BurmaNet News, April 28, 2010

[Editor]

April 28, 2010, Issue #3950


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Detainee bombs Myanmar police station, kills self
Irrawaddy: Experts warn of cyclones, storms in Burma

ON THE BORDER
Mizzima News: Karen ceasefire group apparently defies junta orders
VOA: Fears of violence renewed along China-Burma border
SHAN: Shan rebel leader warns of large scale civil war

INTERNATIONAL
DVB: Burmese blogger wins top US award
Irrawaddy: Artist Harn Lay wins Hellman/Hammett grant

OPINION / OTHER
International Campaign to Ban Landmines: Ongoing armed conflict in
Myanmar/Burma threatens mine clearance efforts in Thailand
New Yorker: Mike Allen and Nay Phone Latt – George Packer

PRESS RELEASE
Ten Alliances: Burma’s democracy and ethnic rights movement welcomes
European Union Statement on elections and call for dialogue




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

April 28, Associated Press
Detainee bombs Myanmar police station, kills self

Yangon – A man detained at a police station Wednesday in eastern Myanmar
detonated a bomb, killing himself and wounding at least four policeman in
the latest in series of blasts apparently linked to political discontent.

A security official said Wednesday the man had been taken to a police
station in Demawso, in Kayah State, 200 miles (320 kilometers) northeast
of Yangon, for interrogation. The official, who spoke on condition of
anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said the man
set off a bomb, but was unable to provide further details. It was not
clear why the man had been detained.

The explosion was the seventh known bombing in recent weeks in
military-ruled Myanmar. The attacks come as the ruling junta prepares for
a general election that its opponents have called unfair and undemocratic.

Bombings are rare but not unknown in Myanmar, though the latest attacks
appeared aimed at higher profile targets than earlier ones. The country
has a long history of internal conflict, especially between the central
government and ethnic minorities in border areas seeking greater autonomy.
But there is also opposition to the ruling junta among the public at
large.

The highest profile explosions occurred on April 15 in Yangon, the
country's biggest city, when three bombs killed ten people and wounded 170
others during the traditional water festival.

Two days later, 10 mines exploded and several more were found undetonated
at a controversial hydropower dam project site in northern Myanmar's
Kachin state. They wounded one person and caused damage to several
buildings and six vehicles.

Two separate explosions occurred on April 13 at checkpoints near the
Chinese border and at Kawkareik in Kayin State injuring three people.

An explosion at a district telecommunication office in Kyaikmaraw, in Mon
State, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Yangon on Tuesday
night wounded three people. A series of grenade attacks at a hydropower
project about 140 miles (225 kilometers) north of Yangon early Tuesday
morning wounded four workers.

There have been no claims of responsibility for any of the blasts, some of
which the government has blamed on unspecified "terrorists."

Myanmar's military rulers declared they would hold elections this year as
part of the their "roadmap to democracy," but critics say the military
shows little sign of relinquishing control and note that the government
has made every effort to prevent detained opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi from taking part in the polls.

Myanmar had its last election in 1990. Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy topped those polls, but the military which has ruled the country
virtually continuously since 1962 refused to recognize the results and
would not allow it to take power.

The party decided against registering this year, a move that is tantamount
to boycotting the vote. A recently enacted election law require existing
political parties to register or be disbanded.

____________________________________

April 28, Irrawaddy
Experts warn of cyclones, storms in Burma – Khaing Thwe

Rangoon—People along Burma's western coastal areas should pay close
attention to weather reports of cyclones and storms in the Bay of Bengal
during the early monsoon season in April and May, experts have warned.

Meteorologist Htun Lwin said government authorities will soon release
announcements regarding storm precautions.

“Storms will form as usual this monsoon season,” said Htun Lwin, the
former director general of the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.
“We just need to watch if they will enter Burma.”

A state-run newspaper, The Mirror,  recently carried an article written by
Chit Kyaw that warned about storms in April and May.

Life-threatening storms broke out 32 times in April during the past 100
years, with 15 striking Burma's coast, the article said. It said storms
broke out 92 times in May over the past 122 years, with 27 striking the
coast.

