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Inside Burma
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- Citation
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- Transcript
INSIDE BURMA exposes the history and brutality of one of the world's most repressive regimes. Nearly the size of Texas, with a population of more than 40 million, Burma has rich natural resources probably unequaled in Asia. Yet Burma is also a secret country.
Isolated for the past 40 years, since a brutal military dictatorship seized power in Rangoon, this rich country has been relegated to one of the world's poorest, the assault on its people all but forgotten by the rest of the world.
Award-winning filmmakers John Pilger and David Munro go undercover to expose how the former British colony is ruled by a harsh, bloody and uncompromising military regime.
More than a million people have been forced from their homes and untold thousands killed, tortured and subjected to slavery.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of the assassinated independence leader Aung San, spent 6 years under house arrest. In 1990, her party, the National League for Democracy, won 82 percent of the parliamentary seats. The generals, shocked by an election result they never expected, threw 200 of the newly-elected MPs into prison. Suu Kyi's party has never been allowed to take elected office.
She warns that, far from liberalizing life in Burma, foreign investment and tourism can further entrench the military regime.
'It is a compelling account of the tragedy of recent Burmese history and the heroic efforts of her citizens to overcome that tragedy. We recommend it highly for any collection that seeks to cover recent Burmese and Southeast Asian history.' News and Reviews, Asian Educational Media Service-Univ. of IL/Champaign
'Should be required viewing for anyone who claims to be concerned about human rights abuses - in China or anywhere else in the world. For the events in Burma in 1988 - and the dictatorial rule of Burma's military ever since - deserve at least as much attention as has been given to the Tiananmen crackdown and headline-capturing abuses in other parts of the world.' WorldViews
'Documents the widespread practices of child labor, forced labor, and slavery with graphic footage...The content, narration, and editing are all outstanding...Highly Recommended.' Lori Foulke, University of Illinois, MC Journal
'Pilger shows how big corporations, foreign investors, and naive tourists have been seduced into supporting an illegitimate regime...This thought-provoking documentary should be seen by policy makers and human rights advocates. Recommended.' Video Librarian
'A welcome addition to an advanced high school or college classroom...should be admired for its honesty and determination.' Online Journal of Peace and Conflict Resolution
Citation
Main credits
Munro, David (film producer)
Munro, David (film director)
Munro, David (photographer)
Pilger, John (screenwriter)
Pilger, John (presenter)
Other credits
Editor, Joe Frost.
Distributor subjects
Asian Studies; Burma; Developing World; Geography; History; Human Rights; Humanities; International Studies; Political Science; Social Justice; Southeast Asia; War and PeaceKeywords
WEBVTT
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[sil.]
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This is a film about the
right of a people to freedom
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and the power of the human spirit to
resist against overwhelming odds.
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It’s the story of Burma, once
known as the Golden Land.
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On the surface, everything appears serene.
It’s a country of extraordinary beauty
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and gracious people, but Burma
is also a secret Country,
00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:04.999
isolated for the past 34 years since
a brutal dictatorship seized power
00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:09.999
the assault on its people
all but forgotten.
00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:14.999
To tell their story, we
have to go undercover.
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What we found was a land of fear.
00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:28.000
[sil.]
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People who were carrying
the posters and flags,
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they were shot, uh… and then, they
all died, immediately, on the spot.
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[sil.]
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My students were badly tortured and they
were sent to prison for seven years,
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just for singing a freedom song. We want
people’s regime(ph). We want people’s regime.
00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:09.999
Those who have already been in prison,
00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:14.999
they know what it is to like to be in a Burmese prison and
they know that, any day, they are liable to be put back there,
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and yet, they do not give up.
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The generals who crushed democracy in Burma
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have ruled with a regime so harsh,
bloody, and uncompromising.
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But the parallels with Indonesia
and East Timor are striking.
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More than a million people are been forced from
their homes, and according to the United Nations,
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untold thousands have been massacred, tortured,
and subjected to a modern form of slavery.
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Burma says Amnesty International
is a prison without bars.
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In 1988, the year before the
democracy movement in China
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was crushed so publicly in Tiananmen
Square, as many as 10,000 people
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were killed here by their
government in a matter of days.
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The outside world knew little about this, the
difference was the absence of television cameras.
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This film was being made in secret, as
the regime attempts to cover its crimes
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with the help of foreign
investors and by declaring 1996,
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the year of the tourist.
