Bu rma Issu. August 2002 VOLUME 12 NUMBER 8 INFORMATION FOR ACTION CAMPAIGNS FOR PEACE GRASSROOTS EDUCATION AND ORGANIZING

Transcription

1 Bu rma Issu August 2002 VOLUME 12 NUMBER 8 l INFORMATION FOR ACTION CAMPAIGNS FOR PEACE GRASSROOTS EDUCATION AND ORGANIZING

2 EDUCATIONAL REFORM THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION FOR THE GRASSROOTS Jim and Mavis 0!sen have worked on the Burma issues Children's Education Program in Tham Hin Refugee Camp for the past five years. Originally set up in 1997, the project has drawn to its natural conclusion in 2002 and will now be passed on to the people who can implement it into the ethnic education systems. Tham Hin Refugee Camp is a small city of 9000 people including 3000 children, nestled deep in the hills of Suan Prung, Ratchaburi province of Western Thailand. It lies in a steep sided valley covered with lacy bamboo. A small stream winds its way through the valley and the Camp. The valleys are lush, beautiful and quiet. During the monsoon season the clouds are dramatic and alive. Downpours can be sudden and violent. After rain the bamboo hills turn a deeper green and glisten in the sunlight as the sun pokes through the clouds. Entrance to the Camp is controlled by a Thai Army check point. Passes are examined by the Army, and, if all is in order, the gate is raised and we are allowed to proceed to Tham Hin. It is about a half mile of small, closely packed, sooty black, tarpaulin roofed, bamboo houses surrounded by banana trees and gardens. In the morning the valley is often hazy from the smoke of many charcoal fires. As we drive down the main street, the children come out to watch us pass by. They now call out "hello" to us. Sometimes they become confused and call out "goodbye." This is actually a sign of English training in the Camp. Three years ago you would never have heard English from the children. Like much of south-east Asia Tham Hin is a contradiction. Many of the teachers in Tham Hin have spent a lifetime fighting in the jungles of Burma. Their health shows the sacrifices they have made. They are tired of fighting and ^ N Burma Issues is a publication of the Peace Way Foundation and is distributed on a free-subscription basis to individuals and groups concerned with the state of affairs in Burma. P.O. Box 1076 Silom Post Office Bangkok 10504, Thailand durham@mozart.inet.co.th "...able to lead or serve their people as committed citizens and capable of critical thinking so that they could negotiate on benalf of their people effectively". 2 desperately want a peaceful solution to the conflict in Burma. At the same time they are adamant that the Karen people must survive with their culture and language intact. For them, their children are the future. There is no compromise in their minds on that issue. This is the fundamental reason they are so interested in education reform. The teachers and many others in Karen society believe that the alternative to war is negotiation for peace. They also believe that the Karen people in the past have not been well prepared by their school system to be good negotiators. They believe that schools can help them prepare future leaders who have the ability to negotiate a better life for the Karen people. In 1997 they prepared a Vision Statement calling for the creation of a school system that could produce Karen graduates proud of their culture, able to lead or serve their people as committed citizens and capable of critical and creative thinking so that they could negotiate on behalf of their people effectively. Our role was to help the Tham Hin School System actualise that vision. We began our assignment with Karen teachers in the fall of The first year was an exercise in frustration because we were refused access to the Camp by the Thai authorities. Finally late in 1 998, we were occasionally allowed into the Camp and with the teachers we were able to design a project and begin work. One group was made up of twelve 'new' teachers who have not received much formal teacher training. In some cases members of this group have had up to twenty years of teaching experience. Others have never taught before. The second group are 'experienced' teachers, who have been part of the education reform project since There were about 30 teachers in this group. In April and May, the first group of 'new' teachers spent time looking at basic teaching strategies. We discussed the purpose of education within a society. That allowed teachers to think about what they thought education should be able to do for Karen people. Their conclusions were remarkably similar to the original vision paper created in We then went

