What to do about Burma? Did you know that the military have ruled there since 1962. 50million people need your help.

Here is a video on Burma’s Secret War which has been on Youtube since November ’06. It was made by undercover journalist Evan Williams and broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK.

Documentary: SHAN, Burma Here is news of another upcoming documentary.

“Using film that has been captured over the past eight years and in full production over the past two years, the film is certainly going to lead the way for next years documentary lineup and standards.

Shot entirely in Burma and alongside of the Shan State Army (SSA), one of the last remaining ethnic groups still battling the government regime, this film will take the viewer inside a world never seen before.

From the original obstacles of getting in, hiding from government patrols, to the SSAs daily life of hiding and running, dry season battles and the civilian village life that follows every step”

Consider also this view from from Michael

“The current military junta, with the Orwellian name of SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Committee), has been in control since 1988 when it cancelled the results of a democratic election and proceeded to kill and jail thousands. 

The symbol of the struggle, Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced Ong Sawn Sue Chee), has not been killed because she is the daughter of Burma’s equivalent of George Washington, the national hero Aung San who led the revolution for Burma’s independence after WWII. Educated in Britain and once having worked with the U.N., Suu Kyi’s character has been shaped by her father’s fierce belief in a free, democratic Burma, and by the nonviolence of Gandhi. (She got to know Gandhi’s story intimately when her mother was Burmese ambassador to India.)

The current crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations demands solidarity.  It will be difficult for governments to put pressure on the military unless China can be persuaded to threaten to cut off their lucrative natural gas contracts with Burma.”

I wondered if the oil and gas resources offer much leverage. According to the Energyfiles while there are good supplies of gas the overall forecast for oil is not that high. However other reports suggest differently.

“Myanmar (formerly Burma) was one of the first countries ever to produce oil (if not the first) from hand-dug wells hundreds of years ago. Production over a few barrels per day began in 1889 and has been erratic through the years declining to almost nothing for a period after World War 2.”

Here is an Indian perspective reported in the AsiaTimes

“Mukherjee, during recent visits to Thailand and South Korea, expanded a bit on New Delhi’s thinking. He said that India does not have any problems dealing with military regimes as it considers such issues “internal matters”.

New Delhi has to deal with four military-ruled states in its region – Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand and Myanmar. This is apart from communist-ruled China, Mukherjee said.”

Later on in the same article though  – Oil & Gas does come up – $600m p.a is still a large enough number to be concerned about.

Energy-hungry India and China are in competition over the massive Shwe natural gas development project, in which ONGC and India’s utility Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) are partners under the majority stakeholder, South Korea’s Daewoo.

Irked by delays in implementing the Myanmar-Bangladesh-India pipeline, and with strategic support from China at international forums, Myanmar has inked a memorandum of understanding with PetroChina to supply 6.5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas from Block A of the Shwe gas fields in the Bay of Bengal for over 30 years. PetroChina is the listed subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation.

The advent of China as an end-user creates an awkward situation as India will effectively be supplying gas to China, its biggest competitor for oil and gas.

Shwe is expected to generate up to $600 million in revenue every year for Myanmar over the next two decades.’

Unlike India, we do not share a border with Burma however, as a member country of the ARF forum of ASEAN there may be ways that we can use that connection to give hope to the people of Burma. It seems like the current crisis is exactly what the ARF forum was designed to do according to this note I found there.

“In recognition of security interdependence in the Asia-Pacific region, ASEAN established the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in 1994. The ARF’s agenda aims to evolve in three broad stages, namely the promotion of confidence building, development of preventive diplomacy and elaboration of approaches to conflicts.

The present participants in the ARF include: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Canada, China, European Union, India, Indonesia, Japan, Democratic Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea (ROK), Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, Singapore, Thailand, the United States, and Viet Nam.”

Must be time to check out what else can be done. Free Burma.