Gifts Of The Spirit

Family Isn't Always Flesh And Blood
(The Darkness Visible series)

(Shan Refugees In Koung Jor Shan Refugee Camp)

(Image via Al Jazeera)

This post contains spiritual content that may not match the views of all Alder's Ledge's team members. The views contained here are not meant to evangelize or any given faith over another. The sharing of these views is meant only to challenge the notions of what it means to be a "screamer". These are for illustrative purposes and to help those reading get to know our staff a little better.

Every new year brings people around the world a sense of hope and the promise of a fresh start. We celebrate the passing of the old year as we envision a year of endless possibilities just around the corner. In the West we use champagne and long nights of parties to somewhat drown the sorrows that had come our way and forget the pain of the past year. Yet for refugees around the world there is no such relief. The sting of a endless years of sorrow has a way of blurring the line between one year and the next.

The Shan people who comprise the Koung Jor refugee camp, just north of Chiang Mai, Thailand, recently celebrated the Shan New Year for the first time in their camp of about 500 refugees. Some of these refugees have spent decades trying to remain invisible as war has ravaged their homeland. Pushed over the border by ruthless elements of Burma's government, these refugees have suffered every indignity Myanmar could bring upon them. They are victims of ethnic cleansing and yet during this celebration the irony of smiles and sincere moments of joy washed over the faces of these refugees.

We, in our homes halfway around the world, meanwhile prepare for a holiday season of overindulgence and purchasing of gifts we don't necessarily need. We lavish our friends and family with material wealth even when we don't need to. And all the while these displays we so often associate with our holidays have nothing to do with the meaning of those said occasions. No amount of gifts, no amount of food or drink, no amount of time spent shopping, or any amount of time preparing actually can be linked to the reasons we are supposed to be celebrating. All these excesses, however, do just the opposite as they wipe away our smiles and sincere moments of joy we should be finding in those holidays spent with family.

There is nothing noble about the downtrodden, they aren't really any different than you or I. The only difference is what they have been through. They didn't choose to be cast aside and abused by a nation of ideologically driven politicians. They didn't want to be driven from their homes and forced to become aliens in a foreign land. Yet here is the catch... the difference that makes all the difference in the world... they find the meaning of a holiday, a celebration, in the one thing that we all should always remember. Family.

Recently I celebrated Hanukkah with my family. Every year this holiday has the task of giving gifts much like those given at Christmas by our Christian friends. Yet it also has another blessing in it that can't be purchased and isn't received by the family G-d gave me... at least not in the traditional sense. This blessing, this gift of the spirit behind the holiday, is the bringing of light to a dark and cold world. It is the blessing of giving of both my time, money, and any other resources I might have to those in need. It is the part of this holiday that I have grown to love the most. For it is the part of this holiday that reminds me of what family really means.

Over the years I have found family in some of the most bizarre places. A sister in Thailand, China, Burma, Korea, England... A brother in Canada, California, Japan, Croatia... Everywhere I have turned G-d has shown me that there isn't a person alive that isn't my brother, my sister, my beloved family. Our color, our creed, our faith cannot matter to me. For inside my Master has placed a fire that burns without end, a love for a family that knows no borders or limits.

For this reason the chance to give of myself to those who need it most is one that surpasses any gift I could ever receive. That chance to help bring a smile a face that has been missing that feeling for far too long... that is what every holy day embodies. It is in this service to others that we find what G-d meant when He told us to love Him, fear Him, and be of service to Him.

My beloved sister, in all her wisdom for such a young soul, reminds me often that in her practice of Buddhism the idea of serving others is essential to the growth of the spirit. In her work to help others she revels in the opportunity to learn from others' experiences, both bad and good. And by coming alongside them she is able to help those in need as they get back on their feet. But more importantly, she finds what it means to be family even with those who aren't our own flesh and blood.

For our Muslim staff the command in their faith to give charitably is a major part of their holy days. I have always cherished the moments where I have gotten to celebrate with them. To give to their causes and come alongside them as a brother during these holy times.

And for our atheist members, some of our most bold screamers, the notion that we are all a family of sorts is just as relevant. They challenge me to look beyond my faith, my people, and my own limitations to find new ways to serve others. These members remind me constantly that we are all born with a desire to be happy, free, and to feel the love of others.

