Burma Action Ireland | Gníomhaíocht ar son Bhurma in Éirinn
Fáilte go dtí suíomh Ghníomhaíocht ar son Bhurma in Éirinn.
Welcome to the Burma Action Ireland
website.
Freedom Cycle
Mizen to Malin Head 10th - 17th July 2010
Grab your bike and cycle for freedom. Full details here.Burma Action Ireland AGM 2010
Date: Wednesday 30th of June 2010Time: 7p.m.
Venue: Loreto Hall, 77 Saint Stephen's Green, Dublin 2
(beside the Department of Foreign Affairs, southside of the green)
Fáilte roimh chách | All welcome
Paul
Brady and Carmel McCreagh's song for Aung San Suu Kyi 'The
World Is Watching'
Aung San Suu Kyi was 65 years of age on June 19th.
Click here to send your birthday wishes.
65th Birthday Celebration
for Aung San Suu Kyi
8pm Saturday 19th June 2010
Music from
Christy Moore ~ Niall Toner Band ~ Fiachra Trench ~
Noel Eccles ~ Neil Martin ~ Keith Donald ~ Brendan Graham
Poetry from Damian Gorman
Readings from Eamon Dunphy, Deirdre Purcell & Carmel McCreagh
Tickets: €35 €45 €20 (choir balcony)
Booking: 01 417 0000 ~ www.nch.ie
All proceeds to Burma Action Ireland
Elections in Burma
Irish Times editorial - Saturday April 3rd 2010THE DECISION this week by Burma’s National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi, to boycott the country’s forthcoming elections was both inevitable and understandable. To do otherwise would have been to give political credibility to a profoundly flawed election and equally dubious parliament, and to repudiate both its own leader and its many jailed activists. The NLD decisively won the last election in Burma in 1990 – 60 per cent of the vote and 80 per cent of seats – but was prevented by the military from assuming power.
Some of the opposition in Burma have until recently leaned towards participating, arguing that doing so would give them a platform, however limited. But the election, the date of which is expected to be announced any day, will be no exercise in accountability. In truth it is only a crude and implausible attempt to legitimise the continued rule of a brutal military regime.
The parameters for the election are set by the 2008 constitution which entrenches military power by reserving 25 per cent of seats for the army, creating a strong new national defence and security council on which the military retains a majority, and vesting extraordinary powers in the commander-in-chief. It grants immunity to all members of the current regime for acts committed in the course of their duties and gives the military a veto on constitutional change. Reinforced by March 9th electoral rules, it also bans candidates who are or were in jail for political offences, requiring parties to exclude them from their ranks or face dissolution.
Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent 15 of the last 21 years in detention, has indicated she “would not dream” of entering the elections. And the respected International Crisis Group reports that “the main reaction of the populace to it and the forthcoming elections is indifference, rooted in a belief that nothing much will change”.
Internationally the campaign to isolate the junta has been strengthened by a report and welcome recommendations by the UN Special Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana, who describes “a pattern of gross and systematic violation of human rights” of civilians. The abuses, including killings, rape, torture, ethnic cleansing and forced labour, were the result of long-standing state policy, he said. He has rightly urged the UN to establish a commission of inquiry to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma and to bring charges against members of the regime.
Le caoinchead ón Irish Times / Reproduced by kind permission of The Irish Times
Official rejection of planned 2010 SPDC elections
Many Burmese opposition parties and ethnic groups have issued media releases which clearly state their position on the planned 2010 SPDC elections. These include statements from the Karen National Union,the National Democratic Front, the Karenni National Progressive Party and the Kachin National Organisation.
Aung San Suu Kyi Conviction Appeal Denied
On 2 October, the regime denies Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s appeal
on her
conviction, which effectively bars her from participating in the SPDC’s
planned 2010 elections.
Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested and charged with breach of the terms of
house arrest in May 2009, just days before her current term of house
arrest was due to end. The lengthy trial has now ended and the Nobel
Peace Prize winner has been found guilty and sentenced to three years
jail and hard labour. However, in a move surely aimed at avoiding
international sanctions, Home Affairs minister General Maung Oo said
outside the court that military ruler Than Shwe had signed a special
order suspending the sentence and ordered that Suu Kyi should spend 18
months under house arrest. Read
more here....
Daw Suu Kyi awarded Amnesty's "Ambassador of Conscience"
Aung
San Suu Kyi has been awarded Amnesty's "Ambassador of Conscience"
award. The announcement was made by U2 on the final night of their
concerts at Croke Park, Dublin.
Follow this link to news article: http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/u2-mark-triumphant-last-night-with-a-rousing-democracy-call-1843611.html
Watch footage from U2 live in Croke Park here: http://www.u2.com/stream/article/display/id/4770