Thacher Students Wear RED for Burma
The following is from Robin Walter, a student at The Thacher School.
On Friday October 5th, almost every single Thacher student and faculty donned red to show support for Burmese protestors. The students wore red to show support for protestors who had recently challenged the repressive authoritarian Burmese government. Protestors set out to the streets to peacefully protest the rising prices of fuel. The Burmese (Myanmar) government raised fuel prices in mid August of this year by over 500%. Outraged, there have been hundreds of protests that have all been met with indisputable hostility and repression from the government. The violence culminated the last week of September, when local Buddhist Monks became involved in protests. While it is impossible to ascertain the total number dead because of the chaos that currently saturates the country, according to the International Herald Tribune, atleast ten civilians were killed when security forces broke up the mass demonstrations, but dissident groups put the death toll at up to 200 and say that at least 6,000 were detained. At least five of these civilians, according to eye witnesses and BBC reports, were Buddhist Monks.
The Burmese government that oversaw the actions of security forces is the very same government that has been carrying out a scorched earth campaign since 1996. The burnt villages, destroyed crops, raping, beating, and killing members of ethnic minority groups is reminiscent of the genocides in Darfur, Rwanda, Cambodia, and the Holocaust. Unfortunately, the conflict in Burma is an issue that the public is not generally aware of. By wearing red on Friday, the Thacher students helped to shed light upon a bloody and on-going conflict, and showed their support for the Burmese monks, and all others who suffer under the hands of the Burmese government, by standing in solidarity.
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Comments (7)
Thank you Robin Walter!! Thank you, Tyler!!
It's a very poignant irony that the young girl in this photo (Mee Mee - who has since been arrested) looks not much older than our own Thatcher students...
http://uscampaignforburma.org
Comment #1 Posted by: LTOR | October 17, 2007 12:08 PM
a student at Thacher School? Robin, you are amazing! and so is your school!
might be powerful to hook up with the Social Justice Club at Nordhoff...imagine a multi-school action! i can help.
Comment #2 Posted by: evan austin | October 17, 2007 01:10 PM
Last night I met two amazing human beings, Jim and Nao, the founders of Whispering Seed. (www.WhisperingSeed.org) Whispering Seed is a farm and learning center in Thailand on the border with Burma. Jim and Nao care for children orphaned by violence and disease such as HIV/AIDS. They run camps for village children, transport sick children to the hospital, travel the country supporting other organizations with their Permaculture and sustainable building efforts, and raise between 5 and 9 orphans.
Jim talked at length about the plight of those displaced from their homes in Burma by fighting. The displaced exist in a limbo-like state because they are persons without nations and in many cases without identities. Living in a rural Burmese village, birth certificates and national identity papers don't become important until your village is burned and you are forced to relocate. Without identification and proof of citizenship, no one wants them and no one is willing to support them. He talked about a woman who lives in the village where Whispering Seed is located who speaks 5 languages but cannot leave the village without fear of arrest or deportation because she has no papers. These are people with no citizenship and no identity. Their struggle is beyond my comprehension.
And I was moved by the hope and the love that Nao and Jim showed. They love the children (the orphans and village children) like family, and they offer their lives to support them.
Whispering Seed exists because Jim and Nao will it to exist. A generous Ojai organization has agreed to help fund solar panels so the farm can have electricity. Their next need is $5,000 to fund a water collection and delivery system so that they have regular water supply. If each reader of the Ojai Post donated $25, that goal could be reached in less than a month. Even $5, the cost of two cups of coffee would truly make a difference. If you'd like to donate you can send a check to
The Whispering Seed
511 Broad Acres Road
Penn Valley, PA 19072 USA
or donate securely on line by visiting Network for Good and entering Whispering Seed in the box labeled Charity Name. Whispering Seed is a US-based non-profit so your donation is tax deductible.
Ojai House and Rainbow Bridge will be carrying crafts Nao and some of the villagers.
Comment #3 Posted by: heather | October 17, 2007 06:09 PM
I'll gladly contribute. Thanks for bringing these two amazing people to our attention, Heather!
Comment #4 Posted by: LTOR | October 18, 2007 05:38 AM
And for all you music lovers out there, here is another way to make a difference with your dollars:
http://uscampaignforburma.org/freedomstore/1111.html
Comment #5 Posted by: LTOR | October 18, 2007 08:29 AM
These are indeed remarkable, dedicated people. I am delighted that someone stepped up to underwrite the solar panels. When I asked Jim what they most needed, this was at the top of his list.
Readers can visit The Whispering Seed at http://www.whisperingseed.org/
This is a shoestring operation, run on dedication, sacrifice, and hope. If you wish to drop a charitable dollar, there is no middle man here. It would go straight to making a difference.
Thanks to Sally Carless for bringing these folks to Ojai.
Comment #6 Posted by: Dennis Rice | October 18, 2007 04:20 PM
Hey everybody, thanks for the supportive comments re: Jim and Nao and Whispering Seed. They really are amazing. I visited them in 2004 and saw them in action. I'll be going back there in Dec., so I'll be able to come back with an update. I'll also be able to carry a small amount of extra stuff in my luggage if anyone wants to make donations (see http://whisperingseed.org/english/wishlist.html for ideas). Thanks for the financial donations, too. A little bit goes a long way in a country like Thailand. Even if you can only spare $10, it will make a difference.
Thanks also to the Thacher students. It's so great to see students taking a stand about something like this. Jim and Nao were telling us stories about the Burmese refugees they work with in Thailand. It's really a horrendous situation.
Comment #7 Posted by: Sally | October 19, 2007 07:02 PM