The article stressed that storms this time of the year can be very
powerful because of the heat rising in the air during hot season.

“Every storm will not come straight towards Burma's coast,” Chit Kyaw
said, noting that they frequently change course and head for other South
Asia countries.

Htun Lwin, however, said Burmese in coastal areas should stay alert and
exercise caution.

“According to the record, nearly 50 percent of the storms in April in the
Bay of Bengal hit the country. This is not a small amount,” said Htun
Lwin.

Burma was hit by storms before the rainy season in 2006, 2007 and 2008,
successively.

In 2008, Cyclone Nargis devastated the country, killing more than 100,000
people and leaving millions homeless.

Meanwhile, the Washington-based Human Rights Watch has called for renewed
international pressure on the Burmese government to gain the release of
imprisoned local aid workers and other political prisoners and to ensure
humanitarian aid reaches the entire country.

“Two years after one of the world’s worst natural disasters, local aid
workers still feel the brunt of continued repression by the military
authorities,” said Elaine Pearson, the deputy Asia director at Human
Rights Watch. “Intense international pressure pushed the military
government to open the door to foreign aid agencies, but Burma’s generals
have kept it shut for domestic critics, many of whom remain in prison for
speaking out for fellow citizens in need.”

The 102-page report, “‘I Want to Help My Own People’: State Control and
Civil Society in Burma after Cyclone Nargis,” based on 135 interviews with
cyclone survivors, aid workers and other eyewitnesses, details the Burmese
military government’s response to Nargis and its implications for human
rights and development in Burma, It describes the government’s attempts to
block assistance in a desperate three- week period after the cyclone hit
and the concerted response from increasingly assertive Burmese civil
society groups to overcome governmental restrictions to providing
assistance.

The report details continuing violations of rights to free expression,
association and movement against Burmese aid workers and their
organizations. In the months following the cyclone, the Burmese regime
arrested scores of Burmese activists and journalists who publicly spoke
out about the government’s poor response to Nargis. More than 20 people
active in cyclone relief efforts remain in prison, including one of
Burma’s most popular comedians, Zargana, who received a 35-year prison
sentence.

In the face of the government’s callous response, Burmese civil society
groups and individuals raised money, collected supplies and traveled to
the badly hit areas of the Irrawaddy Delta to help survivors in shattered
villages.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

April 28, Mizzima News
Karen ceasefire group apparently defies junta orders

The Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army (KNU/KNLA) Peace
Council, an armed ethnic ceasefire group, has apparently defied the
Burmese junta’s order to transform into a state militia, saying the junta
has not fulfilled its ceasefire agreements.

In a letter to Burmese Chief of Military Intelligence Lieutenant General
Ye Myint, Chairman of the KNU/KNLA Peace Council, General Htay Maung,
rejected the offer, stipulating that his group would not transform into a
“Burma Army Militia Group”.

General Htay Maung’s letter, the authenticity of which could not be
verified with KNU/KNLA Peace Council sources at the time of writing, is in
response to Lieutenant General Ye Myint’s proposal to the KNU/KNLA Peace
Council extended on April 7th at Moulmein in southern Burma.

According to the letter, Lieutenant General Ye Myint held a meeting with
representatives of the KNU/KNLA Peace Council on April 7th at which he
proposed that the group transform itself, setting a deadline of April 22nd
to respond to the proposal.

The KNU/KNLA Peace Council was formerly part of the Karen National Union’s
(KNU) 7th Brigade, fighting against successive central Burmese governments
for over 60 years.

However, the KNU/KNLA Peace Council broke away from the KNU in February
2007, signing a separate peace deal with the junta.

Htay Maung, in the missive, said his group opposes any kind of military
program and that his group would like to maintain peace and stability
within Karen State, accusing the junta of breaking their peace agreement
by continuing to increase military activities.

“Part of the conditions stated in our peace agreement with you is not to
increase military activity or power on either side
 but in three years
since achieving peace, we have not seen evidence of any benefit on your
part towards our Karen people except building houses and roads to enable
us to live where we are,” Htay Maung is credited with writing in the
correspondence.

