Renee Kemp Reporting
KTVU News - Watch Video
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Foes of Burma junta raise voices in S.F.
by Tyche Hendricks, San Francisco Chronicle
In the wake of the death and destruction visited on Burma by Cyclone Nargis, opposition to the country's military regime is growing louder in San Francisco and across the United States, and scholars are debating whether the crisis could weaken the Burmese junta's authoritarian grip.
Scores of Burmese exiles and their U.S. supporters rallied Friday evening outside the San Francisco Federal Building in support of the victims of the cyclone, which swamped the Irrawaddy River Delta and Burma's south coast last Saturday.
Demonstrators carried banners calling for military leaders to step down and protested the Burmese government's insistence on going ahead with a vote today on a constitution that would perpetuate the military's power. READ MORE»
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Local Burmese groups help cyclone victims
Lisa Amin Reporting
ABC7 News - Watch Video
FREMONT, CA (KGO) -- As international relief groups struggle to get relief into Myanmar, some Bay Area groups are going through back channels to help out friends and family over there. A number of Burmese groups came together on Wednesday night in Fremont.
They're images seen around the world of the cyclone that tore apart villages, homes, and lives.
It's a pain that resonates and is felt thousands of miles away in the Bay Area. Dozens gathered in Fremont to figure out an action plan to help friends and family in the country they still call 'Burma.' Those in Fremont found the hampered and slow moving relief efforts frustrating. READ MORE»
Bay Area Burmese find ways to help cyclone-ravaged homeland
by Matt O'Brien, The Mercury News
OAKLAND - In the late 1990s, Kyaw Zaw was one of the most trusted young employees at Nan Yang restaurant in Rockridge, dutifully busing tables because he wanted to experience life in the United States.
This week, said Philip Chu, founding owner of the popular Burmese restaurant on College Avenue, his former employee is plowing through the cyclone-ravaged Irrawaddy Delta in hopes of saving lives.
"In fact, he just called this morning and said, 'We've got a boat, and are going to all the villages that are not accessible anymore,' " said Chu, a former political prisoner who fled Burma, now known as Myanmar, with his wife and children in 1969. "We are going to work directly with the people. Not the government or anything like that. Too much red tape." READ MORE»
OAKLAND - In the late 1990s, Kyaw Zaw was one of the most trusted young employees at Nan Yang restaurant in Rockridge, dutifully busing tables because he wanted to experience life in the United States.
This week, said Philip Chu, founding owner of the popular Burmese restaurant on College Avenue, his former employee is plowing through the cyclone-ravaged Irrawaddy Delta in hopes of saving lives.
"In fact, he just called this morning and said, 'We've got a boat, and are going to all the villages that are not accessible anymore,' " said Chu, a former political prisoner who fled Burma, now known as Myanmar, with his wife and children in 1969. "We are going to work directly with the people. Not the government or anything like that. Too much red tape." READ MORE»
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Bay Area Burmese work to aid cyclone victims
by Tyche Hendricks, San Francisco Chronicle
Burmese residents of the Bay Area were organizing themselves Monday to provide aid to victims of the catastrophic cyclone in Burma and to help each other cope during the agonizing wait for word of their loved ones back home.
Several local grassroots associations of Burmese exiles planned to meet tonight to coordinate their fundraising efforts and to plan for a Friday rally at the San Francisco Federal Building and a Saturday prayer vigil at a Buddhist monastery in Fremont.
Anxiety was high for many Burmese people here, as personal anguish mixed with political frustration that the Burmese military regime was moving so slowly to allow relief workers into the country.
"It's a really bad situation right now. The numbers of dead keep going up," said Ko Ko Lay, a San Francisco photographer who fled Burma in 1988 but whose parents still live in Rangoon, the nation's largest city. "International aid cannot go through without government permission, but in a natural disaster there isn't time for permission. ... This is humanitarian aid, not politics. People around the world are trying to help Burma." READ MORE»
Burmese residents of the Bay Area were organizing themselves Monday to provide aid to victims of the catastrophic cyclone in Burma and to help each other cope during the agonizing wait for word of their loved ones back home.
Several local grassroots associations of Burmese exiles planned to meet tonight to coordinate their fundraising efforts and to plan for a Friday rally at the San Francisco Federal Building and a Saturday prayer vigil at a Buddhist monastery in Fremont.
Anxiety was high for many Burmese people here, as personal anguish mixed with political frustration that the Burmese military regime was moving so slowly to allow relief workers into the country.
"It's a really bad situation right now. The numbers of dead keep going up," said Ko Ko Lay, a San Francisco photographer who fled Burma in 1988 but whose parents still live in Rangoon, the nation's largest city. "International aid cannot go through without government permission, but in a natural disaster there isn't time for permission. ... This is humanitarian aid, not politics. People around the world are trying to help Burma." READ MORE»
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