Burma (also known as Myanmar)
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Cyclone Nargis Devastated Burma on Friday May 2. Five divisions in Burma have been declared national disaster areas—Pegu, Irrawaddy, Rangoon, Mon, and Karen. The numbers of those affected continues to rise. It has been hard to estimate the death toll because it has been impossible to get access to some of the worst hit areas—but it is feared from 22,000 to 60,000 are dead, with tens of thousand missing and hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions displaced. Learn more about how you can help at U.S. Campaign for Burma.
Save the Children staff members launched relief efforts on May 5 in the regions hardest hit by the storm. Save the Children has distributed food, plastic sheeting, water purification tablets, kitchen equipment, rehydration salts and other non-food items to more than 63,000 children and families whose homes have been destroyed. In addition to the Burmese’s immediate needs for food and nonfood items, including clean water and shelter, they will have long-term needs to recover from the crisis, restore normalcy, and rebuild their lives. You can donate to Save the Children here.
About Burma
Britain conquered Burma over a period of 62 years (1824-1886) and incorporated it into its Indian Empire. Burma was administered as a province of India until 1937 when it became a separate, self-governing 
colony; independence from the Commonwealth was attained in 1948. Gen. NE WIN dominated the government from 1962 to 1988, first as military ruler, then as self-appointed president, and later as political kingpin. Despite multiparty legislative elections in 1990 that resulted in the main opposition party - the National League for Democracy (NLD) - winning a landslide victory, the ruling junta refused to hand over power. NLD leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient AUNG SAN SUU KYI, who was under house arrest from 1989 to 1995 and 2000 to 2002, was imprisoned in May 2003 and subsequently transferred to house arrest, where she remains virtually incommunicado. In February 2006, the junta extended her detention for another year. Her supporters, as well as all those who promote democracy and improved human rights, are routinely harassed or jailed.
Burma, a resource-rich country, suffers from pervasive government controls, inefficient economic policies, and rural poverty. The junta took steps in the early 1990s to liberalize the economy after decades of failure under the "Burmese Way to Socialism," but those efforts stalled, and some of the liberalization measures were rescinded. Lacking monetary or fiscal stability, the economy suffers from serious macroeconomic imbalances - including rising inflation, fiscal deficits, multiple official exchange rates that overvalue the Burmese kyat, a distorted interest rate regime, unreliable statistics, and an inability to reconcile national accounts to determine a realistic GDP figure. Most overseas development assistance ceased after the junta began to suppress the democracy movement in 1988 and subsequently refused to honor the results of the 1990 legislative elections. In response to the government of Burma's attack in May 2003 on AUNG SAN SUU KYI and her convoy, the US imposed new economic sanctions in August 2003 against Burma - including a ban on imports of Burmese products and a ban on provision of financial services by US persons. Further, a poor investment climate hampers attracting outside investment slowing the inflow of foreign exchange. The most productive sectors will continue to be in extractive industries, especially oil and gas, mining, and timber with the latter especially causing environmental degradation. Other areas, such as manufacturing and services, are struggling with inadequate infrastructure, unpredictable import/export policies, deteriorating health and education systems, and endemic corruption. A major banking crisis in 2003 shuttered the country's 20 private banks and disrupted the economy. As of 2006, the largest private banks operate under tight restrictions limiting the private sector's access to formal credit. Official statistics are inaccurate. Published statistics on foreign trade are greatly understated because of the size of the black market and unofficial border trade - often estimated to be as large as the official economy. Though the Burmese government has good economic relations with its neighbors, better investment and business climates and an improved political situation are needed to promote serious foreign investment, exports, and tourism.
—Text and map from Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook. Click here to learn more about Burma.
Action for Burma
Patrick Cook-Deegan traveled to Burma as part of his "Cycle for Schools" trip, a bike ride he used to raise money for building schools through Room to Read. He says, "While there I learned a great deal about the political and social troubles that the Burmese government inflicts upon its people."
A senior at Brown University, Cook-Deegan is now actively involved in U.S. Campaign for Burma. He and other students are organizing to get the message out about abuses being committed by Burma's repressive military dictatorship. This year, Burma was listed among the world's most failed states by Foreign Policy magazine, right behind Sudan in human rights violations.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which usually maintains a neutral position, strongly condemned the regime in late June on the grounds of forced labor and repeated atrocities committed against groups in eastern Burma—including murder, violence, arbitrary arrest and "large scale" destruction of food supplies. According to the BBC, this is the strongest public criticism since it spoke out against the Rwandan genocide over a decade ago. Students can take action on behalf of Burma at http://uscampaignforburma.org/action/action.html.
In Abroad View's Sept. 2007 interview with Patrick, prior to the country's pro-democracy protests, he talks about his travels to Burma and why he's working tirelessly to promote freedom there.
What approaches do you think are most effective for creating change in the world? What role is the Internet playing, and do you have a particular approach for engaging students in the U.S. Campaign for Burma at Brown?
In relation to Burma, what can people, and ideally students, do to affect real-world change?
Please tell us about your experience with Burma. What made you decide to travel there? What did you learn that made you come back and become a leader with U.S. Campaign for Burma? Given Aung San Suu Kyi's request that outsiders not travel to Burma in protest of the government, what advice would you give prospective travelers?
Listen to an interview with Htar Htar Yu
Listen to an interview with Middlebury College Burmese asylum student Htar Htar Yu talk about her homeland. Htar Htar grew up in the jungle, fleeing from the military with her parents, who were affiliated with the Tavoyan United Front, an opposition militia. Until she and her parents moved to a refugee camp in another part of Burma in 1996, Htar Htar never attended school. In the jungle, she and other children would gather for reading and writing lessons. Much of Htar Htar’s family never made it out of the jungle, she explained to “The Addison Independent” newspaper in Middlebury. Two of her sisters died of malaria, one of her brothers of chicken pox, and her aunt and uncle were both shot.
In 1998 Htar Htar and her parents snuck over the border into Thailand, home to a million displaced people, and lived there in exile. Htar Htar is now in her senior year at Middlebury College, where she is working on a senior thesis, exploring the gender roles in Southeast Asian refugee camps, the camps that were once her home.