Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday Media Roundtable. This week, we'll talk about coverage of Burmese opposition figure Aung San Suu Kyi. We will also talk about the Lame duck sessions of Congress as lawmakers return to Capitol Hill to vote on important legislation. What pressing issues need more attention? We'll be joined by Washington Independent's Martha White, Burmese journalist in exile Min Zin, and Socialist Worker's Alan Maass. Join us live at 11 or send us an email at feedback@yourcallradiol.org. Where did you see the best reporting this week? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Martha C. White, a freelance writer in New York. She writes for Washington Independent and Slate Magazine.

Min Zin, a Burmese journalist in exile

Alan Maass, editor of Socialist worker magazine

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Your Call 052608 Pacific Connections: Burma Edition

What can Bay Area residents do to help Burmese victims of the cyclone and the military junta? On the next Your Call we replay a show recorded May 20th speaking with Burmese exiles across the Pacific Rim. Burma has been under military rule for more than 40 years and last year's Saffron Revolution was brutally crushed. The May 2 landfall of Cyclone Nargis added an unprecedented natural disaster to decades of suffering and neglect. What is the state of the opposition movement after so many years of repression? What forces in and outside Burma could end the decades long nightmare and how can Bay Area residents help? On the Next Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Koko Lay in San Francisco
Koko Lay was one of the organizers behind a popular people's uprising in Burma on August 8, 1988. Known as the 8-8-88 protests, the Burmese military killed more than 3,000 students and civilians. Koko Lay fled first to Thailand and then to the U.S. He is the West Coast director of the National Council of Union of Burma, the government in exile and a Master's student in the Social Change Design and Conflict Resolution program at San Francisco State.

U Kovida in San Francisco
A Burmese monk and leader of last year's Saffron Revolution against the military junta that has ruled Burma for 20 years. U Kovida led a protest march to the house of imprisoned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. After the military assault on the monks and civilians in September of last year, U Kovida fled first to Thailand and then to the United States.

Debbie Stothard in Thailand
Founder of Altsean, a Burmese advocacy and training organization training based in Thailand.

Dr. Tint Swe in New Dehli
Elected to the Burmese parliament in the May 1990 elections. They were the first since the coup in 1962. The elections were won overwhelmingly by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, winning 392 of the 492 seats.

Click to Listen: Pacific Connections: Burma Edition

Your Call 102207 An Update on Burma

A month after the uprising in Burma, what's the status on the global call for democracy? On the next Your Call, we'll have a discussion about Burma, one month after the military violently suppressed protests, leaving many people dead and more than 3,000 detained. Human rights activists are calling on Chinese, Indian, and other companies doing business in Burma to condemn the government’s abuses. Meanwhile, Burma is fading from the front pages. How will that affect the struggle for democracy? It's Your Call, with me Rose Aguilar and you.
 
Guests:
T. Kumar, advocacy director for Asia & Pacific for Amnesty International USA.

Dr. Tun Myint, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.

Nyunt Than, president of the Burmese American Democratic Alliance (BADA), a Bay Area based grassroots organization working to raise awareness about human rights abuses in Burma.

Click to Listen: An Update on Burma

Your Call 100107 Burma 101

What is in store for the future of Burma? On the next Your Call, we’ll have a discussion about the ongoing uprising in Burma, which began after the government doubled the price of fuel last month. Four hundred pro-democracy activists led the initial demonstration. Tens of thousands then responded to create a massive protest. A number of people have been killed and wounded. What is the modern political history of Burma? Will the current uprising end the military-Junta rule in that country? It’s Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Michael Aung-Thwin, a professor of Southeast Asian history at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hawaii-Honolulu

Kyi May Kaung, a Washington, DC-based writer and analyst, a contributor to Foreign Policy in Focus, and a close observer of the Burmese scene since the 1960s.
 
Click to Listen: Burma 101