BURMA OUT!! Civil War : The Sunda

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Subject: BURMA OUT!!   Civil War : The Sunday Times UK

             The Sunday Times      31st Oct 1999


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                     Exiles train for civil war in Burma 

Michael Sheridan Suan Phung, Thailand 

HUDDLED beneath the pelting late rains in squalid refugee camps along 
the Burmese border, a growing mood of desperation among exiled democracy 
activists is driving young men to join a new group dedicated to armed 
struggle against the military rulers of Rangoon. 
Its members have decided that time has run out for the policy of 
peaceful resistance advocated by Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's elected 
leader, who continues to live under virtual house arrest in the 
country's capital. Only force of arms, they believe, will succeed in 
driving out the country's repressive and brutal regime. 

"It has been 11 years of frustration since the military coup, and 
non-violence has achieved nothing," said one activist last week. "We 
respect Aung San Suu Kyi but now it is time for us to fight." 

A small number of activists agreed to talk under conditions of anonymity 
to The Sunday Times after securing agreement that their location along 
the Thai-Burmese border would not be identified. 

The interviews were conducted away from the prying eyes of the Thai army 
and military intelligence, and after precautions to avoid suspected 
informers for the Burmese military regime within the exile camps. 

"We will be staging armed actions against the military across the 
border," said one member of the group, a former student aged 29, from 
Rangoon. "We have access to weapons and training and there is no 
shortage of volunteers." An estimated 1,700,000 Burmese have fled to 
Thailand, India and Bangladesh. 

The activists claim to have made contact with relatives and friends in 
several battalions of the Burmese army who say that under pressure from 
mass protests and hit-and-run insurgency, the army could split apart 
between units loyal to the regime and mutineers. 

"The economic situation is now so bad for everybody that even the 
soldiers' families are suffering," said one. 

A return to violence by the political opposition would mark a 
significant change in Burmese politics. The dissidents, mainly students 
and city dwellers, tried but failed to wage a guerrilla campaign in the 
first months after the army seized power. But now they say that men have 
been hardened by years in camps along the border, where they are in 
daily contact with armed rebels such as the Karen minority group. 

For the first time in years, they say, members of the opposition who 
want to fight can count on co-operation and support from the assorted 
armed ethnic groups still battling government troops all along the 
southern border with Thailand. In this territory of thickly wooded 
mountains and swirling banks of low cloud, the border is hard to police, 
allowing Karen rebels and their allies to slip across on well-worn muddy 
tracks cut through the vegetation. 

There is no doubt that the armed opposition is serious. Three of the 
activists interviewed said they had been involved in helping students 
storm the Burmese embassy in Bangkok on October 1. The five gunmen held 
30 people, including 13 Burmese diplomats, hostage for 24 hours before 
releasing their captives in exchange for a helicopter ride to sanctuary 
among rebels along the northern border. 

The stunning propaganda success of the siege, which ended without 
bloodshed, has spurred exiles to believe that similar actions are more 
likely to advance their cause than years of wasting away in refugee 
camps, writing letters, staging demonstrations and waiting for homes in 
third countries such as Canada or Australia. 

The embassy siege has wrecked relations between Bangkok and Rangoon, 
however, prompting Burma to close the frontier at the expense of 
millions of dollars in cross-border trade and smuggling. It has also 
raised military tension sharply and there have been skirmishes and 
significant troop movements by both Thai and Burmese forces. 

Since the siege, there have also been reports of explosions on board two 
Burmese ships and strong rumours of other acts of sabotage. 

"Johnny", leader of the embassy raid, and his four accomplices are now 
in hiding. Not only are they targets for agents of the junta, but 
outraged Thai fishermen, whose business has been devastated by a 
retaliatory Burmese ban on coastal fishing, have put a price of £80,000 
on "Johnny's" head. 

None the less, Burmese activists seem undeterred. "We promise that there 
will be no further actions inside Thailand," said one exile. "But we 
will strike at the regime and its symbols wherever we can." 

Aung, however, in a recent public statement, has maintained the 
commitment to non-violence that won her the Nobel peace prize. "It is 
hard to blame young people who have suffered," said a spokesman for the 
Euro-Burma lobbying group in Brussels. "But our position on non-violence 
has not changed. If it takes 10 years or 20, it does not matter." 

          ---------------------------------------------------------


"Gentlemen" .. We use this term with great reservation. 

Mihra.org has long standing links with The British Coalition 
for East Timor. 

Please conduct yourselves as similar to the ladies wishes..
In this case, "our" three girls...  They can teach the men
at home, quite a bit about, getting off ones activista buttski.

                                 ------------------

                       East Timor and beyond?

Ellen is one of the "Three Girls" :  The three who went over the wire
at Brit Aerospace and "took out" a Hawk aircraft that was due for 
delivery to Indonesia the next day. After taking hammers to the
flight deck and causing damage totallng hundreds of  thousands 
of pounds. All the girls were acquited of criminal damage by a 
British court. 

Ellen wrote this to us..


Over 8 months in the planning, the Pheasants' Union action 
finally  took place on june 8th in brilliant weather on Loch Goil. 

