Fueling a Movement
In 1997 in western Burma, on his twentieth birthday, Kim went to the local military jail to bring food to his uncle, something he'd done every day since his uncle and eighteen others were arrested for holding a Christian ceremony. The day Kim arrived with a special birthday meal, his uncle and the others had vanished. As he searched for them, he came across nineteen freshly dug graves in the nearby jungle. Soon after, fearing for his own safety, Kim fled to India.
In his new home, Kim learned of the Burmese dictatorship's plans to extract off-shore natural gas and sell it to India or China. The enormous reserves in the Shwe fields have the potential to be the military junta's largest single source of foreign income. Despite global calls for the elimination of foreign investment in Burma until democracy is restored, there are many companies working with the military - including Canadian corporations. The village Kim had left lay in the path of the proposed pipeline; he knew that his community would be unlikely to survive such a project, so he decided to take action.
Kim joined the Shwe Gas Movement (SGM), a growing network of individuals and organizations who are concerned about the further entrenchment of Burma's brutal regime, as well as the pattern of increased militarization and human rights abuses associated with the junta's "development" projects. SGM has branches in India, Bangladesh and Thailand, and partners with regional and international organizations. They develop advocacy and education materials such as the report Supply and Command. By placing this research within an international network, SGM is able to engage a diverse and extensive audience - from members of India's parliament to the people in Kim's village.
In June of 2007, as a member of the Canadian NGO Committee on Burma, Inter Pares, which has supported the SGM since its inception, sponsored Kim's participation in the International Human Rights Training Program in Montreal. With over 130 participants from 60 different countries, Kim was able to deepen his understanding of human rights and continue to build networks of international solidarity. Inter Pares will continue to work with Kim and his colleagues as a key part of the movement for democracy in Burma.
For a copy of the report on the Shwe Gas Project, see 
www.shwe.org/media-releases/publications/file/SUPPLYANDCOMMAND.pdf.
For decades, refugees have been making the trek from Burma to Thailand, in hopes of finding relative safety. Rebecca Wolsak recalls her first trip to Mae Sot, a Thai border town. "More than once I was stopped in the streets by someone from Burma who wanted me to know what was going on in their country." These stories had a profound influence on Rebecca's own story. She became determined to show solidarity with the Burmese struggle for democracy and human rights. This struggle has been part of her work and life ever since.
Rebecca's journey has seen her studying, travelling, working and living all over the world. It has taken her from Vancouver, where she was born, to England, where she spent her formative years, all the way to Australia and Scotland, where she was involved in theatre festivals. Though her interests have always included creative endeavours such as theatre, dance and music, her guiding passions have always been human rights and social justice. As a result, she spent five years in Thailand where she worked with a number of Inter Pares counterparts including the Back Pack Health Worker Team (BPHWT) and the Mae Tao Clinic.
Based in Thailand, the BPHWT provide care to people in some of the most vulnerable regions in Burma. Back in 2000, it was a relatively new organization that needed to build capacity in communications, financial management, administration and fundraising. Rebecca's exceptional analytical, writing, organizational development, financial and relationship-building capabilities, skills she had honed through her work in the arts, were a boon to the BPHWT. During her two years there, she learned much about the politics of suffering and resistance, and about the strength of the human spirit. It was in that context she first learned about a social justice organization called Inter Pares that supported work on the Thai-Burma border.
After several years working on human rights, environmental and peace issues in Thailand, Rebecca returned to Vancouver to see her family. She immediately began collaborating with the Vancouver-Burma Roundtable, a local solidarity group, to organize an exhibition of art and weavings by Borderline, an organization based on the Thai-Burma border and dedicated to providing opportunities for Burmese creative expression in exile. It was a golden opportunity to combine her activist and artistic pursuits and to bring to Canada so much of what had inspired her about the struggle for democracy in Burma. It was also the perfect occasion to reconnect with Inter Pares, which provided support for the Vancouver art exhibit. Rebecca is now part of the Inter Pares staff team, where her journey of activism continues in Ottawa.
To learn more about Borderline, see www.borderlineshop.blogspot.com.
| Reviewed November 6, 2007 |  |
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