BBC: 40 Million Hostages

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Containers:
Box 291, Video-cassette BU002
Physical description:
NTSC VHS [TRT 00:46:00] (2 copies)
Scope and content:
  1. Produced by: BBC
  2. Network: BBC
  3. Report on the struggle for Democracy in Burma and the army's treatment of the Burmese people. Includes footage from various demonstrations that occurred in 1988 and footage of the Burmese army firing on demonstrators; amateur footage of injured or dead protesters being carried away by other protesters; and scenes from the All Burma Student Democratic Front (ABSDF) training camp.
  4. Various interviews with Burmese refugees who have escaped to Thailand and who give accounts of torture, detainment, forced labor, forced portage and arbitrary killings. Documentary also features interviews with Aung San Suu Kyi, Ohn Gyaw (Foreign Affairs Ministry), and Karen refugees.
  5. Report on the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi and how she came out as the single strongest party to challenge the regime sponsored National Unity party. The National League for Democracy (NLD) won 81% of the total seats in parliament. Ne Win's government arrested and/or intimidated many parliament members and encouraged them to abandon their support for the NLD. Ne Win's government announced an open door trade policy. Thailand, Japan, United Kingdom and USA are trading with Burma and China has supplied arms.
  6. Burmese refugees who have escaped to Thailand: Unidentified male 2: "When we arrived at the monastery and looked back we saw some young women cowering; they fell into the gutter. The government thugs bayoneted these young women and beat them up with batons."; Unidentified female 1: "The soldier ordered my brother to dig his own grave.Then they cut off his arms and then his legs. Then they cut out his tongue and gouged out his eyes. Then they pushed him into the grave and shot him twice through the head and then filled in the pit."; Unidentified male 7: "I was not fed. They asked me if I wanted to eat. I said I did, so they said, 'Here's some food' and they stood on my face until blood came out of my ears.The sergeant asked me if I realized who he was, and I said I didn't. Then they tied me up to a tree and left me there for seven days."
  7. Ohn Gyaw (Foreign Affairs Ministry): "The demonstrators, there were about twenty. But five-hundred-and-twenty-five looters. Of course there are many people on the streets. The shooting scene was only one scene. You can check again, whatever tapes only one scene of the army is shooting in the crowds, thousands would have been killed."

Digital Materials

Electronic Record (Use Copy) — RL00605-VHS-BU002.mov

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