Warning: Should you go to Myanmar?
The decision as to whether or not to travel to Myanmar is best made after an appraisal of the pros and cons of such a visit.
Reasons Not to Go
- International tourism can be seen to give a stamp of approval to the SPDC
- Aung San Suu Kyi (mehr) and the NLD have called on the international community to boycott travel to Myanmar until the candidates elected in 1990 are allowed to form a government
- The government keeps travellers away from areas where forced labour or repression of minorities is occurring
- It is difficult to avoid some government-owned businesses, tourism sites and transport, and impossible to avoid the mandatory purchase of US$200 worth of FECs
- Forced labour has been used to construct some of the country's tourism infrastructure
Reasons to Go
- Tourism remains one of the few industries to which ordinary Burmese have access. Any reduction in tourism means a reduction in local income-earning opportunities
- It is becoming increasingly possible to travel in Myanmar without staying in government-owned hotels, using government-owned transport etc
- Many pro-democracy activists within Myanmar itself argue that sanctions are counter-productive, and that economic development can lead to political liberalisation
- Keeping the Burmese isolated from international witnesses to internal oppression may only cement the government's control
If You Decide to Go
In order to maximise the positive effects of a visit among the general populace, while minimising support of the government, follow these simple tactics:
- Stay at private, locally owned hotels and guesthouses Avoid package tours connected with Myanmar Travel & Tours
- Avoid MTT-sponsored modes of transport, such as the Yangon-Mandalay Express trains, the MTT ferry between Mandalay and Bagan, and Myanma Airways (MA) flights
- Buy handicrafts directly from the artisans, rather than from government shops
- Avoid patronising companies involved with the military-owned Myanmar Economic Holdings. Companies with solid links to the Tatmadaw (armed forces) are often called Myawadi or Myawaddy
- Write to the Myanmar government and to the Myanmar embassy in your country expressing your views about the human-rights situation there
(Quelle)
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13. August 2003 um 15:15:48 MESZh
In Myanmar werden seit den neuen <a href=derstandard.at>Sanktionen der USA keine Kreditkarten und Traveller Cheques mehr akzeptiert. Bite nehmen Sie sich genügend Bargeld für Ihre Reise mit.
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Kühles Fernsehen
JETZT: "Heiß & kalt - die Eisnacht im ZDF"
00.20 Wunderbare Welt Im Schatten der Gletscher
01.05 reiselust - Nunavut Im Land der Eskimos
01.55 Aufbruch ins russische Eis (1/2) Sibiriens wilde Seele
02.40 Aufbruch ins russische Eis (2/2) Geheimnisvolle Tundra
03.30 ZDF.reporter spezial Unter Null - Reportagen aus der Kälte
04.30 Eisbären - Herrscher der Arktis
04.45 Johann Lafer - Genießen auf italienisch Eis
und morgen: Bastel dir das Theo-Eis-Schirmchen!
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12. August 2003 um 00:00:48 MESZh
Labelled "the world’s largest prison for journalists", Burma’s repressive grip on its media has worsened this year due to the conflict with neighbouring Thailand. On 20 May [2002], cross-border gunfire erupted between Thai troops and the Rangoon-aligned United Wa State Army leading Burma to immediately close its frontier checkpoints and block Thai diplomatic missions.
On 22 May, The Press Scrutiny Board, the censorship body of the Burmese State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), issued a directive forbidding all Burmese newspapers, magazines and journals to publish articles about Thailand or advertisements for Thai products. Journalists were ordered to sign their compliance to this directive, which directly undermines the survival of the Burmese private print media as it is heavily reliant upon Thai advertising.
In June, the SPDC invoked this directive to ban three magazines. Kyi pwar yee was terminated for using "Yodaya" (the former Burmese name for Thailand) in its last edition. Mhyar Nat Maung was guilty of printing an advertisement on a page reserved for SPDC propaganda. Living Color was condemned for including an advertisement for the MK Billiard Company that had been blacklisted by the government for refusing to donate snooker tables to the SPDC-owned Myanmar Billiard and Snooker Association. [...]
Foreign reporters from world media organisations as diverse as BBC Radio, the Far Eastern Economic Review, the French dailies Le Monde and Liberation and the New York Times are on Burma’s black list and are denied visas. Many are labelled "enemies of the country" and "neo-colonialists". The reciprocal bans are of great detriment to the countries’ bilateral relations and have been protested by the Thai Journalists Association (TJA).
[...]