What better way to show that love than to serve?

The people of Burma are suffering in ways that most of us will never truly be able to understand. Children there have seen things that they should never have had to lived through. Mothers in Burma have had to watch their children die right before their eyes. Fathers have had to live with the humiliation of not being able to provide for their families. Sons have watched their mothers and sisters be raped by a military that uses sex as a weapon. Daughters have had to care for their siblings after their parents were slaughtered like animals by barbaric mobs.

Every minority in Myanmar has a long sad story to tell a world that is hellbent on remaining deaf. Their voices have been stifled by the greed of a world ready to exploit the newly opened up country in which they live. And for many, their very existence is placed in question as countless genocides continue to set Burma's countryside ablaze.

This is why your service to them, your family, is needed beyond what words can fully express.

There are several ways that you can get involved and start serving the Rohingya, Shan, Wa, Kachin, Karen, Chin, and other minorities in Burma. The first is rather simple, and that is to start reading every bit of information you can get your hands on. Learn their stories, learn their plight, and learn what the issues they face mean to them as a people. Take in every article, every report, and every tweet or blog post you can find about the suffering in Myanmar.

Next comes the work of any and all screamers...

Start spreading the articles and information you gather. By posting this information to your social media outlets you start the process of screaming. This starts by reaching out to your friends and contacts online. Yet it is just the start. You must take this information and start spreading it to people face to face. By having that one on one contact you have the ability to engage the other person not just on an intellectual basis but have the chance to put some heart into it... emotions after all, make the information stick.

Next you need to start contacting your government officials. If you are in America this means that you must contact your representatives in Congress. It means that you need to bombard your officials in your state house and your governor (many states will attempt to forge new economic relationships with Myanmar). You must keep your government officials accountable for their lack of action when dealing with ethnic cleansing and genocide.

This is just a start when it comes to serving of your times and energy. And many of us who scream on a regular basis do most of these things without relent. These are our daily struggle as we serve those the world so often forgets. Yet this isn't the only way we need to be serving our family, our fellow man.

Charitable giving isn't just a part of the holidays. It isn't something that need be waited for. It is something that we should be doing on a regular basis. And if you do, then let me take a moment to thank you for your selfless generosity. But for far too many of us there are times where we hold back and tell ourselves that our actions and effort is more than enough... but it isn't.

In a world where money is a god in it's own right the act of charity must be continuous. No matter how little it might be, the act of giving of our own wealth to those who are without is an act that blesses both the recipient and the donor alike. It is an act that should be done without seeking of recognition. It is an act that should be done without concern for what that money could had been used for in our own financial needs. It should be given freely and without stipulation. And it must be readily given without hesitation.

For those who would wish to do this during the holiday season we here at Alder's Ledge would like to invite you to join us as we give to Partners Relief & Development.

The wonderful people at Partners Relief & Development have been serving the people of Burma for years. Their endless work on behalf of the refugees and oppressed within Myanmar is the sort of service we all should strive for. It is a selfless giving to those most in need that gives freely and without reservation. People like Oddny Gumaer are personal role models to the staff here at Alder's Ledge.

You can learn more about Myanmar and give to Partners Relief & Development by visiting their website: partnersworld.org 

Please join us this holiday season in our efforts to scream for the oppressed and those in need across Myanmar. Your voice can help bring about an end to the suffering of thousands of refugees and internally displaced peoples in Burma. Your efforts can bring hope to those who have lived without it for decades. And your donations can keep vital workers in the field as they bring life saving medicines, food and water, and much needed help to the suffering in Myanmar.

Want to know more about becoming a screamer? 

