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The International Labour Organisation (ILO), a United Nations agency,
charge Burma's regime with a 'crime against humanity' for its
widespread and systematic use of forced labour.
The ILO describes how men, women, children and the elderly are forced
to labour on roads, railways and other construction projects. They also
face punishments which include: "money demands, physical abuse,
beatings, torture, rape and murder"
The military has sought foreign investment in order to rescue it from
bankruptcy. A worrying consequence of the investment is the way it has
provided foreign currency which has helped the regime to expand the
army - in turn helping it to maintain power.
Currently the regime has around 500,000 military personnel. A country
of only 50 million people has one of the largest armies in Asia yet has no external enemies.
The NLD, ethnic nationalities, students and monks continue to resist
the regime despite a highly repressive political environment. The
campaign for a democratic Burma has become international and continues to grow in strength.
Pressure from campaigns across the world has forced a long list of companies to withdraw from Burma. These include: British American Tobacco, Texaco, Levi Strauss,Triumph International, Premier Oil and many others.
However, companies like TOTAL Oil (of France) and Chevron (of the USA) are major investors in Burma. The Burma Campaign UK (BCUK) aims to pressure companies like these to withdraw from Burma and cease their support for the regime.
The United States has imposed tough economic sanctions on Burma.
These include a ban on new investment, an asset freeze, a restriction
on dollar transactions and a ban on most Burmese imports into the United States.
The UK
government is a strong critic of the regime but despite supporting Aung
San Suu Kyi's call for targeted economic sanctions in opposition, the
government has failed to impose them. BCUK is lobbying the government
to honour their pre-election position.
Burma's democracy movement is also calling for action by the United Nations Security Council.
On September 20th 2005 Vaclav Havel and Desmond Tutu published a report, Threat to the Peace: A call for the UN Security Council to act in Burma. The report found that Burma
fits the criteria for United Nations Security Council (UNSC)
intervention. It calls on UNSC members to pass a resolution requiring
the regime to work with the United Nations in restoring democracy to Burma,
and to release Aung San Suu Kyi and all prisoners of conscience. Aung
San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, has backed the
report, and called on governments to act.
Learn About Burma
Early history
The Mon people are thought to be the earliest group to migrate into the lower Ayeyarwady valley, and by the mid-900s BC were dominant in southern Burma. The Mons became one of the first in South East Asia to embrace Theravada Buddhism.
The Tibeto-Burman speaking Pyu arrived later in the 1st century BC, and established several city states – of which Sri Ksetra was the most powerful – in central Ayeyarwady valley. The Mon and Pyu kingdoms were an active overland trade route between India and China. The Pyu kingdoms entered a period of rapid decline in early 9th century AD when the powerful kingdom of Nanzhao (in present-day Yunnan) invaded Ayeyarwady valley several times. In 835, Nanzhao decimated the Pyu by carrying off many captives to be used as conscripts.
Bagan (1044–1287)
Tibeto-Burman speaking Burmans, or the Bamar, began migrating to the Ayeyarwady valley from present-day Yunnan’s Nanzhao kingdom starting in 7th century AD. Filling the power gap left by the Pyu, the Burmans established a small kingdom centered in Bagan in 849. But it was not until the reign of King Anawrahta (1044–1077) that Bagan’s influence expanded throughout much of present-day Burma.
After Anawrahta’s capture of the Mon capital of Thaton in 1057, the Burmans adopted Theravada Buddhism from the Mons. The Burmese script was created, based on the Mon script, during the reign of King Kyanzittha (1084–1113). Prosperous from trade, Bagan kings built many magnificent temples and pagodas throughout the country – many of which can still be seen today.
Bagan's power slowly waned in 13th century. Kublai Khan's Mongol forces invaded northern Burma starting in 1277, and sacked Bagan city itself in 1287. Bagan's over two century reign of Ayeyarwady valley and its periphery was over.
Small kingdoms (1287–1531)
The Mongols could not stay for long in the searing Ayeyarwady valley. But the Tai-Shan people from Yunnan who came down with the Mongols fanned out to the Ayeyarwady valley, Shan states, Laos, Siam and Assam, and became powerful players in South East Asia.
