The Karen Revolution In Burma
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Author | : Ralph |
Publisher | : Cornell University Press |
Total Pages | : 252 |
Release | : 2020-02-15 |
Genre | : History |
ISBN | : 1501746960 |
Fifty Years in the Karen Revolution in Burma is about commitment to an ideal, individual survival and the universality of the human experience. A memoir of two tenacious souls, it sheds light on why Burma/Myanmar's decades-long pursuit for a peaceful and democratic future has been elusive. Simply put, the aspirations of Burma's ethnic nationalities for self-determination within a genuine federal union runs counter to the idea of a unitary state orchestrated and run by the dominant majority Burmans, or Bamar. This seemingly intractable dilemma of opposing visions for Burma is personified in the story of Saw Ralph and Naw Sheera, two prominent ethnic Karen leaders who lived—and eventually left—"the Longest War," leaving the reader with insights on the cultural, social, and political challenges facing other non-Burman ethnic nationalities. Fifty Years in the Karen Revolution in Burma is also about the ordinariness and universality of the challenges increasingly faced by diaspora communities around the world today. Saw Ralph and Naw Sheera's day to day lives—how they fell in love, married, had children—while trying to survive in a precarious war zone—and how they had to adapt to their new lives as refugees and immigrants in Australia will resound with many.
Author | : Ardeth Maung Thawnghmung |
Publisher | : Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |
Total Pages | : 95 |
Release | : 2008 |
Genre | : History |
ISBN | : 9812308040 |
This study analyses the various types and stages of conflict that have been experienced by diverse groups and generations of Karen over the six decades of armed conflict between the Karen National Union (KNU) and successive Burmese governments. Instead of focusing on those who are internally displaced, those in the refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border or living abroad, or those in the KNU, it places particular emphasis on the "other" Karen, or the majority segment of the Karen population living inside Burma, a population that has hitherto received little scholarly and journalistic attention. It also assesses the Karen people's varied attitudes toward a number of political organizations that claim to represent their interests, toward successive Burmese military regimes, and toward the political issues that led to the original divide between "accommodators" and "rebels." This study argues that the lifestyles and strategies that the Karens have pursued are diverse and not confined to armed resistance. Acknowledging these multiple voices will not only shed light upon the many positive features of ethnic interactions, including harmonious communal relationships and significant attempts to promote peace and stability by encouraging "normal" activities and routines in both peaceful and war-torn areas; it will also help to identify policy recommendations for future ceasefire negotiations and a possible long-term political settlement within the context of a militarized Burma.
Author | : Karen Human Rights Group |
Publisher | : Universal-Publishers |
Total Pages | : 320 |
Release | : 2001 |
Genre | : History |
ISBN | : 9781581127041 |
Situated in the triangle between South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China, Burma is a country of 50 million people struggling under the oppression of one of the world's most brutal military regimes. Yet, the voices of its people remain largely unheard in the international arena. Most of the limited media coverage deals with the non-violent struggle for democracy led by Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi or the Army's repression of university students and urban dissidents, but these only form a small part of the story. This book presents the voices of ethnic Karen villagers to give an idea of what it is like to be a rural villager in Burma: the brutal and constant shifts of forced labor for the Army, the intimidation tactics, the systematic extortion and looting by Army and State authorities, the constant fear of arbitrary arrest, rape, torture, and summary execution, the forced relocation and burning of hundreds of civilian villages and the systematic uprooting of their crops. Three detailed reports produced by the Karen Human Rights Group in 1999 are used to give the reader a sampling of the life of Karen villagers, both in areas where there is armed resistance to the rule of the SPDC junta and in areas where the junta is fully in control. The Karen Human Rights Group is a small and independent local organization which has been using the firsthand testimony of villagers to document the human rights situation in rural Burma since 1992. Much of the group's work can be seen online at www.khrg.org. Kevin Heppner, who contributed the introductory sections of the book, is a Canadian volunteer who founded KHRG in 1992 and still serves as its coordinator. Claudio Delang, who edited this book, has a keen interest in Karen life and customs. He is currently completing a PhD dissertation on the Karen and Hmong in northern Thailand.