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The history of modern Burma, reaches
back through the Second World War,
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and a hundred years of
British imperial rule.
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With a population of 45 million, it has a
natural wealth, perhaps, unequalled in Asia,
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oil, and, gas, and vast teak forests.
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Renamed Myanmar by its military rulers,
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Burma has been turned into one of the world’s
poorest countries. And as we discovered,
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and we reveal later in this film,
it’s also a country where slave-labor
00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.999
and child-labor are common.
00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:13.000
[sil.]
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To the British, who colonized
Burma in the early 19th century,
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the golden land was always a
sideshow, which rule over India.
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However, under a guise of benevolence, familiar
to Indian nationalists, the same myths applied.
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The British were bringing
civilization, not empire building.
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Rudyard Kipling, wrote a famous popular
song that romanticize Mandalay,
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a town he never saw and which was then being stripped
bare of its teak forests, leaving vast dust bowls.
00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:54.999
[sil.]
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Fortunes were owned by the British exporters
of Burma’s rice and precious stones.
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In the 1930s, companies were making
profits of 12 million pounds,
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a huge amount in today’s terms.
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The oil fields became a
byword for expatriate wealth,
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and these interests were
protected by an imperial army.
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[music]
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Person(ph) military mentality is
conditioned by a colonial period.
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It’s like a colonial army occupying the country, they
behave like a corporate body, serving its own interests.
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So they don’t recognize the people’s
representative or the will of the people
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because they themselves, they… they regarded that
separated from and superior to the populace,
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that tradition derived
from colonial period.
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The movement for independence from Britain began
in the 1930s, among the students and monks.
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The national hero, was a
young Army officer Aung San,
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the father of Nobel Peace
Prize winner Suu Kyi.
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During the Second World War,
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Aung San and his comrades exploited the
Japanese occupation to win independence.
00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:24.999
But in 1948, as independence was about to
be granted, Aung San was assassinated.
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His name is revered in Burma, today.
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[sil.]
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What was unique about the movement he began and which
led to democratic governments in the postwar years
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was its quality of Buddhism,
socialism, and democracy.
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The ideas of Marx, Nehru,
and Voltaire were adapted.
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Marx was virtually transformed
into a disciple of Buddha.
00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:09.999
This flowering of democratic socialism
coincided with a period of turmoil,
00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:14.999
as Burma’s ethnic peoples
demanded autonomy.
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But in 1962, the army stepped
in and seized power,
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its leader was a Stalin
like-figure, called Ne Win.
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He ruled the country, like Stalin
ruled Russia through KGB(ph),
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so he set up his intelligence apparatus, you
know, which… he uses his eyes and ears.
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So he sees through the… he see the
country through this apparatus
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so this apparatus become a
government within the government.
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I think he’s a control maniac.
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He’s one of the most extraordinary, contradictory characters
that one could ever come across, one who changed a good deal.
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I think in his earlier
years, he was a playboy.
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In the 60s, he suddenly changed as a result of… of,
perhaps, of his advisors, he changed his old policy,
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and became a, uh… uh… a very
rigorous authoritarian,
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umm… puritanical for other
people, anyway, kind of guy,
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and decided that Burma should be taken away
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from all kinds of foreign influence. That…
that hypocrisy in Ne Win is fascinating
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is because he was the gambler, the man who liked racing and turned up
at Ascot there and then… and then he banned it all for the Burmese.
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Yes, I think he may have got
cheated by a bookie at Ascot.
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[sil.]
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Ne Win imposed a silence on Burma,
he abolished its lively free press
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and a strict censorship control newspapers, radio, books, and
films, isolating one of the most literate societies in Asia.
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The new rules stated, \"Any
incorrect ideas and opinions
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which do not accord with
the times are banned.\"
00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:04.999
These torn and tattered books in a Rangoon market
are the remains of free expression in Burma.
00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.999
[sil.]
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Even our filming of them attracted the
attention of military intelligence.
00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:19.999
Of course, rumor has
been impossible to ban,
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especially, when the subject
is the dictator himself.
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When his soothsayer warned him, there might be a
bloodbath, he would stand in front of a mirror,
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and he would trample on dead’s(ph) meat
or something to simulate the blood,
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and then he would shoot himself in
the mirror and having done that
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this would have that the possibility of assassination.