The Bagan empire was irreparably broken up into several small kingdoms:
* The Burman kingdom of Ava or Innwa (1364–1555), the successor state to three smaller kingdoms founded by Burmanized Shan kings, controlling Upper Burma (without the Shan states)
* The Mon kingdom of Hanthawady Pegu or Bago (1287–1540), founded by a Mon-ized Shan King Wareru (1287-1306), controlling Lower Burma (without Taninthayi).
* The Rakhine kingdom of Mrauk U (1434–1784), in the west.
* Several Shan states in the Shan hills in the east and the Kachin hills in the north.
This period was characterized by constant warfare between Ava and Bago, and to a lesser extent, Ava and the Shans. Ava briefly controlled Rakhine (1379–1430) and came close to defeating Bago a few times, but could never quite reassemble the lost empire. Nevertheless, Burmese culture entered a golden age. Hanthawady Bago prospered. Bago's Queen Shin Saw Bu (1453–1460) raised the gilded Shwedagon Pagoda to its present height.
By the late 15th century, constant warfare had left Ava greatly weakened. Its peripheral areas became either independent or autonomous. In 1486, King Minkyinyo (1486-1531) of Taungoo broke away from Ava and established a small independent kingdom. In 1527, Mohnyin (Shan: Mong Yang) Shans finally captured Ava, upsetting the delicate power balance that had existed for nearly two centuries. The Shans would rule Upper Burma until 1555.
Taungoo (1531–1752)
Reinforced by fleeing Burmans from Ava, the minor Burman kingdom of Taungoo under its young, ambitious king Tabinshwehti (1531–1551) defeated the more powerful Mon kingdom at Bago, reunifying all of Lower Burma by 1540. Tabinshwehti’s successor King Bayinnaung (1551–1581) would go on to conquer Upper Burma (1555), Manipur (1556), Shan states (1557), Chiang Mai (1557), Ayutthaya (1564, 1569) and Lan Xang (1574), bringing most of western South East Asia under his rule. Bayinnaung died in 1581, preparing to invade Rakhine, a maritime power controlling the entire coastline west of Rakhine Yoma, up to Chittagong province in Bengal.
Bayinnaung’s massive empire unraveled soon after his death in 1581. Ayutthaya Siamese had driven out the Burmese by 1593 and went on to take Tanintharyi. In 1599, Rakhine forces aided by the Portuguese mercenaries sacked the kingdom’s capital Bago. Chief Portuguese mercenary Filipe de Brito e Nicote (Burmese: Nga Zinga) promptly rebelled against his Rakhine masters and established Portuguese rule in Thanlyin (Syriam), then the most important seaport in Burma. The country was in chaos.
The Burmese under King Anaukpetlun (1605–1628) regrouped and defeated the Portuguese in 1611. Anaukpetlun reestablished a smaller reconstituted kingdom based in Ava covering Upper Burma, Lower Burma and Shan states (but without Rakhine or Taninthayi). After the reign of King Thalun (1629–1648), who rebuilt the war-torn country, the kingdom experienced a slow and steady decline for the next 100 years. The Mons successfully rebelled starting in 1740 with French help and Siamese encouragement, broke away Lower Burma by 1747, and finally put an end to the House of Taungoo in 1752 when they took Ava.
Konbaung (1752–1885)
King Alaungpaya (1752–1760), established the Konbaung Dynasty in Shwebo in 1752. He founded Yangon in 1755. By his death in 1760, Alaungpaya had reunified the country. In 1767, King Hsinbyushin (1763–1777) sacked Ayutthya. The Qing Dynasty of China invaded four times from 1765 to 1769 without success. The Chinese invasions allowed the new Siamese kingdom based in Bangkok to repel the Burmese out of Siam by the late 1770s.
King Bodawpaya (1782–1819) failed repeatedly to reconquer Siam in 1780s and 1790s. Bodawpaya did manage to capture the western kingdom of Rakhine, which had been largely independent since the fall of Bagan, in 1784. Bodawpaya also formally annexed Manipur, a rebellion-prone protectorate, in 1813.
King Bagyidaw’s (1819–1837) general Maha Bandula put down a rebellion in Manipur in 1819 and captured then independent kingdom of Assam in 1819 (again in 1821). The new conquests brought the Burmese adjacent to the British India. The British defeated the Burmese in the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–1826). Burma had to cede Assam, Manipur, Rakhine (Arakan) and Tanintharyi (Tenessarim).
