INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION FOR BURMA

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aturday, October 6 has been set as a day for international action in support of the freedom movement in Burma.

Sign the petition Stand with the Burmese Protesters and send it to your friends and family. They have almost 650,000 signers, and are going for a million. The petition targets the dictatorship's main patron and beneficiary -- China. And the UN Security Council:

To Chinese President Hu Jintao and the UN Security Council:

We stand alongside the citizens of Burma in their peaceful protests. We urge you to oppose a violent crackdown on the demonstrators, and to support genuine reconciliation and democracy in Burma. We pledge to hold you accountable for any further bloodshed.

A Thai translation of the petition may be found here. The main page carries this information which is important to pass on to anyone in Burma now.

EMERGENCY NUMBER ISSUED BY UN IN BURMA: The UN Designated Official in Rangoon has established a 24 hour hotline in case of emergency, especially during curfew hours. The numbers to call are: 01 554 597 or 01 554 625. Please pass this to all people inside Burma.

Scroll down the main page to see the listings for international actions today -- a pretty impressive list. Friends in Vancouver:

SATURDAY . 6 October- Global Day of Action! Vancouver Art Gallery Noon - start time!
Facebook link: http://trentu.facebook.com/event.php?eid=5349772797

Friends in London:

There is a demonstration outside the Burmese Embassy in London every day from 12-1pm. We had 300 outside the Embassy on 27th , we then marched through central London to the Chinese Embassy.
Embassy of the Union of Myanmar
19 A CHARLES STREET
LONDON W1J 5DX
Nearest tube Green Park
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/events_details.asp?EventsID=538

SATURDAY 6th October
Global Day of Action for Burma - London March and Rally
Assemble at Tate Britain at *11.00am*, nearest tube Pimlico. March to *Trafalgar Square* for a spectacular rally at *12.45pm* http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=6384776103

Friends in Thailand:

*Bangkok*
MARCH FOR PEACE AND DEMOCRACY IN BURMA
8.00 am March begins at Democracy Monument, heading towards Thammasat University
9.30am Speeches by group representatives at Larnpo near Chao Praya river, Buddhist ceremony and historical tours of Thammasat University
12pm Sign petition together in front of Thammasat small meeting hall
2pm Join the October 6th memorial program at small meeting hall

*Chaing Mai*
SATURDAY, 6 October 12:00 noon Three Kings Monument

*Mae Sai*
Northern Thailand (60 kms north of Chiang Rai)
Right on the Border with Burma Saturday
3 pm onwards
wear red tshirt videoincubator@gmail.com

And dozens of other cities in North America, Africa, Asia and Europe. Check it for events near you. More information can be found at US Campaign for Burma, with resource materials for your event. There is another petition by the international bloggers for Burma in our sidebar. (This is the campaign which prompted me to assemble the banners I posted on Thursday in lieu of a post. So I had a lot I wanted to post yesterday, but your humble host was hit by some sort of cyber attack. It took me the entire day and most of the night to get back up and running.)

Here are some very good articles whose links I saved before my computer was knocked down:

Myanmar frees journalist held for 6 days - Yahoo! News

Pre-dawn raids net Burmese protesters | The Australian

Jail part of a journo's job in Burma | The Australian

Magnetic Island News - Magnetic Island, North Queensland, Australia

IOL: Japan to press charges against Myanmar troops

IOL: Cimate of fear in Myanmar: US envoy

IOL: UN staff member held in Myanmar

Dozens arrested as Myanmar junta tightens grip - Yahoo! News

And this one, which I include only to show how Reuters, with its layers of editors and fact-checkers (as one critic snarked to me about my "coverage"), got it wrong again:

L.A. professor triggers Myanmar Web shutdown - Yahoo! News

Tue Oct 2, 5:09 PM ET Reuters

Suu Kyi was elected as a pro-democracy president in a free election in 1990, then rejailed and kept in house arrest almost nonstop ever since.
[since updated on Oct. 4, but the passage remains]

No, Suu Kyi was never elected in the 1990 elections, because she wasn't allowed to run in them. Her party won about 85% of the seats in parliament while she was under house arrest. And as a parliamentary system, if she had been allowed to run as her party leader, she would have been elected Prime Minister, not President.

Labels: Burma

- posted by Agam @ 1:18 PM 0 comments

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