Of all the world’s megalomaniacs, perhaps,
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only Ne Win is ruled by astrology and
superstition. The best example of this
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was the day he bankrupted the population without
warning he cancelled most of Burma’s currency,
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replacing it with banknotes that added
up to or included the figure nine.
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According to his chief astrologer,
nine was his lucky number.
00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.999
The Burmese weren’t quite so lucky, as most
people here keep their savings in cash,
00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:14.999
most of them are ruined.
00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:19.999
Burma was now completely impoverished.
People went hungry while their fertile land
00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:24.999
was given the ignominious status
of least developed country.
00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:29.999
Desperate for foreign exchange, the regime forced
Bankrupt farmers into the fields at gunpoint,
00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.999
while Ne Win bought properties
in London and Tokyo,
00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:39.999
and made a fortune in precious stones.
The touch paper been lit.
00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:44.999
The frustration that’d
been building for 25 years
00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:49.999
now exploded as the students
took to the streets.
00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:58.000
[sil.]
00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:09.999
It’s just after dawn beside Inya
lake in the center of Rangoon,
00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.999
we’re filming this with great
care because even at this hour,
00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:19.999
it’s almost certain, we’re being watched which
is a normal state of affairs for many Burmese.
00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.999
This causeway is known as the White Bridge.
On March the 16th, 1988,
00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:29.999
hundreds of schoolchildren and students
marched along it singing the national anthem.
00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.999
Then as they looked behind them, they
saw the steel helmets of the army
00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:39.999
and they knew they were trapped. According to
eyewitnesses, the soldiers beat many of them to death
00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.999
singling out the girls,
00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:49.999
those who escaped were pursued here into the lake
where they were caught and drowned one by one.
00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.999
Other survivors, 42 were
locked in a waiting van
00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:59.999
and left in the noonday heat, well,
all of them suffocated to death.
00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.999
In the meantime, fire engines were
brought here to wash away the blood.
00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:13.000
[sil.]
00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:19.999
The government was arresting the students, hundreds
of students uh… all… including the female students.
00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.999
So on our way to prison, we were shouting that
we… we were students and we are not criminals,
00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:29.999
they began to torture
and beat the students,
00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.999
someone that they took about around 1:00
or 2:00 Am. They came and take one by one.
00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:40.000
And they… they never come back.
00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.999
Despite this oppression,
00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:59.999
the people had set up what they call a
parliament of the streets, a free press returned
00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.999
with some 40 newspapers and
magazines with titles like
00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.999
\"Scoop\", \"New Victory\"
and \"Liberation\" daily.
00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.999
Some were printed others photocopied and
handwritten and most were distributed free.
00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.999
Making a rare appearance on television,
00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.999
Ne Win threatened his people.
00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:29.999
If there are more demonstrations,
the army will shoot to kill.
00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:34.999
It’s now eight minutes
past eight in the morning,
00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:39.999
the people of Burma, chose this time on the
eighth day of the eighth month in 1988,
00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.999
to begin one of the most remarkable
popular uprisings in modern times.
00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:49.999
The dock workers were the
first to go on strike
00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:54.999
then in the days and weeks that followed, it seemed that almost
everyone in Burma was showing their defiance and courage
00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:59.999
at least equal to those who
stormed the Berlin Wall.
00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.999
The students began its
(inaudible) each group
00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.999
uh… came out with a banner saying,
we’re from the uh… doctors,
00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.999
we’re from the lawyers and they walked
through the streets shouting various slogans
00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:19.999
of which the most umm… common was, \"This is our
business\", \"The government, this is our business\",
00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:28.000
\"Running the country, this is our business\" which
in Burmese is (inaudible). As tension rose between
00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.999
the people and the regime,
they when faced a new opponent
00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.999
whose presence in Burma here not
reckoned on Aung San Suu Kyi,
00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.999
daughter of the national hero Aung San
returned from her home in England.
00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.999
The leaders of the democracy movement
persuaded her to join the struggle
00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:59.999
and at her first appearance in Rangoon, more
than half a million people heard her call
00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.999
for the restoration of democracy.
00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:09.999
The people now have a leader. Suu
Kyi had never been a politician,
00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.999
but now as a founder of the National League
for Democracy, she called for elections,
00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:19.999
she spoke at rallies
throughout the country.
