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Free Burma; Free Aung San Suu Kyi
$15 Suggested Donation (dinner included) to benefit BADA
Contact:
Anil Verma:
510 485 3751 The event will feature a Burmese style dinner and a Burma documentary film along with three outstanding Speakers on Burma: Prime minister of Government in Exile (NCGUB), Dr. Sein Win, former political prisoner and NLD Youth Leader Toe Lwin and Chivy Sok, an International Human Rights Advocate.
The world has yet again witnessed the brutality of the regime when the Cyclone Nargis devastated the lower delta region of Burma on May 2nd, 2008. Hundreds of thousands left for dead by starvations denying much needed urgent help despite international appeals and pressure. To continue to raise the awareness
about the brutal dictatorship and the people's suffering in Burma, and to
discuss planning actions, this year again, BADA will hold its ninth Annual
Burma Human Rights Day event on Saturday March 13, 2010 at the Berkeley
Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists hall, 1924 Cedar (@Bonita) in Berkeley
from 6 pm to 10 pm. SPEAKERS: Dr. Sein Win, Burma's Elected MP and Prime Minister of NCGUB, Government in Exile Dr. Sein Win is the elected Member of Parliament in exile and the Prime Minister of National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB). After brutally cracking down the 1988 nationwide prodemocracy uprising, the military regime in Burma held an election in May, 1990 anticipating the military-backed party would win. However, in the election, the people of Burma overwhelmingly voted for the prodemocracy representatives, and the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi won a landslide victory. Dr. Sein Win, first cousin of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was elected from Paukkaung Constituency, Pegu Division. When the military junta refused to honor the election results and instead started arresting NLD leaders and elected representatives throughout the country, the NLD caucus held a series of secret meetings and decided to send some of its MPs -- including Dr. Sein Win, to the liberated areas to form a provisional government. The main task of that legitimately elected government is to help restore democracy and human rights in Burma. As a result, the NCGUB was formed in Manerplaw (Karen State) on December 18, 1990, and Dr. Sein Win was elected as the Prime Minister. After ignoring the election results for decades, brutally repressing the elected representatives and the opposition , including imprisoning Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the military regime is now planning a sham election in Burma this year to formally erase the results of 1990 elections -- the true will of the people, and to legalize the military rule in Burma. Currently Dr. Sein Win is serving his fifth-term as Prime Minister of the NCGUB. He will talk about current political situation inducing the situation of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, NLD and the position of NCGUB. Toe Lwin: Burma’s former political prisoner and Youth Leader of NLD Toe Lwin is a former political prisoner and a Youth Leader of National League for Democracy (NLD) since the 1988 prodemocracy uprising in Burma. In 2000, he became one of the Central Youth Committee leaders of the National League for Democracy (Headquarter). He was then selected by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to lead her security team. The regime’s orchestrated brutal attack on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the envoy, Depayin massacre, occurred on May 30, 2003. As he protected Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from the beatings of attackers, thugs organized by junta, he was severely injured and then arrested by the military intelligent. He was again horribly beaten in the interrogation center in Khantee prison. After suffering from continuous mental and physical torture, he was released on December 2, 2003. Toe Lwin went back to NLD headquarter and assisted Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as he did before. In May 2007, Toe Lwin and student leaders: Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Kywe, Mya Aye, Su Su Nway, Phyu Phyu Thin led several campaigns to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all the political prisoners. While political tension was rising, the security forces threatened to arrest Toe Lwin multiple times. He hid at colleagues and friends’ houses from time to time and moved from one place to another. Fearing the certain arrest and torture, he left for Thai-Burma border in July, 2007. He then migrated to the United States. He is currently living in the San Francisco Bay Area and continues to advocate democracy and freedom in Burma. Toe Lwin will talk about his activist life in Burma and the experience from the Depayin Massacre and the Khantee prison.
Chivy Sok:
International Human Rights Advocate
She is the former Program Director of Columbia University's
Center for the Study of Human Rights and former Deputy Director of the
University of Iowa Center for Human Rights (UICHR). While at the UICHR, she was
appointed as an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Iowa School of Law where
she co-taught an advanced research seminar on international human rights and
child labor and also concurrently served as the Project Director of a $1.2
million initiative on global child labor under contract with the U.S. Department
of Labor. Directions
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Each
year, the people from Burma around the world commemorate March 13 as the
Burma Human Rights Day to make the death of the engineering student Ko
Phone Maw as he was murdered by the Burma's military in his school
campus. The killing set off the historic 1988 nation-wide pro-democracy
uprising in Burma after 26 years of oppression. However, the regime
brutally cracked down the peaceful protests and continued hold on to
power for decades.