In 1852, the British attacked a much weakened Burma during a Burmese palace power struggle. After the Second Anglo-Burmese War, which lasted 3 months, the British had captured the remaining coastal provinces: Ayeyarwady, Yangon and Bago, naming the territories as Lower Burma.
King Mindon (1853–1878) founded Mandalay in 1859 and made it his capital. He skillfully navigated the growing threats posed by the competing interests of Britain and France. In the process, Mindon had to renounce Kayah (Karenni) states in 1875. His successor, King Thibaw (1878–1885), was largely ineffectual. In 1885, the British, alarmed by the French conquest of neighboring Laos, grabbed Upper Burma. The Third Anglo-Burmese War (1885) lasted a mere one month insofar as capturing the capital Mandalay was concerned. The Burmese royal family was exiled to Ratnagiri, India. British forces spent at least another four years pacifying the country – not only in the Burman heartland but also in the Shan, Chin and Kachin hill areas. By some accounts, minor insurrections did not end until 1896.
Upper Burma and Lower Burma were reunited, and Burma was administered as a single province within British India despite Burma’s independent history and traditions.
Colonial era (1886–1948)
To stimulate trade and facilitate changes, the British brought in Indians and Chinese who quickly displaced the Burmese in urban areas. To this day Yangon and Mandalay have large ethnic Indian populations. Railroads and schools were built, as well as a large number of prisons including the infamous Insein Jail, then as now used for political prisoners. Burmese resentment was strong and was vented in violent riots that paralyzed Yangon on occasion all the way until the 1930s. Much of the discontent was caused by a perceived disrespect for Burman culture and traditions, for example, what the British termed the Shoe Question: the colonisers’ refusal to remove their shoes upon entering Buddhist temples or other holy places. In October 1919, Eindawya Pagoda in Mandalay was the scene of violence when tempers flared after scandalised Buddhist monks attempted to physically expel a group of shoe-wearing British visitors. The leader of the monks was later sentenced to life imprisonment for attempted murder. Such incidents inspired the Burmese resistance to use Buddhism as a rallying point for their cause. Buddhist monks became the vanguards of the independence movement, and many died while protesting. One monk-turned-martyr was U Wisara, who died in prison after a 166-day hunger strike to protest a rule that forbade him from wearing his Buddhist robes while imprisoned. Kipling’s poem 'Mandalay' is now all that most people in Britain remember of Burma’s difficult and often brutal colonisation.
The Colonial Flag (1937–1948)
The Colonial Flag (1937–1948)
On 1 April 1937, Burma became a separately administered territory, independent of the Indian administration. The vote for keeping Burma in India, or as a separate colony “khwe-yay-twe-yay” divided the populace, and laid the ground work for the insurgencies to come after independence. In the 1940s, the Thirty Comrades, commanded by Aung San, founded the Burma Independence Army.[21] The Thirty Comrades received training in Japan.
During World War II, Burma became a major frontline in the Southeast Asian Theatre. The British administration collapsed ahead of the advancing Japanese troops, jails and asylums were opened and Rangoon was deserted except for the many Anglo-Burmese and Indians who remained at their posts. A stream of some 300,000 refugees fled across the jungles into India; known as 'The Trek', all but 30,000 of those 300,000 arrived in India. Initially the Japanese-led Burma Campaign succeeded and the British were expelled from most of Burma, but the British counter-attacked using primarily troops of the British Indian Army. By July 1945, the British had retaken the country. Although many Burmese fought initially for the Japanese, some Burmese also served in the British Burma Army. In 1943, the Chin Levies and Kachin Levies were formed in the border districts of Burma still under British administration. The Burma Rifles fought as part of the Chindits under General Orde Wingate from 1943–1945. Later in the war, the Americans created American-Kachin Rangers who also fought for the occupiers. Many other Burmese fought with the British Special Operations Executive. The Burma Independence Army under the command of Aung San and the Arakan National Army fought with the Japanese from 1942–1944, but switched allegiance to the Allied side in 1945.
In 1947, Aung San became Deputy Chairman of the Executive Council of Burma, a transitional government. But in July 1947, political rivals assassinated Aung San and several cabinet members.
Democratic Republic (1948–1962)
On 4 January 1948, the nation became an independent republic, named the Union of Burma, with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu as its first Prime Minister. Unlike most other former British colonies and overseas territories, it did not become a member of the Commonwealth. A bicameral parliament was formed, consisting of a Chamber of Deputies and a Chamber of Nationalities.