00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.999
In one incident, she came close to assassination when
troops refused to let her pass and threatened to shoot her.
00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.999
But every problems arise
are generally created
00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.999
because a truck load of armed soldiers come
along and start waving the guns around.
00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:39.999
If the secretary of the local store can order his
men to shoot down people without any real cause,
00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:44.999
it means if there’s something
very wrong with system.
00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:53.000
[sil.]
00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:08.000
[sil.]
00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:53.000
[sil.]
00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.999
Despite the massacres in Rangoon,
00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.999
still the generals feared Suu Kyi.
00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.999
In July, 1989, she was placed under
house arrest in her father’s home,
00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
3,000 of her party workers
were also arrested.
00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
With the opposition weakened so they thought, the
generals called elections for the following year.
00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.999
But they failed to understand the depth of the country’s
frustration, even sections of the army and police
00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:34.999
who had not been involved in the
killings supported Suu Kyi.
00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:39.999
The National League for Democracy won an overwhelming
victory gaining 82% of the parliamentary seats,
00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.999
the generals were stunned and
refused to hand over power.
00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
But the people’s desire for
freedom could not be smothered.
00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
The atrocities of 1988,
remained a rallying cry.
00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
Troops have been shooting people all day, but twice
today, troops came to the hospital demanding
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
that they be given the bodies of
the dead and also the wounded,
00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
when the nurses and the doctors refused saying
that the patients needed for treatment,
00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:15.000
the troops opened fire killing at
least four doctors and eight nurses.
00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
This is amateur videotape
of Rangoon hospital,
00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
having banned foreign television, the regime
ordered anyone with a camera to be shot on sight.
00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
In defiance of this, there was
some courageous reporting.
00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
On one tape, the voices of two Burmese cameramen
are hurt as soldiers prepared to fire at them.
00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
\"What should we do?\" asked one of them, to which his
friend replies keep on filming until they shoot us.
00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:53.000
[sil.]
00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
There was sort of like, u. civil
war inside again, inside a CD and…
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
and I could hear all the gun
fire, just sitting in my home.
00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
The military troops all over Rangoon, they’ve
been shooting all that in this (inaudible).
00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:18.000
[sil.]
00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
In one point, they didn’t
have enough medicine
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
to treat these injured people. So doctors,
and nurses, and medical students decided to…
00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
to appeal to the military soldiers
not to shoot anymore and…
00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:45.000
and they had a banner, Red Cross
banner writing \"Please stop shooting\".
00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
And these soldiers even shot inside
the Rangoon General Hospital,
00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
and there were many people
killed at the time.
00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
The Generals so feared the power of the
demonstrators that they moved to dispose of them,
00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:15.000
dead or alive in Rangoon cemetery.
00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
The atrocities even
extended to the crematorium
00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
were a line of trucks took
the dead and the wounded.
00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
In fact, my house is quite close to
the crematorium and during that time,
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
I heard lot of news that they had
brought a lot of dead bodies
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
and some of the bodies and some
of the people even not dead yet,
00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
and they will cremate it. But at the same
time, I could see the flame coming out from…
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
from the cemetery all the time and all the crematorium,
in fact, was surrounded by the military troops.
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
So they were burning dead people
and people who were not dead.
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
They didn’t even identify the body,
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
I mean, not… not to mention to inform the parents. I mean, in fact,
they did it, just brought everybody that they saw on the street.
00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:43.000
[music]
00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
Suu Kyi remained a prisoner for six years
alone in this house on University Avenue.
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Her whispered name became a byword
00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
and people would pass her
House just to be reassured by
00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
the sound of her playing her piano.
00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
Last year she was finally released. Though
today, she is still denied freedom of movement.
00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
As this film goes to where her husband
Michael Aris and their two sons in England
00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
have again been refused
permission to visit her.
00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
Early one Saturday morning, David
Munro and I went to see her,
00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
our cameras concealed from the military intelligence
guards who continue to watch her every move.
00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
What were the most difficult
times that to you personally
00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
during your house arrest? Umm… there were… there
were times when I was worried for my colleagues
00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
and there were times when I
worried for our people out there
00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
when they seem to be undergoing a lot of oppression.
Umm… And then I worried about my sons very much
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
because the… the young one was only 12,
00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
and he had to be put into boarding school so of
course, naturally, I worried about these things.