3 on to discuss the process of creating unit plans and lesson plans as the fundamentals of effective teaching. The important distinction between this training and the more traditional training they may have experienced was an emphasis on teaching for critical and creative thinking within the classroom. Teachers learned to use teaching and evaluation strategies that encourage and support critical and creative thinking by students. In the 'experienced' class, teachers wanted to think about ways of encouraging students to become more involved in their learning. One of those ways is to help students ask more questions within the classroom. Teachers were also concerned to know more about environmental education and how to present it effectively in the classroom. They also wanted to examine ways of improving classroom discipline and motivation. We spent time discussing techniques of helping students feel they belonged to a "community of learners" where everyone including the teacher was in the process of learning. This is really the idea of life long learning where everyone must continually learn in order to keep up with the cultural change we all must face. Environmental issues are a good example of that process. Environmental change requires that all, young and old, must learn and adapt to new conditions and ways of living. We looked at a number of teaching strategies to accomplish this process. During April and May 2002, 29 new PPG (Parent Play Group) and primary teachers were trained by Karen Teacher Trainers. The Teacher Trainers have been developing their teacher training skills over the last two summers and have gradually been offering more and more of the four levels of professional training each year. This year they accomplished this unaided by Mavis. The various levels are written up as part of an extensive binder and 1 2 book document entitled "Pass It On: 10 Steps to Educational Reform" These materials are the compilation of the work of the educators over the past five years so 1 00 trained villagers may use them to change education in their village. As a postscript, we were back in Tham Hin Camp while school was in session. Gone are the rigid desks nailed to the walls that forced students to face the teacher in front of a chalkboard. These have been replaced by tables in which groups of six students sit facing each other and learn cooperatively. The classrooms now look like communities of scholars. Nursery students at Tham Hin Camp BI (1998) The conditions in these classrooms of 30 children on average will never be the same as Western schools, nor should they be. The heat and the bamboo construction requires that classrooms be open air rooms. Most classrooms have half wall partitions separating each room. The noise can be deafening when the children are playing games or singing. Some teachers resort to unison answering when the noise gets too loud thus adding to the noise. The noise and the fact that each classroom must be set up daily, requires stamina from both teachers and students. How teachers long to be safely back home in the quiet village schools. There are now 50 (soon to be 55) classrooms and 4 PPG centres in use. A second thrust this year is the final transfer of the project to the people in the Camp. Burma Issues is facilitating this transfer after we leave. The tentative plan is that Saw Gyi, the former Principal of Tham Hin Schools, will become the coordinator of the next phase of this project and liaise on a regular basis with a Burma Issues staff member. A presentation to the Karen Education Department will inform and involve them. The Children's Education Project plans to expand as a 'model' school in the Mae Sot area some 15 hours of travel from Tham Hin. Teacher Trainers from Tham Hin would train the Mae Sot teachers as well as other teachers visiting from inside Burma. Eventually teacher trainers would also be trained in that area. The logistics and details of such an ambitious phase are challenging, monumental and intricate. We are convinced that all the Karen Educators of Tham Hin have ever needed was freedom and good government. Let's make that our mission from now on in response to the Camp Committee Chair's request: 'Do not forget us'. 3

4 THE POWER OF THE FEW How is it that the minority that constitutes the ruling military in Burma can exert such power and influence over the majority people? It's a question that draws parallels the world over. In Burma, there are forms of power play the military has utilised for their own benefit, ensuring power lies with the elite few while the majority languish in some pretty dire conditions. This apparent acceptance of the current status by the majority people can be partially attributed to a feeling of being unable to change a system where the tools of maintaining power used by the military, often go unrecognised. Add together the conditions that have allowed the military to maintain its position and you face a formidable structure to try and oppose. In order for the grassroots people to challenge these set structures, to destroy the monopoly power the military has over them, they need to be aware of the existence of these sometimes subtle manoeuvres of the military and the part the people play in maintaining these structures. This is the first step towards extinguishing the importance of these structures and ultimately instigating their own system of governance based on a fair and just system. By failing to recognise these tools of oppressive power they face the possibility of continuing them in their own