In explaining the horrors he experienced in Burma, words are not always enough for Than What. He witness the violence of the 8888 Uprising during which Burmese officials gunned down students who had gathered to protest the economic policies of the government. After witnessing the death of friends and classmates, Than What made fifty photocopies of a publication telling the history of the student protest movement and help distribute the unofficial newspaper. In 2002, he was forced to flee Burma because of his political involvement and currently lives in Pittsburgh.
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Journalist John Carlin has heard stories of poverty, injustice, and hope from people in countries such as El Salvador, Nicaragua, Mexico, and South Africa. However, it is the story of the Rohingyas of Burma that he finds the most tragic. In this interview he explains why.
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The story of Than What, a Burmese citizen escaping military persecution, is the beginning of a series covering the narratives of free expression in Burma.
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Zaw Thet Htwe is a Burmese sports journalist. In 2008, Htwe was working with Burmese comedian Maung Thura -also known as Zargana- to deliver aid and support to the victims of Cyclone Nargis, which struck Burma on May 2, 2008. While working as humanitarians for the Burmese people, Htwe and Zargana were placed under arrest by the Junta government.
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Here on Sampsonia Way, City of Asylum writer-in-residence Khet Mar and her family marked the 65th birthday of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi by drawing and painting portraits of her. Aung San Suu Kyi spent 15 years under house arrest due to her political involvement in the National League for Democracy in Burma. Following the publication of this post, she was release from house arrest in November 2010.
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Following the May 2010 release of Saw Wei, a Burmese poet imprisoned for two and a half years after “inducing crime against public tranquility,” Sampsonia Way writer Brian Honigman reflects on other Burmese authors imprisoned for their work.
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Than Htay Maung works on 324 Sampsonia Way most sunny days, painting an enormous mural that blends images of his native Burma with his new home of Pittsburgh.
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