BOOK LAUNCH: Nine Thousand Nights: Refugees from Burma, A Peoples’ Scrapbook
Book launch and discussion with Member of Parliament Kraisak Choonhaven, Jack Dunford and Sally Thompson of the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, Annabelle Mubi from the Kayan (Karenni) ethnic group and editor Sandy Barron

 

 

7pm Thurs, September 2, 2010

Free

 

For more than 25 years, people from Burma have been fleeing from persecution at home and struggling to cope with life ‘in limbo’ in remote refugee camps on Thailand’s western border.

A new book sheds an original light on this period and the people whose lives it has affected.

‘Nine Thousand Nights’ collects together the personal reflections of hundreds of refugees and ‘outsiders’ such as aid workers, writers, photographers, academics and human rights workers who have known them.

Refugees write in eloquent and often wrenching detail of their reasons for flight--and their struggles to create meaningful new lives within the confines of the camps.

Outsiders recall the many memorable people, stories and events they encountered in on the border, a place whose multiple ethnicities, histories, languages and politics remain often poorly understood.

The book gathers eye-witness accounts of the changing ‘landscape’ of the border over the last three decades; including the loss of key ethnic bases, attacks on the refugee camps, and the arrival of Burmese pro-democracy ‘students’ and activists. These are illustrated with rarely-seen archival ‘snapshots’ from the time, as well as arresting images taken by professional photographers.

‘Nine Thousand Nights’ is published by the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) to mark 25 years of the camps, to record an important slice of Eastern Burma’s deeply difficult history, and to bring attention to the continuing, and too often forgotten, plight of its people.

The TBBC has been supporting the camps since 1984. It is a consortium of 12 international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from ten countries providing food, shelter and non food items to refugees and displaced people from Burma. It also engages in research on the root causes of displacement and refugee outflows.

Speakers:

Kavi Chongkittavorn, The Nation Group, Assistant Group Editor

1. Kavi Chongkittavorn, The Nation Group, Assistant Group Editor
2. Jack Dunford, Executive Director - Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC)
3. Sally Thompson, Deputy Executive Director - Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC)
4. Annabelle Mubi, the Kayan (Karenni) Ethnic Group
5. Sandy Barron, Editor

*’Nine Thousand Nights’ will be on sale at a discounted price at the event at 700 baht/copy and is available from Asia Books and Bookazine nationally .

* This program is a paid event. Responsibility for program content is solely that of the event organizer.

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