communities. CREATING A CLIMATE OF FEAR The military has quite successfully created a climate of fear that encompasses almost every aspect of life in Burma. The fear of those in the ethnic regions is quite valid. They are faced daily with the constant task of survival. Not only are they faced with abuses such as forced labour, death and relocations, they are also punished for aiding the ethnic armies, often enduring horrendous abuses regardless of whether they are guilty of this accusation or not. Whole villagers have been relocated to try and stem the support of ethnic resistance groups; they are in effect trying to turn the ethnic groups against their own armies in an attempt to isolate them. Land and livelihood is lost and people run for their lives. Militia's are also employed by the military in an attempt to get villagers to do their bidding, local people that are forced to act for the army and in turn receive inadequate compensation of not being forced to porter, do labour or pay taxes. It fosters a system of incentive rewards for those who follow the militaries rule and it pits villagers against each other, further supporting the system of a fractured resistance to the military. The urban areas are not free of this climate of fear either. The militaries use of informers and intelligence agents that sow the seeds of doubt even amongst those you had presumed were friends has been an effective tool. Informers have turned friends in, family members have informed against each other, it is a constant cycle of looking over your shoulder and not knowing who you can trust. And then there is just pure intimidation, faced with a jail sentence or the butt of a gun one has little choice but to live in fear for ones life. SPREAD OF INFORMATION While the military have tight control over the information technologies within Burma they have a firm grip on the information filtered through to the people. The military have a monopoly over the media and communications; the two main dailies the New Light of Myanmar and the Myanmar Times both with military connections and in the case of the New Light of Myanmar seen as the militaries mouthpiece. Internet usage has only recently being introduced and restrictions placed on what websites people can access. The generals have frequently incited patriotism through media outlets, recently printing articles defaming Thailand's monarchy and calling on mass demonstrations to show their patriotism and solidarity against those who threatened Burma's sovereignty. While the majority of people mightn't agree with such shows of feverish anti-feeling they are compelled to participate or face imprisonment or even death. The spread of lies and deception has become part of the system. The communication lines between Rangoon and the local military authorities is one of positive portrayal to those in command regardless of its truth. It can be debated whether the generals in Rangoon even have an inkling of how their military is operating out in the border regions and those in authority in these local areas feed back to the generals only the information they know they want to hear. It is a structure based on hearsay and poses problems for people at all levels, but has thrived in creating a nation of people uncertain of what is really going on and living day to day in state of fear. SOCIAL STRUCTURES In a society that places high value on the cohesive family unit the military have made a concerted effort to split this feeling of being part of a community. Part of this process has 4

5 been breaking down the group to the individual. They do this by isolating groups from each other, like the democracy movement from the ethnic groups, and in the international community they have been quite successful in maintaining focus on Aung San Suu Kyi and the democracy movement and giving very little attention to the ethnic conflicts. They isolate the activists from the general population trying to lay the blame of current conditions squarely in the lap of the activists. It is the activists or the democracy movement or the ethnic groups who are aggravating the problems of Burma, not the military power and in this way they are creating scapegoats they hope the general population will blame for their own living standards. Restrictions on the assembly of groups, making communal groups register and become affiliated with the USDA; it's all slowly breaking down the possibility of mass gatherings that question and demonstrate differing views to those held by the ruling military. What one finds easier to do as a united group is a whole lot harder as an individual. By breaking apart this societal fabric the military are effectively destroying any ability for mass dissention against their ruling system. EDUCATION Education, or the lack of it, has been one of the most potent tools the military yields. A Burmese educator once wrote, "Education gives you confidence in yourself and strength to make decisions. The more people are uneducated, the more you can keep them down". 