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Non-Burman Youth Development Workshop Ends Seminar with Burman youth proposed

Reporter: Saengjuen Sarawin

A year long series of workshops aiming for capacity-building of non-Burman ethnic youth ended yesterday with a meeting where a seminar with Burman youth was proposed;

Nationalities Youth Development Workshop-6, the last of a series of training for 30-plus youth from Shan, Karenni, Mon, Rakhaing, Kachin and Chin states concluded with a meeting where a number of young Burman democracy-activists participated. 

Asked why the workshops, facilitated by Duncan MacArthur, an Australian human rights advocate, were conducted without the participation of Burmans, a Karenni trainee replied: "Burmans, as a majority nationality, enjoy the advantage of having more skills and experiences in all the fields we have been learning. Had we been training together, we non-Burmans would have lagged far behind and, as a result, only increased the gap between us. What we have done is just preparing ourselves to be ready for any future joint-efforts with them." 

The Burman youth, while expressing positiveness about the proposed seminar, also commented that there would be some difficulty in selecting participants (4 for each ethnic group) among themselves. "Burman organizations were not formed as ethnic organizations, because, unlike non-Burmans, we were not oppressed ethnic-wise by the rulers in Rangoon, but only democracy-wise and human rights-wise," said a Burman attendee from the Democratic Party for New Society." Therefore, it will be necessary for us to confer with other democratic forces before deciding on the delegates."

The workshops were organized jointly by Shan-Karenni Youth (SKY) and the Nationalities Youth Development Program (NYDP).