Burma: A Forgotten War is an oral histories project that aims to increase international awareness of Burma's ethnic minorities. These are personal accounts of political and military leaders, teachers, health-care workers, religious leaders, IDPs, refugees, and others, whose struggles interface with armed conflict, forced labor, forced relocation, torture, displacement, and diplomatic marginalization. By gathering oral accounts rather than written documents, the project presents the voices of those who have been denied a place in the world, the region, and the country: ethnic minorities, the poor, the disempowered, and the colonized.

This online resource aims to increase international awareness of Burma's minority ethnic peoples; provide access to information about Indigenous struggles for peace and human security; and prevent the annihilation of the collective memory of Burma's cultural groups. This knowledge about Indigenous experiences of human security potentially enhances negotiation and mediation efforts in Burma in the people’s struggle for human rights and international justice. Furthermore, it aids in promoting the agency and ingenuity of minority ethnic communities.

Oral histories were conducted in Thailand (Mae Sot, Chiang Mai, and Mae Hong Son), and inside Burma's border region in Karen controlled territory over a period from 2003-2006. The project's research methodology is informed by 'Learning to Listen, A Manual for Oral History Projects,' published by the Open Society Institute, and written, in particular, for people from Burma, especially people from minority communities.

KAREN IDP HOSPITAL

• Medic in IDP clinic

• Karen IDP clinic

  Conditions in one of the few health clinics in Karen IDP territory
• Medic describing conditions in a Karen IDP clinic

EDUCATION

• Karen school inside IDP territory

• Education

  Karen Trade Union leader talking about education in Burma. (name withheld)

KAREN IDP CAMP LEADER

• Karen IDP camp leader introduction

• Karen IDP camp leader burning of village

• Landmines, IDP camp leader

  Karen IDP camp leader
• Karen IDP camp leader - food, economy, mobility issues.

• Karen student speaking of relocation

INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS (KAREN TERRITORY)

• IDP's story of capture, detention, and torture

• Karen IDP’s story

MAE LA REFUGEES

• Talking to Karen refugee in transit to Mae La refugee camp

• Teenage Karen Refugees in Mae La refugee camp

  Karen youth speaking about their lives growing up in the Mae La Refugee camp on the Thai border.
• Karen Refugee in Mae La camp discussing WWII

KAREN TRADE UNION

• Burma Human Rights Abuses

  Karen Trade Union Leader speaking about Human Rights Abuses perpetrated by the SPDC, the ruling Burmese junta. (name withheld)
• Health and medical care crisis in Burma

  Karen Trade Union leader talking about the health and medical issues faced by the ethnic minorities inside Burma.
• Burma - Karen Trade Union

  Karen Trade Union leader speaking about the KTU and Burma. (name withheld)
• KNU / SLORC negotiations 1996-97

  Karen Trade Union leader talking about 1996-97 Karen National Union (KNU) / SLORC negotations in Burma. (name withheld)
• Karen Trade Union leader’s oral history

  Karen Trade Union leader speaking about his personal history in Burma. (name withheld)

REV. DR. SAW SIMON SAW

• Landmines in Burma

  The late Karen leader, Dr. Saw Simon Saw describes the issue of landmines in Burma. Recorded at Mae La refugee camp, 2003, by Lea Rekow.
• Mae La Refugee Camp

  The late Dr. Saw Simon Saw describing the conditions at Mae La Refugee Camp, on the Thai border.
• Burma history WWII

  The late Karen leader, Dr. Saw Simon Saw, recollecting about Burma during WWII. Recorded in Mae La refugee camp in 2003.
• Burma in 1988

  The late Karen leader, Dr. Saw Simon Saw, speaking about the 1988 demonstrations in Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi's return to the country, and the National League for Democracy.
• The DKBA split from the Karen and the fall of Maniplau

  The late Karen leader, Reverend Saw Simon Saw, speaking about the the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) breakaway from the Karen National Union (KNU) and the subsequent fall of Maniplau, the democratic headquarters of the Karen.
• Religion in Burma

  The late Karen leader, Reverend and doctor, Saw Simon Saw, speaking about religion in Burma.
• Dr. Saw Simon Saw, a personal introduction

  The late Karen leader, Dr. Saw Simon Saw introducing himself.
• A personal account of leaving Rangoon for Maniplau in 1989

  The late Dr. Simon’s personal experience of leaving Rangoon for Maniplau in 1989.

