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Window on Burma #10




BINA  -- The Burma Independent News Agency  --  

Window on Burma  #10  
  
(From ?The History of Burmese Democracy? (Special Insert), Mojo #4, July 1999)


FROM THE KITCHEN TO THE FRONT LINES IN THE BATTLE FOR DEMOCRACY

Some Notes on the Women?s Movement in Burma

All the many hardships that Burmese women face today are basically due to
politics.  Unless the system of government can be properly designed and
executed, we will never see an end to our problems.

Currently, our chances are hopeless to achieve the rights that women in other
countries enjoy.  Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leader in the fight for democracy, has
said that the basic action that must be taken for women all over Burma to gain
equal rights and safety, is to demolish the army?s dictatorship.

Because of the damage caused by army politics, all women of Burma suffer, and
because the army has destroyed the economy, women abandon their morals and
sell
themselves as prostitutes inside and outside the country in order to survive. 
Because the army fails to provide proper rations and wages for the soldiers,
women all over Burma have lost their dignity, and are tragically mistreated. 
The real offender and cause of the suffering of Burmese women is the army?s
dictatorship, and the abuse of the Burmese people by the army?s soldiers.

The oppression of Burmese women was begun in earnest by the original army
dictator, Ne Win.  Before he seized power in 1962, even under British colonial
rule, elder Burmese women still had rights and activities.

For example, the ?Kon Mar Yee? Women?s Association was formed in 1919, and
concerned itself with the safety, freedom, religious affairs, social services,
cooperation, and unity of Burmese women.  During the student strikes of 1920
and 1936, the Women?s Association joined the strike and publicly defended the
students.  In 1931, Daw Mya Sein, as a delegate of the Women?s Association,
attended the plenary session of the Conference on Burmese Administrative
Reform, which was held in Britain.

At the time of insurrection against colonial rule, Burmese women joined the
anti-colonial resistance and worked brilliantly for national freedom.  In
1939,
the Burmese Independence Women?s Organization was formed, with Daw Hla May,
the
wife of Dedoke U Ba Cho, as Chairwoman, and Ma Khin Mya as Secretary.  The
Women's Organization participated in the All Burma Conference, held by General

Aung San in 1946, at which all women over the age of 18 were granted the
right
to vote.

Another woman who served her country well before the military dictatorship
began was Daw Khin Kyi, wife of General Aung San, and mother of Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi.  Daw Khin Kyi served as a Member of Parliament, Director of Social
Planning Commission in the U Nu government, and finally, in India, as Burma?s
very first woman Ambassador.  Mrs. Ba Maung Chaing, Karen State Minister in
1952-53, and Daw Sein Pu, leader of the Women?s Association for a Free Burma
(1958), are further examples of women of prominence in Burmese history.

Since the arrival of Ne Win and his ?Burmese Way to Socialism? in the 1960?s,
women no longer have the freedom to serve, have lost all their protections,
and
now suffer great cruelty, as has been widely documented by human rights and
other groups around the world.  The Burmese army now drives women from their
homes, steals their goods and their families, uses them for forced labor,
rapes
and tortures them, and kills them without hesitation.  There are no human
rights for women in Burma today.

All throughout this dark period of military rule, however, under the BSPP, the
SLORC, and the SPDC, women have not abandoned the struggle for human rights
and
decent government.  Women have participated, individually and as women?s
groups, in all of the following events:
        1969  the SEAP Games uprising 
        1974  UN Secretary General U Thant?s Funeral uprising 
        1974  the workers? uprising 
        1975  the 6th of June uprising 
        1976  the Hmine Centenary uprising 
        1988  the student/ political uprising 
        1990  the electoral campaign for Democracy 
        1996  the December student demonstrations 
        1998  the August student demonstrations

Some of the women who distinguished themselves during this period are:
>       Mahadevi Sao Nang Hearn Kham,  wife of Burma?s first President, Sao
Shwe
Theik, who fled after Ne Win?s coup and established the Shan State Army  
>       Nay Yee Ba Swe, and Nay Kyi Ba Swe,  daughters of former Prime
Minister
U Ba Swe, who became leaders in the U Thant Funeral uprising 
>   Ma Hla Myaing,  a leader in the Hmine Centenary uprising 
>       Ma Win Maw Oo,  a 16-year-old student shot by government soldiers on
8-8-88 
>       Ma Ohn Mar Thwe,  a student activist, killed herself after being raped
in prison by six police  
>       Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,  who gave up her husband and family to serve the
Burmese people with determination, perseverance, bravery, high spirits, and
unity 
>       The fifteen women chosen as MP?s in the 1990 elections,  who are still
suffering the oppression of the military dictators 
>       Daw San San Nwe (Tharawaddy),  famous writer imprisoned by SLORC 
>       Myat Momo Tun,  student and daughter of Daw San San Nwe, also now in
prison 
>       Daw Kyi Kyi,  imprisoned political activist 
>       Dr. Ma Thida (San Chaung),  imprisoned medical doctor

All of us are human beings.  We have self-consciousness, we can reason, and we
know how to approach the truth.  When we see unrighteousness, we feel ill.  If

it is more than we can bear, we revolt.  Therefore, when it comes to
revolution, gender is irrelevant.  Awareness of the human condition is the
only
requirement to be a soldier in the battle for the justice and freedom.

The pain and hardship that the people of Burma now face daily is due entirely
to the 37 years of military misrule.  No remedy of foreign investment, aid to
the poor, or anything else can solve the "Burma problem" unless this political
cancer is first removed from Burmese society, by the removal of this
intolerable army dictatorship.

Unless genuine peace is established, we cannot give up the revolution.

Unless our unity is fruitful, the struggle will go on.

The women of Burma today must leave the kitchen, the laundry, and the dressing
table, and enter the front lines of the battle for democracy.  This broken and
discredited system of military dictatorship must finally be overthrown.

[Reference: ?Burma and the Role of Women?, ABSDF, 1997]

***********

[WHAT IS MOJO?  MOJO means "Lightning" in Burmese.   MOJO is an independent
newspaper from the Burmese community in Thailand.  Its primary content is
social, political, and economic news from all over Burma, and its intended
readers are the people inside Burma itself.

BINA will regularly provide English-language excerpts from MOJO to the
BurmaNet.  If you would like to receive a copy of the original
Burmese-language
MOJO, please e-mail your postal address to bina@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

?Dialogue is inevitable. We will not just sit and wait. We will continue doing
what has to be done.? NLD General Secretary Daw Aung San Suu Kyi]