Comments on An Email from Burma

The country's name is Burma. By saying "Myanmar" you're giving credence to the butchers who run it.

DS called it Burma, anonymous actor called it Myanmar. I think we can probably let it slide (or extend the proverbial benefit of the doubt), considering his parents live there.

Dan,
Thanks for the update on a very important issue in todays weather control anti-treaty for weapons of poverty hold-down the poor policy vendors....

I think I will e-mail Senator Eric Oemig (Wa.)on this one... so let's pray that the weather gods don't strike a hammer throw from the Isle of Wight all the way to "my dad's" big swing in "Suprised to see you here Senator Waxman... come on in to my new office."

Daniel
Seattle Washington
p.s.,
Did I mention Big Ralph is a Million Mile-er no accident gun tote'n golf swinging trucker from the good State of Arizona?

All you snow birds please say hello to Senator Clinton and Senator Obama and Senator McCain on the campaign trail and congrad-yule-tide-ations on The Presidents daughters wedding... Oscar Delaurenta is a wonderful fragrance for a bride to wear on the alter.

Does anyone know of any organization that donations can be sent to that will actually reach the people?

A friend of mine mentioned something about Monks destributing donated funds, but not how to contact said Monks.

Direct Relief International is as good an agency as exists, and they're getting donations through the Google program. But even they are reporting that aid is being blocked by the junta, and are apparently concentrating on camps around the border areas (as close as they can get). It's an impossible situation; the junta would rather see a million dead than to admit need or allow food (or information) to travel in or out of the country.

Fnarf, Burma is no more accurate than Myanmar. Burma was a label concocted by the British colonialists. The ethnic Burmese tribes make up a large part of the country, but not all of it. When I was there, they were just as happy calling it Myanmar as Burma. The change to calling it Myanmar was more an effort to throw off the vestiges of colonial rule. The change would likely have been made regardless of the military rulers or not.

I have one contact in Myanmar that I have heard from. As of 2 days ago, the only outside aid organization that had access to the country was the International Red Cross/Red Crescent Society. All other non-governmental aid organizations were being denied access or visas. So at this time, if anyone wants to help or make donations, the only organization you can donate to is the Red Cross/Red Crescent Society.

http://www.ifrc.org/

@4- I got an email from these people:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/

who are working with the monks in Burma. As far as I can tell they're legit.

God, that's sick.

Beguine @7.

It is possible that Avaaz is legit, but I am highly skeptical. Normally, the Myanmar military government simply won't allow people from outside the country to send money to people inside the country, even for charitable purposes. Any money that gets passed through government hands get skimmed, heavily (if any gets through at all). I have seen no indication that the Myanmar military government has changed this policy in recent days.

Without further proof of its legitimacy, I would not donate money to that organization.

invade.

oh, that's right, we couldn't even if we had the balls. we shot our wad in iraq.

@10-

yes, but is there any oil there to make it worth our while?

Beguine @7 (& 9). A followup.

You got me curious, so I did a brief bit of research. Avaaz is, in fact, a legit charitable organization. However, I am still very skeptical that they have the ability to carry through with their intentions. They may be able to raise bunch of money, but they give no indication as to how they plan to transfer that money to monasteries inside Myanmar.

Any hard currency sent to anyone or any organization inside the country is subject to the official exchange rate, which has little or nothing to do with reality. By that method, the monasteries would get roughly 5% of the money sent, and the government would siphon off 95%. Not a good plan.

@11. Burma has a huge abundance of resources. Oil, rice, gems, metals, and natural gas.

I might get flamed for this but I think that the damn Junta deserved that Cyclone as Karma for they did to the monks last year. The refusal to accept the abundance of humanitarian aid being offered might be what is needed to make people revolt and riot against the Junta.

@13: the buddhist population isn't likely to take that course of action. when it happens, it will be a non-violent revolution.

Apres mois @13, That's sort of like saying New Orleans deserved Hurricane Katrina because of teh gays.