The geographical area Burma encompasses today can be traced to the Panglong Agreement, which combined Burma Proper, which consisted of Lower Burma and Upper Burma, and the Frontier Areas, which had been administered separately by the British.
In 1961, U Thant, then Burma’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and former Secretary to the Prime Minister, was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations; he was the first non-Westerner to head any international organization and would serve as UN Secretary-General for ten years. Among the Burmese to work at the UN when he was Secretary-General was a young Aung San Suu Kyi.
Military rule (1962–present)
Democratic rule ended in 1962 when General Ne Win led a military coup d'état. He ruled for nearly 26 years and pursued policies under the rubric of the Burmese Way to Socialism. In 1974, the military violently suppressed anti-government protests at the funeral of U Thant.
In 1988, unrest over economic mismanagement and political oppression by the government led to widespread pro-democracy demonstrations throughout the country known as the 8888 Uprising. Hundreds of demonstrators were massacred by security forces, and General Saw Maung staged a coup d'état and formed the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). In 1989, SLORC declared martial law after widespread protests. The military government finalized plans for People’s Assembly elections on 31 May 1989.
SLORC changed the country's official English name from the "Union of Burma" to the "Union of Myanmar" in 1989.
In May 1990, the government held free elections for the first time in almost 30 years. The National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, won 392 out of a total 489 seats, but the election results were annulled by SLORC, which refused to step down. Led by Than Shwe since 1992, the military regime has made cease-fire agreements with most ethnic guerrilla groups. In 1992, SLORC unveiled plans to create a new constitution through the National Convention, which began 9 January 1993. To date, this military-organized National Convention has not produced a new constitution despite well over ten years of operation. In 1997, the State Law and Order Restoration Council was renamed the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
On 23 June 1997, Burma was admitted into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The National Convention continues to convene and adjourn. Many major political parties, particularly the NLD, have been absent or excluded, and little progress has been made. On 27 March 2006, the military junta, which had moved the national capital from Yangon to a site near Pyinmana, officially named it Naypyidaw, meaning "city of the kings".
In November of 2006, the International Labour Organization announced it will be seeking "to prosecute members of the ruling Myanmar junta for crimes against humanity" over the continuous forced labour of its citizens by the military at the International Court of Justice.
Mass public demonstrations reappeared on August 18, 2007, when the government raised the price of diesel oil by 500% in order to cover a budget deficit that resulted from a salary hike for civil servants. The junta’s move of the Burmese capital to Pyinmana, now called Naypyidaw (King’s Royal City), may also have contributed to the budget deficit. The military government usually covers these deficits by printing new money or by declaring some denominations void. Its privatizations since 1988 have enriched a new class of well-connected business people or oligarchs at the expense of the impoverished majority.
The August 2007 demonstrations were led by well-known dissidents, such as Min Ko Naing (with the nom de guerre Conqueror of Kings), Su Su Nway (now in hiding) and others. The military quickly cracked down and still has not allowed the International Red Cross to visit Min Ko Naing and others who are reportedly in Insein Prison after being severely tortured.
Following the August protests, the monks of Burma, coordinated by an underground organization, stepped into the foreground and added new life to the movement. Under Suu Kyi’s leadership, passive resistance, with Suu herself worshiping with leading monks, has been the norm since 1988.
On 19 September 2007, several hundred (possibly 2000 or more) monks staged a protest march in the city of Sittwe. Larger protests in Rangoon and elsewhere ensued over the following days. Security became increasingly heavy handed, resulting in a number of deaths and injuries. By 28 September, internet access had been cut and journalists reputedly warned not to report on protests.[34] Internet access was restored by at least midnight of 5 October, Burmese time. Sources in Burma said on 6 October that the internet seems to be working from 22:00 to 05:00 local time.
Various global corporations have been criticized for profiting from the dictatorship by financing Burma's military junta.
(From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma)
(taken from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1950505.stm )
Like the South African leader Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi has become an international symbol of heroic and peaceful resistance in the face of oppression.
For the Burmese people, Aung San Suu Kyi, 62, represents their best and perhaps sole hope that one day there will be an end to the country's military repression.
As a pro-democracy campaigner and leader of the opposition National League for Democracy party ( NLD), she has spent more than 11 of the past 18 years in some form of detention under Burma's military regime.
