Burma Resource Guide

Books

Books with a link may be purchased from Powells.com; BPF receives a small percentage of each sale.

Freedom from Fear by Aung San Suu Kyi (1996, Penguin)

Letters from Burma by Aung San Suu Kyi (1998, Penguin)

The Voice of Hope by Aung San Suu Kyi and Alan Clements (1998, Seven Stories Press – new edition coming out in April 2008). More on this book.

http://www.sevenstories.com/book/?GCOI=58322100424770

Finding George Orwell in Burma by Emma Larkin (2004, Penguin)

Burma: The Next Killing Fields? By Alan Clements (1992, Odonian Press)

Down the Rat Hole: Adventures Underground on Burma's Frontiers by Edith Mirante (2006, Orchid Press)

Burmese Looking Glass: A Human Rights Activist on the Forbidden Frontier by Edith Mirante (1993, Atlantic Monthly Press)

Burma's Mass Lay Meditation Movement: Buddhism and the Cultural Construction of Power  by Ingrid Jordt (2007, Ohio University Press)

Drawing on more than ten years of extensive fieldwork in Burma, Jordt explains how vipassana meditation has brought about a change of worldview for millions of individuals, enabling them to think and act independently of the totalitarian regime.

Films

Prayer of Peace: Relief & Resistance in Burma's War Zones

(2007, 28 mins.) On the front line of  conflict deep inside Burma, this documentary follows ethnic relief workers as they aid  internally displaced people suffering under the Burma Army. Focusing on a female medic and a pastor/human rights cameraman, the film reveals a people that have maintained  their dignity and hope for peace despite the odds. Filmed on relief missions with the Free  Burma Rangers. Ordering info: http://frontfilms.com/ or email: info@frontfilms.com.

Burma: State of Fear

(2006, 25 mins.) After more than 40 years in power, Burma's junta has amassed one of the largest armies in Southeast Asia and wage wars against its own people. This video sheds light on why the recent protests in Burma took place. With introduction and Q&A by the Frontline/WORLD Series Editor Stephen Talbot.

Watch the video here on PBS' website.

Order the DVD here: http://www.shoppbs.org/sm-pbs-frontline-world-vi-burma-state-of-fear-dvd--pi-2471643.html 

Total Denial

(2006, 74 mins.) Total Denial is the story of a historic lawsuit: Fifteen villagers from the jungles of Burma bringing suit against a giant oil corporation for human-rights abuses in U.S. courts. After ten years of fierce legal battles, there is an impossible victory. Vaclav Havel Special Award for Human Rights 2006.  More information: www.totaldenialfilm.com.

Beyond Rangoon

(1995, 116 min) A full length feature film that depicts the 1988 uprising in Burma through the eyes of a young American doctor. Available only in video format. Click here for ordering info.

Inside Burma: Land of Fear

 (1996, 51 mins.) Filmmaker John Pilger investigates the history and brutality of the military dictatorship in Burma. Ordering info: http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/inb.html

A Force More Powerful

Not specifically about Burma, but this is a two-part documentary series on one of the 20th century’s most important and least known stories -- how nonviolent power overcame oppression and authoritarian rule. The power that Gandhi pioneered has been used by people on every continent and in every decade of the 20th century to battle the forces of brutality with nonviolent weapons – and win! Stories told in the film include India’s independence from Britain, the U.S. Civil Rights movement, the South Africa anti-apartheid movement, Solidarity Union’s successes in Poland, and the Danish resistance during World War II.

If you are a BPF chapter, this DVD is available to borrow from the BPF office. Contact margaret@bpf.org for more information.