During the meeting in Moulmein the Burmese Army threatened the KNU/KNLA
Peace Council that it would be declared an ‘illegal’ outfit if the group
failed to positively respond by the deadline of April 22nd.

Ye Myint also reportedly cautioned the group not to expand its army and
not to maintain contact with any other ethnic group.

Htay Maung, in his replay, said, “I would like to clarify to you that no
matter what name you come up with, we will not agree or respond to any
kind of military program which disturbs the peace and security of the
lives of our Karen.”

He said Karen people are feeling threatened and insecure with all the
junta’s ongoing military programs, forcing many to join the KNU/KNLA Peace
Council Peace Force for their own defense.

“If it appears that we are increasing our forces it is due to your own
military programs, not ours,” allegedly argues Htay Maung.
With regard to the junta’s demand not to meet and talk with the KNU, Htay
Maung responded, “We Karen, all of us, are one family. Unity within the
Karen is a top priority under the KNU umbrella. Unity among ourselves will
only enhance the unity desired for the whole nation. The KNU/KNLA Peace
Council holds no enemies.”

The Burmese junta earlier pressured the KNU/KNLA Peace Council to
transform into a Border Guard Force under the administration of the Burma
Army. But the group also refused that offer.

The KNU, representing the ethnic Karen’s struggle for political autonomy,
is the oldest rebel group in Burma. But the group suffered a heavy blow in
1994 when a fraction – the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) – broke
away and entered into a peace agreement with the Burmese junta.

The junta has in recent months pressured ethnic ceasefire groups to
transform into a Border Guard Force to be administered by the Burma Army,
encouraging the groups to join in its planned elections for later this
year.

While a few groups, including the DKBA, have consented to the junta’s
proposal, major ceasefire groups including the Kachin Independence Army
(KIA) and United Wa State Army (UWSA) have steadfastly rejected the
proposal.

Htay Maung, in the letter, told Ye Myint that Burma today does not need
any more military programs and that it is in critical need of peace and
development, urging the junta to make the upcoming election inclusive.

“If by our refusal to bow to your military programs you then call us
‘illegal’, and by doing so declare war, you are no longer just faced with
a one-party issue but with all the ethnic groups from every corner of
Burma,” cautioned Htay Aung.

“Mark my words. The whole world will know who has destroyed the peace and
stability of the nation,” he emphasized. “It is your call.”

____________________________________

April 28, Voice of America
Fears of violence renewed along China-Burma border – Kate Woodsome

Washington – Armed ethnic groups in rural Burma face a choice on Wednesday
- join a government militia, or be outlawed and face possible attack.  The
standoff between the two sides has renewed fears of violence along the
China-Burma border.

Burma's military government keeps tight control over most of the country. 
But along the border with Thailand and China, armed ethnic groups are
effectively in charge.  The most powerful rebels are refusing to bow to
the government's pressure to join a state-run border defense force ahead
of national elections later this year.

Aung Kyaw Zaw, a former rebel based on the Chinese side of the border,
says the biggest group - the United Wa State Army - is preparing for a
long war. He says leaders of the Wa do not want to fight, but they feel
the government has left them little choice.

The Wa and other ethnic groups signed a ceasefire with the government two
decades ago.  They enjoy more political and religious freedom than the
ethnic Burmese under the government's tight control.  And income from
logging, illegal drugs and cross-border trade pays for reliable
electricity - unlike the rest of the country, which suffers from power
blackouts.

Ready to fight

The Wa say that joining the government's border guard could be the first
step to giving up their rights.  They say they have at least 20,000
soldiers in Burma's Northern Shan state who are ready to fight.  Reports
from the region indicate that at least 5,000 Burmese troops are massing in
the area.

Aung Kyaw Zaw says the government also has deployed fighter jets and tanks
as a show of force.  But, he says, with the monsoon rains coming in June,
the army does not have time to wage a real war.

