The Karen National Union and especially the actions of the Karen National Liberation Army have spawned a number of books detailing a fascination for the Karen cause. While a number of these tomes, most impressively Jonathan Falla’s ‘True Love and Bartholomew’ (Cambridge 1991), have been well researched and accurately portray the author’s understanding, sympathy, and compassion for the Karen revolution and the people’s plight. A number, usually written by ex-soldiers who have ‘spent time on the frontline’ with the KNLA, are often best characterized as fantasies constructed mostly for the authors own egos and self-promotion (see Mike Tucker’s The Long Patrol for example). Rather than attempting to convey the struggle of a people enduring a sixty year war of subjugation such books primarily skim over any true analysis of the situation and instead offer the reader the briefest glimpse of the conflict - dwelling more on the writers own exploits than those of the people he seeks to shine a light on.
Sadly, Thomas Bleming, a U.S. based, self-described, ‘Soldier of Fortune and Revolutionary’ turned photo-Journalist, fits into, if not redefines, the latter. Bleming’s three weeks spent with the KNLA has created an alternate reality within the author’s mind that bares little resemblance to the actual problems facing not only the people but the Karen revolution as a whole. The book’s travelogue style (replete with times of having breakfast, where and what was eaten, where he stayed etc.) could easily have been dismissed as adventure reading if it wasn’t for the author’s belief that he himself holds the key to ending a sixty year conflict - as in - send more white men with bigger guns, or to quote Mr Bleming himself in an interview he gave to the Casper Star Tribune shortly after his visit: "The reason why I don't think this battle is going to continue is because they've found Thomas Bleming…It's my duty to stop it."(1)
Initially armed with a Lonely Planet guide to South-east Asia and the telephone number of Derek Melton ( A US based pastor who would later align himself with a KNU splinter group), Bleming had decided to offer his services to the Karen after seeing a documentary on the struggle on TV in his hometown of Lusk, Wyoming (or after reading an article in the Caspar Star Tribune according to one article in that publication). He made his way to Mae Sot on the Thai-Burma border and it was here that he attempted to contact the KNLA through Melton who had arranged for someone to meet him. After waiting several days after the initial contact he was finally met by a KNLA officer and was taken to the camp of Colonel Nerdah Mya the son of the late General and KNU President Bo Mya.
It was here that Bleming suffered an epiphany and came to the realization that after his first real conversation with Nerdah (two weeks after his arrival) that he had found his true calling and that both he and Nerdah were, because of their involvement in armed struggle, similar:
‘…he [Nerdah] fighting for his nation and a people and I in search of a fight worth my own involvement, as I had for years, sought a fight worthy of my getting into it [sic].’
Such tenuous similarities aside, Bleming continues to explain his reasons for wanting to join the Karen conflict by lamenting the sad state of the U.S. and the materialistic nature that that country has adopted ‘…materialism…was a big issue in my search for somewhere, where a less crazy, rat race culture could be found.’
