Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/tag/human-rights/page/4/)
A most vital aspect of contemporary art is that it often attempts to fulfill its aesthetic imperative while embodying a deep awareness of the world that gives it context. So as news continues to spread about the violent crackdown by Burma’s junta against Buddhist monks, nuns, and civilians who peacefully demonstrated for democracy, it’s heartening to see a response from artists and curators.
For the past two weeks Pyi Maung hasn’t spoken with his parents in restive Burma. It’s one of the longest silences between him and his parents, but it’s for a good reason: He doesn’t want to get his parents in trouble. The 24-year-old architecture student at the University of Minnesota fears that the repressive military junta in his native country will accuse his parents of being spies for the United States. “As difficult as it sounds, it’s in [my parents’] interest to not receive a call from us,” he said, referring to himself and his two siblings. Burma, also known as Myanmar, a name Maung resists because it’s the junta’s choice, has been engulfed in violence for more than a month. Continue Reading
The tiny huts, the small latrines and the white tents inside metal barricades looked startlingly familiar even though they were part of a replica of a refugee camp. I felt a little jolt in my heart as I stood in line Thursday to get inside the “camp” set up in Loring Park in Minneapolis. This was one flashback, to my time in a camp in Kenya, which I never thought I’d relive here. But that dose of reality is precisely how organizers want exhibitors to feel. Jennifer Vago, a registered nurse with Doctors Without Borders, an international humanitarian organization said: “People see these images everyday on TV and on magazines, and they just turn the channel/page. Continue Reading
The Burmese government has tried to shut down the internet. Some blogs have been blocked. A few still get through. From one of the remaining blogs: “Today morning 11:30 am in Burma time this is how they come out and try to kill people.” “In Burma, security forces used batons, tear gas and live rounds in a violent crackdown on mass protests against the military junta. Continue Reading
Thailand has held 149 Hmong people, including men, women, and ninety children in a two-room cell for the past nine months with no access to the outside. Their only access to drinking, cooking, and bathing water is a single stall toilet. Having done nothing wrong, the Hmong have been designated as political refugees, a status that has been certified by the United Nations. While third nations have agreed to accept the refugees for relocation, on August 21, Thailand decided that it would not allow these asylum seekers to leave. On September 20, Thailand announced that it will force an additional 8,000 Hmong refugees back to communist Laos. Continue Reading