What you can do abot the situation in Burma

The Burmese military regime's economic mismanagement, poor governance and oppression of the people, poverty and disease has greatly increased. This September, The Burmese Monks' peaceful protest was violently repressed by the Burmese government. Moreover, the Burmese dictatorship continues its brutal treatment against ethnic minorities, destroying over 3,000 villages, forcing millions from their homes, and conscripting more child soldiers than any country in the world.

From the "Don't Forget Burma" website (http://www.dontforgetburma.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=41):
Burma, a country of around 50 million people is ruled by fear. A military machine of 500,000 soldiers denies a whole nation its most basic rights. Aung San Suu Kyi, pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, symbolises the struggle of Burma's people to be free.

Aung San Suu Kyi's Party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) won 82% of the seats in elections held in 1990. The people of Burma overwhelmingly rejected military rule yet the military continues to refuse to transfer power to Burma's democratically elected leaders.

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To find out what you can do to help (actions to participate in, petitions to sign and events to attend), go to the "Support the Monks' protest in Burma" Facebook site at http://usydedu.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24957770200

Sioux Domestic Violence and Rape Shelter needs help

Pretty Bird Woman House is a Sioux Domestic Violence and Rape Shelter, and it urgently needs help. The building this shelter was housed in was vandalized by thieves who smashed through the walls so often in the process of stealing nearly everything that it became unsafe for anyone to stay there. Somebody has also torched the building the day after they moved out. So this is why Pretty Bird Woman House needs a new house. PBWH provides emergency shelter, advocacy support, and educational programs for women on the Standing Rock reservation who have been victims of domestic violence or sexual assault.

The following text in italics is from the Pretty Bird Woman House site (http://www.prettybirdwomanhouse.blogspot.com/):

Jackie Brown Otter created The Pretty Bird Woman House after the brutal rape and murder of her sister, whose Lakota name means Pretty Bird Woman.

Pretty Bird Woman House services are badly needed; according to the Amnesty International report Maze of Injustice - The failure to protect Indigenous women from sexual violence in the USA:



High levels of sexual violence on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation take place in a context of high rates of poverty and crime. South Dakota has the highest poverty rate for Native American women in the USA with 45.3 per cent living in poverty. The unemployment rate on the Reservation is 71 per cent. Crime rates on the Reservation often exceed those of its surrounding areas. According to FBI figures, in 2005 South Dakota had the fourth highest rate of "forcible rapes" of women of any US state.


Making things worse, Standing Rock Reservation has a tiny police force to patrol all 2.3 million acres. At the time of the murder of Pretty Bird Woman, Standing Rock had only one police officer on duty during the night shift. As a result, it took over a day for anyone to even come out to start to investigate the disappearance.

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Dove Self Esteem Fund

The Dove Self Esteem Fund is a great campaign designed to challenge beauty stereotypes and alter the way girls and women see and accept beauty. The following text in italics is from the Dove Self Esteem Fund's website (http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/dsef07/t5.aspx?id=7322):

We developed the Dove Self-Esteem Fund to make real change in the way women and young girls perceive and embrace beauty. We want to help free ourselves and the next generation from beauty stereotypes.

Too many girls develop low self-esteem from hang-ups about looks. Consequently, many fail to reach their full potential later in life. The Dove Campaign For Beauty and Self-Esteem Fund is an agent of change to educate and inspire girls on a wider definition of beauty.

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The Dove Fund website has excellent resources, including:

1. Workshops and guides that encourage girls and women to accept and embrace their appearances

2. Interactive Self Esteem Builders (quizzes and activities) made for helping girls and women accept and take pride in their own type of beauty. This includes activities people can do together.

3. Facts about positive body image, beauty myths and healthy self esteem.