Burma anniversary 8/8/88

Dear Blogger, 

This Sunday marks the 12th anniversary of the famous 8/8/88 protests in Burma, when hundreds of thousands of peaceful protestors took to the streets to call for human rights and democracy. It was to end in bloodshed – a brutal crackdown by the ruling military junta would leave an estimated 3,000 people dead in the weeks that followed. 

It is a massive milestone for the Burmese people and it would be great if you could blog about it and keep an eye on the comment pages for other stories about the anniversary. 

The leader of the protests back then was Min Ko Naing. He was also involved in organising the protests in 2007. He is now in jail and is one of Amnesty’s priority cases. 

Sadly little seems to have changed over the years and the junta’s reaction to the protests back in 2007 only reinforced the point. Burma is a country where torture, slave labour and unfair trials are all common place. And there are estimated 2,200 political prisoners there. 

An overview of the current state of play in Burma can be found in our annual review entry on the country here. 


If you fancy adding a bit of video content, we also have the moving testimony of Waihhin. She is a Burmese student living in London, and her father Ko Mya Aye was also involved in both protests. He is currently serving a 65-year jail sentence. Her video can be viewed here 

There’s a good timeline of the events in Burma on Dipity 

Anything you can do to help raise awareness of the plight of Burma’s citizens would be a huge help. 

Thanks and best wishes 

Harriet 
      from the AIUK Media Unit ‘Project Blog’ Team