00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
But then I would always remind myself that those
families of my colleagues are far worse off
00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
because those of my colleagues
who were put in prison in Burma,
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
their families were also insecure. Were you able
to stay in touch with Michael during that time?
00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
Not throughout that time, there were
times when we were out of touch.
00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
For… for how long, was the… was the…? I think the
longest period was for about two years and four months
00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
or five months something like that. No
letters or anything during that time? Yeah.
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
No… no letters from the children? No. Got
through. I would try to imagine being you
00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
and surrounded by hostile uh… force
00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
uh… cut off from your family, your
colleagues, and comrades and friends,
00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
weren’t there times when you
were actually terrified?
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
No, because I didn’t feel hostile towards them,
this is what people don’t seem to understand…
00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
uh… they… they say, well, you had… you
must have been terrified, but why?
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
I didn’t feel hostile towards the… the
guards or the soldiers surrounding me
00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
and I think uh… fear comes out of
hostility. Hmm… you and your people
00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
uh… at present up against quite
uncompromising and brute power,
00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
how can you reclaim the democracy
00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
that you wanna ballot box, uh…
with that power confronting you?
00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
I don’t think we’re the first people who have
had to face an uncompromising and brutal power.
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
But the question is… In the quest for… …is most
difficult one, isn’t it? In the quest for freedom
00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
and basic human rights. I think we depend
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
chiefly on our own people on the will
of our own people for democracy.
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
But it still comes down to on one side,
00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
there is a power that has all the guns. But
increasingly, I think it is getting more difficult
00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
in this world to resolve
problems through military means.
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
It is no longer acceptable, I do not think
the ASEAN countries themselves would accept
00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
a military solution to the problem in Burma and the
fact that the authorities themselves are so keen
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
on attacking us and their
papers seem to indicate
00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
that they also are not
depending on guns alone.
00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:28.000
[sil.]
00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
This is the death row way of World War II,
00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
carved through the Burmese jungle by the
Japanese at the cost of 16,000 allied lives,
00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
one life it is said for every sleeper.
00:26:55.000 --> 00:27:03.000
[sil.]
00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
For the men who built
this railway and survived
00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
believing their horror would never happen
again, there is a terrible irony here.
00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
[sil.]
00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
During last year’s 50th anniversary
celebrations of victory over the Japanese,
00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
I remember the Burmese being mentioned
just once in the television coverage,
00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
an ex-serviceman was asked by a reporter,
00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
\"What about the Burmese\"? and he replied that
they had vanished when the Japanese invaded.
00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
In fact, more than a 100,000 Burmese and other Asian
prisoners also died building the death railway.
00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
If the British army in Burma
was a forgotten army,
00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
then the people over whose land
it fought were invisible victims,
00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
and that remains true today
as history repeat itself.
00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
This is the regime’s great secret,
00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
an extension of the death railway
linking the towns of Ye and Tavoy.
00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
Once again, it’s being built with slave labor
in an area where foreigners are banned.
00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:30.000
Under the noses of the guards we
filmed it for the first time.
00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
It is been estimated that more than
200,000 people have been forced
00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
to build this railway of whom up to
300 have been killed or have died
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
from disease and exhaustion,
00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:30.000
the democracy movement have tried to video
evidence of this, sometimes with tragic results.
00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:15.000
[sil.]
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
[sil.]
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
A report by the American State
Department says the Burmese regime
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
routinely uses forced labor and that this
railway will transport soldiers and supplies
00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
into the area where a billion dollar gas
pipeline is being built for the regime
00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
by the French oil company, Total, which
is part owned by the French government
00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
and the American company Unocal.
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
The children here are being forced to
work in temperatures of 35° centigrade,
00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
they carry heavy loads
of clay on their heads.
00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
This girl fell back exhausted
holding a disjointed shoulder.
00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:33.000
[sil.]
00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
This boy is 10 years old,
00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
he has this job because he is small enough to
fit in the hole directly beneath the grinder.
00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
But as we discovered, it’s
highly dangerous work.
00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
[sil.]
00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
The children are forced to make bricks for the army who
then sell them back to the railway construction company.
00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:13.000
[sil.]
00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
This load of clay as heavy as wet cement
00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
almost buried the boy, we stopped
filming and quickly pulled him free,
00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
the other children would not have
had the strength to save him,
00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
how many we wondered die like this?