In 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to bring democracy to Burma.
At the presentation, the Chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, Francis Sejested, called her "an outstanding example of the power of the powerless".
After a period of time overseas, Aung San Suu Kyi went back to Burma in 1988.
House arrest
Soon after she returned, she was put under house arrest in Rangoon for six years, until she was released in July 1995.
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AUNG SAN SUU KYI
1989: Put under house arrest as Burma's leaders declare martial law
1990: National League for Democracy (NLD) wins general election; military does not recognise the result
1991: Wins Nobel Peace Prize
1995: Released from house arrest, but movements restricted
2000-02: Second period of house arrest
May 2003: Detained after clash between NLD and government forces
Sep 2003: Allowed home after medical treatment, but under effective house arrest
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She was again put under house arrest in September 2000, when she tried to travel to the city of Mandalay in defiance of travel restrictions.
She was released unconditionally in May 2002, but just over a year later she was put in prison following a clash between her supporters and a government-backed mob.
Following a gynaecological operation in September 2003, she was allowed to return home - but again under effective house arrest.
During these periods of confinement, Aung San Suu Kyi has busied herself studying and exercising.
She has meditated, worked on her French and Japanese language skills, and relaxed by playing Bach on the piano.
In more recent years, she has also been able to meet other NLD officials, and selected visiting diplomats like the United Nations special envoy Razali Ismail.
But during her early years of detention, Aung San Suu Kyi was often in solitary confinement - and was not even allowed to see her two sons or her husband, the British academic Michael Aris.
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 I could not, as my father's daughter, remain indifferent to all that was going on 
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In March 1999 she suffered a major personal tragedy when her husband died of cancer.
The military authorities offered to allow her to travel to the UK to see him on his deathbed, but she felt compelled to refuse for fear she would not be allowed back into the country.
Aung San Suu Kyi has often said that detention has made her even more resolute to dedicate the rest of her life to represent the average Burmese citizen.
The UN envoy Razali Ismail has said privately that she is one of the most impressive people he has ever met.
Overseas life
Much of Aung San Suu Kyi's appeal within Burma lies in the fact she is the daughter of the country's independence hero General Aung San.
He was assassinated during the transition period in July 1947, just six months before independence.
Aung San Suu Kyi was only two years old at the time.
In 1960 she went to India with her mother Daw Khin Kyi, who had been appointed Burma's ambassador to Delhi.
Four years later she went to Oxford University in the UK, where she studied philosophy, politics and economics. There she met her future husband.
After stints of living and working in Japan and Bhutan, she settled down to be an English don's housewife and raise their two children, Alexander and Kim.
But Burma was never far away from her thoughts.
Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991
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When she arrived back in Rangoon in 1988 - initially to look after her critically ill mother - Burma was in the midst of major political upheaval.
Thousands of students, office workers and monks took to the streets demanding democratic reform.
"I could not, as my father's daughter remain indifferent to all that was going on," she said in a speech in Rangoon on 26 August 1988.
Aung San Suu Kyi was soon propelled into leading the revolt against then-dictator General Ne Win.
Inspired by the non-violent campaigns of US civil rights leader Martin Luther King and India's Mahatma Gandhi, she organised rallies and travelled around the country, calling for peaceful democratic reform and free elections.
But the demonstrations were brutally suppressed by the army, who seized power in a coup on 18 September 1988.
The military government called national elections in May 1990.
Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD convincingly won the polls, despite the fact that she herself was under house arrest and disqualified from standing.
But the junta refused to hand over control, and has remained in power ever since.
- Myanmar vs. Burma [top]
(taken from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7013943.stm)
Protest marches in Burma have entered a ninth day. But why is the country not known in the UK by its official name, Myanmar?
The eyes of the world's media are focused on Rangoon, where tensions are rising in the streets, yet news organisations and nations differ in what they call the country.
The ruling military junta changed its name from Burma to Myanmar in 1989, a year after thousands were killed in the suppression of a popular uprising. Rangoon also became Yangon.
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THE ANSWER
It's known as Myanmar in many countries and at the UN
But the UK doesn't recognise the legitimacy of the regime that changed the name
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The Adaptation of Expression Law also introduced English language names for other towns, some of which were not ethnically Burmese.
The change was recognised by the United Nations, and by countries such as France and Japan, but not by the United States and the UK.