Still the military buildup is making some people nervous.  Aung Kyaw Zaw
says some residents have moved their cars and valuables into neighboring
China, and that the elderly and some children have fled.

Jennifer Quigley is the advocacy director for the U.S. Campaign for Burma
in Washington.  She says the military government's poor human rights
record gives civilians cause for concern.

"It could be very detrimental," said Quigley. "In the case of the Burmese
regime, they have a traditional habit of attacking the civilian population
and not necessarily the military.  And so there's this great potential
that they will seize land, they will seize forced laborers, they will
seize child soldiers."

About 30,000 refugees fled into China last year when the Burmese army
attacked the Kokang, a small ethnic-Chinese group also in Shan state.  The
Wa and its civilian population are much larger than the Kokang.

Quigley says conflict with this group could cause serious problems for
China. "There is huge potential that you're looking at over 100,000
refugees fleeing into China," she said.

Thousands of Chinese troops are stationed in Yunnan province along the
China-Burma border, where brisk trading brings in big money.  In 2008,
China reported nearly $2 billion in exports to Burma.

Chinese officials have been making regular visits to the Burmese capital
to try to calm ethnic tensions.  They even escorted Wa rebels to a recent
meeting with Burmese officials to ensure their safety.

Consolidating power

Political analysts say that any other poor, isolated country would pay
attention to the concerns of its rich and powerful neighbor.  But Burma
could be a different story because of its leader, General Than Shwe.

"It's a huge question mark, said Quingley. "Because Than Shwe is not
somebody most people understand."

Jennifer Quigley of the U.S. Campaign for Burma says regional military
commanders appear reluctant to start a war with the ethnic rebels.  But
she says, Than Shwe is focused on consolidating his power.

"One army, one Burma.  No more pesky internal ethnic problems," said
Quigley.  "So it's going to be whether or not he's willing to jeopardize
their relationship with the Chinese to have their final solution, and
whether they will do that before the elections."

On the China-Burma border, former rebel Aung Kyaw Zaw says the Wa fighters
will be ready, no matter what the government decides.

____________________________________

April 28, Shan Herald Agency for News
Shan rebel leader warns of large scale civil war – Hseng Khio Fah

Large-scale civil war can break out again, warned Lt-Gen Yawdserk, leader
of the anti-Naypyitaw Shan State Army (SSA) ‘South’, given the military
junta’s one sided policy to convert all ceasefire groups into forces
controlled by the Burmese Army.

Besides, using military measures against the ethnic ceasefire groups is
not the right solution. It only means creating crisis, he said.

“The reason that the ceasefire groups reached a ceasefire agreement is
because they wanted to solve the problems politically. But so far they
have never been able to have any political dialogue and have only been
forced by the military to do what it wants.”

Many ceasefire groups: the United Wa State Army (UWSA), National
Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) and Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’
concluded their armed struggle in 1989 to make peace with the military
junta. (The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) concluded the ceasefire pact in
1995.)

But now all were only required by the junta to transform themselves into
the regime controlled forces known as Border Guard Forces (BGF) before its
general elections. If the groups fail to comply, the junta will launch
military operations against them and will outlaw them.

Lt-Gen Yawdserk said, “If it is a political issue, then it must be solved
politically, not by using force. But now it is threatening not only the
groups, but also local people. It means it doesn’t care for the people and
their ethnic rights.”

He called on all ceasefire groups to be more united and to keep fighting
for their genuine aspirations.  Otherwise all their lands and properties
will fall into the military junta’s hands. “If you [ceasefire groups]
accept the military’s BGF proposal, then what you have been fighting for
years will come to naught. And it will be difficult for you to gain the
people’s support and their trust again.”

He also urged people not to leave their motherland and home come what may.

Lt-Gen Yawdserk is the founder of the Shan State Army (SSA) ‘South’,
established in 1996, after he escaped with 300 men from Khun Sa’s Mong Tai
Army (MTA), and has remained the principal armed opposition movement still
fighting Burma’s military rulers.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

April 28, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burmese blogger wins top US award – Francis Wade

Imprisoned Burmese blogger Nay Phone Latt, whose role in disseminating
news of the September 2007 uprising in Burma won him international
applaud, has received the prestigious PEN/Barbara Goldsmith award.

