Burma File A Question Of Democracy

Author's news reports on political history of Burma since 1988.

A genuine democracy movement lives in Burma, but it continues to be brutally suppressed by the ruling military government. In 1990, the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led by Aung San Suu Kyi-won 82 percent of the seats in a multiparty parliamentary election. The regime ignored the elections and the democratically elected representatives never took office. Aung San Suu Kyi, who was imprisoned after violent government-orchestrated attacks on democracy supporters on May 30, 2003, has spent more than half of the past fourteen years under house arrest. Burma remains one of the most tightly controlled dictatorships in the world. Recognizing that democracy and the NLD cannot survive in Burma without the help of the United Sates and the international community, the Council-sponsored Independent Task Force on Burma sounds a clarion call for change. In response to the governments recent crackdown on the democratic opposition, the Task Force urges the United Nations to call for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners, and to impose sanctions on Burma, including bans both on new investment in Burma and on the importation of goods produced in Burma. The Task Force report also offers specific recommendations for U.S. policy in four areas: humanitarian assistance; promoting democracy, human rights and the rule of law; narcotics control policy; and refugees, migrants, and internally displaced persons. Led by Mathea Falco, president of Drug Strategies and former assistant secretary of state for international narcotics matters, this bipartisan Task Force comprises members with a wide range of experience in international business, law, government, media, academia, publichealth, and human rights advocacy, among other areas. Its recommendations are intended to inform U.S. government action as well as to increase U.S. cooperation with other countries, especially in Asia, to bring about a long overdue political, economic, and social transformation of Burma.

Profiles the life and work of the political activist from Myanmar who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

This book analyses what Myanmar's struggle for democracy has signified to Burmese activists and democratic leaders, and to their international allies. In doing so, it explores how understanding contested meanings of democracy helps make sense of the country's tortuous path since Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won historic elections in 2015. Using Burmese and English language sources, Narrating Democracy in Myanmar reveals how the country's ongoing struggles for democracy exist not only in opposition to Burmese military elites, but also within networks of local activists and democratic leaders, and international aid workers.