Anti-government Campaigns Continue in Burma

By SAW YAN NAING
The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.org

March 26, 2008 - Burmese activists are distributing posters and VCDs of satirical comedy directed against the military government and its constitutional referendum in May, according to activist sources.

About 50 VCDs of a-nyient performances and 50 VCDs of Thangyat, two forms of traditional Burmese folk art, could be found in Mingalardon Market in Mingalardon Township in Rangoon and other areas on Tuesday, a source in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.

The traditional a-nyient performance is a recording of a show in Japan by the well-known comedy troupe Say Yaung Sone & Thee Lay Thee.

Members of the comedy troupe say Burmese citizens should vote “No” in the constitutional referendum in May. The exact date has not been announced.

The performance criticizes the military government for its violent suppression of the peaceful demonstrations in September 2007 in which the UN said at least 31 protesters were killed.

The VCDs of traditional Thangyat—a form of satirical comedy combining poetry, dance and music, could be found in markets and public areas in downtown Rangoon on Tuesday, said a resident.

The Thangyat VCDs were produced by Burmese dissidents in India who fled from Burma after the 1988 uprising in which an estimated 3, 000 protesters were killed.

Meanwhile, activists in Myitkyina and Waingmaw in Kachin State in northern Burma launched an anti-government poster campaign on Tuesday also directed against the national referendum on the draft constitution, said a local activist.

Ma Brang, a Kachin activist, said, “In opposing the draft constitution, we want to urge all people in Burma to vote ‘No’ in the referendum because the new constitution is very important for all citizens in Burma.”

The draft constitution is one-sided and will not guarantee the rights of civilians and ethnic citizens, said Ma Brang.

About 500 posters saying “Vote No” were posted in downtown areas in Myitkyina such as markets, the railway station, and university and high school compounds. About 100 posters were distributed in Waingmaw, said Ma Brang.

The campaign was organized by the All Kachin Students and Youth Union.