Speaking prior the award ceremony last night in New York, PEN president
Kwame Anthony Appiah said that Nay Phone Latt, who was arrested in January
2008 and sentenced to 20 years in prison, “represents a younger generation
of Burmese who are longing for freedom and willing to pay the cost of
speaking out in its defense”.

According to news alerts following his sentencing, the 29-year-old was
arrested for posting satirical cartoons of Burmese junta chief Than Shwe
on his blog. The charge of “causing public alarm” accounted for two of 20
years he is to spend in prison.

He was also a prolific writer, and posted regular articles during the
so-called Saffron Revolution in 2007 that partly compensated for the media
blackout enforced by the regime. Burma has one of the most draconian media
environments in the world, and journalists are regularly given painfully
long sentences.

Aye Aye Than, the mother of Nay Phone Latt, told DVB today that he was
already aware of the honour via someone who visited him in prison, and
that “he was very happy to win this literature award because that is what
he is fond of.”

“He didn’t attack or criticise or denounce anyone on his blog. I have no
regret about his blogging,” she said, adding that she last visited him on
1 April and “he was in good health”.

Burma ranked 171 out of 175 countries in the Reporters Without Borders’
Press Freedom Index. Appiah, a Ghanaian novelist and philosopher, also
lamented the fact that internet censorship had become “one of the great
threats to free expression today”.

“That Nay Phone Latt is also a poet reminds us that every society speaks
with the voice of the imagination as well as through its non-fiction
writers. We honor him. We thank him. We ask all who have any influence on
the government of Burma to press for his release.”

The Burmese junta is expected to intensify its crackdown on journalists in
the run-up to elections this year. Around 14 media workers are currently
behind bars, some serving sentences of up to 35 years. Nay Phone Latt had
been given no legal representation during his trial due to his lawyer
being imprisoned the week before.

Fellow Burmese activist, comedian and part-journalist, Zarganar, was last
year honoured with the PEN/Pinter award for ‘imprisoned writers of
courage’ – Zarganar was sentenced in November 2008 to 59 years, later
reduced to 35 years, after giving interviews to foreign media in which he
criticized the Burmese junta’s reaction to cyclone Nargis in May 2008.

PEN, which advocates for global freedom of expression, is the world’s
oldest human rights organisation and the oldest international literary
organisation.

____________________________________

April 28, Irrawaddy
Artist Harn Lay wins Hellman/Hammett grant – Lawi Weng

Harn Lay, The Irrawaddy's illustrator and cartoonist, has received a
Hellman/Hammett grant for his political cartoons and art penned against
the Burmese regime.

Marcia Allina, the coordinator of the grant program for Human Rights Watch
based in New York City, told The Irrawaddy that Harn Lay was selected
without debate by the selection committee, made up of widely respected
writers and editors.

“I assume it was because the message [his art] is so clear, and he
qualified as a persecuted person because he had to flee for his personal
safety. He is a perfect example of someone who was targeted for expressing
ideas that the government wanted to suppress,” she said.

The recognition comes with a grant, which ranges from $500 to $10,000.

Harn Lay, 44, an ethnic Shan artist, graduated from the Rangoon School of
Fine Arts Academy. He is based in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, and he
is well-known for his political cartoons.

Burmese politics made him a cartoonist, Harn Lay said. He fled to Thailand
following Burma's pro-democracy uprising in 1988.

Harn Lay has specialized in satirizing Snr-Gen Than Shwe, the head of the
Burmese military. His work appears in The Irrawaddy online website and in
the monthly print magazine, where he frequently illustrates magazine cover
stories and articles. He also exhibits fine art oil paintings, most often
in portraiture and landscapes.

“To me, art is for impression and cartoons are for expression,” said Harn
Lay. “I am very proud when my work is recognized because in its own way it
fights for human rights. The Burmese people are starved for human rights.
We were born with human rights, and we want our rights back as soon as
possible.”

