'White Campaign' for release of leaders by 88 generation
October 6, 2006 - Students of the 88 generation are going on an overdrive with their campaign for the release of five leaders arrested recently, along with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Hkun Tun Oo and other political prisoners.
From October 10, the campaigners will start, what is being called, a 9-day long "White Campaign", wearing white shirts to collect signatures from people across the country.
The 'White Campaign' will come to an end on Min Ko Naing's 44th birthday, October 18.
"It is the symbol of our purity. The junta has accused 88 generation students of being terrorists, and has linked us with armed groups. We want to show them that we are not so and we are doing, what we are doing, honestly for the sake of national reconciliation," Marke, an activist from Rangoon told Mizzima.
"We will urge people to wear white shirts on all these days," he added.
Activists also plan to hold a birthday party at Min Ko Naing's parent's home but are still discussing about it with the parents of Burma 's most prominent student leaders.
Former political prisoners, Min Ko Naing, Min Zeya, Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Kywe and Pyone Cho were arrested by the military junta, which announced after a week that the men in detention were involved in terrorism and were instigating people to cause 'internal commotion'.
Marke is enthusiastic and explains the increase in the number of signatures collected and the active participation of The National League for Democracy.
"Actually, we are not systematic or organised as the NLD. The members of the NLD helped us a lot and I thank them," Marke added.
He said today alone, 12,000 signatures were collected from Mandalay , Amapura and Pakokku towns in central Burma .
Today is the Thadingyut holiday in Burma .
The 88 generation students have been collecting signatures in a clandestine manner except at the NLD headquarters where they have opened a centre.
Though rumours of a possible crack down on campaigners have been spreading since yesterday, Marke said the situation is normal.
Campaign for Democracy in Burma ( Finland )
Rosokuja 2 B 12, 70150 Kuopio , Finland , Tel: + 358 404116067
Email:campaign_committee@yahoo.com
Website: www.cdbfinland.org
Petition for the freedom of Burmese Student Leaders Current Total Signatures (1650)
Media Release Date: 9 October 2006
We, Campaign for Democracy in Burma ( Finland ) – (CDB Finland)- launched an online petition campaign, entitled “Freedom of Burmese Student Leaders Petition To United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan And Representatives of The United Nations Security Council” at 10:00 a.m on 2 October 2006 ( Finland local time). The petition urges the Secretary General and UNSC Representatives to pressure the SPDC military junta to immediately release the 5 student leaders, Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Min Zeya, Htay Kywe and Pyone Cho, who have been detained since 27 and 29 September 2006. The petition is delivered electronically and petition URL is
http://www.petitiononline.com/bsloct06/petition.html
This campaign is arranged to advocate the ongoing nation-wide signature campaign inside Burma of 88 Student Generation group calling for tripartite dialouge between the military junta and the National League for Democracy, ethnic nationalities, and release of all political prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,U Tin Oo, Kun Htun Oo and ethnic leaders, and the 5 student leaders.
Rather than echoing the complete call of the 88 Student Generation group, the campaign concenterates on part of the group’s call, release of the 5 detained student leaders, deemed to be a root cause of the call because working out a right solution to a problem demands step-by-step approach, avoiding time-comsuming way, creating a right path to which things can be done, and at the same time maximising a clear vision for more complex problems.
Since the campaign is launched online to appeal to the Burmsese overseas in particular and citinzens of other countries in general, who have easy accesses to internet, almost all of the signatories to the petition are from outside Burma . The petition is very much in progress and will continue until the unconditional release of the 5 student leaders. There are signatories from 28 different countries, most from European Union states, Australia, Newzeland, Canada, the United States of America, and the rest from Thailand, Signapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Nepal, China and South Africa .
From the day one it was available online for public endorsement, the petition have received (1650) signatures so far. It is a huge success for a grassroots campaign and its momentum will give a prevailing international support for the immediate and unconditional release of the 5 student leaders on the one hand and massive international endorsement for the call of the 88 Student Generation group one the other hand. The petition also provides the signatories with an open forum where they can express themselves in many clourful ways, reflecting their viewpoints on increasingly deteriorating situations in Burma .
In these petition signatures, margin of error is less than one percent. It happens especially because of signing twice with the same name and email address. Of the total signatures which have been collected so far, more than 80 percents are from the Burmese abroad while less than 20 percents being from citizens of other countries.
Today, 9 October 2006, the CDB-Finland, as a first batch, submits the (1650) petition signatures to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and Representatives of United Nation Security Council, given the urgency of the petition. Another delivery to the petition target is scheduled Monday next week.
The CDB-Finland believe that this petition campaign will bring the plights of the 5 detained student leaders more into the international eye and the Secretary General and UNSC will quickly act upon our petition.
Campaign Committee
CDB-Finland
For more information contact:
Thant Zin Htun ( email: thantzinhtun@cdbfinland.org, ph:+35850 5721630)
Thar Swe ( email: tharchitswe@yahoo.com, ph: +35844 2621081)
To view the instantly updated petition signatures, please click or copy and paste the following URLs into your web browser:
