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New Freedom Campaign Merchandise Now Available
Show your support of Burma and get your own Aung San Suu Kyi t-shirt! The merchandise was all designed by the same firm who created Apple's iPod campaign and features the signature Freedom Campaign Aung San Suu Kyi silhouette. (Limited quanities available)
Burmese Monks Take to the Streets to Protest, Non-Violently, Against Ruling Military Junta
Over the last two weeks hundreds of thousands of people inside Burma have been walking on the streets to protest the military junta's rule. Despite a brutal military crackdown, the spirit of the people continues...
Click here to learn more about how you too can get involved
Aaron Cohen Recounts His Adventures In Burma For LA Weekly
Aaron Cohen: Sex Slaves, Drug Trade and Rock n' Roll
In his quest to free slaves around the world, Aaron Cohen thought he’d seen it all. Then he went to Myanmar.
By Christine Buckley and published in LA Weekly
Click here to read the article
US Campaign for Burma Brings Star of CSI To Visit Refugees On Burma/Thailand Border
The US Campaign for Burma, a partner of the Freedom Campiagn, recently traveled with Eric Szmanda, star of the hit television show CSI, to the Burma/Thailand border.
Click here to read one of the news articles about his trip. At the news conference Szmanda said "One and a half million people have been forced from their homes, women are systematically raped, men and children have been forced into slave labor. It's time to say 'enough is enough'." He also said that visiting with refugees was "one of the most inspiring and shocking things I have ever seen."
Sign Up to Help the World's Only Imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Recipient for Her Birthday: June 16th or 17th, 2007
The US Campaign for Burma, a partner of the Freedom Campiagn, is organizing 300 "arrest yourself" house parties across the US this June for Aung San Suu Kyi's 62nd birthday. Click here to learn more about how you too can get involved and help bring awareness and attention to the situation in Burma!
SIGN UP TO HOST YOUR OWN HOUSE PARTY NOW!!!
Ricky "Showtime" Quiles to support Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma by wearing 'Freedom Campaign trunks' during ESPN fight!
On Friday, March 2nd Ricky 'Showtime' Quiles will battle Nate Campbell in the IBF lightweight eliminator fight televised nationally on ESPN2 as part of their 'Friday Night Fights' series. Quiles, formerly #1 lightweight fighter in the world will not only be battling for a chance to regain his title, but he'll also be wearing specially designed 'Freedom Campaign trunks' to show his support and solidarity for the Burmese people.
Good luck Ricky!
Napolean Dynamite's Efren Ramirez (Pedro) showcasing his specially designed Tagur sneaker for the Freedom Campaign. Photo courtesy of Soko286.com
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL EVENT A SUCCESS: THE FREEDOM CAMPAIGN TEAMS WITH TAGUR TO HELP BRING HOPE/AWARENESS TO MINORITIES IN EASTERN BURMA
This past weekend the Freedom Campaign participated in the Winter Warm Up Retreat at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT.
Teaming with Tagur (www.tagur.com), the Freedom Campaign had celebrities participating in the event all sign sneakers that will later be auctioned off to raise funds and awareness for the Freedom Campaign's activities and the ethnic minorities in war-torn Eastern Burma.
Over the past 10 years alone, over 3,000 villages have been burned down or otherwise destroyed by Burma's brutal military regime. This has caused more than 1M people to flee Burma's borders as refugees and another 500k to run and hide as internally displaced persons inside Burma's borders. Tagur donated all of the shoes as a symbol of expression and support for those who are literally running for their lives.
Stay tuned for more info on how you can get a hold on these one of a kind collectors items. Among others, sneakers were signed by:
Efren Ramirez (Napolean Dynamite, Nacho Libre, Crank)
Jaime Kennedy (Scream, Bowfinger, Three Kings, the Jamie Kennedy Experiment)
Tara Reid (American Pie, Urban Legend, Van Wilder)
Tom (from MySpace.com)
Tyler Hilton (musician)
And More!!!
BREAKING NEWS: 5 PROMINENT POLITICAL PRISONERS RELEASED IN BURMA
For Immediate Release: January 10th, 2006. For more information please contact: Jeremy Woodrum (202) 246-7924
Move Called a "Cynical Ploy" in Midst of Historical UN Security Council Decision
(Washington, DC) As celebrities, musicians, and governments around the world press for the first-ever UN Security Council resolution on Burma this week, five prominent political prisoners were released in the Southeast Asian country.