Human Rights Watch administers the Hellman/Hammett grants, awarded to
writers and artists around the world who have been targets of political
persecution. The grant program began in 1989 when the popular American
playwright Hellman set aside part of her estate to be used to assist
writers in financial need as a result of their expression of dissenting
views.

Her companion, novelist Dashiell Hammett, was the author of The Maltese
Falcon and other books. They were staunch advocates of freedom of
expression, and both stood up against a US congressional committee in the
1950s that was engaged in “a witch hunt” to expose people who were
allegedly Communist sympathizers.

Allina said, “The grant is meant to support and defend free expression,
especially in opposition to government efforts to suppress and control
human rights. Our message to the Burmese people is have courage...and that
people around the world care.”

There is no freedom of expression in Burma, where the regime censors
media. The regime has arrested journalists, writers, bloggers,
photographers, politicians and others and sentenced them to long prison
terms for criticizing or exposing their actions. There are more than 2,100
political prisoners in Burma.

Over the past 20 years, more than 700 writers from 93 countries have
received Hellman/Hammett grants, including Burmese writers and democracy
activists such as Tin Moe, Saw Wai, Tun Aung, bloggers Nay Phone Latt,
Zarganar, and the Burmese human rights defender Bo Kyi, the co-director of
the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

April 28, International Campaign to Ban Landmines
Ongoing armed conflict in Myanmar/Burma threatens mine clearance efforts
in Thailand – Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan

The mountain is called Na Taung by the Burmese and Doi Ya Moo by the Thai,
and its peak is on the Thai side of the shared border. The Thailand Mine
Action Center (TMAC) arranged for me to visit the mountain in March 2010.
It is the site of a former insurgent camp, but is now a Thai Army outpost.
"The insurgents moved across the border when we requested them to no
longer use Thai soil" said Col. Monkol Pakamma, Deputy Commander of one of
the Royal Thai Army's humanitarian demining units. From where I stood,
only meters from the border, I could clearly see within the rugged fold of
the western slope of the mountain several camps of the Karenni Army, a
group which remains in armed conflict with Myanmar's military government.
Further up the border, but quite close by, are camps of two other
insurgent groups, the All Burma Student's Democratic Front and the Pa'O
National Liberation Army. The Thai Army officer confirmed that both groups
are militarily active and that the areas fronting these camps are thick
with landmines.

To reach the top of Doi Ya Moo, it was necessary to traverse an area which
had just been cleared by the Thailand Mine Action Center. It was formerly
a transit route used by both the Karenni Army and the Burmese Army to
attack one another across a short span of Thai soil. Both mined the route.
After two Thai villagers and a border patrol soldier stepped on mines in
the area TMAC was asked to clear it. Local villager's wished to have safe
access to the area to collect forest products growing in the jungle.

Thailand was one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to join the 1997
Mine Ban Treaty, which required clearance of all mines within 10 years.
While the passage to the peak of Doi Ya Moo has been cleared, the few
meters between where I stood and the border, just outside the camps bamboo
fence, remained mined. "Although we have determined that there are mines
there, the precise line of the border must be agreed between Thailand and
Burma before we can proceed with clearance." I was told by one of the
soldiers who went on to explain that the exact boundary is uncertain due
to descrepencies caused by the fact that Thailand uses metric maps and
Burma uses maps based on the British mile. As we left the area, Col.
Monkol worried about the future. Even though his team had demined the area
it could for now, "I can't say that the same parties might not mine it
again in the future.", he said.

Last year, Thailand had to request an extension of time to meet its mine
clearance obligations under the Mine Ban Treaty. However, with all warring
factions across frontier engaging in mine warfare, the threat of new mine
pollution in Thailand remains real. Ongoing war virtually assures that
border demarcation will not take place any time soon, and hold Thailand's
ability to meet its Treaty obligations hostage, and Col. Monkol will
remain a worried man.

Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan is an editor and research coordinator for Landmine
and Cluster Munition Monitor for Asia (ban policy) and for non-state armed
groups (global), and the country researcher on Myanmar/Burma.

____________________________________

April 27, New Yorker
Mike Allen and Nay Phone Latt – George Packer

Tonight PEN will honor Nay Phone Latt, a young Burmese blogger who is
serving a twelve-year sentence in a remote and harsh prison for using his
blog and the Rangoon Internet cafés he owned to spread news about the
street demonstrations that peacefully challenged Burma’s military regime
in 2007. I wanted to meet Nay Phone Latt when I travelled to Burma in
early 2008, but he’d already been arrested. I met other young bloggers,
journalists, and activists who knew him. They were almost painfully
earnest and idealistic. They believed that their movement, because it was
largely leaderless and decentralized, like the Web itself, would be more
durable, harder to crush, than earlier democratic movements. They had
heard of Foucault, and one blogger spoke of a postmodern opposition. Since
then, many of those young Burmese have been jailed, for years and even
decades; others have fled the country. Foucault has turned out to be no
more help to the beleaguered Burmese than any of his predecessors.

It’s well and right for PEN to honor Nay Phone Latt, and through him all
the Nay Phone Latts in Burma. In years to come, if history and struggle
allow them to go from being pariahs, convicts, and exiles to taking their
rightful place as leaders in Burma, they will say how much it meant that
organizations like PEN remembered and recognized them during their darkest
years. This is what political prisoners and oppressed dissidents—Havel,
Mandela—always say once they’ve emerged into the sunlight and give
interviews and write books and travel abroad to receive awards. But Nay
Phone Latt won’t be in New York tonight. For the Burmese opposition, these
are the darkest years.

It isn’t completely fair to couple Nay Phone Latt in the same post with
Mike Allen, but the comparison is instructive and in some ways inevitable.
Allen, who writes Politico’s daily Playbook column, is the subject of a
profile by Mark Leibovich in Sunday’s Times Magazine, which presents him
as the most influential journalist in Washington, the guy everyone in the
political class has to read. What does Mike Allen do? Mainly, he reads
what everyone else in the Washington media world writes; then he selects
it and condenses it at a predawn hour so that all the other chronically
underslept workaholics in the capital turn to Playbook before anything
else in order to armor themselves for the day ahead. The profile portrays
Allen as singularly, obsessively driven—no wife, no kids, no known
address, no known vices (he is an ardent Christian), bad diet, physically
and emotionally elusive, evasive about his life and background (his father
turns out to have been a pamphleteer for the John Birch Society in the
sixties and seventies), widely liked, generous with his countless friends,
sprinkling his column with birthday greetings and shout outs to the many
stars in the Washington firmament.

And yet, the thousands of words in Leibovich’s vivid and revealing piece
somehow don’t persuasively explain what Allen does—what accounts for his
supreme importance. Reading Playbook, as I’ve been doing lately, doesn’t
explain it, either. He is, in essence, an aggregator. He summarizes the
morning papers, forecasts the day’s big events, quotes snippets from
upcoming testimony, scores the news cycle’s winners and losers, relays the
views of various spokesmen, party reps, public officials, financial
titans, and, of course, fellow journalists. Playbook is a daily service
for the powerful, and Allen—by Leibovich’s portrayal, and by the lights of
his own writing—is an extremely serviceable fellow. The fact that he
doesn’t choose sides, that Playbook is a favorite outlet for Dick Cheney
as well as a must-read for the Obama White House, is part of his
serviceability. Allen hums along in an endless feedback loop with his
friends, acquaintances, colleagues, subjects, and sources (they are pretty
much interchangeable, and they include Leibovich) in the world of
Washington power. He’s a clipping service and a kind of higher gossip
columnist; he feeds and feeds off the twenty-four-hour news cycle, where
there is no depth or breadth, no long view, no content to issues, no
reality outside the game. In this sense, Leibovich is right to have
lionized Allen as the prototype of cutting-edge political media. But
because Leibovich and everyone else in the story lives and works inside
the same loop as Allen, any reader looking for critical analysis will find
it only in one short quote by Mark Salter, John McCain’s former aide, who
says of Politico: “They have taken every worst trend in reporting, every
single one of them, and put them on rocket fuel
. It’s the shortening of
the news cycle. It’s the trivialization of news. It’s the gossipy nature
of news. It’s the self-promotion.”

