A dictatorship is a type of government in which a person or group of people rules a country with absolute power. Dictatorships can be established through violence and maintained through physical force and a limitation of people’s freedom of speech and behavior. They may also employ techniques of mass propaganda in order to sustain their public support.
Ei Ei Aung: “I should have chance to say what I want.”
Today there are over 1,600 political prisoners in Burma. Because they said what they wanted to say, the government considers them enemies.
It has been twenty years of building a movement for buildOn. Twenty years of weekends spent doing community service. Twenty years of summers spent in third-world countries helping build schools. That is what twenty years have been like for…
Tanhsaungmone and The Medicine Night
Abhaya – Burma’s Fearlessness, by James MacKay, with a foreword by Aung San Suu Kyi.
Aw Pi Kyeh (APK) chose this pen name because it means ‘loudspeaker’ in Burmese. His cartoons dare to shout out loud about the military junta that rules Burma. In 2007 he was banned from publishing inside Burma after he supported monks in their peaceful protests during the Saffron Revolution. Following that, colleagues who even mentioned his name in an article were suppressed.
Burmese Hip-Hop singer Zayar Thaw. Photo: DVB
The Irrawaddy is the river the most well known and the longest inBurma. It flows along from north to south. It begins where the two rivers Mayka and Maylika meet at the north of Burma at the Kachinstate. The visitors love to see the rencontre of the two rivers. Wecall it ‘MyitSon’ (le rencontre de deux rivieres). This place alwaysattracts people so much.
The Irrawaddy flows north to south, so it passes many towns and manyplaces along streaming. I have little chance to visit ‘MyitSon’. But I have many chances to see the river Irrawaddy when I visit the countries which are near Irrawaddy. My grandmother always pointed the Irrawaddy when we were closed to see it. ‘Look, you see the river flowing there! It is called the river ‘Irrawaddy’.’ I looked what my grandmother was pointing, the river was very wide and never ending flowing. Under the sunshine the surface of the river was as shine as gold. If we saw the river Irrawaddy at the night, the river seemed flowing silently and the surface of the river as glow as lightening under the moon lit night.
Long time ago, we, the whole family travelled many regions of Burma especially middle part. Mandalay, Sitkaing, Monywa were mainly visited. We spent many days to visit pagodas there. Sometimes we stayed at the cottage or lodging of our grandparents’ native friend. Sometimes we stayed at the monastery.
(Left: the old cover of “Three Years Under the Japs;” it had “Published by KHIN MYO Chit, 24 Zabuzi Street, SANCHAUNG” and “printing at THE ROYAL STATIONARY, 408-410 Dalhousie Street, RANGOON” written on the back. The addresses are now hard to find. They contain the old memories of our grandparents, despite the fact that they lived in the place for only a year or two. Right: The new cover of the book in 2011.)
“A day in Phyu Phyu Thin’s life start with a phone call in the morning. She then tends to her patients and helps them out according to their needs. In spite of all her hard work, she does not look tired at all. In fact, she is graceful and smiling with whatever work she has to do.”
Junior Win: I am a writer in BurmaI start my writing since 1996 at the AtwayAmyin monthly magazine. AtwayAmyin(thought) magazine is like Readers Digest magazine. It contains about 30 articles published monthly.
