Myanmar: Resources and Ways to Help
In February 2021, after a decade of growth and development, Myanmar suffered a military coup d’état that plunged the country back into a period of darkness and repression similar to that described in The Golden Land. Yet, the people of Myanmar continue to fight for the future they deserve, whether through nonviolent protest, armed opposition, or quiet acts of disobedience.
To support the movement for justice and democracy in Myanmar, please consider donating time, money, or resources to one of the organizations below. I am donating a portion of the proceeds from The Golden Land to the fundraising initiative Boston Free Burma.
The Action Network: Campaign for a New Myanmar aims to raise international support for the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) by “organizing the campaigns in support of the CDM’s demand for global boycotts and sanctions of the Myanmar military and its business empire.”
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) or AAPP is a “human rights organization based in Mae Sot, Thailand and Rangoon, Burma [that] advocates for the release of all remaining political prisoners in Burma and for the improvement of their quality of life during and after incarceration.”
Boston Free Burma is a Boston-based organization that hosts fundraisers to provide essential supplies to Myanmar people impacted by the military’s suppression of human rights and to support of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) of civil servants resisting military regime.
Crisis Relief to People in Myanmar is a Global Giving fundraiser whose objective is to “enable girls and young women to access basic material needs and assistance” in the wake of the military coup.
Global Movement for Myanmar Democracy (GM4MD)’s mission is “to build and strengthen networks for global pro-democracy movements for Myanmar and meet technical needs for informed and targeted youth empowerment activities. We aim to organize the Myanmar diaspora, friends of Myanmar, friends of democracy in general, and existing organizations into a global community that coordinates grassroots action to bring about this future.”
International Crisis Group “is an independent organisation working to prevent wars and shape policies that will build a more peaceful world.”
Medical Action Myanmar’s goal is “to improve access to quality health care targeting poor, marginalized and vulnerable people.”
Myanmar Book Aid and Preservation Foundation’s mission is “to contribute to the building of a strong, knowledge-based society by transforming community libraries into community centers.”
Mutual Aid Myanmar is “a collection of activists, academics, and policy makers working to support the democracy movement in Myanmar. We work closely with Civil Disobedience Movement organizers to help sustain the government and critical-industry workers who have put their livelihoods on the line for democracy.”
PEN Myanmar “is an association of writers who believe in freedom of expression and share the desire to promote literature.”
Essential Reading
Below is a selection of some of the many books about or set in Myanmar that inspired me when I lived in Yangon 2013 – 2019, or that I have since discovered. Please feel free to recommend others, and I’d be glad to add them to this list!
Burmese Lessons: A True Love Story
by Karen Connelly (Nan A. Talese, 2010)
Memoir of the author’s experience living in a Burmese rebel camp on the Thai border, where she fell in love with one of the rebel leaders.
The Lizard Cage
by Karen Connelly
(Random House, 2008)
Singer and political prisoner, Teza, is seven years into a 20-year sentence in solitary confinement when he meets a young orphan whose precarious circumstances as a prison servant give Teza something to fight for.
Miss Burma
by Charmaine Craig (Grove Press, 2017)
A novel based of the remarkable true story of the author’s mother, a former beauty queen and rebel fighter, set against the backdrop of the Karen people’s struggle for justice and recognition in Myanmar.
The Glass Palace: A Novel
by Amitav Ghosh (Random House, 2001)
An epic novel of love and loss that begins with the exile of King Thibaw and Queen Supayalat from Burma to India and follows the royal family and their entourage into the 21st century.
Freedom From Fear and Other Writings
by Aung San Suu Kyi
(Viking, 1991)
Essays about her father, Burmese history, and human rights by much-loved democracy icon, former leader, and current political prisoner, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Finding George Orwell in Burma
by Emma Larkin
(Penguin Press, 2006)
Political travelogue about the author’s journey through the totalitarian police state of Myanmar in the early 2000s as she traces George Orwell’s footsteps through 1920’s colonial Burma.
The Piano Tuner
by Daniel Mason
(Vintage, 2003)
A British piano tuner is commissioned by the British War Office to tune a grand piano in the remote region of 19th century Shan State where his political and spiritual beliefs will be tested in ways he could have never imagined.
Names for Light: A Family History
by Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint
(Graywolf Press, 2003)
Arranged in spare, dreamlike passages juxtapositioned against the white space of the page, this unusual memoir follows the author and her family through time and place as she explores the impact of memory and language on identity.
The River of Lost Footsteps
by Thant Myint-U
(Farrar, Straus, and Groux, 2008)
The rise and decline of modern Burma, from the fall of the Konbaung Dynasty in 1885 to the present day, authored by historian Thant Myint-U, grandson of U Thant, former Secretary General of the United Nations.
Burmese Days
by George Orwell
(Mariner Books, 1974)
Disenchanted British merchant, John Flory, struggles with the contradictions and heartache of colonial life in 1920s Burma.
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats
by Jan-Philipp Sendker
(Other Press, 2012)
A New York lawyer travels to the village of Kalaw in Shan State to find out the truth about the love and hardship her father left behind when he immigrated to America decades before.
The King in Exile: The Fall of the Royal Family in Burma
by Sudha Shah
(Harper Collins, 2015)
Meticulously researched true story of King Thibaw, Queen Supayalat, and their extended family, from their early days in the Royal Palace of Mandalay to their exile in India, and back to Rangoon after the King’s death.
Myanmar Marionettes
by Ma Thanegi
(Asia House, 2008)
A resource book explaining the history, culture and artisanry of Myanmar marionettes that includes photographs.
Nor Iron Bars A Cage
by Ma Thanegi
(Things Asian Press, 2013)
A surprisingly uplifting memoir of the three years the author spent in Myanmar’s notorious Insein Prison sustained by the support and
camaraderie of her fellow inmates––from other political prisoners to
prostitutes and pick-pockets.
Prisoner of Conscience: My Steps Through Insein
by Ma Thida
(Silkworm Books, 2016)
A moving memoir of the author’s struggle against the previous military regime including the years she spent as a political prisoner in Burma’s infamous Insein Prison and the liberation she found through Vipassana meditation.
From the Land of Green Ghosts
by Pascale Khoo Thwe (Harper Collins, 2003)
Memoir of the author’s remarkable journey from a remote Padaung village to Cambridge University by way of Mandalay University, a Chinese restaurant, and a harrowing escape across the border as a freedom fighter fleeing the military.
A Gentle Kind of Poverty
by Mu Mu Winn
(Myanmar Book Centre, 2015)
Returning home after many years abroad, an expatriate Burmese woman is torn between the independence she enjoys abroad and the cultural ties pulling her back home.
See also:
For live and video performances of Myanmar marionettes, please visit the mesmerizing Htwe Oo Myanmar Puppet Theatre.