Burma: It Can't Wait - Update

Some of you may remember the U.S. "Burma: It Can't Wait- Myanmar Celebrity Video Campaign" back in May 2008. The videos were hosted by Fanista but unfortunately were all taken down after the campaign was over. I've tracked them down on YouTube and reinstated the actual videos as opposed to the links to Fanista. There were also some which didn't feature in the original "30 days". so here they are now.......

Number 31, Sheryl Crow - Aung San Suu Kyi



Number 32, Brett Dennen



Marionettes - Number 33



Number 34, Giovanni Ribisi (and playmates)



Leaders - Number 35



Number 36, James Cameron



Matisyahu, 37



Norman Lear - No. 38



Burma: It Can't Wait- Myanmar Celebrity Campaign PSA Montage

Saffron Revolution - the Latest

Further to our recent post about the first anniversary of the "Saffron Revolution" the other day a group of around 150 monks staged a silent & peaceful march in Sittwe, Burma to mark the event.

The public came out on the street and offered their respect to the monks for staging their peaceful protest, when security forces asked the monks what they were doing, they did not reply but just continued silently to walk.

Read more HERE.

Support Burma HERE and on Facebook HERE, Thank you.

Correction

In the previous post I stated that all of the Videos from the U.S. campaign for Burma's Burma: it can't wait Video campaign could be found on the Fanista site, I've just checked and they're all scrubbed. You can still see them all together on YouTube plus four extra ones including this.....

End of Burma Video Campaign

Here are days Twenty Nine



and Thirty of the thirty day campaign.



All the videos can be seen at Fanista where U.S. citizens can sign up to pledge their support for the people of Burma. The aim of the "U.S. campaign for Burma" was for a million "voices" in the 30 days, they got 51,155. I know there are many petitions etc. out there but come on guys, the Avaaz World wide petition on Burma stands at 839,644!

Burma Video Campaign

Here's Day Twenty Eight of the Burma: it can't wait Video campaign. it features Damian Marley, that's Bob's son.

Suu Kyi's house arrest extended

I've been on the "North Island" for a couple of days and out of blogging range but hey, you know what, nothing changes. Well actually for a moment I thought that it might have. In Burma there has been the loosening of strict controls on foreign aid workers pressing for unfettered access to the disaster zone. In an apparent breakthrough, Burma's reclusive leader, Gen. Than Shwe, told visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Friday that he would be more flexible on access, a stance echoed by other Burmese government officials at an international donors' conference held Sunday in the commercial capital Rangoon (Yangon)..... Read More

............ And then Today the reformed cuddly humanitarians of the military junta announce that they are keeping their elected Prime Minister in detention against their own laws...... Read More




As I'm playing catch-up here are days Twenty Four,



Twenty Five,



Twenty Six



and Twenty Seven



of the Burma Video Campaign, day 26 is with Joseph Fiennes, I've heard of him.

Burma: it can't wait Video Campaign

Here's the link for Day Twenty Two with Felicity Huffman



and also the one for Day Twenty Three with Diego Maradona.

Burma Video Campaign

Day Twenty


And Day Twenty One with Sylvester Stallone!

Burma Video Campaign - Day Nineteen

This short video features Eva Longoria Parker

New Feature, Old Feature

Some of you who are regular visitors to this blog will recall that we recently featured a utility called "Snap-Shots" which popped up with a square "talk bubble" with a view of the linked site/page when the mouse hovered over that link. You will also have noticed it isn't here anymore! I was starting to get a little irritated by "bubbles" popping up every time I went near a link and decided to modify Snap-Shots by only having the bubble triggered by the little icon that appeared at the end of the link, I did that and voila it all stopped working! I might try to resurrect it if I have time (so that's probably a no).