A statement by the Foreign Office says: "Burma's democracy movement prefers the form 'Burma' because they do not accept the legitimacy of the unelected military regime to change the official name of the country. Internationally, both names are recognised."
It's general practice at the BBC to refer to the country as Burma, and the BBC News website says this is because most of its audience is familiar with that name rather than Myanmar. The same goes for Rangoon, people in general are more familiar with this name than Yangon.
But look in a Lonely Planet guidebook to Asia and the country can be found listed after Mongolia, not Brunei. The Rough Guide does not cover Burma at all, because the pro-democracy movement has called for a tourism boycott.
So does the choice of Burma or Myanmar indicate a particular political position?
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HOW IS MYANMAR PRONOUNCED?
There are various ways
'My' may be 'mee' as in 'street' or 'my' as in 'cry'
And stress can be on the first, second or third syllable
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Mark Farmener, of Burma Campaign UK, says: "Often you can tell where someone's sympathies lie if they use Burma or Myanmar. Myanmar is a kind of indicator of countries that are soft on the regime.
"But really it's not important. Who cares what people call the country? It's the human rights abuses that matter.
"There's not a really strong call from the democracy movement saying you should not call it Myanmar, they just challenge the legitimacy of the regime. It's probable it will carry on being called Myanmar after the regime is gone."
Colloquial name
The two words mean the same thing and one is derived from the other. Burmah, as it was spelt in the 19th Century, is a local corruption of the word Myanmar.
They have both been used within Burma for a long time, says anthropologist Gustaaf Houtman, who has written extensively about Burmese politics.
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WHO, WHAT, WHY?
A regular part of the BBC News Magazine, Who, What, Why? aims to answer some of the questions behind the headlines
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"There's a formal term which is Myanmar and the informal, everyday term which is Burma. Myanmar is the literary form, which is ceremonial and official and reeks of government. [The name change] is a form of censorship."
If Burmese people are writing for publication, they use 'Myanmar', but speaking they use 'Burma', he says.
This reflects the regime's attempt to impose the notion that literary language is master, Mr Houtman says, but there is definitely a political background to it.
Richard Coates, a linguist at the University of Western England, says adopting the traditional, formal name is an attempt by the junta to break from the colonial past.
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The UN uses Myanmar, presumably deferring to the idea that its members can call themselves what they wish
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"Local opposition groups do not accept that, and presumably prefer to use the 'old' colloquial name, at least until they have a government with popular legitimacy.
Governments that agree with this stance still call the country Burma.
"The UN uses Myanmar, presumably deferring to the idea that its members can call themselves what they wish, provided the decision is recorded in UN proceedings. There are hosts of papers detailing such changes. I think the EU uses Burma/Myanmar."
Other countries to rename themselves like this include Iran (formerly Persia), Burkina Faso (Upper Volta) and Cambodia (Kampuchea).
"They've substituted a local name for an internationally acknowledged one for essentially nationalistic and historical reasons."
- Current Protest Q&A [top]
(taken from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7010202.stm)
The BBC looks at what triggered the biggest protests in Burma since a popular uprising in 1988, and what it might mean for the future of the military-run country.
What sparked the protests?
On 15 August the government decided to increase the price of fuel. Both petrol and diesel doubled in price, while the cost of compressed gas - used to power buses - increased five-fold.
The hikes hit Burma's people hard, forcing up the price of public transport and triggering a knock-on effect for staples such as rice and cooking oil.
Pro-democracy activists led the initial demonstrations in Burma's main city, Rangoon. When about 400 people marched on 19 August, it was the largest demonstration in the military-ruled nation for several years.
Burmese people are angry about the sudden fuel price increase
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The authorities moved swiftly to quell the protests, rapidly arresting dozens of activists. Nonetheless, protests continued around the country. Numbers were small, but demonstrations were held in Rangoon, Sittwe and other towns.
Why did the monks get involved?
The monks started participating in large numbers after troops used force to break up a peaceful rally in the central town of Pakokku on 5 September.
At least three monks were hurt. The next day, monks in Pakokku briefly took government officials hostage. They gave the government until 17 September to apologise, but no apology was forthcoming.
When the deadline expired, the monks began to protest in much greater numbers and also withdrew their religious services from the military and their families.
More and more Buddhist monks chose to join the marches
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There were daily protests following the deadline, both in Rangoon and elsewhere, which got bigger by the day. Tens of thousands of monks were involved.
