burma

keep meaning to blog about Burma. We were supposed to go to Burma. Burma is also called Myanmar, the name given to it by the military regime that controls the country and terrorizes its people. The U.S. refuses to acknowledge the military dictatorship and so continues to call the country by its previous name, Burma. We didn’t go to Burma because the Archbishop refused to sail with us if we did. ISE changed the itinerary to get the Archbishop. Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who leads the democracy movement there, has been imprisoned for her passionate views and she has requested that tourism dollars not be spent in Burma because that money only benefits the military government. She argues that the government has created a façade for tourists that is far from the reality of the people. The Archbishop, in support of Aung San Suu Kyi -- and with a legacy of advocating for divestment in South Africa -- agrees with her strategy of withholding tourism dollars. There are arguments on the other side as well. Previous voyagers who went to Burma talk about how that port really moved them and how going to Burma brings attention and knowledge to the situation there which is not discussed in the U.S. It’s also been noted that egregious human rights violations happen in many of the other counties we visit on this itinerary as well and we have not boycotted those countries. Burma is back on the SAS itinerary for next fall and spring. The students on this voyage have taken it upon themselves in the last few weeks to educate themselves about Burma and they’ve spoken with the Archbishop extensively and they had a teach-in the other night that the Archbishop attended. A group of them is trying to organize a boycott of the Alumni Association Fund Drive to try to get ISE to change the itinerary for those upcoming voyages, they’ve had a petition going around, and they have drafted a very eloquent letter to ISE and to UVA. That letter went out last night with (obviously) support from the Archbishop. Many faculty/staff and life-long-learners have also signed a letter of support and also the petition. Yesterday, we learned that ISE administration will address the community on Monday morning when we arrive in San Diego. I imagine the Archbishop will be in the front row. And it sounds like he also may be prepared to speak. We’ve been talking to students for 3 ½ months about how they are going to go home and change the world. Here they go …