Driving for a Free Burma

Kyaw Si Thu who is touring North America on a "Driving for Burma" campaign will arrive Vancouver, BC on Dec 22, 2007 (TBC) in his beautiful BMW (see blog http://drivingforburma.blogspot.com/). Plans are in place for a car parade on Monday, December 24th to drive along Vancouver's famous shopping strips, Robson, Davie and Granville Streets. We encourage you to join our car parade in a drive for "Free Burma" Campaign. Below are the details:

Date: Monday, December 24, 2007

Meeting time: 11:30 for 12:00 p.m. start

Meeting Place: IMPARK parking lot between Cambie and Beatty (on Georgia) - adjacent to Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

Route: Exit parking lot (left turn) on Cambie, cross George intersection and turn right on Robson Street; drive along Robson till Denman Street, and then turn left on Davie Street; drive along Davie and turn right on Howe Street; drive across Granville Bridge, and along Granville Street until 16th Avenue. Then, turn left into 16th Avenue and stop. End of tour. The Chinese Consulate is on Granville @16th Avenue.

Any comments or suggestions are welcome. We look forward to your support and participation. Please ensure that you have your "Free Burma" bumper sticks on your car.

Christmas Potluck at Vancouver Unitarian Church

The Action Committee for Free Burma Campaign and Voices of Burma is co-hosting a Christmas Potluck lunch to celebrate solidarity and welcome the holiday season. There will be entertainment plus an open mic for those wishing to share their musical talent. Children's art from the Voices of Burma collection will be featured in a "lucky draw".

Please bring your favourite dish to share, meet old friends and make new ones. Come one, come all to enjoy the festive season.

Date: Saturday, December 15, 2007
Time: 12:30 to 3:00 p.m.
Place: Vancouver Unitarian Church, 949 West 49th Avenue (at Oak), Vancouver, BC.

A Very Special Thank you!!

Last Saturday, Nov 24, 2007, a Burmese Food Fair took place to raise funds for the monks in Burma, for their alms, medicine and basic necessities. Even though it was short notice, we had an overwhelming turnout, and raised a total of C$ 3,357.00. A bank draft for the amount of same, made payable to "MoeMaKa, was sent via registered mail today. MoeMaKa Radio and Multimedia will in turn ensure that the funds get to the monks in Burma, and will also be posting news about this donation on their website.

We could not have done this without the support of friends from the the Burmese-Canadian Community, which include various ethnic nationalities. Thank you to all who cooked, cleaned, set up, advertised, encouraged, and attended to suppor the fundraising. Thank you as well to all musicians and entertainers, and a special thank you to singer Tiffany and our little dancer, Thazin.

Below is a summary of the funds received:

From food sale: C$ 2,415.00 (this inclueds not only profit but also cost, as most of the sellers donated the entire amount)

Sale from Raffle tickets: C$ 362.00 (The first prize winner Ms. Aye Lwin Moe donated her winnings of C$150.00 toward the fundraising).

Sayadaw U Sanda .................. C$ 100.00
Ms. Julie Woo ................. C$ 150.00
Ko Kyaw Kyaw & Family .............C$ 100.00
Ko Kyaw Hoe & Family ............. C$ 100.00
Ma Theingi, Ko YaZar & family .... C$ 100.00
Ms. Thazin.........................C$ 30.00

You ... wake up

List of Canadian Companies doing business in Burma

List of Canadian companies that work hand in glove
with Burmese military regime

1	Ivanhoe Mines Limited Waterfront Centre Suite # 900 200 Burrard Street Vancouver, BC, V6C 3L6 Robert M. Friedland
2	Tai Foong International Limited 2900 Markham Road Scarborough, ON M1X 1E6 David Lam
3	CHC Helicopter Corporation Hangar No. 1 John’s Airport St. John’s, Newfoundland A1C 5V5 Craig L. Dobbin
4	Taiga Consultants Limited # 4, 1944-9th Avenue S.E. Calgary, AB, T2G 0V2
5	TG World Energy Coporation 2000, 736 6th Avenue S.W. Calgary, AB, T2P 3T7
6	Trimark Athletic Supplies 8688 Woodbine Avenue Markham, ON, L3R 8B9
7	Saan Stores Limited 1370 Sony Place Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 3C3 Bob Whitney
8	Midland Foods (Winnipeg) Inc. 900 Nairn Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba R2L 0X8
9	East Asia Gold Corp 40 King Street West, Suite # 2100 Toronto, ON, M5H 3C2 John B. Hite
10	GAP Adventures 19 Charlotte Street Toronto, ON, M5V 2H5 Frank Schuran Director of Product
11	Teleglobe 1555 rue Carrie-Derick Montreal, Quebec H3C 6W2
12	Midland Seafoods Inc. 138 St. Helen Avenue Toronto, ON, M6H 4A1
13	Export Packers Company Limited 107 Walker Drive Brampton, ON, L6T 5K5
14	TransCanada PipeLines Limited 450 - 1 Street SWCalgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 5H1

**The above list is provided by Canadian Campaign for free Burma

Invitation: Burmese Food Fair

Date:	Saturday, November 24, 2007
Time:	12:00 p.m. to 03:00 p.m.
Location:	#210 Trout Lake Community Centre
	3350 Victoria Drive
	Vancouver, BC V5N 4M4

The proceeds will go to monks in Burma who are in need of medicine and basic necessities.

