Burma supporters and activists across Canada are holding a day of action on Burma in protest of sham elections in Burma. Please see detailed info below.
Ottawa: Human Rights Monument (at Elgin Street and Lisgar)
Time: 1pm, Nov. 6, 2010
Contact: Nisha Toomey (613-883-6409)
Vancouver: Library Square (at Robson and Homer)
Time: 11am Nov. 6, 2010
Contact: Mahn Bee Du (778-317-7222); Joie Warnock (604-785-9363); Tony Chan (604-725-5197); Mike Orders: (604- 219-3163)
Saskatoon: City Hall, Saskatoon
Time: 12 noon, Nov. 6, 2010
Contact: Helen Smith-McIntyre (306-717-5110), or Nay Linn Oo (306-341-4687)
Calgary: The Peace Fair, 3303 Capitol Hill Crescent NW (near University of Calgary)
Time: 9am-4pm
Contact: Shauna Jimenez (403-220-1030)
Backgrounder:
The Burmese military government is holding elections on Nov. 7, 2010 in the absence of international monitoring and media freedom while holding more than 2,200 political prisoners in bar and continuing human rights violations unabated. For the junta, holding the elections is the final step of their ‘roadmap’ for so-called a ‘disciplined democracy.’
However, it is not a solution for protracted political stalemate that requires ‘dialogue’ and ‘national reconciliation’– but rather an attempt to cement the military rule that is already the fundamental problem of social, political and economic stigmas in Burma.
The 2008 Constitution that the military carefully engineered for 15 years will be ratified by parliament after the elections while ensuring human rights violators ‘immunity.’ Moreover, the Army will play a leading role in Burma’s politics by reserving a quarter of parliamentary seats and key cabinet portfolios such as Home, Defense and Border Areas, as well as a control over a powerful decision-making body – ‘National Security and Defense Council.’
It is now much clearer that the military-backed political party ‘USDP’ and its affiliates are set to win in the elections by means of intimations, bribery and fraud. Therefore, the current election in Burma is not only not meeting the lowest level of international standards, but also is a process of legalizing the military rule that is against the democratic principles and the desire of Burmese people in the establishment of a free, democratic and prosperous country.
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The Canadian Friends of Burma (CFOB) is federally incorporated, national non-governmental organization working for democracy and human rights in Burma. Contact: Suite 206, 145 Spruce St., Ottawa, K1R 6P1; Tel: 613.237.8056; Email: cfob@cfob.org; Website: www.cfob.org
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