On 19 May, the Interior Minister Colonel Tin Hlaing announced that Burma had no political prisoners, emphasising that the near 200 jailed members of the NLD were "common law criminals". However, there are currently at least 16 journalists held in Burmese jails and, according to Amnesty International, at least 1,500 political prisoners, many of them members of the NLD. Frequently penalised crimes include owning undeclared video equipment, communicating with foreign journalists and passing information to exiled Burmese media organisations. Sanctions are severe and often entail life-threatening conditions and isolation.
The 72 year-old journalist Win Tin is now serving his 13 year of a 21-year jail sentence for anti-government propaganda, subversion and leaking information about appalling prison conditions to the UN. Arrested on 4 July 1989, Win Tin’s incarceration has been marked by ill treatment and multiple health problems. He was instrumental in the hospital strike launched in August to protest conditions and treatment in the hospital, said to be worse than in Rangoon’s Insein prison, to which protesters asked to be returned. A beacon of integrity in a country shadowed by corruption, Win Tin has repeatedly refused the authorities’ offer of freedom in exchange for his resignation from the NLD.
[...]
Burmese reporters operate under the constant watch of the Press Scrutiny Board and the Military Intelligence Services. Phone lines are often tapped, all incoming and outgoing e-mail messages are monitored by the government and there is no public Internet access. Many journalists feel forced to write between the lines using obtuse styles to disguise their true meaning. Unfortunately this baffles their readers as well as the authorities. However, in Burma, where freedom of expression is a virtual non-entity, the number of cases of arrested and imprisoned journalists represents a testament to the many courageous freedom fighters strong enough to resist both state and self-censorship.
The Burmese junta is still under crippling sanctions from the European Union and the United States. The junta has a vested interest in improving its international image in an effort to lift the sanctions, but the EU insists that significant political progress must be evident before they review their position. Their current sanctions on Burma include an arms embargo, a visa ban on senior Burma officials and a restriction on all bilateral aid with the exception of strictly humanitarian support.
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die bestellten, aber nicht rechtzeitig zugesandten karten für das ausverkaufte frequency-festival wären bitte nicht beim gelände, sondern am salzburger hauptbahnhof hinterlegt und nur zwischen zwölf und zweiundzwanzig uhr abzuholen. Bitte entschuldigen Sie dieses chaos, es ist uns auch nicht recht.
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China gewährleistet gemäß den Gesetzen, daß die Bürger umfangreiche elementare Freiheiten und Rechte genießen. Die Verfassung schreibt eindeutig vor, die Bürger genießen die Freiheiten der Rede, der Publikation, der Versammlung, der Vereinigung, der Durchführung von Straßenumzügen und Demonstrationen und die Glaubensfreiheit; die Freiheit der Person, die persönliche Würde und die Wohnungen der Bürger sind unverletzlich; und die Freiheit und das Geheimnis der Korrespondenz der Bürger sind gesetzlich geschützt. Der Staat entwickelt mit großer Kraft das Presse- und Publikationswesen und bietet damit günstige Bedingungen, daß die Bürger von den Freiheiten der Rede und der Publikation Gebrauch machen. 1998 wurden im ganzen Land 2053 Zeitungen mit einer Auflage von 30,04 Milliarden, 7999 Zeitschriften mit einer Auflage von 2,54 Milliarden und mehr als 130 000 Titel von Büchern mit einer Auflage von 7,24 Milliarden herausgebracht; landesweit sind 294 Rundfunksender, 560 Fernsehsender zentraler und provinzieller Ebene einschließlich Kabelfernsehsendern, 1287 Rundfunk- und Fernsehsender der Kreisebene und 75 Bildungsfernsehstationen in Betrieb. Über 89% der Bevölkerung, das sind über eine Milliarde Menschen, können Fernsehprogramme empfangen. Mitte 1999 gab es bereits 1,46 Millionen Computer mit Anschluß ans Internet und rund vier Millionen eingetragene Internet-Benutzer. In China werden alle gesellschaftlichen Verbände, deren Gründung den Vorschriften der Verfassung und der Gesetze entspricht und für die die notwendigen Eintragungsformalitäten erledigt sind, vom Staat geschützt. Ende 1998 gab es in ganz China 165 600 Massenorganisationen. Ihre Aktivitäten werden von der Verfassung und den Gesetzen geschützt.
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10. August 2003 um 12:55:48 MESZh
kann man einem artikel, in dem "harley davidson & the marlboro man" als futuristischer abenteuerfilm durchgeht, noch trauen?
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Last update: 04.01.11, 09:56
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