In the inner circle of the inner circle of American journalism, no one is
right or wrong, politics has no bearing on life, and nothing lasts longer
than a day. Meanwhile, in a prison in eastern Burma, twenty-nine-year-old
Nay Phone Latt is in the second year of a twelve-year prison sentence
because he took seriously what we, in our vast freedom, no longer know how
to.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

April 28, Ten Alliances
Burma’s democracy and ethnic rights movement welcomes European Union
Statement on elections and call for dialogue

The Ten Alliances of Burmas democracy and ethnic rights movement expressed
support for the European Unions renewal of its Common Position on Burma
for another year, which also extended economic sanctions on the military
regime.

With their planned sham elections, the regime is hoping that the EU and
other countries will fall for the thinly veiled attempt to legitimize
continued military rule. By maintaining sanctions, the EU is sending a
strong signal that the regime must change course for these elections to
have any legitimacy whatsoever, said U Maung Maung, General Secretary of
the National Council of the Union of Burma.

In reference to Burmas planned elections for later this year, the EU
Council expressed serious concerns that new election laws do not provide
for free and fair elections, and called on the military regime to take
further steps. The EU statement adopted in Luxembourg on 26 April also
called for the release of political prisoners, an end to human rights
violations, and political dialogue between all stakeholders. These points
reaffirm the key benchmarks long advocated by the Ten Alliances of Burmas
movement for democracy and ethnic rights. The alliances insist that the
regime must meet these benchmarks to ensure truly democratic progress in
Burma, and that without them elections will not be a step towards genuine
democracy. They include:

1. The unconditional release of all political prisoners, including Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi;

2. Cessation of hostilities against ethnic groups and pro-democracy
forces; and,

3. Inclusive dialogue with key stakeholders from democracy groups and
ethnic nationalities, including a review of the 2008 Constitution.

Burma is becoming increasingly unstable under the military regime.
Tensions in northeastern Burma are rising as the junta continues to press
armed ethnic groups into joining their Border Guard Force. The National
League for Democracy and other opposition groups will also come under
increased pressure from the junta after the political party registration
deadline. The EU and international community must increase pressure on the
junta to stop these hostilities immediately, said Mai Phone Kyaw, General
Secretary of the National Democratic Front.

In terms of the upcoming EU delegation to Burma, we ask EU Envoy Fassino
to reiterate the EUs support of these minimum benchmarks, and focus his
efforts on facilitating dialogue between all stakeholders before the
elections, said U Moe Zaw Oo, Joint General Secretary of the National
League for Democracy Liberated Area (NLDLA), in reference to the
exploratory mission mentioned in the EUs statement yesterday. The Ten
Alliances also emphasized that any delegation to Burma should insist on
meeting with representatives of opposition groups, including Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi, the NLD, and ethnic leaders.

The Ten Alliances of Burmas democracy and ethnic rights movement represent
the most broad-based and multi-ethnic cooperation of political and civil
society organizations from inside and in exile working for national
reconciliation, peace, and freedom in Burma. In March, the alliances
launched the Global Campaign Against Burmas 2010 Military Elections, with
the support of over 150 groups from all over the world.


National Council of the Union of Burma(NCUB)

Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB)
National Democratic Front (NDF)
National League for Democracy Liberated Area (NLD-LA)
Members of Parliamentary Union (MPU)
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB)
Forum for Democracy in Burma (FDB)
Womens League of Burma (WLB)
Students and Youth Congress of Burma (SYCB)
Nationalities Youth Forum (NYF)

###
For more information, please contact:

U Maung Maung: +66 (0)860905672

Mai Phone Kyaw: +66 (0)862064045

U Moe Zaw Oo: +66 (0)877735580