What I had thought to be another report on the ongoing violations of civil and human rights in Burma is actually a dark journey into the minds of human beings. This slim volume documents the lives of Burmese women from various ethnicities, their struggle to maintain their personal integrity under a cruel regime, and their unwavering hope for a better future.
This anthology consists of testimonials, stories and opinions of Burmese women from within and beyond the borders of Burma. Some of them were writing from the Thai-Burmese border, with at least one writing from Bangladesh, another from India, a few from Bangkok, and the more fortunate ones from resettlements in Canada and Australia. But all of them share the hope of seeing the installation of a democratic institution in their homeland.
Many of these intelligent and versatile women have been denied higher education due to the unrest in their country, economic oppression and enforced statelessness. Those from ethnic minorities found themselves doubly oppressed – they were suppressed within their own community and by the military junta’s programme of genocide.
We read of Burmese women who scraped for a living as traders, teachers, nurses and NGO workers, while hapless ones were sold into the flesh trade and other exploitative work to repay the debts of their families. These young girls and their families are mostly illiterate and poor, and have almost no understanding of the economics of money or their rights. Thus they get caught in the vicious cycle of indigence and debt.
The beauty of these stories told by the women of Burman, Chin, Karen, Mon, Rohingya and other ethnic origins is that they emphasise the importance of rights for women to attain a truly democratic society. While some of these writers have been to universities (at least for a short period), others had only finished primary or high school, and under rather straitened circumstances. Many of them did not have the chance to study feminist theories or gain an academic understanding of the subject.
Yet, they recognise that fighting for a society that is not truly egalitarian in every sense of the word – be it for the ethnic minorities or the women – will mean just replacing one oppressor with another. The voices of the women are getting louder as they insist on active participation in the fight for freedom and democracy. They insist on being part of the decision-making. They insist that they be accounted for when their leaders, who usually are men, make decisions.
Can you imagine not having any means of transport, proper amenities, or food and water, and having to hike through thick jungle in the darkness of the night to escape the junta’s surveillance? Imagine not being able see your family again because doing so will jeopardise their safety. This sounds like The Lord of The Rings transplanted onto Burmese soil. I am sure most of the people in Myanmar have not had the pleasure of watching this movie – especially as most villages do not have electricity (if they did, supply is often erratic). All forms of media are heavily censored and controlled in the country and the majority of the population has no access to the Internet. If they have had the chance to watch this movie, they would have empathised totally with Frodo and his gang.
Women have been involved in many revolutionary processes, from Algeria to China, and all over South-East Asia. Franz Fanon spoke of them in his book, Wretched of the Earth. Yet, when peace is finally achieved, their voices are usually ignored. The writers in this book want to make sure that this will not happen to them.
Reading Burma is like watching a docu-drama which has episodes on domestic violence, drug abuse, prostitution, high commodity prices, slums, homelessness and exploitative labour. The writers here highlight the same problems, and more. They lament the waste laid to their land, the death of their children, and the corruption within the society they are forced to live in. Natural resources are raped indiscriminately. Precious human resources are wasted with mass-killings.
A fastidious reader may point out that the essays are not evenly edited; for example, the same Burmese words are spelt differently. Although the anthology is in English, the language has been appropriated and reproduced with a decided Asian flavour. This lack of evenness and the assimilation of English into the local syntax accentuate the character of the anthology. It reads like a more mature version of the Chicken Soup for the Soul, for the inspiration that it gives.