What: Contribute a digital photo to the online album of birthday greetings for Aung San Suu Kyi, the imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, on the occasion of her 60th birthday. Visit: www.ethicaltraveler.org/candles

Why: June 19, 2005, is the 60th birthday of Aung San Suu Kyi, the democratically elected leader of Burma. But Burma's ruling military junta currently has her under house arrest, and largely cut off from the outside world. From confinement, Aung San Suu Kyi continues to work for democracy in her country. With these birthday wishes, we seek to show our support for her efforts to promote democracy and human rights in Burma. Your photo also tells the people of Burma that people around the world are watching.

How: Upload a photo that conveys your birthday wishes for Aung San Suu Kyi. Make a sign, light a candle, write a card - express yourself in any way you choose. Consider taking your photo in front of a famous landmark that shows your geographic location (in front of the Eiffel tower, on the Great Wall of China, etc.)

Where: Online, at http://www.ethicaltraveler.org/candles

Brief background: Aung San Suu Kyi is a key figure in the Burmese democracy movement, and daughter of Burma's founding father, Aung San, who was assassinated by political opponents in 1947. Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest in Burma for most of the past 14 years.

Various military dictatorships have ruled Burma since a military coup in 1962; a military junta has ruled Burma since 1988. The junta refused to hand over power to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi after her party - the National League for Democracy (NLD) - won over 80% of the seats in a 1990 parliamentary election. In 1991, Aung San Suu Kyi received the Nobel Peace Prize for her commitment to peaceful change.

Environmental and human rights abuses under the junta are widespread and well documented. Examples include rape, torture, burning of entire minority-inhabited villages, and use of forced labor for infrastructure projects, such as tourism facilities.

Burma's democracy movement advocates boycotting tourism to the country as a means of isolating the government and forcing reform. They point out that money from tourism often goes directly and indirectly into the pockets of the very junta that continues to deny the people of Burma the most basic civil rights.

How to get involved:
- Forward this email to your friends.
- Add a page about this campaign to your website.
- Tell your favorite blogger about Candles for Burma.

Candles for Burma is a campaign of EthicalTraveler.org and the Burmese American Democratic Alliance (BADA). Ethical Traveler is the first grassroots alliance uniting adventurers, tourists, travel agencies, and outfitters - everyone who loves to travel and sees travel as a positive force in the world. We feel that all travelers are, in effect, freelance ambassadors. By joining our voices and our economic power, we seek to strengthen human rights and protect the environment. Ethical Traveler is a project of the Earth Island Institute. BADA is an umbrella organization for pro-democracy Burmese activists in the San Francisco Bay Area.

For further information, please visit:

The Burmese American Democratic Alliance (BADA), our partner in this campaign:
www.badasf.org

Aung San Suu Kyi's website:
www.dassk.org

The U.S. Campaign for Burma (USCB):
www.uscampaignforburma.org

The Burma Campaign UK:
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/aungsansuukyi.php

Special thanks and acknowledgement to www.sorryeverybody.com for the concept behind the Candles For Burma campaign.

Contacts:

Michael McColl

(510) 451 0267

Gregg Butensky

(415) 867-0377

REQUEST FOR WEBMASTERS & BLOGGERS:
Please use the following phrase as anchor text if you choose to link to Ethical Traveler's "Candles for Burma" page, at
http://www.ethicaltraveler.org/candles/ :

  "democracy in Burma"

Suggested use:
Click here to support <a href="http://www.ethicaltraveler.org/candles">democracy in Burma</a>.

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