00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:58.000
[sil.]
00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
More than half the national budget of Burma goes
on the army, guns and the means of oppression,
00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
of it paid for with foreign exchange.
00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
To the generals in Rangoon,
tourism provides this money
00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
along with the dubious respectability
as foreigners are carefully guided
00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
to the country’s magnificent,
silent monuments.
00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:38.000
[sil.]
00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
Yes, that is high as eagles(ph).
00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
I know this is in parapets, but
I have long legs than you do.
00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
Thank you.
00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
Oh, it’s fabulous… It is.
00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
Denis, (inaudible), good technique.
00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
[sil.]
00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
Are you watching me, this
is the way to go down.
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
I’m gonna get you, hand
out to the way down…
00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
How did you come d0wn? (inaudible) support.
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
Just follow me if you fall, I’ll stop you.
00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
Bro, you screwed up. These
tourists are on a way
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
but the local people they meet risk
imprisonment if they speak too freely to them,
00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
now soldiers says the minister of
tourism are here to protect you.
00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
[sil.]
00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
The British built this guest house, around the time that
Rudyard Kipling was writing \"The Road To Mandalay\",
00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
I wonder if you’d recognize the Burma of his dreams,
today, according to the regime in the year of the tourist
00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
and I quote \"Roads will be
wider, lights will be brighter,
00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
grass will be greener, and
tours will be cleaner\",
00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
pick up a travel brochure these days for many of the
famous names British Airways, Kuoni, Orient Express
00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
and you would be pardoned for thinking that the
same Ministry of Propaganda supplied the copy,
00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
for example, \"To find an unspoiled
country today may seem impossible,
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
but Burma is such a place
indeed Rangoon means
00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
’end of strife’, it’s easy to
see why, it’s easy going ways
00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:45.000
are a tonic to the Western traveler\".
00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
It’s a tonic that doesn’t come cheap in
one of the world’s poorest countries.
00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
A cruise up the Irrawaddy to Mandalay will cost you more than 2,000
pounds for just 11 days. However, there is a Kipling piano bar
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
and it says here on suite cabins
that are not just simply luxurious
00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
but include the latest satellite TV, video,
00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
and your own personal safe.
00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
And in the evenings, gentleman will feel relaxed
in a jacket and tie and ladies in a dress,
00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
what sound advice and that’s not
all, there’s a free lecture
00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
on Burma’s history and culture. But
you don’t get this in the lecture,
00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
these are prisoners restoring the moat
of the Imperial Palace in Mandalay
00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
in preparation for the year of the tourist,
the regime says they are criminals.
00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
In a country where writing a poem or
singing a song calling for democracy
00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
can get you 10 years hard labor.
And here is the moat finished,
00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
all it needs is tourists.
00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
Brian Whittaker an Australian lawyer witnessed
slave labor when he and his wife Jacqueline,
00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
flew into a new tourist airport
in the north of Burma.
00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
We heard the clinking of
chains and we went outside
00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
and noticed about 30 people
crushing rock by hand,
00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
and one of them raised his prison uniform
at the legs to display manacles,
00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
which were running across his ankles.
00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
He then quietly lifted his shirt, which
showed the chain around his waist
00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
and from my memory he also had
a manacle around his neck
00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
and one of the officials informed us that
the prisoners were political prisoners.
00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
He told you they were political prisoners?
00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
Yes, very explicitly said that they’re political
prisoners. The Burmese government uh… have said,
00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
uh… when questioned about this
by human rights organizations
00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
that this is a traditional voluntary
form of labor. That’s rubbish.
00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
It’s, it was clearly not voluntary.
You don’t volunteer to crush rock,
00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
dressed in… thread(ph) be uniform
in the freezing cold with chains,
00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
all of your body and standing under guard.
00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
I’m familiar with the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and I believe that what I observed
00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
was a clear breach of the provisions
and the articles relating to
00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
forcible work and Slavery. Forced
labor goes on all over the country
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
but a lot of these projects are aimed
at the tourist trade, tourist industry.
00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
They’re meant for tourists
building roads, building bridges,
00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
so we do not think that it’s a good
idea to promote, visit Myanmar in 1996,
00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
which is not to say that tourists would stay away forever
from Burma, after all Burma will be always be here
00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
and one day when it’s a democratic Burma.