Contact the author on twitter: @alders_ledge

Or a member of our staff: @AL_Staff

Source Documents 

(note: not all sources listed)

Partners Relief And Development
http://www.partnersworld.org/donate

Al Jazeera 

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2013/12/pictures-koung-jor-shan-refugee-camp-2013125114454995239.html

DVB

https://www.dvb.no/dvb-video/the-first-shan-new-year-in-kuong-jor-camp-burma-myanmar/35051

Beneath The Black Flag

Myanmar's Military Not Prepared To Give Up The Fight
(The Darkness Visible series)

(Image via Irrawaddy News, June 2013)

When the Shan people practice drills to defend their homeland against the aggressive Burmese military they practice with wooden rifles. In a war for survival the only bullets the Shan are able to obtain are saved for the Myanmar soldiers who stalk the Shan forests. In many cases the Shan people hug the border in hopes that the pugnacious Burmese military will avoid conducting their attacks in view of the outside world. In a war for survival the Shan civilians are left with only a remnant of their homeland upon which to live.

This is the "war on drugs" in the far north of Myanmar. Utilizing cheap excuses that will buy themselves favor in the West, Myanmar's generals commit ethnic cleansing against the Shan people. There has been no real effort on the part of Burma's government to actually end the transportation and growing of opium. Instead the excuse is simply kept alive so as to give the Burmese military a reason to maintain their genocidal campaign against the Shan people. This is a war fought beneath the black flag... no surrender, no ceasefire, no peace. 

Where ever the boots of Burmese soldiers go in regions populated by ethnic minorities they raise this black flag. Taking what they want from the ethnic states before burning what they can't carry off as plunder. Villages that are razed are turned into "black zones" as the Burmese military plants landmines around their victims' homes. There is no right to return to normality for those who are unfortunate enough to live in the path of this cannibalistic military. These victims are turned into fodder for future exhibitions by Burma's legions. 

Life Within The "Black Zones"

(Image via Irrawaddy News, April 3 2013)

In World War One there was the "no-man's land". A long stretch of scorched earth that separated hostile enemies. Over the years of conflict this stretch of land became filled with craters from artillery and barbed wire, both meant to slow advancing troops. It was on either side of this wire and blackened ground that the opposing forces dug their way into deep (and complex) trenches. From these hellish gashes in the earth the two sides launched failed attack after failed attack. And yet the war dragged on and on. With each side "going over the top" and out into no-man's land only to die. 

For the ethnic minorities in eastern and northern Burma there is little land that they could dub "no-man's land". However there are plenty of places that are openly refereed to as "black zones". For the ethnic minorities these were once places that they had called home. Kachin villages, Karen homes, and Shan fields... all planted with landmines. This tactic is meant to keep the targeted ethnic group on the run. It keeps those from the village and any refugees within it from returning. And at the same time prevents migration of minorities back into lands claimed by the invading Burmese forces. 

In a world that claims to be for the downtrodden and the underdog we once again see the failure of the world community in securing the right to return for internally displaced peoples living on the edges of these black zones. Despite murmuring by NGOs and UN secretaries, the Burmese military continues to actively lay new mine fields. These anti-personnel mines create the tragic images like that listed above. Yet all the world can afford these victims is lip service? 

For those trapped in the black zones there is little hope for life or liberty. When trapped behind these lines the civilians in the Kachin and Shan state are hunted like animals by ever diligent barbarians (Burma's Army). They face coordinated assaults that often involve aerial bombardment or artillery strikes just before the machine gunners lay siege to villages and camps. Advancing Burmese soldiers then sweep the village in hopes of finding only women and children. Those caught in the dragnet are systematically tortured then slaughtered. Anything that can walk or ever hold a weapon is killed. For those trapped in the black zones every day is a struggle to survive. 

Yet like Mr. Rogers once said, "look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." 

Traveling into the areas that appear to be kill zones, the Free Burma Rangers put their lives at risk when they infiltrate enemy lines. Once in the black zones the Free Burma Rangers are open to reprisals and ambush by an enemy that is determined to cleanse the state of "inferior" ethnic groups. And yet these brave souls cross over the land of the damned to bring the innocent to safety. Standing in the gap between the beast and it's prey the Free Burma Rangers document the atrocities and save those left behind.

In stories that echo those of the American Underground Railroad, the Free Burma Rangers lead refugees out of areas that appear to be next in line for the Burmese army. In other trips the Free Burma Rangers bring food, water, and medicine to the IDP camps nearest to Burmese military activity. It is in these trips that the Free Burma Rangers provide aid and training to the refugees that have been victimized by Burma's brutal campaign of genocide. 