The participation of the monks is significant because there are hundreds of thousands of them and they are highly revered. The clergy has historically been prominent in political protests in Burma.
Because of the clergy's influence, the government has tried hard to woo many senior abbots. The fact that the abbots chose to remain silent was a sign for many people that they condoned the protests.
Were the protests about an apology then?
For some of the monks, yes. But for others, it went far beyond that.
Analysts say the fuel price hikes were the last straw for the monks, who were witnessing the country's grinding poverty first hand.
A group called the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks emerged to co-ordinate the protests, and on 21 September they issued a statement describing the military government as "the enemy of the people".
The group pledged to continue their protests until they had "wiped the military dictatorship from the land of Burma", and called on people across Burma to join them.
One rally marched past the house of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, clearly linking the monks' movement with a desire for a change of government.
Did others join in?
In the initial days of the protests, the public did not appear to be involved - commentators suggested that they were too scared of retaliation.
Aung San Suu Kyi was able to greet the monks over the weekend
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But that gradually changed as the demonstrations grew in size.
Footage of one protest showed people lining the route as the monks marched, forming a chain to protect them from any retaliation from soldiers.
And on 24 September, thousands of people responded to a call from the monks and joined a massive protest in Rangoon.
Key members of the opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) also joined the protests, after initially distancing themselves from the action.
What has the government done about it?
At first, the country's military leaders held back, letting the protests continue. But after a week of increasingly large protests, they warned they were ready to "take action".
A dawn-to-dusk curfew was introduced and hundreds of troops and riot police moved in to quell further protests.
Despite a crackdown on the internet and mobile phone links to the outside world, television pictures showed police using baton charges and tear gas on monks and fellow protesters.
On the worst day of violence, 27 September, the junta said nine people had been killed, but the death toll is thought to be far higher.
There have since been reports of thousands of arrests. Monks are said to have been rounded up and held in make-shift detention compounds to be transported to prison camps in the north.
What has been the international reaction to the crisis?
The US has tightened sanctions on the military leadership and, along with the EU, has called for action to be taken over the protests. But neither the US or the EU have significant influence on the country's leadership.
China, which is Burma's closest ally and seen as having most influence on the junta, has called on the leaders to restrain from violence. But it has maintained its traditional reluctance to interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries. India and Russia, which also have links with Burma, have taken a similar stance.
The Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) - of which Burma is a member - made one of its strongest ever statements against a member country, calling on the Burmese authorities to halt violence against the demonstrators.
The UN's special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, has just returned from a visit to the country where he held meetings with the senior military leaders and detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
He will report back to the UN Security Council on the outcome of his meetings.
When did Burma last see protests like these?
The last time Burma saw anything on this scale was during the popular uprising of August 1988.
These protests were triggered by the government's decision in 1987 to devalue the currency, wiping out many people's savings.
Demonstrations began among students and then gradually spread to monks and the public. These culminated in a national uprising on 8 August 1988, when hundreds of thousands of people marched to demand a change of government.
The government sent troops to brutally suppress the protests. At least 3,000 people are believed to have died.
8 8 88
In September 1987, Burma's then ruler General Ne Win compounded years of general economic mismanagement by suddenly cancelling certain currency notes.
As a superstitious man, he wanted only 45 and 90 kyat notes in circulation. This was because they were divisible by nine, which he considered a lucky number.
But by cancelling the other notes which people held, much of their savings were wiped out overnight.
Protests about the mounting economic crisis were started by Burma's students, especially in Rangoon.
On 13 March 1988 students protesting outside the Rangoon Institute of Technology clashed with the military and Phone Maw, a fourth year engineering student, was shot dead.
His death triggered further protests, which gathered pace as the students were joined by ordinary citizens and Burma's much revered monks.
On 8 August 1988 - known as 8-8-88 - hundreds of thousands of people took part in protests across the country, calling for democracy.
"The streets resounded with the chant (in Burmese) 'We want full democracy; that's what we want'", Mr White said.
Like the protesters of the last few days, students sported their symbol of the fighting peacock, and monks carried their alms bowls upside down to show they would not accept handouts from the military, again as a protest.
On 26 August, Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of independence hero Aung San who had only recently returned to Burma to nurse her sick mother, made a speech at Shwedagon Pagoda and became the public face of the democracy movement.
