Activist Min Zin challenged Boston University students, faculty and community members Saturday to use their freedom to promote the liberty of the Burmese people.
He addressed an audience of about 30 people at Morse Auditorium about human rights atrocities in Myanmar in a lecture titled “Civic Voices: An International Democracy Memory Bank.”
Before introducing Zin to the audience, Abby Mills of the American Federation of Teachers spoke about Civic Voices, a movement that is encouraging students around the world to record the stories of activists fighting for democracy and civil liberties in their communities.
Stories that are sent to Civic Voices will be recorded online in a “Memory Bank” that is available to anyone with access to the Internet.
The international online database will help teachers to share the stories of people who stood up in the face of oppression through video interviews, Mills said.
“We’re hoping that taking stories of the past can inspire citizens of the future. No where will this be better, than in closed societies,” she said. “Activists like Min Zin, risk their lives, the lives of their family, and friends with the hope that these stories will inspire people in other situations to stand up as well.”
At 14, Zin helped organize a protest popularly known as the 8888 Uprising. During the protest, on Aug. 8, 1988, in Rangoon, Burma, Zin saw many of his childhood friends killed by the Burmese military who attempted to put down the upheaval.
After running from the military for eight and a half years, he fled the country to Thailand. Since leaving his country, he has dedicated his life to sharing his story with others.
Zin explained he was not educated in social freedoms.
“I didn’t know what democracy was, but I knew that this was wrong,” he said. “I joined the high school student union and the union was illegal.”
The nation will not allow international scrutiny of its policies, Zin said.
“On May 2, 2008, a giant cyclone hit the country, killing more than 200,000 people, but the military blocked foreign aid for two weeks,” Zin said. “It is a result of structural violence. The military leadership spends 50 to 60 percent of the money on military spending and 2.2 percent on health.”
Zin outlined the external barriers to international aid, especially U.S. aid, to the country now known as Myanmar.
“The U.S. is in deep water when it comes to China,” Zin said. “We have very little leverage.”
“We need to set up a U.N. special order to do an inquiry investigation of crimes against humanity,” he said. “I’m not calling for democracy overnight, but for sensible governance.”
BU students and faculty attendees said they came to expand their knowledge of Myanmar.
“I visited . . . in the early “80s, and traveled quite a bit,” said School of Education professor Jane Lannak. “It was a harsh time, the military dictatorship. People weren’t allowed to travel. I’m here to find out the current political situation and what efforts are being made internationally that are making a difference in the lives of the people.”
SED graduate student Suzanne Perrino said hearing Zin speak helped give him a better perspective about human rights.
“Zin seems like he has very first-hand knowledge of the actual struggle for human rights,” she said. “I think it’s more effective for me to hear from someone who’s actually lived through it, instead of just reading perspectives on it.”
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