This is the little glimmer of hope in a land blackened by a military far from willing to lower it's black flag. 

The Penis As A Weapon Of Genocide

(Image via Burma Campaign UK)

What is the one thing every Burmese soldier carries into the field that doesn't need replaced or reloaded in order to ruin lives? 

Rape has long been a trademark of war. It has plagued the fairer sex every since the first testosterone fueled army took to the field. Yet for all our time affiliated with such sins, for all the time that we have spent fighting against it, this crime has only increased in as our hatred for one-another has grown. It allows the savage an opportunity to dehumanize their victim. It offers the soldier an outlet for the rage that their master has put in place. And yet there is no justification one can present for this horrific act of violence. 

In Burma the use of rape as a weapon of war and genocide has been prolific, to say the least. Myanmar's military leaders readily look the other way as their minions utilize this most perverse weapon to implement Burma's campaign of "Burmanization". Thus utilizing one perverse weapon to bring about a perverse ideology. 

Like the Turks of the Ottoman Empire, Burma's soldiers are given free reign when entering an ethnic minority's village. Men who flee into the forest to evade slave labor therefore risk leaving their wives and daughters open to rape and mutilation. Any woman who attempts to flee makes themselves an almost certain target for rape and torture. Once the Burmese soldiers enter the village they become the law... their words, their actions, their crimes... this is the reality of what "Burmanization" means to those it most directly affects. 

In the Kachin this method has been used both to demoralize the targeted population and in an attempt to destroy the families within the victimized community. Raiding IDP camps, the Burmese rape women in front of their husbands and children so as to make the violence blatantly clear to the Kachin community. In the black zones of the Kachin State the Burmese army uses rape to motivate women to stay away from the claimed territories. 

For the Rohingya of the Arakan State the uses of rape is specifically utilized by Nasaka and Burmese military members in an attempt to isolate Rohingya women. Rohingya girls are known to be rounded up and taken to Burmese military installations where soldiers use the girls as sex slaves. This is used as a way to permanently scar the Rohingya girls both mentally and physically. On the Burmese side it permits the soldiers a rather perverted moral boost that can keep soldiers motivated and in the field longer. 

In the end the use of rape as a weapon of genocide is viewed through the perverts' eyes as way to "pollute the blood" of the targeted community. It doesn't matter that the children that are bore out of this violence will be viewed with just as much contempt as their victimized mothers. It doesn't matter that Burma will never accept responsibility for their soldiers' actions. In the eyes of the perverted architects of these genocides, the weapon's damage is justified due to it's effectiveness in destroying cultures, communities, and the very fabric of the minorities' societies. The only desire and rationalization for this horrific act is that of destruction. 

For the victims these weapons of genocide... this black flag... will forever be lifted above their heads. As long as the perpetrators of these crimes are allowed the impunity currently given to them by both the West and Burma alike, there will be no peace. There can be no surrender, no ceasefire, nor any hope as long as criminals are allowed to walk away from the fight unmolested. 

Cutting Down The Black Flag

We here at Alder's Ledge don't claim to have all the answers. Post like this one are not meant to offer a clear path to the end of this wretched darkness. They are only meant to shine a light on the darkness so as to make it visible for all to see. We don't want to tell you what to think, we just want to make you start thinking... thinking critically... questioning why. 

With your help, your voice, we can continue to shine a light upon this darkness that has for far too long masked the ethnic minorities of Myanmar. With your help we can show the world what they have been so willing to ignore. Forcing those in a position to end these things, dragging the fight back to those who tolerate this evil, we can create a noise that the world cannot tune out. A scream, if you will...

We need you to scream with us. The victims of these genocidal campaigns need you to scream for them. Their voices have been silenced for decades. The voice of their ancestors has been muted by the heels of oppressive tyrants. The voice of their children is threatened by our silence. 

This isn't an activist blog... this is the front line for those who cannot travel to the fields and forests of Burma. It is here that we stand against the complicity of our own governments. It is from this ledge that we bring our voices to the forefront of our own portion of this blackened world. It is with our voice that we do our best to wage a war, if all be it a war of words, against those who would kill in the name of G-d, country, race, or greed. 

