Archive for 'Politics'
Oped in Hartford Courant
Posted on August 26, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under Culture, Media, Politics, Religion.
Check out my personal essay in the Hartford Courant this Wednesday. It’s about driving cross country and learning about the presidential campaign and American culture from the radio shows along the way.
My husband and I just finished driving from our home in Los Angeles to my parents’ in upstate New York because I will be taking a job on the East Coast. The trip was a great success: We slept in a budget hotel each night and never got bed bugs — just one night with a spider — and we made it to New York without crashing or getting a speeding ticket. More important, we learned about this country we live in, yet know so little about.
Neither of us had ever been to most of the places we visited along the way. My husband was born and raised in Burma, and I have never traveled in the South or much of the Midwest. We got to check out the vistas in the Grand Canyon, art galleries and jewelry shops in Santa Fe, beautiful brick mansions in Tulsa, Cardinal fans in St. Louis and cornfields in Illinois. But what was most interesting to us about our trip was listening to the radio.
Throughout the entire country — between Los Angeles and New York — we couldn’t flip through the radio stations without finding multiple shows dedicated to people talking about Jesus. Some were singing songs about him; most were discussing how their lives had changed since they had accepted the Lord into their heart. On one station a host was interviewing a child about which Biblical verse was her favorite.
Read more.
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Interpreters for U.S. Left Behind
Posted on July 9, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under Immigration, International, Politics.
Check out my story on the Huffington Post today:
Every couple of weeks an email from Baghdad pops up in Iraq War veteran Joey Coon’s inbox at his home in Washington, D.C. It’s Coon’s 23-year-old Iraqi interpreter, nicknamed Dash, pleading for help to get out of Iraq and into the United States. Dash feels in constant grave danger that he and his family will be killed because of his work with American troops.
“People like Dash put their lives on the line to help keep people like me and my friends and fellow soldiers and Iraqi civilians safe,” said Coon. “It was a very admirable, heroic thing that he did, I think, and I do feel that both soldiers and the American people in general have a certain responsibility here.”
That responsibility, however, is one that is more or less being shirked off by the presidential campaigns. While both candidates hotly debate each other’s plans for withdrawing or maintaining troop levels in Iraq, virtually nothing is being said about the 4 million Iraqis who have been displaced by the war or about the tens of thousands of Iraqis like Dash who feel at immediate risk for having worked with the Americans. Even less is being said about how the incoming administration will deal with the humanitarian crisis still evolving.
That’s why Coon and veterans like him are working harder than ever to mount a national campaign to save the lives of their interpreters by bringing them to the United States. Although there has been some progress recently made in establishing special immigrant visas for Iraqis who worked for Americans, the process of getting these Iraqis to the United States continues to be filled with long, bureaucratic delays. As papers get shuffled, untold thousands of Iraqis are left in danger.
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I Want a Leader
Posted on July 3, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under Immigration, International, Politics.
Barack Obama can find time in his schedule to have two press conferences on his timeline for withdrawing combat troops from Iraq - in one day. Couldn’t he fit in one press conference - say in one month - in which he discusses his plan for Iraqi reconstruction, humanitarian aid and refugee resettlement?
The chair of the campaign’s immigration policy group, Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, insisted to me that the senator is deeply committed to helping the almost five million Iraqis displaced by the war. He said Obama feels that the United States has a responsibility to these people.
So where’s the press conference?
Leadership is about bringing up sticky, uncomfortable issues. It’s about taking a stand when others want to hide under a blanket. A president with true leadership can force the American people to grapple with the difficult questions - like what the hell are we going to do about this massive humanitarian and security crisis that the war we started created - and get them to rally around an issue simply because it’s the right thing to do.
We’ve been in this war for five years. Debating how quickly we remove combat troops is the easy part. Figuring out what happens once we leave is the real challenge. And it would be nice if the candidates took 30 minutes out of their months of campaigning to tell us what they plan to do.
(P.S. Sorry, I can’t tell you how committed John McCain is to Iraqis displaced by the war. His campaign won’t return my phone calls or emails.)
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Obama Crashes My College Reunion
Posted on May 26, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under Politics.
Check out my column on the Huffington Post’s Off the Bus today about Sen. Barack Obama coming to Wesleyan this weekend.
Wesleyan University, my alma mater, is a small liberal arts school that gets a disproportionate amount of media coverage, usually for its uber-liberal ways. It has made the press for having a naked dorm and co-ed rooms. This time we made the headlines, and we didn’t have to take our clothes off. Sen. Barack Obama veered from the campaign trail to give Sunday’s commencement address for Wesleyan’s class of 2008.
I happened to be going to the campus this weekend to celebrate my five-year reunion. I flew in to Connecticut from Los Angeles; others came from as far as Madrid and Buenos Aires. We left behind spouses, fiances and at least one baby so we could focus on each other and our memories. We love our Wesleyan.
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Obama Speaks at Wesleyan
Posted on May 26, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under Politics.
Sen. Barack Obama veered from his campaign trail to give the commencement address at Wesleyan University this weekend. I was there for my five-year reunion. Here are some pix:
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Occupation Diplomacy
Posted on May 20, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under International, Politics, Religion.
Check out my latest blog on the Huffington Post’s Off the Bus.
