Destination: Burma (Myanmar)
When Tourism Meets Nationalism
by Joanna Kakissis | 12.20.07 | 2:49 PM ET
It has in a big way in Yan’an, the prefecture in northwestern China that was the center of the Chinese communist revolution from 1935 to 1948. Mao Zedong and other communist leaders lived in caves and pagodas carved into the hillside, and Chinese communists celebrate it as the birthplace of the revolution. And as China has grown into a world power, its leaders are trying to boost national pride through “red tourism” that celebrates communist touchstones such as Yan’an, according to NPR. Of course, Mao’s pagodas are an obvious choice to muscle up nationalism: Today Chinese visitors from other regions visit Yan’an so they can dress up as revolutionaries and sing the communist ditty “The East is Red” with performers wearing traditional peasant clothes.
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Yahoo! BuzzCan Your Panties Help Save Burma?
by Eva Holland | 10.23.07 | 12:49 PM ET
Some activists think so. We noted yesterday the ominous silence that has settled over Burma in the aftermath of the ruling junta’s violent crackdown. But outside the country, protest groups are still trying to keep up the pressure, and they’re getting creative to hold the world’s attention. Last week, Thailand-based activist group Lanna Action for Burma launched the Panty Power Campaign, encouraging women around the world to send their underwear to the nearest Burmese embassy.
Invisible Burma
by Joanna Kakissis | 10.22.07 | 3:02 PM ET
A month after the ruling military junta crushed protesting monks, killing an unknown number of people, an ominous, Orwellian calm has settled over Burma. Tourist arrivals have dropped by up to 90 percent since the military crackdown. “It’s not peace you see here; it’s a forced silence,” a 46-year-old Burmese writer who joined last month’s protests in Rangoon told The New York Times’ Choe Sang-Hun in a troubling report on the current conditions in the country. The writer—who like most people interviewed did not disclose his name out of fear of government reprisal—carried with him a worn copy of his favorite book, George Orwell’s “1984.”
Tony Wheeler on What’s Next for Burma Travel
by Michael Yessis | 10.17.07 | 9:45 AM ET
Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler writes in the Guardian that his travel contacts within Burma are reeling from the recent protests and the ensuing crackdown. However, he adds, boycotts and isolation are not the best response to recent events; he continues to be an advocate for travel to the country.
Rambo in Burma: ‘This is a Hellhole Beyond Your Wildest Dreams’
by Eva Holland | 10.09.07 | 3:30 PM ET
An unlikely commentator has emerged on human rights in Burma. Sylvester Stallone, who recently spent time on the Thai-Burmese border while filming a new “Rambo” movie, is speaking out about the isolated regime’s ongoing war with ethnic minorities in outlying areas of the country. (He was there before the military crackdown on protesting Buddhist monks.) “I witnessed the aftermath—survivors with legs cut off and all kinds of land mine injuries, maggot-infested wounds and ears cut off. We saw many elephants with blown off legs,” Stallone said in an AP story. He added that people in his crew were threatened and had warning shots fired at them, while some of the families of his Burmese extras wound up in prison.
The Crackdown in Burma: One Chilling Photo
by Jim Benning | 09.27.07 | 6:47 PM ET
This is one of those images that’s hard to shake off, taken today in Rangoon after soldiers opened fire on protesters, killing at least nine people. The blood-soaked sandals are the kind worn by the protesting Buddhist monks. The photo was made available by the Mandalay Gazette. As we noted earlier, the State Department just warned U.S. citizens to postpone travel to Burma.
Related on World Hum:
* U.S. State Department: Postpone Travel to Burma
* First Deaths Reported in Crackdown on Protesters in Burma
* As Defiant Monks Protest in Burma, Travel Debate Rages On
Photo: AP.
U.S. State Department: Postpone Travel to Burma*
by Jim Benning | 09.27.07 | 1:45 PM ET
The U.S. State Department has issued a no-brainer announcement—our phrase, not theirs—on Burma: “U.S. citizens should defer non-essential travel to Burma at this time. American citizens resident [sic] in Burma should avoid all demonstrations and processions as they could turn violent with little or no warning.” Even without an ongoing military crackdown on protesting monks, of course, plenty of travelers argue against visiting the nation.
* Update, 2:56 p.m. ET: State television in Burma reports that nine people have been killed today in Rangoon, including eight protesters and a Japanese video journalist, as a military crackdown persists, according to the BBC. “Thursday’s protests followed reports of overnight raids on six monasteries,” according to the news agency. “Witnesses say soldiers smashed windows and doors and beat sleeping monks. Some escaped but hundreds were taken away in military trucks.”