1 By maintaining Burma as a relatively uneducated population the military deem them as less of a threat to protest against the regime. The education system that does exist is run from a curriculum set out by the military which denies any active participation in the process by teachers or students. It has created an education system of absorption, not participation and discussion, again this is conducive to an obedient non-questioning population. Both the lack of education and controlled education are supportive of the regimes position of exerting power over the people. Most of the major activities of dissent in Burma in the past 60 years have been student based, university closures foremost when any kind of unrest occurs. This common trait of student instigated unrest has made the military paranoid about the strength and dissent that exists in its student education facilities. Not only is The mouth-piece of military propoganda BI (2002) there a serious lack of education in the ethnic areas but Burma's tertiary education has had a tumultuous ten years with no real long-term further education open to those wishing to pursue it. Nevertheless recognition and understanding amongst the ethnic communities and those working to empower these groups, of the militaries use of control and obedience, is taking form. In building up the grassroots movement that can bring a just and peaceful solution to Burma's problems it is necessary that these fundamental causes of conflict, oppression and power monopoly are part of the equation in the search for solutions. If they aren't addressed in their current form then there is the danger of their repetition in future governance. The people can only break free from these constraints by recognition and understanding of where it is coming from and the role they must play in its dissolution and there are many groups within Burma already setting these principles in place. It is a well-worn path, that of controlled power of the few over the many, history dictates it as an oppressive, hardship strewn way. It's not a path people willingly take and all efforts must be made to ensure that the powerless majority have their voice. Tha Lay 1. Living Silence: Burma Under Military Rule, Christina Fink, White Lotus 5

6 JUST A BAD DREAM Although a large portion of Shan State has signed cease-fire agreements with the SPDC, the instability of the state and the security of the shan people is still at great risk. Fighting between the SSA and the SPDC and Wa militaries has forced thousands of people to flee across the border to Thailand. Thailand has no policy for refugee camps for the Shan people and those who have managed to stay on the Thai side of the border live in substandard conditions. There are many reasons for the exodus of the shan people from their home land. This is just one story. There are many mountains and many lush, green plants. Among them is a beautiful house. I lived here. I lived here with my father, my mother and my younger brother. I had been living here ever since I was born. But father never lived here for a long time. I always thought my father just went out, maybe to do some business, because he would come back after one month. When I asked my mother, she said my father was a soldier. I was not interested in hearing about that. One day however, I remembered that he was a soldier, and I would never forget it again, because that day caused my family to separate and taught me who I am and who my father was. That day I was very happy because my father came back. But when I looked at my mother I saw that she was gathering some things and putting them into bags. And my father was looking for something or someone outside with his anxious eyes. Then my mother said to my father, "You take your first-born son and go to the fields. I will take the little one and I will go north because there is a town nearby." I was only three years old, and I didn't understand what they were talking about. Outside the house I saw some people wearing green suits. They were holding many guns in their arms. And then they shouted at us, "Hey! Come out! We have orders to arrest you. Don't run away. If you run, we will shoot you." When I heard that, I got very afraid. My father looked at my mother and said, "Go! Go! Take our little boy and go. I will take my firstborn and go now." My mother kissed me before she left. And then she took my brother and ran away behind the house, carrying a bag with food in it. My father said to me, "Son, we have to go now. If we survive, one day we will meet your mother and brother again." As soon as we ran out, guns shot down our beautiful house. I saw some people following us. My father said, "Don't worry son, we will escape. We won't go to the fields; we will go to the jungle. Maybe we will be safe from harm there, but we will miss your mother and your little brother. We might have trouble, because I don't have any experience with the jungle." One of the bullets hit a branch beside me. I was so afraid when I saw it. Sometimes they pointed their big guns directly at us and shot. Fortunately those bullets did not hit us. They didn't think we were people. They thought we were animals. They