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Burma in Transition

  • Woman walking with umbrella
    A street scene in Yangon, Burma on December 13, 2012. © Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations
  • Boys sitting with newspapers
    With the relaxation of censorship, newsstands have sprung up all over Burma, including this one near 49th Street in downtown Yangon, Burma on December 13, 2012. Still, challenges remain. Some newly un-censored publications have reported the possible hacking of journalists’ email accounts by the government. The government denies the allegations. © Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations
  • Men washing
    Burmese suffering from HIV and AIDS seek comfort, care and medical treatments at the HIV Shelter in South Dagon Township, just outside of Yangon, Burma on December 14, 2012. UNAIDS gives a conservative estimate of 220,000 people living with HIV in Burma. Meanwhile, public health spending remains terribly low, at 1.3 percent of government expenditures, while military spending is over 20 percent.  © Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations
  • A woman interviewing a man
    DVB (Democratic Voice of Burma) video journalist Thu Thu Aung, interviews U Win Tin, a leader of the NLD (National League for Democracy), a colleague of Aung San Suu Kyi and former political prisoner, at his home in Yangon, Burma on December 14, 2012. U Win Tin always dons a blue shirt, the color of prison garb, in solidarity with political prisoners who remain in jail. U Win Tin was released in 2008 after spending 19 years in prison. © Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations
  • a woman standing by sign
    Students and their families and friends gather for Commencement exercises at Yangon University on December 20, 2012. This is a rare opportunity for students to visit this historic, mostly deserted campus. The government limits Yangon University to graduate studies because of the University’s history as an epicenter for student activity against authority. Decades ago, Yangon University was the top education institution in the region. Now its fame lives on mainly through songs and poetry. © Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations
  • Men sitting on wall
    Scenes in the decrepit and empty Yangon University on December 17, 2012. © Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations
  • People riding a bus
    People crowd on the local bus in Dala, Burma. Lack of transportation infrastructure is a tremendous obstacle for economic development in the country. © Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations
  • Buddhist nuns lined up
    Buddhist nuns chant as they seek rice and alms in Yangon, Burma on December 20, 2012. Most Burmese are devout Buddhists, and nuns and monks are the spiritual backbone of Burmese society. In 2007, they were on the front lines of the Saffron Revolution against the military regime. © Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations
  • Young girl sitting at desk
    A young girl runs a public telephone in Yangon. Cell phones are still too expensive for most Burmese. In January 2013, on the cusp of government privatization of the telecommunications industry, the Minister of Telecommunications and several of his colleagues were forced to resign over corruption charges. © Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations
  • A man sitting in front of a computer
    The newsroom of Mizzima Media Co., Ltd, an independent media company started by exile Burmese students in Delhi in the 1990's. In 2012, Mizzima began operating inside the country. Despite the relaxation of overt censorship, journalists still practice self-censorship to avoid legal action. The Parliament is in the process of drafting a new Media Law. © Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations
  • women singing
    The choir at Gitameit Music Center, an Open Society grantee, rehearses for an upcoming concert in Yangon on December 18, 2012. Gitameit is one several centers in Burma that provide youth with space for learning and practicing the arts. © Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations
  • bus stop
    Young novice monks waiting for the bus in Yangon. Monasteries provide crucial free primary education in Burma, where the public education sector has been devastated by decades of military rule. © Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations
  • Burma boulevard in Naypyitaw
    The wide, open boulevards of Burma’s extravagant new capital, Naypyitaw on December 15, 2012. Built in secret and allegedly funded by regime cronies, Naypyitaw became the new capital of Burma in 2005 when government employees were given a few hours’ notice to relocate from the former capital, Yangon. © Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations
  • buildings in Naypyitaw
    The grandiose seat of the People’s Parliament, the first one in five decades, in the new capital city of Naypyitaw, Burma on December 15, 2012. The Parliament is based on Burma’s 2008 constitution, which was drafted by the military regime and which gives 25 percent of the seats to military representatives. Despite the undemocratic nature of its inception, Burma’s Parliament has been a source of some reform over the last two years. In a historic by-election in 2012, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi became a Member of Parliament, a little over one year after her release from house arrest in late 2010. © Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations
  • Road building
    Locals work on road repairs on the main road into Twantay, in the Irrawaddy Delta on December 19, 2012. Despite some labor improvements, forced labor, low pay, and poor working conditions plague Burma’s unskilled workforce. © Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations
  • A monk walks through crowd
    Monks in Rangoon march in protest of the government’s violent crackdown on protestors at the Letpadaung Copper Mine on November 29, 2012. During the crackdown, Burmese authorities used excessive force, including allegedly, phosphorous chemicals, which resulted in third degree burns on over 100 monks and villagers at the protest site. The protest was the latest in a series of efforts by local groups in Burma to increase transparency and responsibility over large scale development projects. Many of these projects are joint ventures of Chinese corporations with Burmese military companies. Public discontent with the projects has created tension between the two governments. © Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations

Since 2010, Burma has been an epicenter of unexpected, unprecedented, and rapid change. Following a quasi-free election in 2010, the Burmese government released hundreds of political prisoners, relaxed media restrictions, legalized labor unions, implemented crucial economic reforms, and made several attempts at national reconciliation with ethnic armed groups.

Most significantly, the government allowed for the development of a more open political environment in which leading opposition leader and former political prisoner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and her party, the National League for Democracy, won a landslide victory in parliamentary by-elections. Civil society is in overdrive and determined to make the most of the openings. Protests on Burma’s streets are a common occurrence.

However, despite the positive developments, Burma remains mired in conflict. These photographs present a snapshot of life in Burma today, highlighting both the causes for hope and progress and the immense challenges that remain.

Protestors still feel the threat of arrest and violent crackdowns, and though nominal democracy has replaced military autocracy, its processes are far from democratic. Military attacks against the ethnic Kachin and Shan villages continue, and have resulted in an increase in the number of internally displaced persons in the country. Decades of misrule have crippled Burma’s infrastructure and its economy at large. Additionally, the health care and education systems are in disarray and severely underfunded.

For the past two decades, Burma’s democracy movement has advocated for tripartite dialogue between the government, Aung San Suu Kyi, and representatives of ethnic nationalities. While the government is now in dialogue with opposition forces, its tenuous ceasefire processes with ethnic leaders often lack transparency, divide ethnic representatives, and exclude civil society.

Genuine peace and national reconciliation will not be possible without respect for the fundamental principles of equality and non-discrimination. Arakan State witnessed what appeared to be state-sanctioned violence against the minority Rohingya ethnic group, which resulted in mass displacement, arrests, and deaths.  Government officials continue to practice systematic discrimination against the mostly Muslim group, denying their most basic rights. In addition, several hundred political prisoners remain behind bars. And Burmese democracy is hamstrung by its undemocratic 2008 Constitution, which mandates that 25 percent of seats in Parliament belong to the military.

Transitions are never easy and Burma’s is more complicated than it may seem. The general desire for a democratic and inclusive state is widely shared, but the country is hardly out of the weeds. Civil society victories, such as the successful protests that suspended the Myitsone Dam in 2011, are undermined by events like the violent crackdown on monks and villagers protesting at the Letpadaung copper mine in November 2012. Free and fair elections in 2015 will be one of the true tests of reform. So, while there is cause for optimism in Burma for the first time in decades, there are still enormous challenges to overcome.

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