boxer!

Today, Oct 4th: The junta has totally shut down the Internet in Burma and suddenly the voices of the monks are silenced.

Tomorrow, Friday, October 5th is National Campus Day for Action in Burma. Check out www.studentsforburma.org

Saturday, Oct 6th: Global Day for Burma: Marches across the US

Washington DC: There will be a large march happening this Saturday starting at 12 noon. We will begin our march at the Burmese embassy (2300 S St NW) and from there march to the Chinese embassy, and then onto the Indian embassy, where, standing in front of the Gandhi statue, we will point out the hypocrisy of the Indian government.

Finally, the quote above was issued by witness Aung Din at the hearing yesterday. Aung Din survived torture and served over 4 years as a political prisoner in Burma. Senator Boxer vowed to fight even if we don’t have the votes in both the Senate and the UN after listening to Aung Din’s statement.

Burma: US Senate Hearing Tomorrow October 2, 2007

October 3rd, 2007: Wear red as a symbol of solidarity with the monks and protesters in Burma tomorrow (and attend the US Senate Hearing on the Saffron Revolution at 2:30). The following is a request for support from the US Campaign for Burma sent out late this afternoon. I’ll be at Union Station at 1 pm, call me 770-403-9294.

Dear all,

We are asking for all of our friends in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC to attend a hearing in the US Senate tomorrow (Wednesday) and help us fill the room with people wearing the color red. For the front row of the hearing room, we have printed dozens of t-shirts that demand UN Security Council action. We need 30 people to meet at the fountain in front of Union Station at 1:00 pm. We will give you t-shirts so that you can sit in the front row at the hearing so that the media cameras will see you with your t-shirts. From Union Station, we will all walk to the hearing together.

We need to know who the 30 people are right away — so please email me at jennifer@uscampaignforburma.org and let us know if you can be there. Bring your friends too. The hearing starts at 2:30 and we need to be there early to make sure we can get seats so be sure to be at Union Station at 1:00 if you want to help us wear the shirts.

If you can’t be there early, show up on time but BE SURE TO WEAR A RED SHIRT IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE MONKS. LETS PACK THE ROOM IN RED. You will still need to be there at least 45 minutes early so you can get a seat.

Jennifer Quigley

Details of the hearing:

BURMA’S SAFFRON REVOLUTION

——————————————————————————-

HEARING

before the

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

——————————————————————————–

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

——————————————————————————–
Time: 2:30 PM
Place: 419 The Dirksen Senate Office Building

Presiding: Senator Boxer

Witnesses:

Panel 1:

Mr. Scot Marciel
Deputy Assistant Secretary
Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Department of State

Witnesses:
Ko Aung Din
Policy Director and Co-Founder
U.S. Campaign for Burma

Mr. Tom Malinowski
Washington Advocacy Director
Human Rights Watch

Dr. Michael Green
CSIS Japan Chair, former NSC Asia Director