Feature Dishes
- Th-Nat-Sone (Vegetables Pickles)
- Kyar-Zann-Hin (Vermecelli Chicken & Fish Ball Soup)
- Chin Paung Kyaw (Burmese Style Fried Rosella)
- Nga Pi Kyaw (Burmese Style Deep Fried Fish Paste)
- A Mae Tharr Hinn (Beef Curry)
- Kyat Tharr Hinn (Chicken Curry)
- Moh Hin Gharr (Burmese Rice Vermicelli with Fish Soup)
- Pann Thay Khaukswe (Pan Fried Noodle with Curry Sauce)
- Green Bean Salad (Burmese Style Green Bean Salad)
- Assorted Burmese Style Sweets

Canada says tougher sanctions on Burma

Canada says to impose tougher sanctions on Myanmar Wed Nov 14, 11:50 AM ETOTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will tighten existing sanctions against Myanmar after the military junta's recent clampdown on demonstrators, Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier said on Wednesday. In September, the junta crushed the biggest pro-democracy protests in nearly 20 years, killing at least 10 people. Myanmar was formerly known as Burma. "Canada has long had measures against Burma. Now, we are going to impose the toughest sanctions in the world ... they are right on moral grounds. The regime in Burma is abhorrent to Canadian values," Bernier said in a speech in Toronto. He said Canada would:* ban all exports to Myanmar, except for humanitarian goods, and bar all imports* freeze Canadian assets of Myanmar citizens connected with the junta* prohibit the provision of Canadian financial services and the export of technical data to Myanmar* ban new investment by Canadian individuals and firms* ban ships and aircraft registered in either country from visiting the other"There is no more room for compromise with this odious regime," said Bernier. No figures for annual trade between the two nations were immediately available. Last month, the House of Commons granted honorary citizenship to Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent nearly 12 of the last 18 years in prison or under house arrest.

demonstration in Vancouver

Burmese activists and Canadians rally at Robson Square downtown Vancouver on November 10th, 2007 to support democratic movements in Burma.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD5h7WYWOLk

Unplayed Piano: Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan

Unplayed Piano Lyrics
The song was written for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi following a visit by Damien Rice to Burma in July 2004.

Come and see me
Sing me to sleep
Come and free me
Hold me if i need to weep
Maybe it's not the season
Maybe it's not the year
Maybe there's no good reason
Why i'm locked up inside
Just cause they wanna hide me
The moon goes bright
The darker they make my night

* Unplayed pianos
Are often by a window
In a room where nobody loved goes
She sits alone with her silent song
Somebody bring her home

Unplayed piano
Still holds a tune
Lock on the lid
In a stale, stale room
Maybe it's not that easy
Or maybe it's not that hard
Maybe they could release me
Let the people decide
I've got nothing to hide
I've done nothing wrong
So why have i been here so long?

[Repeat *]

[Repeat *]

Unplayed piano
Still holds a tune
Years pass by
In the changing of the moon
www.onlylyrics.com

Open letter to all Burmese-Canadians living in Canada

To,

Burmese-Canadians
British Columbia, Canada

Dear Friends,

The situation in Burma right now is at a critical point and we need to get serious.

It is time for all to take active measures to secure the freedom of the people of Burma.

I am appealing to our fellow Burmese Canadians to get involved and join the movement. There are many foreigners around the world who are actively involved in the movement to free Burma and the Burmese people. Your close relatives and/or friends are suffering hardship, and your religion is being destroyed under the military regime.

Please get involved in politics, don’t let politicians or the so-called military regime do whatever they want to do. If you don’t want to get involved in politics, please get involved in this cause as a humanitarian issue, please get involved as a religion issue because many Buddhist monks and nuns were brutally shot and violently beaten and their monasteries destroyed.

Some people say that there is nothing you can do from here to stop that military government. You may be right but think carefully. One of the strongest reasons why people are standing in a group, holding signs, shouting slogans and even perhaps standing up to speak in public are attempts to stop what the military government is doing to its own people inside Burma. Let me give you an example. There is a house in your neighbourhood which has violence inside as some powerful men are beating others. When people gather outside this house and shout "stop beating and stop killing people", the persons who are beating others might stop beating or killing or even free those who are being beaten .

That is one reason and purpose for demonstrations. When people from around the world are demonstrating against the Burmese military regime, there are so many positive evidences such as release of politician prisoners, cease of arresting people, and small basic human rights improvement. When people do more, the results could be phenomenal.

