photos by Koko Lay

Burma Peace March and Olympic Torch Relay

Words from Organizer Margaret Howe

plus links to stories and photos

I want to express my gratitude for the support of all those involved in producing the Golden Gate Bridge Peace Walk for Burma, and the other human rights events around the Olympic torch. It was wonderful to have so many of you there.

Through these actions we were able to accomplish  some of our goals – keeping the American Buddhist community knowledgeable and engaged in Burma, keeping the world’s attention on Burma,  providing an avenue for engaged Buddhism, bringing a non-violent Buddhist influence to the political arena  (see Press Democrat: On day of chaos, quiet march speaks loudly) and of course ultimately helping to being more justice and peace to the Burmese. And we brought broader attention to BPF as an organization.

We had over 600 supporters, (some insist 1000)  American and Burmese peacefully walking across the bridge that day, Buddhist teachers and clergy, including Burmese monk Ashin Ninaka, Jack Kornfield, Alan Clements, Blanche Hartman, (our own) Alan Senauke,  3 car-fulls of BPFers from Santa Cruz, as well as a lot of CHP officers and a large media contingent. People came from Canada, Los Angeles, DC, & Chicago.

BPF worked very closely with the Burmese American Democratic Alliance, other Burmese groups, Michel Bohana, US Campaign for Burma, Jack Kornfield and Spirit Rock and a team of Bay Area activists including Marisa Handler, David Solnit, David Hartsough, and Rebecca Solnit. We also were supported by the ACLU, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the National Lawyers Guild.

While this was an event located in San Francisco, it was watched and reported on the world round.  We are really pleased with  significant increase in  the Burma-China connection being mentioned in the Olympic torch protest news and in any news about the Olympics. Pasted below please find the coverage for April 9 Burma actions. And here are some highlights:

• A couple of local stations aired the peace walks; and national networks also carried it
• Among others, CNN photographer was on site taking pictures and there of those made it into the collection
• Radio Free Asia allowed us to broadcast live of the Peace Walk into Burma as it was happening.
• Voice Of America also cover the events in detailed
• A reporter from Salon.com trailed the Burma protesters and produced a featured cover story about our protests
• Saw significant progress in mentioning Burma explicitly by high-profile news agencies including AP, USA Today, BBC, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal and others in their coverage about Olympic protests.
• Bush, Pelosi, other leaders are now consistently mentioning Burma along with Tibetan and Darfur as issues China has been heavily citied
• Photos and videos are on Flicker and many other news reports including CNN.
• Videos Burma Peace Walk are posted on YouTube (believed to be taken from the air probably from Helicopter that we saw)

I realize that this is a difficult time of transition for our organization and I want to convey my appreciation for the willingness of Earthlyn and the board to take on a big project like this.  May the ripples continue out and benefit all beings.  

Peace,

Margaret Howe

Human Rights Coordinator

Buddhist Peace Fellowship

Yoga Journal: Yogis in Action: Jack Kornfield

ABC& Local Network Coverage; Monks march through Golden Gate

KRON 4 NEWS Video: Burmese Monks and Supporters Walk Across Golden Gate Bridge

San Francisco: Peace Walk Begins on YouTube

Peace Walk Across the Golden Gate Bridge

CNN.com - Photos

Canada.com - The Province - China
 
Photos San Francisco Olympic Torch Relay and Protests;

Free Burma