didn't have any compassion. I said to my father, "Father, they're still following us. I am so afraid. I miss my mother. When will we be together like before?" "Son, they will follow us until they can arrest us." I saw many trees beside me. Beautiful flowers, animals, and trees. I didn't know everything was so beautiful before. I wanted only peace. I didn't want war. I wished I could live in peace. The two of us, my father and I, were running for peace. Then we got so hungry. But we couldn't stop running. I asked my father, "Father, where are we now?" My father said, "I don't know where we are. It is going to be dark soon. Don't be afraid, son, soon we will escape from harm." "I hope so," I said to myself. My stomach was calling for food. But I didn't tell my father because I felt sorry for him. When I lived with my mother she used to tell me that we were descended from the Aki Tai people and used to have our own feudal lords. We could do everything we wanted, go everywhere we wanted, without paying taxes or being checked by soldiers. We got a good education and had a lot of work to do. As our feudal lords always praised educated people, many people became educated. The meaning of Shan, the name of my people, is "free and blessed". And she told me about our land, about how big Shan State was before the English came in the 18th century and gave some of it to Burma. And she told me about how General Ne Win took over Burma and Shan State in 1962 and established his brutal dictatorship. I forgot about being in the jungle, hungry and afraid, when I remembered what my mother had told me. At that time my father stopped running. So I looked around. It was too dark to see anything. "Son, let's take a rest and eat some food." I was so tired. Our bodies and our hands were dirty. We couldn't wash our bodies, so we had to eat our food with dirty hands. I had never eaten like that before. After we had finished 6

7 eating, I tried to go to sleep, but I couldn't because there were so many mosquitoes. We couldn't make a fire, because if the soldiers had seen us, they would have killed us. From time to time I heard a tiger roaring. In the morning, when I touched my father, his skin was so hot. I got so afraid. I couldn't help my father. I wanted to cry because there was nobody to help us. There were only people who wanted to kill us. There are no kind people in this world. Why? My life turned dark. All I could do was hope that my father would get better soon, and he did. I was so happy! And then we continued our hazardous flight. I didn't know whether the soldiers were still following us. We had a lot of trouble in the jungle, but eventually, after three days, we came to a small village where the Akha people live. They were so kind and generous to us. They gave us something to eat and drink. Then my father sent me to my grandparents. At that time I was going to be four years old. From my grandparents I heard the bad news that my father was Burmese. They told me that the soldiers were following us because my father had not complied with the orders of the Burmese government. These orders were and still are: Burmese soldiers have to marry Shan women to "Burmanise" them, that is, turn them into Burmese women. This law says:"to get married to a girl who is a merchant, or a feudal lady, or a rich man's daughter, is an order the soldiers must obey. Soldiers who marry such a girl will be rewarded. Those Shan people can only destroy our Burma. And they are not our nationals. So we have to oppress them until they disappear from Burma. This is most important. You have to comply with that. If you do so, your family can live in peace." That way they want the soldiers to oppress the Shan people until they are all gone - killed, run away, "Burmanised", our culture extinguished. They have many other ways to destroy our Shan people, to destroy our kindness, hospitality, love, our culture, religion, our farmland, our villages and towns, our businesses, our natural resources, our lives. The weapons they use are not only guns and bombs but also rape, torture, drugs, AIDS, prostitution, armed robbery, forced relocation, forced labour, slavery and they deny us the right to education. We don 't know how to defend ourselves, prevent the Burmese government from destroying the Shan. We do not have enough education and people who are able to tell the world what is going on in Shan State. We don 't know how to help ourselves. We need help from others, from the outside world, before our people are all gone and Shan State is no more. When I heard the news that my father was Burmese, I got furious and my heart missed a beat. I couldn't believe that my father was Burmese. Why? I was then, and still am, so afraid of the tricks and atrocities carried out by the Burmese government. I didn't want to be a human any longer. I didn't have the courage to face my father. But my father was gone anyway. Before he left, he had written a letter to me. In this letter he said, "Son, when you get this letter I will be far away from you. I am a Burmese soldier. If you come to know that you will