Author | : Harry Ignatius Marshall |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 360 |
Release | : 1922 |
Genre | : Burma |
ISBN | : |
Author | : Charmaine Craig |
Publisher | : Grove Press |
Total Pages | : 359 |
Release | : 2017-05-02 |
Genre | : Fiction |
ISBN | : 0802189520 |
“Craig wields powerful and vivid prose to illuminate a country and a family trapped not only by war and revolution, but also by desire and loss.” —Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Miss Burma tells the story of modern-day Burma through the eyes of Benny and Khin, husband and wife, and their daughter Louisa. After attending school in Calcutta, Benny settles in Rangoon, then part of the British Empire, and falls in love with Khin, a woman who is part of a long-persecuted ethnic minority group, the Karen. World War II comes to Southeast Asia, and Benny and Khin must go into hiding in the eastern part of the country during the Japanese occupation, beginning a journey that will lead them to change the country’s history. Years later, Benny and Khin’s eldest child, Louisa, has a danger-filled, tempestuous childhood and reaches prominence as Burma’s first beauty queen soon before the country falls to dictatorship. As Louisa navigates her newfound fame, she is forced to reckon with her family’s past, the West’s ongoing covert dealings in her country, and her own loyalty to the cause of the Karen people. Based on the story of the author’s mother and grandparents, Miss Burma is a captivating portrait of how modern Burma came to be and of the ordinary people swept up in the struggle for self-determination and freedom. “At once beautiful and heartbreaking . . . An incredible family saga.” —Refinery29 “Miss Burma charts both a political history and a deeply personal one—and of those incendiary moments when private and public motivations overlap.” —Los Angeles Times
Author | : Jack Fong |
Publisher | : BrownWalker Press |
Total Pages | : 375 |
Release | : 2008 |
Genre | : Political Science |
ISBN | : 1599429942 |
The Karen Revolution for self-determination has the distinction of being one of the world's longest-running struggles for freedom, having begun in 1949 and continuing to this very moment. This sociological work makes visible how ethnopolitical, petropolitical, geopolitical, and ecosystemic issues affect the political economy of a people experiencing ethnic cleansing. From the inception of its self-determination struggle in 1949, readers will be taken on a historical journey with the Karen, finally "arriving" in the 21st century. Along the way, the author exposes readers to the anatomy of how Karen revolutionary dynamics attempt to shield the Karen people against internal colonization committed by the various military regimes of Burma, and how these complex dynamics engaged by Karen revolutionaries-in a novel reformulation and reading that transcends oversimplified economisitic indicators of progress-constitute development. A study of revolution that moves beyond the simplicity of a clashing dualism exemplified by Aung San Suu Kyi pitted against the military regime, this text is for readers desiring to examine how other significant players such as the Karen, a proud people living in systemic crisis, construct nation and aspire toward democracy in the labyrinthine ethnopolitical terrain of Burma.
Author | : Ardeth Maung Thawnghmung |
Publisher | : Lexington Books |
Total Pages | : 233 |
Release | : 2012 |
Genre | : Political Science |
ISBN | : 0739168525 |
This book is the first study to an offer insight into non-armed, non-insurgent members of ethnic groups that are associated with well-known armed organizations. It analyzes the nature of the relationships between the "quiet" minorities and their "rebel" counterparts and assesses how these intra-ethnic differences and divisions affect the armed resistance movement, negotiation with state authorities, conflict resolution, and political reform. This field-based study of the Karen in Burma also provides theoretical and policy implications for other ethnically polarized countries.