I think it will be a place
00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
that tourists would enjoy visiting and how they
need not have any qualms about visiting it.
00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
These prisoners are preparing a
tourist attraction in Mandalay,
00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
the actual road to
Mandalay has recently been
00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
converted to an expressway. For the
local people forced to work on it,
00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
it’s known as the road of no return. According
to Amnesty, two workers who tried to escape
00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
were executed by soldiers on the
spot one was hacked to death.
00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:33.000
[sil.]
00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
Mr. Sherwood, last year
uh… your company signed
00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
a deal for $35 million
with the Burmese regime,
00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
what does that involve? Well, it’s basically
an investment in ships and shore facilities
00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
for the development of
river, uh… tourism in Burma?
00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
Did you consider all the implications of
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
Burma’s rather appalling record as
far as human rights are concerned
00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
before you went in with this project?
Well, I… I did
00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
and I’ve will tried to investigate these
allegations about human rights infringements,
00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
it’s very hard to… to pin them down, people
make these accusations or allegations,
00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
I immediately try to see if
there’s any proof to them,
00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
I can’t find it but of course I except
that I uh….. cannot visit all of Burma…
00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
I… my visits are limited to
the principal cities so…
00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
so perhaps that’s umm… umm… out of sight,
00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
out of mind attitude, so I… I can’t… I can’t
speak any further than my personal knowledge.
00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
Did you made really any attempt before you
invested in Burma to see this other side.
00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
Well, what I did do was that
I’ve contacted the senior CIA,
00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
uh… representative for Burma and
00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
umm… I had extensive discussions about
the truth of all of these allegations
00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
and he confirmed to me that, uh… that
they were all untrue or at the degree
00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
that they occurred they were
related to the drugs war so umm…
00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
They… so they are not allegations, I mean,
here that there… I mean, you would think
00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
that the United Nations,
amnesty, Human Rights watch
00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
uh… uh… the United States government,
United States State Department say
00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
for instance, forced labor is routine in
Burma. Umm… I don’t think these all come
00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
into the realm of allegations. There’s a
great deal of substance there is surely.
00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
Well, perhaps you… you can say so but I don’t
have any personal evidence of it. I… umm…
00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
Did you see the… the elected
leader of the country,
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
Aung San Suu Kyi, when you were there?
No, I didn’t, no.
00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
I think it would be inappropriate
or untactful for us
00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
to open a dialogue with
the opposition leader uh…
00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
But she’s the elected leader and some would say that the
people uh… the generals that you saw are the opposition.
00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
Umm… I Believe that the
generals are in power.
00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
The general’s power is
backed by foreign money.
00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
One estimate is that, since
it crushed democracy in 1990,
00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
the Burmese regime has drawn 65% of its
financial support from oil companies.
00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
The main backers are the French company
Total and its American partner Unocal,
00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
the oil pipeline they are
building in the south of Burma
00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
will allow the generals to sell the
country’s natural gas to Thailand.
00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
The deal will give them an estimated $400
million dollars a year over 30 years.
00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
[sil.]
00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
And the British are back, last December,
a London Chamber of Commerce,
00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
seminar was told about the real
visionaries in the Burmese government
00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
and in the House of Commons, the
Foreign Office minister Jeremy Hanley,
00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
made this remarkable statement through commercial
contacts with democratic nations such as Britain,
00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
the Burmese people will gain
experience of democratic principles,
00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
of course, just as the peoples
of Saudi Arabia, Iraq,
00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
Iran, Indonesia and all the
other modern tyrannies
00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
have gained experience of the
Democratic virtues of British business.
00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
If the opposite wasn’t
true, this would be funny.
00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
We repeatedly asked ministers of the Foreign Office and the
Department of Trade in London, to be interviewed for this film
00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
but they refused, so did
the Burmese embassy.
00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
We can reveal that one British company
that did trade with the Rangoon regime
00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
was the Arms Company BMARC…
BMARC was a subsidiary of ASTRA
00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
whose chairman was Gerald James.
00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
It became apparent as we investigated
BMARC’s of us after we took it over.
00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
They… they were running in secret old book and also conducting
other covert operations on behalf of the intelligence community.
00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
What evidence do you have that
00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
umm… that BMARC did ship arms to Burma? Well,
here… here you have a list with several countries
00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
on including uh… Burma. And
what is this document?