"This looks like nothing but a cynical ploy to stop the UN Security Council from taking action," said Aung Din, policy director of US Campaign for Burma. "The regime has destroyed 3,000 villages, forced one million
refugees to flee the country, locked up the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and pressed millions into modern-day slave labor. The international community shouldn't allow these prisoners to be used as hostages."
Hollywood celebrities and musicians including Tim Robbins, Peter Gabriel, Suzanne Vega, and Damien Rice have called for the UN Security Council to take urgent action. Thirteen Nobel Peace Prize recipients including South Africa's Desmond Tutu are strongly urging the Security Council to take action. Major refugee and humanitarian organizations Church World Service, Human Rights Watch, and others are also pressing for the Security Council to act.
The push for a UN Security Council resolution comes after 10 years of failed UN efforts. The UN General Assembly and Commission on Human Rights have passed a total of 29 consecutive resolutions calling for change in Burma and sent envoys on dozens of trips to the country, all of which have been ignored by the military regime
Unlike these other UN bodies, however, decisions by the Security Council can be binding. The Council is weighing its first-ever resolution on Burma after voting to place Burma on its permanent agenda for the first time in history in September.
Burma is ruled by one of the world's most brutal military dictatorships, led by General Than Shwe. Besides locking up Suu Kyi and over 1,200 other political prisoners, Than Shwe's regime has destroyed over 3,000 ethnic
minority villages in a scorched earth policy designed to root out all opposition to its rule. Over one million refugees have fled the country, while an additional ½ million remain internal refugees, where many are
hunted down and killed like animals. The International Labor Organization, a United Nations agency, has called on countries around the world to impose sanctions on Burma for its use of modern-day slave labor. Many people continue to die and flee as a result of the regime's policies, and the Associated Press reported on the slaughter, calling the situation "Southeast Asia's Darfur".
Aung San Suu Kyi is often referred to as "Asia's Nelson Mandela" for her work to peacefully bring democracy and human rights to Burma. She won the Nobel Peace Prize after leading her political party, the National League for Democracy, to a landslide 82% victory in Burma's last democratic election. The regime refused to recognize the results, and has kept her locked up for 11 of the past 17 years.
The five released political activists were student leaders during a major uprising in Burma in 1988, which the military regime responded to by killing up to 10,000 students and activists throughout the country. Some spent over 15 years in prison after suffering severe torture and were released in 2004 before being arrested again last September. The most prominent of the five, Min Ko Naing, has won numerous international awards for his peaceful, nonviolent calls for change in Burma including the Civil Courage Prize from the Northcote Parkinson Fund in the United States, the Homo Homini Award from People in Need in the Czech Republic, the John Humphrey Freedom Award from the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development in Canada, and the Student Peace Prize, widely considered the "junior" Nobel Peace Prize in Norway.
The names of those released are: Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Min Zeya, Htay Kywe, and Pyone Cho, whose brother Thet Win Aung, also a political activist, died in prison in October.
DAMIEN RICE MAKES SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO AUNG SAN SUU KYI
photo by Christina M. Felice/felicephotography.com
On the eve of International Human Rights Day, critically acclaimed Irish Musician Damien Rice made a special tribute to Aung San Suu Kyi during his sold out L.A. show. Rice performed 'Unplayed Piano' a song that he wrote and released for Suu Kyi on her 60th birthday in 2005.
Read more here or download the full press release here
THE BURMESE PEOPLE DESERVE OUR SUPPORT
By Desmond Tutu and Amartya Sen
Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu (Honorary Chairman of the Freedom Campaign) received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 and Amartya Sen received the Nobel Memorial Prize for Economic Science in 1998. Read their latest opinion article on Burma in the International Herald Tribune by clicking here
IN BURMA, A CRY FOR U.N. HELP
By U Pu Chin Sian Thang and U Thein Pe
In a strong act of courage and heroism two of Burma's elected members to the parliament that never took office because of the military regime published an op-ed article in the Washington Post. Read the article by clicking here. This is incredible bravery as U Pu Chin Sian Thang and U Thein Pe still live inside Burma where freedom of the press is not allowed and rules against acts like this are strictly enforced.
(alternatively you can download the article by right click > 'save as' on the above link)