Burma

Raul Connolly, Green Left Weekly
10 April 2010 -- Burma Campaign Australia said on March 30 that Burma political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), will not register in the forthcoming national election in Burma.
The NLD said the recently announced election laws were undemocratic.

The following statement was released by Burma Campaign Australia on February 9.
Burma Campaign Australia condemns the Australian government’s decision to take part in a regional military exercise that includes Burma’s navy and questions if Australia is in breach of its arms embargo.
The Australian navy is taking part in a military exercise with 13 other countries in Indian waters. Burma’s navy, an integral part of the country’s military, is also participating in this exercise.

Workers at the Taiyi shoe factory and Opal 2 garment factory began a strike on Monday, 8 February 2010. They are demanding an increase in salary of 10.000 Kyat (US$ 10), a reduction of working hours and the provision of a clean space for meal. The strike started in the Mya Fashion garment factory in No. 3 Factory Zone of Rangoon’s Hlaing Thrayar Township.

Lee Yu Kyung , Wei Gyi
21 November 2009, Green Left Weekly

“There’s no village”, 75-year-old Sam Telly said. “I’m from a hiding place.”

Telly, a member of the Karen ethnic group, mulled over the question of when he had last lived in a village, but failed to remember. He had lived in “hiding places” since 1975.

The Karen state in eastern Burma has been the scene of intense fighting as the Burmese military has sought to crush the Karen Nation Union (KNU), a pro-democracy organisation representing the Karen people, and its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA).

Chris Peterson
16 May 2008 - “Ten days after Cyclone Nargis, Burma faces further crisis as its military regime refuses to acknowledge the plight of its people”, according to a statement released by seven pro-democracy groups in Burma on May 14.