Panties for Peace!

[DaShi]

The panties will have to wait in line, I'm more important.

[Wezil]

Panties for Peace!

MONTREAL - Canadian women are being asked to volunteer their undergarments in an international effort to shame Myanmar's ruling junta into giving citizens greater access to humanitarian aid and human rights.

Organizers launched the Canadian edition of the Panties for Peace! campaign Tuesday with a call for women to send their underwear to the Myanmar embassy in Ottawa.

The campaign plays off regional superstitions that contact with women's panties can sap a man's power. Activists claim the fear is shared by the leaders of the country's military regime.

"If you don't believe me, you can bring this to the Yangon airport - you will be shot dead," said activist Thet Thet Tun as she clutched a pair of white undies. "So we use this against them."

Spearheaded by a pro-democracy group based in Thailand, the campaign was launched in the fall to draw attention to human rights abuses against women in the country.

At the time, the junta was violently suppressing a pro-democracy uprising by the country's Buddhist monks.


The Canadian version of the international campaign, co-ordinated by the Quebec Women's Federation and Rights and Democracy, hopes to also raise funds for victims of Cyclone Nargis.

More than 130,000 people are thought to be dead or missing in the wake of the cyclone that struck in early May. The United Nations estimates that 1.5 million survivors have not yet received any aid.

"I think there have been more victims from the cyclone from the fact that the military prevented aid from getting through," said Mika Levesque, Rights and Democracy's program officer for Burma.

"I consider it a crime against humanity."

News organizations reported Tuesday that humanitarian workers have only just begun reaching the remote, hardest hit areas of the country.

Levesque said Rights and Democracy will funnel any money raised to known aid groups working along the Myanmar-Thai border. She refused to name the groups for security reasons.

"The military leaders don't want communities to organize and come to the help of the survivors," Levesque said.

Observer say the junta is worried successful aid operations will undermine its authority following the protests in the fall.

Tun, who fled the country seven years ago, described a society suffocating under state control and widespread misogyny.

"Our daily clothes are separated from a man's clothes, our towels are separated from their towels," she said. "That's what everyone still believes."

According to the campaign's organizers, Myanmar's embassies in Europe, Australia and Brazil, among other places, have been receiving female underpants in the mail.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2008/05/27/5681631-cp.html

[Imran Siddiqui]

I like panties. I like peace.

Win-win

[Grandpa Troll]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
I like panties. I like peace.

Win-win

Q F T

even sweet canadian candy-filled panties

[Riesstiu IV]

Why do peacniks come up with such stupid ineffectual statements like this that at best, amuse the people they're targeting. Who wastes there time with the stuff? Yeah I guess if you have some panty fetish it's worth your time but do people actually believe this will effect Burma's domestic policies? I'm sure these panties are just going to be used to hang dissidents.

If you want to make a difference write a letter to your state/provincial representative (along with 10 million dollar check) and ask them to embargo and carpet bomb Burma into freedom.

[Wezil]

That's okay Riesstiu. You don't have to send your panties. It sounds like they may be in a knot anyway.

[Grandpa Troll]

Originally posted by Riesstiu IV
Why do peacniks come up with such stupid ineffectual statements like this that at best, amuse the people they're targeting. Who wastes there time with the stuff? Yeah I guess if you have some panty fetish it's worth your time but do people actually believe this will effect Burma's domestic policies? I'm sure these panties are just going to be used to hang dissidents.

If you want to make a difference write a letter to your state/provincial representative (along with 10 million dollar check) and ask them to embargo and carpet bomb Burma into freedom.

Oh Wise and wonder Riesstiu IV , one must exhaust any/all avenues when seeking peace

-or was it piece-?

Anyhoo, lets give peace a chance

[Stuie]

Give peace a chance.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Riesstiu IV
Why do peacniks come up with such stupid ineffectual statements like this ...

Because it gets news coverage. News organizations all over the world get to talk about women's panties.