Help us. 

Scream.

What to learn more about this issue and others covered by Alder's Ledge? 

Follow us on Twitter: @alders_ledge

Or on Facebook: Alder's Ledge

To put your money where your mouth is please take a moment and visit Partners Relief and Development. Donate Here.

Source Documents 

(note not all sources are listed)

Irrawaddy News

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/38596 - June 26, 2013

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/31344 - April 3, 2013

One Million Bones 

http://www.onemillionbones.org/burma/

Free Burma Rangers

http://www.freeburmarangers.org/

Burma Campaign UK

http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php/burma/campaigns/crimes-against-humanity/142/132

Kachinland News

http://kachinlandnews.com/?p=21797

http://kachinlandnews.com/?p=21125

http://kachinlandnews.com/?p=21164

The Slow Bleed

Is Burma Intentionally Creating Refugees?
(Part of The Darkness Visible series)

“The population is decreasing year over year.  We are losing our entire young generation.  Eventually, we will lose our identity."

Not far from the Arakan region of Myanmar lays the homeland of the Chin people. It is so tied to the Chin people themselves that it has long bore their name as part of Myanmar's history. Unlike the Rohingya, Myanmar cannot claim that the Chin don't exist. Their blood is in the mountains of their homeland. Their sweat is in the fields of their farms perched on hillsides and in dry valleys. Their youth however is being lost from that sacred soil. For unlike with the Rohingya, Myanmar appears to have employed the method of a slow bleed to ethnic cleanse the Chin homeland. 

While brutality is still common when the Burmese army ventures into the Chin villages, the method for clearing out the village has been economical in nature. Through deprivation and isolation, Myanmar has kept the Chin locked outside the economy that has slowly begun to gain traction. Like with the Kachin, Myanmar only allows economic investment in the Chin state where and when the Chin people have lost ground to the centralized government. Thus the Chin themselves do not profit from the investment but rather suffer in the shadows of it. 

Chin families are quickly coming to the realization that money isn't coming to the Chin state. Or at the very least, if and when it does come, it isn't coming for them. This has left the Chin with one option and one option alone. Seek a better life elsewhere... become a refugee. 

This slow bleed of the Chin population in their homeland has left the fragile peace agreement the Chin National Front made with Myanmar even shakier than before. Nobody is eager to return to the days of state sponsored oppression and brutal combat. Yet the Chin families are left with little options as they watch their children fleeing the country for yet another reason caused by the central government. 

“We must change the system in Myanmar."

How it was before...

Prior to the peace agreement the Chin people were openly subjected to military campaigns that were intended to drive ethnic Chin up into the mountains. Burmese military forces frequently entered the region in attempts to route the Chin National Front and other ethnic militias. Civilians, as always, paid the price of ethnic war as they were often forced into slavery to the Burmese military forces. Farmers were targeted for forced labor in the vital months of planting and harvesting so as to decrease the food supply of the Chin people all together. Women were rounded up and used as sex slaves to keep Burmese soldiers on the battle field longer. Prior to the peace agreement the genocide being conducted against the Chin people was blatant. 

Even in times of relative peace prior to this brutal peace today, Chin people were used as slaves to build roads upon which the military could bring in larger equipment. Chin women and men were made to work till they died or the government's project was complete. It simply came down to which one would happen first. 

Food and supplies to keep the military in the field was taken directly from Chin farmers. Families gardens were the supermarket for the Burmese military. This made forced famines a reality for Chin civilians caught between the Chin militias and the national army. Those who tried to flee starvation were subjected to torture and execution. 

Then came the use of landmines. Just as with the Kachin and Karen people, the Chin learned not to return to villages that had been razed by the Burmese military. Those who attempted to return were greeted with landmines and vulnerable to abductions by patrolling Burmese soldiers. This was the breadth of Myanmar's genocidal ambitions in the Chin state.

  

“There are no jobs here."

A Peace Worse Than War...

Hunger is a wretched thing. It can separate us from things and places that prior to it we may have never abandoned. It is a force that drives us to expand from what we know and seek out options that are foreign at best. Hunger is a form of torture in and of itself. It cannot be escaped from no matter how far we run. It is a parasite that saps us of our motivation while stripping us of our inhibitions.

