Sai Kyaw long ago traded the AK-47 he used to fight the Burmese army for non-violent protest and Burmese recipes to share with Bostonians out of YoMa, his restaurant in Allston.
Though he now lives in the Boston area, the political refugee’s passion for the freedom of the Burmese nation burns just as fiercely as when he was on the frontlines of protests in the country he escaped from.
“We aren’t here just to sell food. We want to expose Americans to Burmese culture and the current situation,” Kyaw said.
Kyaw took part in a 24-hour hunger strike this past Labor Day with friend Jeremy Rathjen, a senior at the University of Massachusetts, in front of the State House to raise awareness about the injustices in Burma, known as Myanmar to the junta regime that rules the country.
“A lot of activists had been arrested [in Burma] and were doing hunger strikes in jail, so we did that here,” Rathjen said. “A lot of people who came by were interested because they saw snippets in the news about Burma.”
Kyaw also led a demonstration Sept. 14 in front of the Chinese and Russian embassies in New York City to raise awareness for the plight of the Burmese.
“The only thing we want U.S. citizens to do is boycott the 2008 Olympics in China,” Kyaw said. “Any resolution for Burma will be rejected by China, and Russia will follow. China uses its veto power all the time on Burma issues in the UN council. If Chinese people change their position, our people will be free.”
Burmese freedom activist and College of Communication senior Kaye Lin echoed Kyaw’s calls for Olympic boycott.
“Tell China to stop funding the Burmese military,” Lin said. “We should all inform people about the situation in Myanmar, lobby the government, hold rallies, educate the mass public and tell them that this is a situation that matters.”
Two weeks ago, Kyaw protested with others at Harvard University along with fellow activist Ben Brinton, a research assistant at Tufts University New England Medical Center.
“The people [at the Harvard demonstration] tended to know more about what was going on, and tended to just be interested in a good resolution,” Brinton said. “I think a lot of people are fairly hopeful that something will come of this round of protest.”
Brinton praised Kyaw as a motivational figure and a rallying point for activists.
“I think centuries back to the revolution of our own country, and then to meet people like Sai who were involved in a real revolution. Fighting for democracy of their own people,” Brinton said. “There’s something really inspiring about them.”
Though the United States has imposed trade sanctions against the Myanmar government and has frozen all assets belonging to high-ranking officials from the country in America, Kyaw’s wife Thawder Kyaw said sanctions are insufficient.
“It is better off for the Chinese and Russians because they have more opportunity to trade with Burma,” Thawder Kyaw said. “We know [the situation in Burma] can’t get the same intervention that happened in Iraq, but at the very least, we want the U.N. army to go to Burma to protect our people.”
While he is far removed from the brutality of the junta, Sai Kyaw said there are many parallels between the nation’s 8888 student uprising in 1988 and the current set of protests.
“The movement is the same,” he said. “Before, the leading group was students. Now, the leading group is monks. We were marching in freedom and justice in 1988. Now, the monks are marching for the people. Everyone is hungry, [the government] raised the gas price and the people can’t ride the bus anymore. The monks are asking for a better life for the people.”
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