I have heard that many Burmese are saying that you can’t do anything to change the military government and so on. I want those people to think about what they are saying. If you say that you can’t do; and I say I can’t do, who else will do anything, and who will try to change that brutal government.

Please don’t give up hope; sometimes it only takes one person to change the world.

Here are ways you can help free Burma and the Burmese people.

• Drop by the weekend demonstrations that take place every Saturday at noon in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery at Robson Square;
• Bring your friends and colleagues to attend the weekend demonstration;
• If you do not want to get involved, just drop by and watch what others are doing; we need more people; the more people we have the better;
• If you don’t have time to do those, please drop by to just sign the petitions;
• You can attend periodic meetings and share your ideas on this blog.

I warmly welcome any comment.

Yours sincerely,

William Aung
Vancouver, Canada

partywilly@yahoo.com

Let's all push it together

ONE VOICE FOR BURMA

The purpose of posting these slogans is to have uniformity when we use them in weekly peaceful rallies. Let us all have one voice!

Free Free .. .. .. .. ..	Burma Burma
Burmese Junta .. .. .. .. ..	Down Down
Free Free .. .. .. .. ..	Aung San Suu Kyi
Free Free .. .. .. .. ..	Buddhist Monks
Political Prisoners .. .. .. .. ..	Free them now!
We want .. .. .. .. ..	UN Action!
Boycott Boycott .. .. .. .. ..	China Olympics
United .. .. .. .. ..	We Stand

Freedom march in Vancouver, Oct 27th, 2007

Burmese activists and canadians march on the streets of downtown Vancouver to support democratic movements in Burma.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uatbmB-4KBE

Are worldwide protests going to do any good for Burma?

I often wondered as I watched many different groups protest for different causes if it really does any good. You may have seen or heard about some of the protests around Greater Vancouver: the human rights groups, the protests against war, the rallies for anti-poverty, the list goes on.

Then I spoke to a learned colleague at the office and he told me this: it only takes one person to change the world. When you all stand in a group, signs held high, shouting slogans and even perhaps standing up to speak in public, and only a handful of people watching you (quite disheartening) that handful of people might be moved enough to do something, and the rest is a chain reaction. It didn't convince me right away but it made me think.

What convinced me is reading Marcus Gee's article in the Globe and Mail, dated Friday, Oct 5, 2007, page A17. The title was, "It may not look that way, but the Saffron Revolution is just beginning". Marcus said, "The plain fact is that non-violence protest doesn't always work." But then, he also goes on to say, " Don't lose hope yet. Recent history shows that, from South Africa to Ukraine, non-violent action has a remarkable track record against even the beastliest regimes. " "...New York-based Freedom House studied 67 transitions to democracy over a third of a century and found that 50 sprang from non-violent resistance - boycotts, strikes, civil disobedience and mass protests." If you get a chance, I urge you to read Marcus Gee's article.

Still you might ask, what does that have to do with protests taking place outside of Burma? The answer is that if every citizen of Burma presently residing in a foreign country, regardless of race or religion, joined in the movement, it could make the world leaders, shareholders, businesses and the general population at large get interested enough not only to empathize with the plight of the citizens of Burma, but also do all that it can to support Burma's struggle for democracy and basic human rights. Sanctions are in place, and the UN is taking action. But it is not enough. We need to keep the momentum going, and we need to be united.

I hope that you too will be moved, just enough, to support Burma's struggle for democracy and human rights. Let us join hands and make history!

Peace & Love,
Maria

Freedom march for Aung San Suu Kyi, Downtown, Vancouver

About 100 people marched in unity from the Vancouver Art Gallery to Vancouver Public Library at 12:00 noon today, and read a media statement at the end of rally. The statement spoke in general about Burma's continued state of oppression - exacerbated by the so called non-intefering policy of neighbouring countries - and the need for consistent and effective pressure by the UN Security Council and the world in general. In order to begin a meaningful dialogue with the military junta, Aung San Suu Kyi must be free and be able to work with her opposition party.

Light a Candle for Peace, Downtown, Vancouver

Today, October 24, 2007 marks 12 years that the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi, has spent her time under house arrest in Burma, a country ruled for the last 45 years by military dictatorship.

A Candle Light Vigil was held at Robson Square, Vancouver, to honor Aung San Suu Kyi and those who have died, and who have been arrested for their involvement in recent peaceful demonstration in Burma. See action in youtube.

Global Day of Action, Chinese Consulate, Broadway, Vancouver

Burmese activists stood in front of the visa office of the Chinese Consulate to demand the release of political prisoners in Burma.

Freedom March, Downtown, Vancouver

Burmese march in Vancouver, BC, Canada to support democratic movement in Burma. See action in youtube.

SUPPORT THE MONKS!

Jim Carrey Call to Action : UN Must Act

See also Jim Carrey's call to Action on Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi

Moment of Truth