00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
Well, that document emerged when under great pressure,
the receiver was forced as(ph) Richard Scott,
00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
who threatened him of the court order
to disclose information to me.
00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
So this is… this, in fact, it’s a by
product of the Scott investigation?
00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
That’s correct. Yeah, I see the
sales to Burma were in 1990
00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
that was two years after the
military regime cracked down there
00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
and so arms arriving at that time
would have been quite significant?
00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
Yes, our… our Astra (inaudible)
would have been very significant.
00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
But the British government have made clear
since 1988, that they would not grant licenses
00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
for the export of arms to Burma.
00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
Yes, I mean, the British umm… government denied a lot of uh…
things but in the end, it’s turned out to be a pack of lies.
00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
Like Britain and America,
00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
Australia has pursued a double face policy while
the government condemned human rights abuses
00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
the former Prime Minister Bob Hawke,
led a trade mission to Rangoon.
00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
We had been uniformly impressed by the
competence, knowledge, and commitment
00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
of these ministers and their associates
to the economic development of Myanmar
00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
as I basis for the national and political
advancement of the people of their country.
00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
I think if you investigate the situation, you
will find that the so-called open market economy
00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
that exists at this moment is only
open to some and not to everybody.
00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
Yes, the other day another Australian
politician Mr. Fischer said
00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
that Burma is heading towards democracy,
therefore, investment is absolutely justifiable
00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
I mean, what… what do you say uh… people like
this. Well, an investment is not justifiable now
00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
but I am convinced that Burma
is heading for democracy
00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
because of what the people want and because of
what all those who want democracy are doing
00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
and not… not because of the investors
investing or for any other reason.
00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
Japan is another big investor, playing its part as
the Japanese National Broadcasting Company NHK,
00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
which is proud of its impartiality.
00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
NHK owns some of the only TV
film of the killings in 1988.
00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
When we asked to purchase this,
we got the following reply,
00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
\"Unfortunately, it is NHK’s policy that
the footage showing the Burmese army,
00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
shooting citizens who demonstrated
cannot be used by anybody in the world
00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
because it’s too delicate and might
threaten Myanmar’s stability.
00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
Please erase the material in your library. I
appreciate your understanding the situation.\"
00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:18.000
[sil.]
00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
With our film smuggled out, we flew to Thailand and crossed
the Burmese border into a liberated area held by the Karen,
00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
one of Burma’s ethnic peoples,
who’d been fighting for autonomy
00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
for more than 40 years.
00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
The presence of these undefeated people,
enjoying a guarded freedom in their own land,
00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
demonstrates that until there is democracy
00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
and perhaps a federation of all of Burma’s
peoples, there will never be peace.
00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
When I asked people in Rangoon,
00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
if 1988, could happen again, if
there could be another uprising.
00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
I was told this, \"Imagine a zebra crossing,
00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
the traffic never seems to stop for the
pedestrians one or two that have crossed,
00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
the majority waiting patiently at
the curb, then they surge across
00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
until the traffic has lost all
its power, we the Burmese people
00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
are back at the curb now
waiting impatiently.
00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
[sil.]
00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
In many ways, Burma is typical of poor
countries where foreign investment and tourism
00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
have become the triggers for so-called
development and economic growth,
00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
what this usually means is that those at the top
get rich while the majority end up in sweatshops
00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
and that autocrats and dictators gain a false
respectability by embracing the so-called free market.
00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
In Asia, the result of this
is a vast expanding pool
00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
of cheap labor from China to Indonesia
00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
and now with the prospect of Burma undercutting them
all, this is another side of the Asian economic miracle
00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
that you seldom read about
on the business pages
00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
backed by the power of foreign capital and the power of
tourism, it gives a gloss to essentially brutal policies,
00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
in other words it
normalizes the unspeakable.
00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
This was how the apartheid regime in South
Africa lasted for as long as it did,
00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
sanctions, not profits
help to bring it down.
00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
At the height of their epic struggle in 1988, the
people of Burma produced a genuine, popular democracy,
00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
then legalized it with
an overwhelming vote,
00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
for this act of principle and courage, they
paid a terrible price, they deserve more
00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:50.000
than our complicity and silence.
Distributor: Bullfrog Films
Length: 51 minutes
Date: 1997
Genre: Expository
Language: Not available
Grade: 10-12, College, Adult
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
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