Recent incidents of sexual violence by the Burmese military regime's troops in western, eastern and central Burma have lent urgency to demands for an immediate end to war crimes in Burma made by the Women's League of Burma in a position paper released today at the United Nations in New York.



On 9 October 2006, six soldiers from Infantry Battalion No. 9 gang-raped three Palaung women, including a 14-year-old girl, in southern Shan State; one of the women died of her injuries. On 10 October 2006, three naval cadets gang-raped a 14-year-old girl in Sittwe, in western Burma's Arakan State. On August 22, 2006, a Russian-trained Burma Army officer raped a 17-year-old village girl at gunpoint near Tada-U Airport in central Burma while on security duty. None of the rapists has been punished.



In the position paper released by WLB for the Sixth Anniversary of UNSC resolution 1325, the WLB reiterates that the sexual violence being committed by the regime's troops in Burma are war crimes. They are not committed by rogue elements within the military but are systematic and structuralized, and central to the modus operandi of the regime.



"These political rapes, these war crimes, have been continuing because of the system of impunity that exists Burma and the complete lack of any improvement politically inside Burma" says Thin Thin Aung, a WLB Presidium Board member, one of the WLB team lobbying at the United Nations Security Council in New York.



The position paper also exposes how the regime's increased militarization and prioritization of military spending has seriously affected the social sectors of health and education, with dire impacts on women and children.



The WLB team is currently joining the Women, Peace and Security Advocacy Week activities at the United Nations, where it is using UNSC Resolution 1325 to lobby for a Security Council resolution on Burma, and for an increased role for women in peace-building processes.



"The UN Security Council must pressure the regime to implement an immediate ceasefire and cease all war crimes against civilians in Burma," says Thin Thin Aung. "Then the UNSC must ensure that an irreversible peace and reconciliation process takes place."



Media Contact:



Thin Thin Aung Presidium Board member + 1 732 6067508

Lway Aye Nang Joint- General Secretary (1) + 66 9 4342841

Hseng Noung Presidium Board member + 66 1 8844963

Creating Heroes
( http://www.tayzathuria.org.uk/notice.htm)

_ by Jim Mcnalis

[Jim McNalis is the creator of the very well known sculpture of Aung San Suu Kyi. Jim made the sculpture with clay from Burmese soil which he secretly packed away in his suitcase on his returns home from his occasional trips to Burma. He presented his famous sculpture of Aung San Suu Kyi to Burmese government in exile who later relayed it to Aung San Suu Kyi's family in Britain.

Jim also made a sculpture of Saw Bo Mya, the much revered leader of Karen National Union (KNU). Lately, Jim made sculptures of the three famous comedians in Burma, called "the Three Moustache Brothers" who bravely make jokes on SPDC military regime .]

I have just returned from another trip into Burma and am filled with the usual combination of emotions: elation at the beauty of the country and the wonderful people; sadness at the continuing injustice under which the people are forced to live; and an anger bordering on rage at the behavior of the regime to its people.

I, along with the rest of the civilized world, was shocked by the re imprisonment of Min Ko Naing and his colleagues. What the regime fails to understand is that they have not created prisoners, they have created heroes. Like Daw Suu Kyi, they are unable to break down their opposition. When they temporarily release these moral warriors from their cells, they are expecting broken, grateful kow towing silence. It is not to be. These people have a moral superiority and a strength the generals will never comprehend. They all possess what I referred to as a "nobility of the human spirit" in describing my sculpture of Aung San Suu Kyi. People with this "nobility of the human spirit" ennoble us all.

It is time now to insure that Min Ko Naing's heroic defiance of injustice are honored. I hope BURMA DIGEST readers can also answer the call for reference material on Min Ko Naing.

I WILL NEED: (Anything that can be emailed or sent to me would be greatly appreciated.)

1. I would like any written materials, biographies or interviews that will let me understand his personality, intelligence, humor or other characteristics that make him unique...all these features must be incorporated into the sculpture.

2. Any and all photos of Min Ko Naing. While a good painting can be done from a good photograph, a good sculpture requires photos of many different angles...Full Front; 3/4 views and any left or right profile shots would be extremely useful.

So I ask all of you to help me honor this brave man and guarantee that every minute the generals make him spend in prison will not make him a prisoner, it will make him a hero.

