This week, Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN has been covering human and animal trafficking in Thailand and Burma, as well as elephants that have been victims of landmines. In this blog entry, the team describes a doctor that has been fixing the legs of elephant landmine victims. He describes how the landmines kill indiscriminately between human and animal. But perhaps even more frustrating was how little attention the crew paid to the humans in the story. By calling the country "Myanmar" and saying that that military government used the landmines "to suppress Karen rebels" doesn't allow the uninformed viewer to learn much more about the situation that the people of Burma are actually facing.
What I have found encouraging in the past few days is that three of my close friends or family mentioned the above story to me, wondering if I'd heard about it. They said that before they would've had no idea what to think of Burma, but because they'd heard me speaking about our trip to the Thai-Burma border, or had read one of my recent emails about it, that they paid attention to the news report. I think this kind of information-spreading is so important. I'd like to think that it's not people choosing to be ignorant about Burma, it's just that Burma is rarely in the mainstream news. I think every little bit of awareness helps, including the upcoming Burma events this week. On Monday, head over to American University's campus to check out a symbolic representation of the 1100 + political prisoners in Burma. Also, be sure to join up at Dupont Circle at 12:30 on Monday to protest the Shwe Gas Project. And Tuesday, April 3rd at 7:30pm at the Tavern at American University, there will be a benefit show raising money for the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). Check back for any date changes or more information!!
**Leslie**
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