hate me. But, son, you are my son and your mother is my wife. I love my family with all my heart. These words come straight from my heart. Never ever think that I don't love you and your family. I love you, and that's why I leave you and my beloved family. If I stay with my family you will have a lot of trouble. At first I decided that I will oppress whatever is Shan in this family but I couldn't. Because I love you and your family too much. Have good luck, son." In the meantime my mother had taken my little brother and escaped to Thailand to live in safety and earn some money. I was lonely without my parents and little brother, even though my Photo by KHRG grandparents loved me very much. During my stay with them, I one day heard the news that my father was dead. When I heard that news I got very sad, because, even though he was Burmese, he was my father. I know, I won't forget him all my life. I have never seen my mother and my little brother again. All I could do was try to forget everything and start a new life. I wanted to learn as much as I could. Because I didn't want our Shan people to become like my family. So when I was 13 years old I started learning Shan literature and since I turned 1 5 I have been teaching Shan literature to small children. I also intend to become a good English teacher to teach our Shan people who haven't got any education. And I would like to become a doctor to treat my Shan and teach them how to avoid certain illnesses. I don't know how to achieve my goals but one day, I hope, I will be able to help my people in Shan State. 7

8 news muslim separatists trained by taliban? Burma's military government accused Muslim separatists operating on its border with Bangladesh of having been trained by Afghanistan's Taliban militia, and in "terrorist camps" in the Middle East. "We subsequently learned that some of these individuals were actually trained by the Taliban in Afghanistan, as well as in the terrorist training camps in the Middle East," said government spokesman Colonel Hla Min. "The Myanmar government, practicing its zero tolerance policy in such matters, vigorously confronted the activities of this group threatening the national as well as regional security". Hla Min said Burma pledged to work with the United States and neighbouring Southeast Asian nations in eradicating terrorism from the region. Burmese Muslim dissidents living in exile denied accusations that they have connections to the Taliban or to the Rohingya separatists of Burma. "That is impossible," says U Kyaw Hla, chairman of the Muslim Liberation Organization of Burma (MLOB). "If the Taliban trained and supported the Rohingya exiles, they would be much stronger and much larger. We know some Rohingya from Bangladesh, but briefs we have no special connection to that group." 'Exiled Muslims Deny Taliban Connections Irrawaddy, August ski resort in northern burma. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has conveyed his interest in helping Burma develop a remote, mountainous area of northern Burma into an international ski resort. Thaksin, passed along his vision of a ski resort in Burma's northern Kachin state through his foreign minister, Surakiart Sathirathai, who visited Rangoon in August, according to The Nation newspaper. He said Thaksin instructed him to convey his ski resort idea to the junta's senior generals along with his desire to get the project going as soon as possible. However, when Thaksin first publicly mentioned his ski resort vision in April - before the border dispute - it was deemed impractical by some critics, "Myanmar is the only country in ASEAN that has snow," Thaksin said at that time. "The mountainous area has the potential to attract a lot of tourists." 'Thai Prime Minister conveys his vision of Myanmar ski resortdeutsche Presse-Agentur, August 8 dissidents arrested in thailand. Nearly three-dozen Thai-based Burmese democracy supporters were arrested on August 20, after Thai police raided two offices and a church in the Thai-Burma border town of Sangklaburi, according to residents there. The move sends a fresh signal to Burmese dissidents in Thailand that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's government is poised to stop Burmese prodemocracy groups from operating in Thailand. Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi told The Irrawaddy, "It is not appropriate to crackdown on dissidents and pro-democracy supporters who do not break the laws [in their host countries]" She also said that those who have been expressing their political beliefs peacefully should not be harassed. "We don't know why they arrested our people," says Kyaw Htet, chairperson of the People's Democratic Front (PDF). Members of the DPNS, the PDF, the NLD-LA, the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) and the Mon Youth Progressive Organisation (MYPO) were among those arrested. 'Democracy Supporters Arrested: Suu Kyi Speaks OutIrrawaddy Magazine, August 20. BURMA ISSUES PO BOX 1076 SILOM POST OFFICE BANGKOK THAILAND ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED PRINTED MATERIALS AIRMAIL