Angie, Ulla and I were all very nervous. During the previous 
two reconnoitres, there had been a lot of police boat/car presence; 
our small battery operated angle grinder had died; the unreliable 
inflateable dinghy had a dodgy engine, yet it turned into a perfect 
action. Ulla was at the spot 4 hours before the start time and 
phoned with the message "Beautifull weather" Then the boat, 
Angie and Ellen arrived in a rented van. We launched on time (7pm) 
and in spite of some heart stopping moments with the engine, soon 
arrived at "Maytime" the large floating laboratory complex which 
tests the sonar signals from Trident. 

We know now that the Chinese Defence Department can track 
Tridents movements through geo magnetic fluctuations and the 
laboratory on Maytime is more essential than ever to Trident's 
operation.

We had tools to open padlocks but didn't have to use them for 
that, one window was unbolted and in a flash Angie squeezed 
through. Ellen and Ulla hung a huge black banner, saying 
"TP2000: STOP NUCLEAR DEATH RESEARCH 
D.E.R.A.= DEADLY EFFICIENT RESEARCH FOR 
ANNIHILATION. 

Helen Stevens beautifull banner had rainbow people pushing 
Trident into the sunlight and said: "BRINGING CRIME INTO 
THE  LIGHT" Banners made by others said "CONSTRUCTIVE DECONSTRUCTION" and
"TP2000 OPPOSES RESEARCH 
FOR GENOCIDE".

Angie and Ulla handed me  load after load of  computers,
printers, moniters, fax machines, telephones, computer disks,
papers, manuals etc. Everything went overboard into the drink! 
Inside the laboratory there was an almost impenetrable cage 
which housed the mechanism for the model submarine which 
is used for many of the tests. Angie cut her way in and destroyed 
(by cutting the electric wires and hammering the circuit boards) 
the three control panels for the winch and the model submarine. 
Ulla found a sign which said MOD, no mooring, no boarding" and
propped it up inside the cage! We carefully cleaned up the lot, 
arranged on the table our police statement, video, Tridenting it-
handbook and several photographs of Hiroshima, Nagasaki and 
the victims- a good finale to our housework.

Having exhausted the possibilities in the laboratory, we went up 
on top of the barge and tried getting in to the control room for 
the vessel. It was protected by hardened perspex/glass. We tried 
glass cutter, hammer and cold chisels and a drill with several bits 
and allmost got through. Above the control room we cut the aerial 
antenna and super glued/liquid metalled the moving parts of an 
outside winch. We then settled down for a picnic. "Newt", a 
moveable platform, was a few hundred yards away and we thought 
we might inspect that with a liferaft (as our own boat was now 
beyond use and we had untied it in the hope that it might wash 
ashore and be retrieved by our supporters). We let down one 
liferaft which opened in a spectacular manner. But we were unsure 
whether it was the right side up, or had paddles,so we released
the second one, which fell into the water, its capsule still intact! 
By this time 3 hours had gone by and the internal radio started 
hailing us. As we did not want to be caught ineptly trying to control 
a liferaft halfway to Newt, we agreed to be satisfied with the 
disarmament work allready accomplished. It was an excellent time 
to have done this work, as the laboratory was between 
experiments. 

Before damage was done to any component we had made sure 
that the power was off. When the police arrived they were
friendly, having had previous experience talking to TP2000 people.

Ellen Moxley
---------------

The three "girls" are on remand, and will face a protracted trial, 
they hope with a jury. They consider it a small price to pay for 
having actually disarmed a Trident -related facility. 

Full smmary of the trial, day by day at
http://www.gn.apc.org/tp2000/Greenock/Incourt.html




































Follow the plea by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and the appreciations 
of HH the Dalai Lama, the Shan Democratic Union,  film maker John 
Pilger, the Free Burma Coalition,  author Alan Clements, Dennis 
Skinner MP, Tony Benn MP, Ann Clwyd MP, Congress-woman  
Maxine Waters,  Socialist Workers' Party,  Dr and Welsh rugby  
star JPR Williams, Hendrix  bassist Noel Redding,  S African jazz 
pianist Abdullah Ibrahim,  All Burma Students Democratic 
Organisation,  All Burma Students Democratic Front, Tasmanian 
Trades & Labour Council, Tim Gopsill, editor. 
The.Journalist@xxxxxxxxxx, and numerous others.   

Supporting a Genuine war upon drugs and human rights abuse.
Sydney 2000 : Burma Out! 
http://www.mihra.org/2k/burma.htm

Music Industry Human Rights Association
http://www.mihra.org / policy.office@xxxxxxxxx 

Rachel and James http:www.mihra.org/2k/rachel.htm
Union Action http://www.mihra.org/2k/Union.htm

Founded during UN50. Mihra's roots are in music and anti-racism and 
was first in line in calling for a sports boycott of Burma for the Sydney
2000 Olympic Games. Mihra also advances protection of creators rights 
in an anti-cultural market, currently 93.8% monopolised by the recording  
/ publishing Grand Cartel. 

Major solo work "Piece of Mind". With orchestra, Holland 69. same  
time as Beatles "Abbey Road".   http://onlinetv.com/rogerbunn.html
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