One thing is certain about the outcome of this November’s presidential election — whoever wins will have the monumental job of improving America’s standing around the world. He or she (I’m one of the few who won’t pronounce Hillary Clinton’s campaign dead until it’s official) should start by loudly proclaiming his (or her) anger and repugnance at the American soldier in Baghdad who used a copy of the Koran for target practice.
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Blossoms Over Burma
Posted on May 16, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under International, Politics.
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Junta Steals Aid; Money Still Needed
Posted on May 14, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under International, Politics.
Reports are now pouring out of Burma about government officials stealing international and domestic aid and then either keeping some of it or selling it to survivors of the cyclone. Here is my story on it in the Huffington Post from last weekend. Foreign aid workers aren’t allowed to accompany the aid and ensure it gets to the survivors. Even Burmese living in the country trying to donate are now forbidden from traveling to the Irrawaddy River Delta, where the worst damage was done, to provide relief.
And now, as horrible as it is unimaginable, UN meteorologists predict that a second cyclone will soon hit Burma and further endanger the lives of the remaining survivors.
Despite the difficulties in getting aid into the country and then to the survivors, more donations are desperately needed. Dead bodies continue to litter the delta and contaminate the drinking water. About 2 million people are homeless or at risk of disease.
Please think about how you can donate. Remember the outpouring of support after the 2004 tsunami. Reporters can’t travel around Burma and write compelling stories that attract donors’ eyes. Tourists aren’t there. Photos are limited and the junta just banned cameras from the delta. But Burma still needs help. The Irrawaddy is collecting money for its reporting. US Campaign For Burma is raising funds for relief. And my husband is collecting money to send to his family and community in Rangoon so they can afford food and water. He will give the money to a friend who is traveling to the region soon. Please help. Thank you.
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Infuriating
Posted on May 6, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under International, Politics.
The most frustrating aspect of the Burmese cyclone and its aftermath is all the ways the junta running the country makes the relief process more difficult.
UN relief workers are ready and willing to bring aid and medicine into the country. But the Burmese government hasn’t yet issued them visas.
Foreign journalists must report the story from Bangkok because the junta won’t let them in. And Burmese inside the country aren’t allowed to talk to foreign journalists in Bangkok, or any other reporters not associated with the state mouthpiece.
Numerous non-governmental organizations like Doctors Without Borders aren’t in the country to begin with because they pulled out in years past when the junta made it impossible for them to travel to project areas or do their work effectively.
The junta hasn’t allowed Burmese civil servants living in the new capital, Naypyidaw, to leave to visit their families in Rangoon, an area hit by the cyclone. They aren’t supposed to leave until after the referendum on the military-drafted constitution May 10.
On the other hand, it is impressive that the junta is allowing international organizations to help at all. This is unprecedented. In the past, the junta has tried to cover up all news about fires, storms and other natural disasters. If news about a disaster got out, the junta insisted it was capable of cleaning up the mess. The fact that the government is admitting a storm killed tens of thousands and is asking for help is clearly a good sign.
Ye Thu, a friend and reporter for Democratic Voice of Burma, told me via Google Chat last night: “I think even the government itself is really shocked. That’s why they called for help.”
But still, this is ridiculous. It’s a cyclone. No one is blaming the Burmese junta for causing it.
Well, that’s not totally accurate. A Burmese friend of mine living in Singapore said that Buddhists believe the government must have caused such a disaster. She wrote to me in an email: “As a Buddhist, we used to believe we are always safe from that sort of natural disaster, due to the power and protection of Buddha, Dhama and Sanga…Now that sort of miseries happened to our country. So all are saying that its due to the horrible disgusting junta who is ruling Myanmar very unfairly. Due to the worst ruling government, we have to suffer a lot.”
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Voting, Burma-Style
Posted on April 30, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under International, Politics.
The Burmese government has rigging votes down to an art. In the aftermath of protests demanding political reform, the Burmese junta is holding a referendum on its new constitution. The vote represents the junta’s way of appeasing the international community by pretending to enact democratic reforms. The referendum will be May 10, and advance voting has begun this week. But there is nothing “democratic” happening; and these aren’t “reforms.” Here is how the junta holds a referendum. Let’s call it, “Voting, Burma-Style.”
First, the government handpicks the delegates who write the new constitution. Second, it adds a clause that forbids the national hero and Nobel Peace laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, from ever running for office.
The junta then makes amendments impossible; harasses, assaults and arrests pro-democracy activists; forbids criticism of the draft constitution; and bombards the state media with a campaign to promote the referendum. It prevents media outlets inside the country from publishing the views of anyone against the referendum. The junta doesn’t tell people what the draft constitution actually says. Then it insists that all civil servants and their families must vote and must vote “yes” - or lose their jobs.
Think that’s enough? Nope. The junta also prints some ballots with the “yes” box already filled in. An anonymous source told the Irrawaddy, a magazine based in Thailand and run by Burmese exiles: “I was given the ballot already marked—my duty was just to put it in the ballot box.”
And finally, just in case the above tactics fail, the junta writes the constitution ensuring that the military government will remain in power.
Michael Green, a professor at Georgetown, and Michael Schiffer of the Stanley Foundation wrote in an op-ed in the Boston Globe, “The junta has mastered the art of fending off international pressure with empty gestures. It is exploiting divisions in the international community to block pressure for real change.”
If Machiavelli were around, he could learn a thing or two.
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