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San Francisco Burma Human Rights Day Commemoration

In this page:

  1. Audio
  2. Photos Gallery
  3. News

1. Audio: Ko Min ZinPaw Set Hser, Chela Blitt, Ellen Bruno


2. Photo Gallery

Speakers: Min Zin, Paw Set Hser, Chela Blitt, Ellen Bruno, and Jean Gale, MC 
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Q&A: Dr. Aung Khin (CRDB), Heather Graham (FFPB), Nyunt Than (BADA), Kyaw Kyaw (UBA)
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The audiance:
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The sellers: BADA, SFNOW, BAWA, CRDB
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Food:
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3. News

San Francisco Burma Human Rights Day Commemoration

Source: BADA

March 12, 2002 -- Burmese American Democratic Alliance (BADA) held Burma Human Rights Day commemoration on March 9, 2002 in Berkeley, California with a Dinner and Film focusing on Burma's continued struggle for democracy and the trafficking of Burmese children into Thai sex industry.

Each year, pro-democracy activists commemorate Burma Human Rights Day marking the killing of Ko Phone Maw, a student from Rangoon Institute of Technology on March 13, 1988. The killing eventually led the country to a nation-wide uprising in August, 1988.

The event was held at Berkeley Unitarian Fellowship hall from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. It was co-sponsored by Berkeley Unitarian Universalists Social Justice Committee, Global Exchange of San Francisco (GX) and San Francisco chapter of National Organization for Women (SFNOW). More than 150 people from Berkeley, San Francisco and surrounding cities attended the event. Some were from as far away as Los Angeles.

Videos, reports, books, crafts and clothes relating Burma's struggle for democracy and trafficking of children were sold. The event, with its large crowd and quality contents of speakers and film was a unusual success.

The featured speaker was Ko Min Zin, commentator and program writer from Radio Free Asia (RFA), and cultural editor of Irrawaddy Magazine based in Thailand. Many would know him as Pyei Lwin Nyeinchan, commentator of a weekly program on RFA. Other speakers were Paw Set Hser, an ethnic Karen women currently interning at Global Exchange from Education Department of Karen Women Organization (KWO) based in Thailand; Chela Blitt, producer and director of documentary video entitled, "Sisters and Daughters Betrayed: The Trafficking of Women and Girls and the Fight to End it"; and Ellen Bruno, the director of award-wining featured film, "Sacrifice", which is about child prostitutes from Burma.

The event began at 6 p.m. with a Burmese style dinner. A fifteen-minutes documentary video, made by Burma Humanitarian Mission (BHM), a group based in San Francisco area, was shown while dinner was served. The video is about group's work -- back-packing medics helping rural villages along Thai-Burma border. After the dinner, the speaker section began at 7 p.m..

Featured speaker, Ko Min Zin spoke first. His speech detailed about the brave women of Burma coping with and resisting to the brutal dictatorship. It was truly empowering and inspiring. He talked about three women around him: his own mother; Daw Kyi Kyi, the wife of Thakhin Zin, and the mother of Ma Win Maw Oo, a high school student gunned down in Rangoon during the 8888 pro-democracy uprising.

Paw Set Hser was the second speaker. She spent her whole life in refugee camps in Thailand. In her speech, she thoroughly described the brutal military dictatorship in Burma and its effect on the people of Burma, especially ethnic minority refugees in conflict areas along Thai-Burma border. The audience applauded loudly to her well taken points.

Next speaker was Chela Blitt. She briefed about her video and inspiring words by activists from women organizations in Nepal, Thailand and Philippine who are fighting back the trafficking problem. It was another hit of the night. 

At her turn, Ellen Bruno, the final speaker and director of featured film, briefly greeted and asked the audience to watch the film and asked her questions afterwards. The featured film, "Sacrifice" was played at 8 p.m.. The film is about child prostitutes from Burma being trafficked and abused in brothels in Thailand. The film was so artistic and so revealing of the suffering of young girls - one was only 12 years old, that many were touched. The film, coupled with previous speeches, made the audience speechless even after lights were brought back. A young UC Berkeley student confronted the director asking why she made such a sad film instead of empowering one. She replied that these were real people, real stories and their voices must be heard. The film received five awards from various film festivals, and also been translated into Shan Language. The director shared her experiences on making the film besides answering many questions. She was so overwhelmed by the stories and images that, after making the film, she could not get back to normal life for six months. The question and answer section lasted until 10 p.m. Only then the crowd would disperse.

We were pleased to see many new faces -- not even from Burmese descent, in the audience. In fact, they were the majority. We hope that we have raised the awareness about the suffering of Burmese people under brutal dictatorship along with the suffering of more than 1 million trafficking victims (mostly women and children) around the world each year. We like to thank the speakers and co-sponsors for their support. We also like to thank Berkeley Unitarian Fellowship for donating the use of space to the event, and Global Fund for Women for donating the tapes by Chela Blitt that we sold for fund raising.

Many other groups participated, notably Bay Area Burma Roundtable, Burma Association, Burma Humanitarian Mission, Burma Relief, Burmese American Women's Alliance (BAWA), Committee for Restoration of Democracy in Burma (CRDB) -- from Los Angeles, Foundation for the People of Burma, Free Burma Berkeley from UC Berkeley, and United Burmese Association (UBA) from San Francisco City College. Special thank goes to freedom-loving people from San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles whose generous support and participation was remarkable. Without their help, the event wouldn't have been the same. Funds raised from the event will be donated to the groups in Thai-Burma border. 

Audio and photos from the event is available for viewing online at our website, www.badasf.org. We can be reached at info@www.badasf.org