(The Lady, Aun Saan Suu Kyi).
I was minding my own business, part of the approach many of us at Refuge Farm have decided to take about the extraordinary developments on the American political scene. As a group, we are mostly retired. We are generally pleased with how our working lives were spent, although there is some confusion about what the government we served is up to. Some of us recall diplomatic efforts dating back almost a quarter century, when we were still in harness. It was with some modest surprise that traffic came in late yesterday wrenching us into the past.
I have mentioned there are some Blue Dog Democrats at The Farm. They include ones who worked The Hill, and who share the qualities of those for whom we used to work. Word from overseas was that former Secretary, Ambassador, Governor and Congressman Bill Richardson had ventured out to the nation of Myanmar to make some inquiries about the military government that ejected Aung San Suu Kyi from early this year. We knew her as “The Lady,” and she was one of the reasons we had been in Burma.
Suu Kyi was the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2021. Her house arrest in the late 1990s by the military junta- they called themselves The SLORC at the time- had been the subject of one of those boondoggle Congressional trips we had supported. The new names for everything in what had been known as Burma were still a little jarring at the time. “Rangoon” was the name of the capital we preferred, but naturally accepted whatever the people who lived in that city chose to call it. That did not stop periodic references (to one another) to “Come in, Rangoon!”
There were positive aspects to Ambassador Richardson’s old trip, which accounts for his return. Madam Suu Kyi was allowed out of her house and later rose to head the government. In one of those odd international things, she was accused of war crimes as a new military group decided to abrogate the elected government and assume power. As part of that, and other border issues in a volatile region, Mr. Richardson was called back to duty to make a trip and attempt to make sense with the militarists who had assumed power.
(Bill, Calvin and Vic in Rangoon, 1995).
None of us got a call to support the mission. We assumed it was because our Ford F150 pickup truck did not have a large enough fuel tank to make it across the Pacific. It was easier back when we could whistle up Navy jets, but times change and you have to go with what you’ve got. While Bill was in Myanmar this time, something happened that got Detroit engaged. It is a little complex, and not yet fully understood. But the Fire Ring caucus wants to help Detroit, the friends of the Motor City, and the people of Myanmar. So here goes.
The Detroit News ran the piece this week that got attention riled up. In it, the paper claimedMyanmar’s courts yesterday rejected the bail application of Danny Fenster, a Detroit-area native and journalist. He had been jailed for the past five months.
(Journalist Danny Fenster)
Fenster had already been charged with spreading false and/or inflammatory information, an offense punishable by up to three years in prison. He was also charged with violating the Unlawful Associations Act for alleged links to illegal opposition groups and some other assorted alleged offenses. If you add up the various charges, he could be going to prison for a decade or more. Some Detroiters were asking for help. That caused a flurry of activity. The first step was to try to track down the people who were useful a quarter century ago. After living near the Belmont Farms distillery for a few seasons, there was a little confusion. The first would have been to contact Bill directly, but that posed some challenges due to his seniority and the fences around his house.
Splash had another idea and said he wanted to look up Mimi, the first generation American whose family owned the Mingala West Restaurant on Amsterdam Avenue in New York. She was not only a great beauty, but an accomplished translator who was connected to the network of overseas Burmese who had been committed to the overthrow of the SLORC. And freedom for The Lady.
Bill’s trip had nothing specifically to do with Fenster’s mistreatment. He said his mission was to discuss humanitarian aid to Myanmar with the military-installed leaders of government.
Violence and civil unrest have been going on all year since The Lady’s government was overthrown back in February. There was a familiar litany of beatings, shootings and arrests against opponents, and that in turn provoked insurgent activity in many parts of the green and lovely country.
What got the Motor City engaged was the hope that Bill’s visit might include the issue of Fenster’s release, since we had supported those efforts in Burma before. He is known for his past efforts to gain the freedom of Americans detained in countries with which Washington has poor relations, such as North Korea.
(Vic and Mimi at the Shwedagon Pagoda. It is also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda, the gilded stupa in downtown Rangoon, known now as Yangon, Myanmar. The footwear is considered appropriate.)
As we noted, Detroit is concerned, and the Farm is a little quiet these days. We took a poll. Between Detroit and Rangoon, we are equally committed to justice. More on this as it happens.
Copyright 2021 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com