Burma

“We aim to be the country’s most important media company”

It took 24 years for Soe Myint to return to his homeland. He spent 24 years waiting, but also keeping busy with his hard and dedicated work in establishing a free and independent news service reporting on the situation in Burma. For the past few years, Soe Myint and his media company, Mizzima Media, have been able to work freely in the country.

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Burma

March 13 2014. #12 2014.

We dedicate this issue to Nils Horner's memory

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Burma

March 13 2014. #12 2014.

The systematic repression of the Rohingya minority continues

Maung Zarni is a Burmese scholar in exile. He is an expert on the political affairs of Myanmar, and currently Visiting Fellow at London School of Economics. In this article he writes about the oppression of the minority people Rohingya, whom the Burmese government classifies as “immigrants” and thus not eligible for citizenship.

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Burma

March 13 2014. #12 2014.

Burma at a glance

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Burma

March 13 2014. #12 2014.

Wash your hands

The pseudonym Pandora is one the most influential poets in Burma today. In 2012, she published an anthology entitled Tuning: An Anthology of Myanmar Women Poets, which is the first book of its kind presenting female Burmese poets. She has written a new poem for The Dissident Blog.

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Burma

March 13 2014. #12 2014.

What does PEN Myanmar mean for the country?

PEN was once a kind of social club for authors. The task is currently to found a PEN centre in Myanmar that can map the country's literature and its degree of freedom of expression, which plays a central role in democratisation.

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Burma

March 13 2014. #12 2014.

The Kachin: Culture of the mountain lords

One of the problems shaking the state of Myanmar can be found in the ethnic conflicts that have arisen in the wake of the faltering dictatorship. While the majority of the population speaks Burmese, at least one hundred other languages are spoken in the country.

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Burma

March 13 2014. #12 2014.

Ludu and I

1946 saw the establishment of a regime-critical daily newspaper called Ludu. Today, it is a natural institution for dissident writers in Burma.

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Burma

March 13 2014. #12 2014.

On the precipice: Burmese literature post-censorship

How does a country's literature recover after years of mass censorship? James Byrne, poet and founder of the poetry journal The Wolf, has followed the developments in Burma for many years and he was co-editor an co-translator for Bones Will Crow: 15 Contemporary Burmese Poets, which is the first anthology of Burmese poetry to be published in the West.

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Burma

March 13 2014. #12 2014.

Two steps forward—two steps back?

Following the student protests in Burma in 1988, an independent magazine called The Irrawaddy was founded in exile in Thailand, and quickly became a respected source for news from the closed country. Now the magazine has moved back home—and has encountered a number of new ways in which press freedom has been limited.

Country: 
Burma

March 13 2014. #12 2014.

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