The generals are fools. They are actually guaranteeing Min Ko Naing and all Burmese who they imprison will be heroes and that through the example of these courageous people the regime cannot survive.

Please join me in this effort to resist the regime. Please join me in honoring a hero. I thank you all in advance for whatever helps you can provide. [If you send anything related with Min Ko Naing to burmadigest@tayzathuria.org.uk , it'll be forwarded to Jim.]

Jim's other articles:

Is Aung San Suu Kyi Still Alive http://www.tayzathuria.org.uk/bd/2006/4/30/jm1.htm
Nobility of Human Spirit http://www.tayzathuria.org.uk/bd/2006/4/30/jm2.htm
birthday wish for imprisoned Nobel laureate http://www.tayzathuria.org.uk/bd/2006/6/25/jm.htm

Musicologist Rick Heizman with some of his favorite musical instruments: In the center is a Burmese saung gauk, behind it is a Middle Eastern oud from Syria, on the right is a Chinese zheng.

If it has strings and makes music, it's an irresistible magnet for world instrumentalist and ethnomusicologist Rick Heizman. And if it comes from Burma, then doubly so.

For Rick Heizman, involvement with international music has been a lifelong passion, but his love affair with Burma began quite serendipitously at age 24, while passing through on his way to a hiking trek in Nepal.

"Seven days, that's all that was possible in the '80's," says Rick. "But I went to Burma six times like that in the early and mid-80's. On my first trip, I visited Rangoon, Mandalay and Pagan. It was quite a time warp, very traditional, very Buddhist, deep culture, wild music, fascinating and friendly people."

Rick did eventually make it to Nepal on that same trip, and when asked how his adventure compared with what he experienced in Burma, he replied, "Also fantastic...I went back to Nepal many times as well... I am a travel nut. I've been to Burma 14 times since 1981. Also, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Bhutan, India, Thailand Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Turkey, Egypt, Yemen, Albania, Macadonia, Slovenia, Croatia...." Yet in his 14 trips to Burma, Rick feels that there are still plenty of odd corners to explore.

According to his understanding of the historical timeline of modern Burma, and how it came to be the troubled independent Asian nation that it is today, Rick says, "Burma gained its independence from Britain in 1947. Aung San, father of Aung San Suu Kyi, was the first democratic leader. He was assassinated two years later, and strongman Ne Win took over, established a military dictatorship and xenophobic policy and it's been bad since. Nevertheless, the Burmese are a great people, stoically dealing with a terrible government."

Rick feels that Burma is a great country, people and culture to be concerned about, and the government there needs to be disposed of. On his yearly visits there, he maintains ties with cherished friends and is discreetly involved with the political opposition.

Rick is a native of the Bronx in New York City, but migrated to Los Altos and Palo Alto in California at age 10, where he has been more or less Bay Area Californian ever since. He attended Foothill College, UC Santa Cruz, and San Jose State, where he graduated with a BA in Music Composition and Guitar.

In his early adulthood, Rick's parents lived and worked in Hong Kong, China, and India, where his father served as regional head of a high tech company. Rick describes their simultaneous adventures as a "separate but parallel interest in Asia," and recalls that he and his father often met up in exotic places such as New Delhi and Katmandu. For all his trips to Burma, Rick describes the Burmese language as extremely difficult, however, his many travels in Asia have rendered him fluent in Japanese, functionally fluent in Chinese, and able to get by (albeit rusty) in Indonesian.

When he isn't traveling in Asia, Rick Heizman lives in a spacious flat in San Francisco's Inner Sunset district. In his curriculum vitae, Rick is a self-described guitarist, composer, teacher, performer, ethnomusicologist, world-instrumentalist, musicologist, recording artist, and producer. A professional, multifaceted musician, much-in-demand and highly regarded guitarist equally proficient in jazz, classical, Brazilian, and 'new original' styles. He is a composer who has written for guitar, other Western instruments, and many world instruments, and produced, performed, and recorded his works. Rick is also a very busy and popular freelance teacher of jazz, classical, improvisation, and music theory.

Rick has had a long fascination with other musics of the world. He has traveled many times to far corners of the world - absorbing music and culture, doing projects, and collecting and studying many instruments. As an ethnomusicologist he is always studying some form of world music, and has contributed his skills and knowledge to many projects and recordings. He is a world-instrumentalist who has studied and plays other instruments such as, dan tranh (Vietnam), saung gauk (Burma), ud (Middle East), tar (Persia), kora (West Africa), and mbira (Zimbabwe).