General Ne Win had resigned as party leader in late July, but warned that "when the army shoots, it shoots straight".
On 18 September, the army proved the general right.
Soldiers sprayed automatic rifle fire into crowds of protesters. Other demonstrators were carried away in trucks and never seen again.
Human rights groups say at least 3,000 people were killed.
Population: 42,909,464
Burma (or Myanmar) is an ethnically diverse nation with 135 distinct ethnic groups officially recognized by the Burmese government. These are grouped into eight "major national ethnic races":
Kachin
Kayah
Kayin
Chin
Mon
Bamar
Rakhine
Shan
The "major national ethnic races" are grouped primarily according to region rather than linguistic or ethnic affiliation, as for example the Shan Major National Ethnic Race includes 33 ethnic groups speaking languages in at least four widely differing language families
Many unrecognised ethnic groups exist, the largest being the Burmese Chinese and Panthay (who together form 3% of the population), Burmese Indians (who form 2% of the population), Anglo-Burmese, and Rohingya. There are no official statistics regarding the population of the latter two groups, although unofficial estimates place around 52,000 Anglo-Burmese in Burma with around 1.6 million outside of the country.
The Shan have been engaged in an intermittent civil war within Myanmar for decades.
There are two main armed rebel forces operating within Shan State: the Shan State Army/Special Region 3 and Shan State Army/Restoration Council of Shan State. In 2005 the SSNA was effectively abolished after its surrender to the Burmese government, some units joined the SSA/RCSS, which has yet to sign any agreements, and is still engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Burma Army.
During conflicts, the Shan are often burned out of their villages and forced to flee into Thailand. There, they are not given refugee status, and often work as undocumented laborers. Whether or not there is an ongoing conflict, the Shan are subject to depredations by the Burmese government; in particular, young men may be impressed into the Burmese Army for indefinite periods, or they may be enslaved to do road work for a number of months -- with no wages and no food. The horrific conditions inside Burma have led to a massive exodus of young Shan males to neighbouring Thailand, where they typically find work in construction, at daily wages which run about 100-200 baht. However much unsatisfactory these conditions may be, all of these refugees are well aware that at least they are being paid for their work, and that every day spent in Thailand is another day that the Burmese government cannot impress or enslave them. Some estimates of Shan refugees in Thailand run as high as two million, an extremely high number when compared with estimates of the total Shan population at some six million.
Independence and Exiled Government
His Royal Highness Prince Hso Khan Fa (sometimes written as Surkhanfa in Thai) of Yawnghwe, lives in exile in Canada. He is campaigning for the government of Burma to respect the traditional culture and indigenous lands of the Shan people, and he works with Shan exiles abroad helping to provide schooling for displaced Shan children whose parents are unable to do so. He hopes to provide Shan children with some training in life skills so they can fend for themselves and their families in the future.
In addition, opinion has been voiced in Shan State and in neighbouring Thailand, and to some extent in farther-reaching exile communities, in favour of the goal of "total independence for Shan State." This came to a head when, in May 2005, Shan elders in exile declared independence for the Federated Shan States.
The declaration of independence, however, was rejected by most other ethnic minority groups, many Shan living inside Burma, and Burma's leading opposition party, the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi. Despite this dissenting opinion, the Burma Army has begun a crackdown on Shan civilians as a result of the declaration, and Shan people have reported an increase in restrictions on their movements, and an escalation in Burma Army raids on Shan villages.
- The Karen [top]
The Karens, pronounced (Ka-rans), are an indigenous people to the southeast Asian countries of Thailand and Burma.Our population numbers around 14 million in that region with the majority of the Karens living inside Burma.
Traditionally, most Karens are farmers who farm the nutrient rich soils of southern Burma and eastern Thailand. The religion of the Karen majority is Animism and Buddhism although there is a sizable population of Christians among the Karens. Christians constitute roughly 30% of the Karen population.
Karens, unlike other large ethnic groups, are made-up of smaller subgroups who, in some cases, speak in their own dialects. There are, however, two main groups of Karens: the Sgaws(S'waw) and the Pwos. To most people who are familiar with the Karens, Karens are known for their colorful traditional clothes and for their energetic and jubilant festival dances.
Foremostly, the Karens are known for their hospitality and friendliness which they readily extend to everyone.
The Mon [top]
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