Student actions/movements

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Description: Some but not all of the entries in this section deal with student actions
Source/publisher: Online Burma/Myanmar Library
Date of entry/update: 2014-10-08
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The Myanmar government agreed in principle on Wednesday in Yangon to all student demands concerning national education reform in the four-way talks with students, lawmakers and education advocates, according to an outspoken education reformer who is participating in the talks. During the resumption of the four-party talks, government representatives and lawmakers agreed to include students and other education professionals in referendums and education law drafts, said Thein Lwin, a member of the Network for National Education Reform (NNER), an organization consisting of educational, political and religious groups, which is involved in the talks..."
Source/publisher: Radio Free Asia
Date of entry/update: 2015-03-04
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Individual Documents

Description: "Myanmar?s Aung San Suu Kyi urged student protesters on Tuesday to hold talks with the government about their opposition to the country?s controversial education bill, while stressing the need for the legislation to be passed as soon as possible. The chairperson of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party urged the students, who are marching 638 kilometers (400 miles) from central Myanmar?s Mandalay city to the commercial capital Yangon in protest against the National Education Bill, to hold discussions and negotiate with the government. ?Whether it is in this country or in any country, the best method to resolve problems is to discuss and negotiate,” she said in response to a question from the media about the student protest, as she was arriving at parliament for a meeting..."
Source/publisher: Radio Free Asia (RFA)
2015-01-27
Date of entry/update: 2015-03-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "This was partly due to their timing; the four days of demonstrations at Yangon University, City Hall and Shwedagon Pagoda kicked off on November 14, when United States President Barack Obama was visiting Yangon. Nevertheless, the hundreds of students who took to streets ? mostly members of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions ? have prompted an unprecedented response: Instead of being expelled from their courses, arrested or even shot at, the Ministry of Education has offered an olive branch, in the form of meetings to discuss their concerns. Minister for Education Daw Khin San Yi has said that their views could then be considered when finalising by-laws for the National Education Law, which are likely to be enacted next month..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (English)
2014-11-24
Date of entry/update: 2015-03-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Students and their supporters in Myanmar have staged a sit-in and threatened to go on a hunger strike as police block them from continuing a march to the commercial capital Yangon, protesting the country?s controversial education law, the leader of a student federation said. The students undertook the action on Tuesday, after riot police outside a monastery in the town of Letpadan, about 140 kilometers (86 miles) north of Yangon, formed a human chain around 150 protestors, while their supporters and parents in major cities urged authorities to avoid a violent crackdown on the students. Police had given the students a 4 p.m. deadline to disperse before they took action against them, but it passed without incident. ?We have asked the authorities to let us march to Tharawaddy,” Kyaw Ko Ko, president of the All Burma Federation of Students Union, said, referring to the district of the Bago Division in lower Myanmar. ?We will [then] go to Yangon by cars and will go home from Yangon. If they don?t let us do it, we will sit here and go on a hunger strike. If they attack or crack down us, we won?t respond.”..."
Source/publisher: Radio Free Asia (RFA)
2015-03-03
Date of entry/update: 2015-03-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "It was only at the start of the nineteenth century that some semblance of mass resistance against the colonialists and the modern struggle for independence materialized. During the colonial era, there was the Rangoon University Students? Boycott in 1920, the 1935-36 Rangoon University Students? Second Boycott, and in 1938 a strike participated in by workers, farmers, students, monks and the public."...
Creator/author: Aung Saw Oo
Source/publisher: reg.burma
Date of entry/update: 2014-10-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The booming voice of a young student leader, Ko Ba Hein, standing on the roof of Magwe prison during the ?1300 Peoples Uprising? ignited the fire of student activism in the pages of recent Burmese history. At this important juncture in the struggle for independence from the British in 1938, students joined hand in hand with young Buddhist monks, workers, farmers and the general public in the Burmah Oil Company strike. This type of alliance became the model for mass movements whenever the country faced political and economic crises."...
Creator/author: Dr. Thaung Htun
Source/publisher: Lawyers Information Network (LINK)
Date of entry/update: 2014-10-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "...Twenty three years ago today, on 8 August 1988, hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets of Burma demanding an end to the suffocating military rule which had isolated and bankrupted the country since 1962. Their united cries for a transition to democracy shook the core of the country, bringing Burma to a crippling halt. Hope radiated throughout the country. Teashop owners replaced their store signs with signs of protest, dock workers left behind jobs to join the swelling crowds, and even some soldiers were reported to have been so moved by the demonstrations to lay down their arms and join the protestors. There was so much promise...The leaders of the 88 generation have a particularly important role to play in the future of Burma. Not only are they widely admired but they have repeatedly shown their ability to unite ordinary people from all walks of life under a common cause: equality; self-determination; and democratization. This struggle for a unified Burma has been ongoing since independence and cannot be achieved unless there is an inclusive dialogue between the ruling ?civilian” regime, the National League for Democracy, and representatives of all ethnic nationality groups to discuss the future of a unified Burma. Until these issues are resolved, Burma will not transition into a peaceful, democratic, and developing country..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)
2011-08-08
Date of entry/update: 2011-09-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Paw U Tun alias Min Ko Naing, Chairman of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions ABFSU, was arrested on 24 March 1989. He was sentenced to 20 years? imprisonment later commuted to 10 years under a general amnesty for his anti-government activities
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/001/2001)
2001-01-01
Date of entry/update: 2010-11-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English, French
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Description: During the democracy uprising in 1988, Paw Oo Htun, whose nom de guerre, Min Ko Naing, means Conqueror of Kings, emerged as one of the movement?s most prominent student leaders. Together with other student leaders, he revived the umbrella students? organization the All Burma Federation of Student Unions. Today, while serving out a twenty year prison sentence, Min Ko Naing remains a symbol of the Burmese student movement. In this essay, interviews with close friends and student colleagues help document his story.
Creator/author: Megan Clymer, Min Ko Naing
Source/publisher: "Journal of Burma Studies" Vol. 8, 2003
2003-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2009-01-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Burmese pro-democracy advocate and former student leader Min Ko Naing was last month named one of this year?s winners of the Civil Courage Prize, awarded annually by the New York-based Northcote Parkinson Fund. The Fund is a private foundation that supports economic and political liberalism and honors ?steadfast resistance to evil at great personal risk.? Min Ko Naing—nom de guerre of Paw Oo Htun—was arrested in March 1989 and served more than 15 years of a 20-year prison sentence. He declined his share of the Civil Courage Prize—US $25,000—saying he wants the money to be used for humanitarian aid for his country. In a phone interview with The Irrawaddy, Min Ko Naing talked about the current situation in Burma...We need to understand the root cause and immediate context of the problems. We need to clearly examine these two factors; we shouldn?t pretend that we don?t recognise these issues. It is important to accept the reality of our country. In this country, crisis has existed for many years, while the change of democratic reform is delayed. All these things are related to international events. We will continue to endure the current crisis as long as Burma is rejected by the international community and under an economic situation of non-cooperation. Consequently, we will see massive unemployment problems, some people will lose their jobs and many will face everyday hardships. That is why I would like to urge the present government, the political forces and civil society to discuss together how to work towards a solution..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 13, No. 11
2005-11-00
Date of entry/update: 2006-05-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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