For the Chin people in Burma it is a constant threat as the Burmese continue to alienate the Chin in their own homeland. Denying access by refusing to build roads and power-lines to the Chin, Myanmar maintains it's campaign of genocide in the Chin state. Where there have been options to make the remote region of Burma more accessible, Myanmar has refused to put forth effort. And what little roads are being built are being built by Chin workers who are paid considerably less than their Buddhists neighbors. 

Thein Sein's government has reduced the outright repression of the Chin people yet has not done anything to combat the discrimination against them on a state level. By allowing the government the option to neglect the Chin people, Thein Sein's regime has prolonged the genocide against the Chin. With the intent to drive out the Chin through economic pressure the government picks up where the outright killing of Chin civilians left off. What the bullet could not achieve the dollar threatens to complete.

“We need people who are part of the ‘brain drain’ to come home and help us."

Brain Drain

This method of genocide was has been utilized time and time again. In Armenia the Turks targeted educated members of the Armenian community first. Those who were fit to lead the Armenian society and expand upon the Armenian culture were rounded up and sent to prison to be executed while others were put up on gallows for the world to see. This was meant to decapitate the culture and destroy the leadership of the targeted community. 

In Myanmar the move to slowly bleed the Chin community dry shows more directly in it's willingness to allow Chin children to leave Burma. Unlike the families that they leave behind, the Chin children receive far less scrutiny when fleeing to Malaysia and the West (especially the United States). This process of allowing children to readily leave their families behind gives Myanmar's regime the ability to leave the Chin community without "the next generation". 

Today there are more than 50,000 estimated Chin seeking refugee status in Malaysia. Of these many are seeking immigration or refugee status in the United States. This would add to the 30,000 plus Chin refugees currently living in places like Idaho, Indiana, New York, and Colorado. It is important to note that these 80,000 are a sizable portion of the Chin worldwide. Unlike ethnic or refugees of given nationalities from elsewhere, this 80,000 number can be contrasted to the 500,000 Chin living in their homeland in Myanmar. 

These numbers will only continue to change as President Thein Sein utilizes military dominated branches of "civilian" government to openly discriminate against Christian (Chin) and Muslim minorities along the border with India and Bangladesh. There can be no expected change in the pattern as long as Myanmar's government is permitted to continue violating the basic human rights of ethnic minorities within Burma. 

So for now the question remains; is Burma creating refugees of the Chin people intentionally? And if so, will the world admit that you can perpetrate genocide without bullets, gas, or machetes? When will we admit that economics, hunger, and isolation are just as affective tools of genocidal regimes as are bullets and chemicals? 

The Chin people deserve the right to remain in their homeland. They deserve the right to share in the economy their blood, sweat, and tears helped build. They deserve to raise their children on the same land upon which they were raised and their ancestors were raised. These are basic desires of all ethnic groups. These are the dreams that all peoples across the planet hold for the society in which they are born. 

The Chin deserve to preserve their identity and way of life. They deserve the opportunity to propagate their culture and preserve it for the next generation. They deserve the right to return home as they wish and to a land that resembles the one from which they were forced to flee. But none of this can be achieved as long as Burma continues to violate the basic human rights of the Chin people.

Want to learn more about this subject and others covered by Alder's Ledge?

Follow us on Twitter: @alders_ledge

Or follow us on FaceBook: Alder's Ledge

Source Documents
(note: not all sources are listed)

Radio Free Asia
http://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/return-06142013110751.html

Asia Times Online
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/SEA-01-250613.html

Nuvo (Indy's Alternative News)
http://www.nuvo.net/indianapolis/from-burma-to-indianapolis-a-familys-journey/Content?oid=2538383#.Ucn3O-upYXw

UNPO
http://www.unpo.org/article/16110

Upon The Backs Of The Downtrodden

Pepsi's Return to Burma
(Boycott Burma series)

(By Leaving Burma)

Imagine that back during the breakup of Yugoslavia that American companies were investing in Serbia. What a picture it would have made to see a Serbian soldier sipping a Pepsi with a couple dead Bosnian victims on the ground behind him. That would have been a damning photo indeed. It most certainly would not have reflected Pepsi's current slogans of "Hope" and "Do Some Good". Yet Pepsi was in Yugoslavia and remained so during the entirety of the Bosnian Genocide. Pepsi (much like Coca-Cola) was active in Nazi occupied Europe. The company ventured into apartheid ridden South Africa (just like Coca-Cola). And has been present in almost every area of the world where genocide has occurred and/or present in countries that suffer under repressive regimes (only exception is that of North Korea). 