Author | : Thomas James Bleming |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 0 |
Release | : 2007-10 |
Genre | : Burma |
ISBN | : 9780595452613 |
Almost forty years after returning to the United States from Vietnam, journalist Thomas Bleming decides to journey to Southeast Asia to report on a little known but long-lasting war that has been raging between the Myanmar military and the Karen people since 1949. Bleming expects to be in and out in a matter of weeks, as he only wants to take some photos for a book that he's writing on the Karen National Liberation Army. But once inside rebel-occupied Myanmar, he finds himself drawn into the struggle waged by the indigenous people. Bleming takes up arms and volunteers to fight the Karen people's enemy, The Burmese Army. What started off as a trip to satisfy his curiosity ends with Bleming fighting for his life and the freedom of the Karen people. Along the way, he makes new friends and earns a top post in the Karen National Union, eventually becoming a full-fledged member of the Karen National Liberation Army. Journey to places where no Westerner has been before and learn about Bleming's mission to help an oppressed people that have been at war for nearly sixty years in War in Karen Country.
Author | : Ardeth Maung Thawnghmung |
Publisher | : Routledge |
Total Pages | : 260 |
Release | : 2012-11-12 |
Genre | : Social Science |
ISBN | : 1136201262 |
First published in 2006. Behind the Teak Curtain, the first fieldwork-based study of Burmese rural politics and development, examines the specific circumstances under which one of the most repressive and authoritative governments in the world enjoys popularity in the countryside. The book analyzes four different agricultural policies that have been implemented under the Burmese military regime since 1978, and examines their consequential and varying impacts on rice farmers' attitudes toward central and local authorities. Behind the Teak Curtain provides first-hand information on Burmese rice farmers' conceptualization of political legitimacy, their political goals and priorities, and their relationships with central government authorities and local officials. This work seeks to challenge conventional studies on Burma, which focus on the behavior and actions of the military elite in Rangoon and treat the military regime as a unitary actor. It will be shown how and why the same autocratic and repressive military leaders who are perceived by a particular sector of the population as illegitimate may, at the same time, be favorably seen and accepted by another group of citizens. Finally, this study draws out the implications of these findings for other authoritarian governments in developing societies. It will demonstrate a more comprehensive foundation of legitimacy in authoritarian countries by highlighting the varying perceptions and attitudes in society toward central government authorities, toward local officials, and the different bases of legitimacy enjoyed by these two different levels of authority. Behind the Teak Curtain will interest anthropologists, sociologists, and historians interested in agrarian communities including peasant culture and political attitudes, particularly those with interest in Burma and Southeast Asia. This book is also targeted at agricultural economists and development theorists who are concerned with agricultural promotion and rural development. It sheds light on the problems inherent in the administrative structure of the military government, and how they hamper effective implementation of agricultural policies. Finally, this project will provide a comparative case study for those who study authoritarian regimes, military governments, and Third World countries.
Author | : Mary Patricia Callahan |
Publisher | : Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |
Total Pages | : 112 |
Release | : 2007 |
Genre | : Social Science |
ISBN | : 9812304622 |
This study examines the enormous variation and complexity that characterize relationships between the national state and locally-based, often non-state actors who negotiate and compete for political authority in Burma’s ethnic minority-dominated states along the borders. Three patterns of relationships are explored: devolution by the national state to warlord-like local authorities; occupation by the Burmese military; and coexistence (with varying degrees of cooperation and understanding) among actors from the national state and local stakeholders. Throughout these border states, leaders of the Burmese government’s armed forces and of past and currently-active armed opposition forces operate within a context that is neither war nor peace, but instead a kind of post-civil-war, not-quite-peace environment. To understand the complex political arrangements that have arisen in this environment, this monograph employs the concept of “emerging political complex” — a set of adaptive networks that link state and other political authorities to domestic and foreign business concerns (some legal, others illegal), traditional indigenous leaders, religious authorities, overseas refugee and diaspora communities, political party leaders, and nongovernmental organizations. All of these players make rules, extract resources, provide protection, and try to order a moral universe, but none of them are able, or even inclined, to trump the others for monolithic national supremacy. Conflict resolution strategies have to recognize that these emerging political complexes are not simply unfortunate bumps in the road to peace but instead constitute intricate and evolving social systems that may continue to be adapted and sustained.