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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Burma poet held for secret insult - Steve Jackson

When things are bad poets use ingenuity. Things must be real bad in Burma. Read on:)


The offending advert
The poem appeared in a Burmese celebrity gossip magazine
The Burmese authorities have arrested a well known poet, who published a love poem with a hidden message criticising the country's military leader.

Poet Saw Wai's work - titled February the Fourteenth - was published in a Rangoon magazine, The Love Journal.

Taken together, the first words of each line read: "General Than Shwe is crazy with power."

Dissidents in Burma have used similar techniques before to get their messages past government censors.

Authorities 'sensitive'

At first sight it appeared to be a straightforward love poem looking ahead to Valentine's Day, but eagle-eyed readers soon noticed what the Burmese government censors had missed.

It was not long before the authorities became aware of the poem and Saw Wai was arrested.

It is not clear what will happen to him now.

Burma's military government is highly sensitive to any criticism, especially since the pro-democracy demonstrations last September which were put down by force.

The authorities closely monitor the media and dissidents have resorted to increasingly elaborate methods to get their messages across.

Last year an advertisement was placed in one of Burma's main newspapers in the name of a Swedish travel company which contained the hidden message "Killer Than Shwe".

The company did not really exist.

1 Comments:

Blogger Mike said...

Freedom is a breakfast-food
Upon your breakfast table.
Commercial enterprise has made
Krap-flakes more palatable.

The Rainbow on the Krap-flake hox
Has colours bright as children's blocks:
Eat 'em up, like Glodilocks!

But take your freedom carefully -
Unless you have in some degree
Reimbursed the Great Muckee
Manumission's not for you:
Expect instead that you should do
Such things as he expects you to,
Else pack your goods and quickly flee!

Joke's on you! Now eat your food.
Unless you do, you won't be good.
Nutritious crunchy freedom wheat!
Tasty anaesthetic treat!
And then shut up or you'll be screwed.

January 24, 2008 2:05 PM  

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