The members of Myanmar's military junta are mostly camped out in their new capitol, well to the north of the cyclone's path. They were probably completely unaffected by the cyclone. They will have plenty of money and resources to weather the aftermath.

You have a strange definition of karma if you think killing many thousands of Burmese in the Irrawaddy delta, but leaving the military leaders unscathed, is good karma.

I gave to Avaaz after receiving an email about them from MoveOn. I don't know how they get the money/supplies into the country though. If they do it by some covert means, bypassing the government somehow, they obviously wouldn't be able to reveal that on their website. I decided to have a some faith and give anyway; a little money goes a long way in Burma. Besides, organizations like Red Cross have a ridiculous amount of overhead; how much of what you give to Red Cross actually gets to the victims?

erica @16. Yes, the Red Cross has overhead, but surely more than 5% gets through to the victims. The Red Cross is far from perfect. But right now they have the advantage of being the ONLY international non-governmental aid organization that the Myanmar military government is allowing in the country. That means the Red Cross' own personnel are being allowed in to distribute the donated supplies directly to the people who need it. Without having the military government siphon off any of it.

I'm not normally a big cheerleader for the Red Cross. There is a lot of room to criticize some of their past actions and policies. But right now, they are the only game in town. Literally. Everyone else is just waiting and hoping to get in.

@Reverse Polarity-

Thanks for checking into that. I'm a little concerned they don't say how they're getting the money there either, but I'm hoping Erika is right. I did a bit more poking around on the avaaz site, and it looks like Burma has been one of their causes for a while, so maybe they have some not-legal-enough-to-publish method of already staying in communication with the monastaries?

@Reverse Polarity-

Thanks for checking into that. I'm a little concerned they don't say how they're getting the money there either, but I'm hoping Erika is right. I did a bit more poking around on the avaaz site, and it looks like Burma has been one of their causes for a while, so maybe they have some not-legal-enough-to-publish method of already staying in communication with the monastaries?

@Reverse Polarity-

Thanks for checking into that. I'm a little concerned they don't say how they're getting the money there either, but I'm hoping Erika is right. I did a bit more poking around on the avaaz site, and it looks like Burma has been one of their causes for a while, so maybe they have some not-legal-enough-to-publish method of already staying in communication with the monastaries?

In terms of getting aid to Burma, my college roommate is involved as a board member of an NGO called PACT: Pact is the largest international NGO working in Burma. They have over 1100 Burmese national staff, who before this week were working in microfinance providing training and loans to some of the poorest and most isolated people on earth. Go to this website:
http://www.pactworld.org/cs/help_myanmar

I trust my friend's work (she has a Ph.D. in public health, and designed Cambodia's 20-year AIDS plan). And I'm a professor at Evergreen specializing in Southeast Asian Studies -- please help these people in Burma!!! Thanks....

In terms of getting aid to Burma, my college roommate is involved as a board member of an NGO called PACT: Pact is the largest international NGO working in Burma. They have over 1100 Burmese national staff, who before this week were working in microfinance providing training and loans to some of the poorest and most isolated people on earth. Go to this website:
http://www.pactworld.org/cs/help_myanmar

I trust my friend's work (she has a Ph.D. in public health, and designed Cambodia's 20-year AIDS plan). And I'm a professor at Evergreen specializing in Southeast Asian Studies -- please help these people in Burma!!! Thanks....

In terms of getting aid to Burma, my college roommate is involved as a board member of an NGO called PACT: Pact is the largest international NGO working in Burma. They have over 1100 Burmese national staff, who before this week were working in microfinance providing training and loans to some of the poorest and most isolated people on earth. Go to this website:
http://www.pactworld.org/cs/help_myanmar

I trust my friend's work (she has a Ph.D. in public health, and designed Cambodia's 20-year AIDS plan). And I'm a professor at Evergreen specializing in Southeast Asian Studies -- please help these people in Burma!!! Thanks....

Sorry....hit "post" twice.