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September 2008
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 September 2008
When floodlights from armoured cars blinded sixteen-year-old Tin Maung Htoo and the hundreds of other demonstrators, they sat down in unison still singing protest songs. Tin heard automatic rifle fire and closed his eyes, "because I knew we were going to die."
It was the evening of August 8th, 1988, and the democracy demonstrators were exhausted from fourteen hours of marching through the city of Rangoon. When they realized that the guns were being fired in the air, they stood again. ... Click here to read the rest of this article In efforts to address their own needs, displaced people from Burma have created organizations to deliver assistance programs and to represent the interests of their communities. It is these organizations that Inter Pares supports. ...
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In 1988, when the military regime began killing and imprisoning democracy activists, Dr. Cynthia Maung joined the thousands of people fleeing to safety in Thailand. After just a few months, she and four other activists founded the Mae Tao Clinic (MTC) on the Thai border with Burma, in order to provide emergency health care for people escaping the crackdown.
Twenty years later, the MTC has expanded considerably. ... Click here to read the rest of this article
The ruthless nature of Burma's junta has been evident for many years, from its repression of the country's democracy movement, its war against ethnic peoples, to its callously slow and restrictive response to the cyclone of last May. The regime is routinely condemned in U.N. human rights reports for arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, summary executions, forced labour, rape, torture, denial of the freedom of assembly, forcible displacement of civilians, and the inhumane treatment of prisoners. Over the last decade, several million people have been forcibly displaced throughout the country. ...
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On a recent visit to Thailand, Inter Pares staff member Peter Gillespie met with a group of nuns and monks from Burma. The following is an excerpt from his report.
It is raining as I find my way to a Buddhist retreat centre on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand. I am met on the main road by Harn, the coordinator of Alternative Education for Social Engagement, an organization supported by Inter Pares. He leads me down a narrow pathway to the retreat building where a group of Buddhist monks and nuns from Burma are waiting. ... Click here to read the rest of this article Click here to view the photo essay "Life in Eastern Burma," which presents the story of an internally displaced family in Eastern Burma and the assistance they received from an Inter Pares counterpart.
Invitation to the Annual Congress of L’Entraide missionnaire « D’hier à demain : des voies de solidarité », Montreal, September 6 & 7
To mark the 50th anniversary of our long-time colleagues L’Entraide missionnaire, Inter Pares is proud to support their annual Congress, September 6 – 7, Ahunstic College, 9055 rue St-Hubert, Montreal. Under the theme “D’hier à demain : des voies de solidarité,” the congress will address issues such as human rights, justice and peace, citizen perspectives on globalization, and liberation theology. All are welcome. In French only. For more information: www.web.net/emi/depliant_congres08.pdf.
“Gender, the Paris Declaration and Women’s Emancipation,” by Molly Kane
This speech was made at a conference focused on development cooperation and financing issues in the lead-up to the September 2008 Accra High-Level Forum on the "Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness" and the November 2008 Doha meeting on Financing for Development. Molly's speech presented a provocation to these events as to how they view the roles of women and gender. To read this article, click here
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With the support of thousands of Canadians, Inter Pares works in Canada and around the world with social change organizations who share the analysis that poverty and injustice are caused by inequities within and among nations, and who are working to promote peace, and social and economic justice in their communities and societies. Charitable registration number (BN) 11897 1100 RR000 1.
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