The "new feature" mentioned in the title can be seen in a post below, it's called "Clipmarks" and is a way to assemble a disparate selection of copies from elsewhere on the Web and post them directly to your own blog. You're limited to 1,000 characters, so it's just a taster, there's a link to the original site at the top and the title can be a link to the specific page/item. It does have a different feel to the normal style of this blog and I might try to change that, but after the previous experience I might just leave well alone............

Day Eighteen of the Burma Video Campaign



Oh! I almost forgot.... CONGRATS to our Mainland neighbours in Pompey for winning the F.A. Cup yesterday!

Burma: it can't wait - Child Soldiers

Day Seventeen of the Video Campaign.

Burma: it can't wait

Day Sixteen

Burma: It can't wait.....

Day Fourteen



Day Fifteen



U.K. citizens wishing to contribute to the Myanmar Cyclone Appeal can go to The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC)website.

Wesak (or Vesak)

Wesak is the most important of the Buddhist festivals and is celebrated on the full moon in May. It celebrates the Buddha's birthday, and, for some Buddhists, also marks his birth and death.

In a resolution passed by the United Nation’s General Assembly in December 1999, it was decided to celebrate the thrice-sacred day of Vesak in the month of May. The first celebration was held back in the year 2000 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Subsequently, the celebrations for the United Nations Day of Vesak were successfully held in Bangkok, Thailand since 2004.

This Year the celebrations are taking place in Hanoi, Vietnam from the 13th. to the 17th. of this Month.






In the U.K. the full moon for May falls on the 20th. .... so a week to go!





"Burma: it can't wait" day fourteen with Vietnamese Monk Thich Nhat Hanh

Burma:it can't wait............. Day thirteen

Burma:it can't wait............. Day thirteen

Gordon Brown Refuses to Meet Dalai Lama............. in Number Ten!

I'd really, really..... really like to be able to just drop the politics for a while, but then along comes a politician and screws it all up again!

After all the successful petitioning and getting questions asked in the House and Gordon finally saying that he would meet his Holiness... now he's changed it! Instead of seeing the Dalai Lama at 10 Downing Street , the official residence of the British Prime Minister, Brown will now be at Lambeth Palace, home of the Archbishop of Canterbury, to greet him! Presumably so that he can convince the Chinese that he is meeting with a spiritual leader and not a political one.

President Bush received the Dalai Lama at the White House and presented him with the Congressional Gold Medal, Angela Merkel 's met him and both Tony Blair and John Major have previously welcomed his Holiness to Number Ten. So why not Gordon?

Read More....

Burma: it can't wait.. Day Twelve

Burma Cyclone Disaster Fund

Avaaz, the people who organised the 1,670,000 signature petition for Tibet, have just launched a drive to raise funds for the International Burmese Monks Organization.

In many of the worst-hit areas, the monasteries are the only source of shelter and food for Burma's poorest people. They have been on the front lines of the aid effort since the storm struck. Other forms of aid could be delayed, diverted or manipulated by the Burmese government--but the monks are the most trusted and reliable institution in the country.

At the time of writing the fund already stands at € 999,641 and their original target was for € 1,000,000 !

Donate Now:

Burma - Video Campaign

Day nine and day ten.

On day 6 since Cyclone Nargis struck Burma, most people have still not received any aid because of restrictions by the regime. Every day of delay is likely to cost thousands of lives. More than one million people are believed to be homeless, and more than 100,000 could have been killed.

The United Nations has the power to authorise aid shipments to Burma even though the regime has not given permission. The French government has tried to secure a discussion on this at the Security Council, but other Council members, including the UK government, have not added their support.

In 2006 the Security Council passed Resolution 1674 which stated that the Council could intervene in circumstances similar to that in Burma.

It is time to demand that the UN Security Council pass a resolution invoking its responsibility to protect to ensure that aid gets to the Burmese people, and fast. UK support for this proposal is essential.

Please take action now and send an email to the UK Government urging them to support UN action to deliver aid to Burma.

Take action here:
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/nargis_action.html

Burma

Day eight