But why shouldn't dictators and brutal genocidal regimes be granted the privilege of having a nice refreshing Pepsi? After all, they are paying customers... right? 

Whose money are they paying with?

Pepsi's Return

The fact is Pepsi has been in Burma much longer than Coca-Cola. In 1996 Pepsi announced that it was only reducing it's operations in Burma by 40%. The next year Pepsi stopped sending the syrup for it's signature drink to the legacy it left behind in Myanmar, Star Cola. Thus Pepsi never really left Burma. It simply left its offspring to carry on it's dirty work in Burma as the mother laid in wait across the border in Thailand. For Pepsi, returning to Myanmar was somewhat like simply flipping on the light switch.

While Coca-Cola builds new bottling plants in Yangon, Pepsi simply walks into Star Cola plants and reclaims what it left behind just over 15 years ago. There is no justice for the Rohingya, Shin, Chin, Kachin, and other repressed minorities in Burma. Companies like PepsiCo simply return to help raise the Burmese upper class even higher by building upon the backs of the downtrodden minorities. And in doing so Pepsi and Coca-Cola help fund the ethnic cleansing of Burma's borderlands. 

"Myanmar is a market with great potential, and our agreements with Diamond Star and UNESCO are important first steps towards expanding our presence in the country.  Over time, we believe we can build a strong business in Myanmar and play a positive role in the country's continued development."

~Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo Chairman and CEO

Pepsi is trying to hide its investments in the still (unofficially) military regime by investing in the "positive" future of Myanmar through organizations such as UNESCO. Yet by partnering with Diamond Star and other companies that have a long history in Burma, Pepsi promises to avoid hiring ethnic minorities. Thus leaving the Rohingya and other minorities in their current state of despair while the upper class grows fat.

#BoycottBurma

Once again we are faced with the fact that we can't change PepsiCo's actions. While the faceless corporation works hard to exploit the suffering of ethnic minorities around the world we must face our initial decision of what to do. If we cannot change Pepsi's decisions to exploit tragedy for economic gain then we must decide on how we view our investments in Pepsi. Just as with any other purchase we make in a free market economy we are casting a vote of approval for that company and all it does with our hard earned cash. By withholding our investment and deciding to avoid purchasing of Pepsi products, we cast our vote of dissent. 

However at the same time we must be vocal about why we are not going to purchase a product we may have otherwise purchased. If we simply stop buying Pepsi without making our intentions known then our actions are only self-serving in the fact that only we know why we are doing them. We must share our reasons with others and we must do this without relent. 

If you are serious about boycotting Burmese products and the companies that invest in Myanmar's regime you will soon find there is far more to give up then you first expect. So you must ask yourself just how far you are willing to take this. You must decide if you really care where your money goes and to whom it is given. 

The decision is up to you and you alone.

Source Documents 

(note: not all sources listed)

PepsiCo 

http://www.pepsico.com/PressRelease/PepsiCo-Announces-Myanmar-Distribution-Agreement-with-Diamond-Star08092012.html

Global Post

http://www.globalpost.com/globalpost-blogs/southeast-asia/pepsi-myanmar-burma

VOA

http://www.voanews.com/content/as-us-sanctions-against-burma-ease-american-campanies-start-investing/1549041.html

ABC News

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/coca-cola-opens-myanmar-bottling-plant-19317970

Till Our Eyes Bleed And Our Throats Dry Up

We Will Not Look Away, We Will Scream
(Part of The Darkness Visible series)

(Dead Chin Children After Failed Attempt To Flee Burma)

As the world neglects the minorities of Myanmar the old Junta continues to deprive many ethnic groups in Burma of their basic human rights. From the Chin to the Karen to the Rohingya the use of forced slave labor, rape camps, and starvation are killing countless minorities every day in the still barbarically brutal regime in Rangoon. Religion has played its part in the butchering of Rohingya (Muslims) and the oppression of the Chin (Christians). But race is the main factor. 

