The party headed by Burmese prime minister Thein Sein is looking to recruit half of Burma’s eligible voters to its membership, which would swell its support base and elections war chest. (more…)

New Delhi – More than 700 war refugees in Karen State who fled into the forest towards the Thai border after junta army units shelled and burned down their villages, one of them a Christian centre, now need emergency food and medical aid, a Karen leader has said. (more…)

Five battalions from the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) will join the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) to fight Burmese junta’s troops after the DKBA troops refused to join the Border Guard Force (BGF), according to Karen sources. (more…)

New Delhi — Myanmar’s military ruler Than Shwe flew to Hyderabad Wednesday on the latest leg of a controversial state visit to India that has garnered millions of dollars in grants for infrastructure projects. (more…)

The Burmese government has slashed duty tax on locally-produced alcohol and tobacco by a third in a move likely to raise eyebrows among health professionals and planners. (more…)

Khet Mar does not look like a revolutionary. She is demure, soft-spoken, unassuming. She appears to be as delicate and fragile as a butterfly, but that appearance belies great strength and resolve. She was only 22 years old in 1991 when sentenced to ten years in a Burma prison. Her crime: speaking out publicly for human rights. Her world has changed dramatically since then. Last Tuesday night, she spoke about her life and her country to a packed house at the Shadow Lounge in Pittsburgh’s East End. (more…)

Last September, 15 exiled Burmese monks came from all over the United States to walk in a line through Pittsburgh streets. They started on the Northside, made their way past PNC Park, the Pirates’ baseball stadium, and ended up among downtown’s rows of skyscrapers. They chanted the sutra of loving kindness in front of curious passers-by. (more…)

Once again India has rolled out the red carpet for Burma’s aging despot Than Shwe, whose sleep has reportedly been disrupted by his deep seated fears of being hauled to The Hague for his alleged crimes against humanity. (more…)

The first two parts of this article suggested that an alternative politics could be fashioned in Burma by focusing on socioeconomic idioms. But it remained vague on exactly what this alternative politics would look and feel like in practice. Part three turns to an example from Burma’s own recent past, exploring in more detail the actions of the 88 Generation Student (88GS) group, arguing that it operates as a model of this kind of alternative politics that can coax ordinary Burmese to become re-engaged with the political realm. Its remarkable Open Heart Campaign portrayed the values and desires of average Burmese people – providing a set of key data points that reflected the daily realities to which any future political projects must be accountable and resonant. (more…)