6/11/22, 9:52 PM Burma: Constructive Engagement in Cyberspace? | Cultural Survival A good example of this flow of information is the mass executions of Shan villagers by SLORC soldiers which took place in Shan state in June and July 1997. The SLORC is attempting to wipe out Shan communities in order to cut off supplies and information to the Shan resistance groups. Few people in Burma or outside the country knew about these atrocities until the Shan Human Rights Foundation was able to post reports based on eyewitness accounts on the `burmanet' listserver and activist Burma web pages. Established in 1993, the burmanet listserver has become a popular forum for posting news by Burman and ethnic minority groups. With a subscriber list of almost 1,000 that includes foreign embassies, government officials, NGOs, scholars, activists, reporters, and the various political organizations, burmanet provides a place for the often underfinanced and understaffed ethnic organizations to distribute the latest news quickly and cheaply. Moreover, news from the border areas is often picked up from the Internet, translated into Burmese, and then broadcast back into Burma by radio stations based outside the country such as the Voice of America, British Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Free Asia, and the Democratic Voice of Burma. Thus, the Internet serves as a critical, if indirect link in channeling information from remote areas of Burma back into the rest of the country. Ethnic minority groups and Burmese pro-democracy groups also use the Internet for networking and international campaigns. Activist groups based in other countries rely on the resistance groups to provide them with documentation and photographs of human rights abuses within Burma to use in their campaigns for sanctions, selective purchasing laws, and tourism boycotts. Some exiled Mon and Karen have set up their own homepages with photographs and information about the SLORC's use of forced labor and forced relocation campaigns in their areas, as well as about the plight of refugees in camps along the Thai border. These homepages also contain links to Free Burma sites with information about how to participate in international campaigns against the SLORC and where to send letters of appeal for the protection of refugees. The Free Burma Coalition, which includes ethnic Burmans, ethnic minorities, and foreigners from around the world, has also extensively relied on the Internet to develop a network of college and community groups interested in Burma. Because Internet use is comparatively cheap and fast, it has provided the ideal space for mobilizing people who are geographically separated by thousands of miles. Members of the ethnic minority groups have also used e-mail and websites to distribute information about their histories, cultures, and political demands. For instance, the Mon homepage (see page 33 for their web address) includes photographs from Mon National https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/burma-constructive-engagement-cyberspace 5/10