The majority of what the Junta calls "Burmese" are Buddhist. They all come from differing ethnic groups and smaller communities. Yet during the brutal rule of communist style leaders and Junta power these groups fused as one. The most important thing to this new ruling class is that the minorities "know their place" in Myanmar's new "democratic" society.

For the Chin, nearly 80-90% Christian, the new Burma is odd in the fact that Myanmar recognizes the Chin people in the fact that they named one of the seven ethnic states in Burma the "Chin State". Like the Arakan, a people who are accepted by the Junta as "Burmese", the Chin were apparently given a place in Burmese society. Yet the old Junta continues to force the Chin into slavery to the state as they use rape to keep the Chin in line. Unjust taxation mixed with random denials to property rights makes it nearly impossible for Chin to make a self-reliant life for themselves within Myanmar. Thus the Chin are among the hordes of refugees that annually take to the borders of Myanmar and attempt to flee the ruthless regime once willingly called the Junta. 

Meanwhile the Rohingya are trapped on the border with Bangladesh, a fact that Myanmar exploits by calling the Rohingya "Bengali invaders", with no place to turn. Myanmar now has turned to the method of "forced famine" to starve out the Rohingya who have been forced out of their homes. Many of the starving Rohingya can be found in refugee camps throughout the Rakhine state. These camps are being blockaded so that food and water can not make it inside. Thus creating a famine within the camps while food flows freely just outside the camps. 

(Rohinga Child Starved To Death By "Forced Famine")

In addition to forced starvation the Rohingya face common diseases that could be prevented if the Burmese government was not also withholding basic medications from the encamped Rohingya minority. This allows for malaria to spread throughout a camp without warning. The people trapped inside have no access to medications that are often cheap or free when provided by humanitarian groups. However the Junta has made certain that children and women in these camps are restricted in access or forbidden access all together from help from the outside world. 

No matter how we look at this. No matter how we try to rationalize this. This is genocide. 

(Rohingya Boy Suffering From Malaria)

When a government attempts to restrict the population growth or drastically reduce it they are engaging in ethnic cleansing. When a government is attempting to kill off a portion or the entirety of an ethnic group they are engaged in genocide. The attempts of the Junta in Burma to bring about a "democratic" society in Burma is not to be praised by people like Barack Obama. This is not an attempt to spread "hope" to an oppressed people in a newly opened up frontier of Asia. This is genocide. 

It has been the battle cry of Alder's Ledge that we might take upon the suffering of others as our own affliction. It is our purpose in life that we might live their pain so that even in the darkest hour they might not be left alone and persecuted by the most evil aspects of humanity. In doing so we can bear witness to the anguish of those who have suffered so that the world may not deny their pain or at worst their very existence.

Our voices will continue to be raised till our throats can suffer no longer... till blood trickles from our vocal cords. Our eyes will forever be transfixed upon the darkest chapters of man so that we might shine a light into the abyss. This is our battle cry. This is our mission. 

As 2013 lay before us it is our goal to make our voices so loud that every soul around us knows the pain of the Rohingya. We will keep their suffering at the forefront of our daily lives. As long as there are children and women lingering in death's chains we will fight. As long as there are Rohingya men being dragged off to their deaths at the hands of barbarians we will cry out. We will bear witness. 

Today, Alder's Ledge, makes only one demand of those of you who are reading this. We ask that you take to your Twitter, your Facebook, and any other social media you have to start sharing these post. We ask that you become a screamer. 

A screamer is a person who witnesses genocide and refuses to remain silent. A screamer uses the one weapon our G-d gave to all men and women... his or her voice. In the modern era a screamer takes to social media to effect change in a world where we are all linked by media. A screamer, most of all, forgets his own misfortune and takes up the suffering of others as his own. This is what drives a screamer to act... to scream. 

It is time that we all scream as one. It is time to fight.