Describing the Burmese government as amongst “the most cruel governments in existence,” Oakland University political science Prof. Martha Zingo railed against civil rights violations and atrocities taking place in Southeast Asia.
During Free Burma Day in East Quad Residence Hall yesterday, organizers said they refuse to call the country by its official name of Myanmar because a military junta rather than the people chose the name.
Zingo chastised the Burmese government, saying, “between drugs, sex and oil the Burmese government have all the money they ever need, while the Burmese people are being systematically abused.”
She listed a myriad of injustices against the Burmese people such as murder, torture, religious persecution and systematic starvation. Zingo gave several statistics to back up her claim. “By the end of 2001, 600,000 to one million Burmese were internally displaced,” she said.
She added that these “displaced” people must forage in the forests for bark, leaves and grass for survival. They also live in constant fear of being found by the Burmese military, Zingo said.
Despite these disturbing claims, the United States and France both helped fund an oil pipeline in Burma. “The United States has a dual policy on Burma. Bush just signed into law a 1973 statute that would end economic ties with Burma. Yet on the other hand, the U.S. makes exceptions with things that are important — oil,” she said.
Zingo stressed the repressive measures Burma uses to control its people. Possession of a fax machine is punishable by 15 years in prison, she said.
She also noted that after Sept. 11, the Burmese government labels ethnic minorities as terrorists to give legitimacy to its actions against citizens.
The speech was a climax to a day that included a bazaar of Burmese hand-made products ranging from linen shirts, wicker baskets and lacquer boxes. Burmese refugees made all of the items, and the promoters of the event said all proceeds will go directly to the Burmese Relief Center based in Flint.
These donations are used to aid displaced people on the Thailand-Burma border and support several refugee orphanages and medical clinics that offer emergency assistance.
Attendees of the event perused the selection of wares to pick out holiday presents. “It can be a gift and you also feel that you are contributing to charity,” RC freshman Jessica Delaney said.
Ken Kawasaki is co-director of the American branch of the Relief Center, which among other fundraising ventures coordinates the importation of fabrics woven by refugees, to be sold in the United States.
He said as a result of Thailand’s narrow definition of refugee status, hundreds of Burmese asylum-seekers are rounded up throughout Thailand as illegal aliens and bused to points of deportation. “Sometimes they are dead when they arrive,” Kawasaki said.
After a hazardous journey, women are preyed upon by pimps and taken back into nearby Thailand. He said the women who produce his clothing were given employment in hopes that they would not be lured away into prostitution in Bangkok, Thailand’s capital.
Four hundred Burmese nationals are sent back from Thailand every month, Zingo said. She added that in the process they are tested for eight diseases, including HIV. Those who test positive disappear, according to the U.N. Human Rights Commission.
The few that did show up said they were touched by Zingo’s speech. “I definitely will send a letter (to the Burmese government) and give a monetary donation (to the relief center). I feel bad not doing anything,” said RC freshman Karl Schmeck.
Others, such as RC sophomore Marilia Kyprianides, seemed disgusted by what they called the hypocrisy of the United States. “I think there’s so many countries that we don’t know about and I wasn’t surprised to find that the U.S. had violated their own human rights policies to fund an oil pipeline in Burma,” she said.
Zingo shed her view on the turnout of the event: “I think we’re doing well; we had a fair turnout today. The more we have events such as this — even if we do not raise money — we can just get people to be politically active and possibly contribute to helping the situation.”