Myanmar (Burma) has been going through a revolution starting in the 1950’s and not officially ending until 2007 and since then has been rebuilding their new government. Before the rise of the new government Burman citizens had been striped of all their rights. Anybody with money had it taken away and anybody without money stayed that way. During WWII Japan took control of Burma and released it from their custody upon their surrender to the Americans. However, they were not totally free for after the murder of Aung San, father of Aung San Suu Kyi, Communist military took control and stayed that way for a long time and took money and rights from the people of Burma Finally in the 1980’s Burma had enough and stood up to the communists with anti-government protests in attempt to get their rights back.

In America, after the Civil War and the release of slavery there was an era of reconstruction similar to what Burma is going through now. Once the reconstruction ended the government took rights away the rights of the African Americans and initiated the idea of Separate but equal. However, it was never really equal certain groups of people were treated like trash in America. The way that the government treated people in both America and Burma were shockingly similar. In both cases the Government stripped citizens of their rights and forced them to remain poor.

In Burma however, the Government didn’t care about skin color they took money from everyone except for themselves making everyone involved in the government rich and everyone else poor. In both America and Burma alike, it wasn’t until a leader stood up against the government that things started to change. In America the leader of the movement was Martin Luther King Jr, and in Burma it was, and still is, Aung San Suu Kyi. These to activists had a lot in common when it came to the way they felt about the rights of their people, they both were peaceful yet willing to give everything up for their rights. They both suffered extreme losses, for King it was his life and many of his possessions such as his house, and for Aung San it was her freedom and her family. Aung San was put into house arrest for ten years because of her association with protests and at the same time her friends, such as Ma Thanegi, were sent to jail for even longer, and her family left her and moved to Britain when they had the chance yet she stayed to fight for her rights even when her husband died and her children stopped visiting her in Burma.

Organizations all around the world are trying to help Burma build their newly instated government. One such organization is the Burma Campaign UK; they are trying to get the support of the UK government as well as the UK ambassador of Burma and assisting them in rebuilding the government. Now that Burma has their new government what they really need now is help in building it up in order to make it capable of supporting itself.

Works Cited

"Burma." Human Rights Watch. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.

"Campaign News." Burma Campaign UK. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.