KNU

• A history of the KNU

• KNU leader talking about child slavery in Burma

• Life as an ethnic minority under the SPDC inside Burma, 2003.

  KNU leader talking about the oppressive living conditions in Burma for the ethnic minorities. Recorded in 2003.

KAREN WOMENS ORGANIZATION

• SPDC torture of ethnic Karens

• Karen Student Refugee

KNU LEADER, THE LATE SAW DAVID TAW

• The late KNU leader, Saw David Taw, on Refugees & IDPs

• The late KNU leader, Saw David Taw, on Migrants

• The late KNU leader, Saw David Taw, on relations with Thailand in 2003

• The late KNU leader, Saw David Taw, speaking about tourism inside Burma

• The late KNU leader, Saw David Taw, on burmanization

• The late KNU leader, Saw David Taw, Drugs

• The late KNU leader, Saw David Taw, on Combat

• The late KNU leader, Saw David Taw, The Long Struggle of Civil War

• The late KNU leader, Saw David Taw, ASEAN

• The late KNU leader, Saw David Taw, Independence and Federalism

• The late KNU leader, Saw David Taw on the KNU, the KNLA, and the DKBA

• The late KNU leader, Saw David Taw, on Ne Win

• The late KNU leader, Saw David Taw, on politics

• The late KNU leader, Saw David Taw, Religion

• The late KNU leader, Saw David Taw, on human rights

• The late KNU leader, Saw David Taw, on the international community

KAREN YOUTH ORGANIZATION (KYO)

• KYO leader describes Burmanization

• The struggle to find food in the IDP camps

  KYO leader speaks about the difficulty of finding food in the IDP camps
• The difficulties of communicating across the border

• KYO leader - Karen refugee issue

  KYO leader speaks of the political difficulties ethnic minorities face as refugees
• Fleeing from Burma to Thailand

  KYO leader describes her account of fleeing from Burma to Thailand.
• KYO leader’s account of joining the KNLA

• 1988 Student Uprising

• Mae Sot Refugee

SHAN LEADER

• Shan leader speaks of the use of drugs as a tool of war (name withheld)

• Shan Burmanization (name withheld)

• Shan independence, democracy, and a federal state

  Shan Journalist and former aide to Khun Sa speaks about possibilities for Shan independence, democracy, and a federation.
• Shan Refugees

  Shan journalist and former aide to Khun Sa speaks about refugees from Burma. (name withheld)
• Shan leader, journalist & former aide to Khun Sa

  Shan journalist & former aide to Khun Sa speaks about the Shan State Army and the Shan’s historic quest for independence under Khun Sa. (name withheld)
• Shan leader’s account of the ethnic minority’s political history (name withheld)

• Discussing ethnic subgroups within Shan State (name withheld)

• The Political Situation in Shan State in 2003 (name withheld)

ALP & NDF LEADER, KHINE SOE NAING AUNG

• NDF History

  Khine Soe Naing Aung - Vice Chair of Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) and National Democratic Front (NDF)

PA-O LEADER (PNLO), COL. KHUN OKKER

• Colonel Khun Okker, political situation, 2003

  President, Pa-O People’s Liberation Organization, speaking on the Pa-O’s situation in 2003
• Colonel Khun Okker, the need for diplomacy

  President, Pa-O People’s Liberation Organization, speaking about the need for international diplomacy, 2003
• Colonel Khun Okker, Personal Security

  President, Pa-O People’s Liberation Organization, speaking about the need to take security measures
• Colonel Khun Okker, Pa-O / Shan relations

  Khun Okker, President, Pa-O People’s Liberation Organization, speaking on Pa-O / Shan relations
• Colonel Khun Okker, speaking on the years 1973-1988

• Colonel Khun Okker, ceasefire agreements and the PPLO

• Colonel Khun Okker, personal history

  Khun Okker, President, Pa-O People’s Liberation Organization, speaking about his youth and joining the movement
• Colonel Khun Okker, Kachin

  Khun Okker, President, Pa-O People’s Liberation Organization, speaking about the Kachin ethnic minority group