As a musicologist, Rick studies and performs such particular styles as Baroque Trio Sonatas, or German Baroque lute music. A recording artist, he has recorded numerous CD's of his own works - both as a 'Western' musician, and as a world musician - and has contributed to various other projects. As a producer, Rick has done some very interesting recordings, particularly in the country of Burma. He has produced, recorded, and documented the bulk of Burmese traditional music available in the world for a number of record companies, including Smithsonian.

In 1996, after visiting Burma again, Rick, as an ethnomusicologist, recognized that the vast musical world of Burma had barely been recorded by the outside world. So Rick felt compelled to record and document the music world of Burma. He sought out Burmese musical virtuosos, well known in their musical circles, one of whom is a virtual national treasure, a harpist named U Myint Maung.

And while Burma does have its own brand of pop music, Rick focuses mainly on traditional and "evolving traditional" genres. For those unfamiliar with traditional Burmese music, Rick describes it as, "Quirky, energetic, and virtuosic, with a complicated technique. And while having no Western influences, it can sometimes seem like modern, quirky jazz. It is not necessarily soothing, and definitely not for the timid."

Rick Heizman finds his bliss in figuring out a new odd instrument, and feels that the worst waste of time is catching up with mundane "office/computer" type work and not getting to one of the many great instruments laying just near by. His motto: Do something interesting, artistic, beneficial, unusual...do it well...and do something with it."

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Rick Heizman

1440 15th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94122
tel/fax: 415-731-7425
earthviewmusic@yahoo.com

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Selected Discography

Rick Heizman's own works:
Wanderings, Wonderings - Rick Heizman; EarthView Music, 1993
Air: Moving, Flowing - The Air Ensemble; EarthView Music, 1993
Hard To Reach Places - Rick Heizman; EarthView Music, 1995
Oriental Gardens - Rick Heizman and Bill Douglass; NorthWord, 1996
Rhapsody In Blue and Other Gershwin Plums - Rick Heizman; EarthView Music, 2000
BRAZIL! - Rick Heizman; EarthView Music, 2001
In A Mellow Tone - Rick Heizman and Neil Adler; EarthView Music, 2002

Produced, Recorded, and Researched by Rick Heizman:
Svikiro - Forward Kwenda (music of Zimbabwe); Shanachie, 1997
White Elephants & Golden Ducks - Musical Treasures from Burma; Shanachie, 1997
Pat Waing - The Magic Drum Circle of Burma - Kyaw Kyaw Naing; Shanachie, 1998
Sandaya - The Spellbinding Piano of Burma - U Yee Nwe;Shanachie, 1998
Saung Gauk - The Royal Harp of Burma - Zaw Win Maung; Shanachie, not yet released
Silver Strings of the Golden Land - The Western Stringed Instruments of Burma; Shanachie, not yet released
Green Tea Leaf Salad - Flavors of Burmese Music; Pan (Dutch company), 2000
Mahagita: Songs From Burma's Royal Courts - U Myint Maung and Daw Yi Yi Thant; Smithsonian, 2003 (features extensive research with 30 page booklet, funded with grants from The Asian Arts Council and Open Society).

Films in which Rick Heizman performed, composed, and contributed music:
The Five Chinese Brothers - Rabbit Ear Productions, 1994
Regret To Inform - Barbara Sonneborn; Artistic License Films, 1999

The bus crowded as usual,but the little girl attracted a lot attention .She looks so cute with pink skirt.Just looks like an angel.She looks so happy get on the bus and run up to the door,"wait,wait..."her father shout at to her thou.She smiled at old an old lady without say anything when the lady asked her to sit with her together.Her father told the lady that she was a dumb person,she could not hear anything since she was 2 years old.And her mother left them after that.They are from a small village and now living here in Kunming.She goes to deaf-mutes school. She looked at the outside of the window with an pensive smile when her father was telling the story to the lady.........
But her angelic smile still in my mind.I will pray for you ,wish you happy in your life ,though i don't know who you are and where you would go ....

I heard the Chinese guys were talking about the Burma in YG.They said Burma was nothing changed during the 10 years comparison with the other countries.I know it is true,but still sad to hear that.