Related on World Hum:
* First Deaths Reported in Crackdown on Protesters in Burma
* As Defiant Monks Protest in Burma, Travel Debate Rages On
Photo: AP.
First Deaths Reported in Crackdown on Protesters in Burma
by Jim Benning | 09.26.07 | 11:13 AM ET
Observers—heck, everyone we know who has been paying attention—feared it was coming.
Related on World Hum:
* As Defiant Monks Protest in Burma, Travel Debate Rages On
* Big Brother in Burma
* Burma’s Ongoing Cycle of Despair
Photo: AP.
As Defiant Monks Protest in Burma, Travel Debate Rages On
by Jim Benning | 09.25.07 | 1:27 PM ET
As thousands of defiant Buddhist monks rally for democracy in Burma (or Myanmar) despite of warnings of a military crackdown, travelers watching in awe from afar continue to debate the ethics of visiting the country. Arthur Frommer yesterday denounced tour operators who continue to lead groups into Burma and called on all travelers to boycott the nation. “Shockingly enough, several major U.S. tour operators continue to operate trips to Myanmar, despite pleas not to do so by the country’s democratically-elected leader, the Nobel-prize-winning Aung San Suu Kyi,” he wrote. “On occasion after occasion, Mrs. Kyi has emphatically stated that such visits simply support the brutal, thuggish military junta that now rules Myanmar.”
Monks Stage Historic Protest in Burma
by Joanna Kakissis | 09.21.07 | 12:16 PM ET
Thousands of Buddhist monks have been marching in Burma (or Myanmar) this week to protest the country’s repressive military junta, and today, the Guardian calls it “the most sustained challenge to the military junta in more than a decade.” Onlookers fear a government crackdown, given the dictatorship’s history of human rights abuses. As we’ve noted, the junta has detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi for years. But according to the Guardian, “a government spokesman today insisted it had no plans to use force.”
A Bicycle Ride Around Bagan, Burma
by Jim Benning | 08.13.07 | 3:45 PM ET
Photo by worak via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
We noted a story in the Los Angeles Times news section last year examining the Myanmar government’s ill-conceived, theme park-like development among the historic temples in the ancient city of Bagan. On Sunday, the Times covered the story from a traveler’s standpoint. Joe Robinson visited Bagan, exploring the temples on a rented girl’s bicycle with a leopard-print seat.
Burma Extends Activist’s Detention. Should Travelers Stay Away?
by Jim Benning | 05.25.07 | 1:10 PM ET
When travelers debate the ethics of visiting Burma, they invariably invoke the case of Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been detained for years by the nation’s repressive military junta. In recent days, human rights activists and political leaders around the world have called for her release—her detention was set to expire Sunday—but, sadly, news comes today that her house arrest has been extended by yet another year. The question remains: Should travelers visit Burma or stay away?
Travel Writer on Airport Stranding in Texas: ‘My Head Was in Burma’
by Jim Benning | 05.16.07 | 11:48 AM ET
Last month, in the latest in a string of widely reported passenger stranding ordeals, an American Airlines jet with 180 people on board sat on the tarmac in Midland, Texas for almost 10 hours. The flight was headed to Dallas when bad weather forced a detour to Midland, and there passengers sat, unable to leave the aircraft, growing ever more hungry and frustrated. We didn’t know it at the time, but Jeff Biggers, a World Hum contributor who was nearing the end a nationwide book tour, was among those on board. He’s quoted briefly in Joe Sharkey’s story about such incidents in yesterday’s New York Times. I wanted to learn the gory details straight from the passenger’s mouth, so I dialed up Jeff to chat about the experience, and to ask him what he thought of the proposed passengers’ bill of rights to help prevent such ordeals.
Burma: ‘There Are So Many Songs Waiting To Be Sung in This Country’
by Michael Yessis | 04.30.07 | 1:47 PM ET
The debate about whether travelers should visit Burma goes on, but Carolann Moisse made her decision: She and her husband traveled through the country, supporting “private initiative” and putting their tourist dollars in places that they hoped wouldn’t support the country’s government. Her story in the Christian Science Monitor describes roads with “potholes the size of meteorite craters” and a few fleeting moments of connection.
Related on World Hum:
* The Burma Debate, Continued
* Burma’s Ongoing Cycle of Despair
* Big Brother in Burma
The Burma Debate, Continued
by Michael Yessis | 04.30.07 | 8:12 AM ET
Should you go to Burma, a culturally rich and beautiful country controlled by a repressive military regime? Or should you boycott the country, as opposition leaders and many human rights organizations suggest? Fiona Dunlop takes the pro-travel position in the Guardian this weekend, arguing that the more informed foreign are visitors the better. “I feel strongly that Burma’s Big Brother needs observers,” Dunlop writes.