Great editorial from Ajaan Christina, who has worked with and taught at ISDSI for years.  This year she’s moved back to the States, and is still active in teaching, research and writing.

Here are a couple of key parts of the editorial.  Be sure to click through for the full article.

(CNN) — On November 7, Burma will hold elections for the first time in 20 years. Not because the military regime wants to transfer power. Instead, the military leadership hopes that by creating a democratic facade, it can improve its image and still run the country.

Since the military’s 2007 crackdown on monks’ demonstrations, the regime has faced simmering anger inside the country and growing calls for at least some degree of political reform from abroad….

The regime has concluded that as long as it holds elections, domestic and international pressure will subside. Yet the electoral process is so far from being free, fair and inclusive that many countries have already denounced it as a sham.

Read more…

Today at ISDSI we were privileged to have a showing of the film “Mystic Ball” and a question and answer session with the filmmaker, Greg Hamilton.

From the film’s website:

Passion suffuses every moment of Mystic Ball, an uplifting documentary about one man’s physical and spiritual quest. The film resists easy categorization – it’s simultaneously a thrilling sports movie, an insightful journey to a new world, and a lyrical personal story.

Mystic Ball follows Greg Hamilton, the filmmaker, deep into the ancient and little-known culture of Myanmar and its traditional sport, chinlone. Like the film, chinlone is hard to define. It’s a team sport without an opposing team, part dance, part meditation. There is no competition, no winners and no losers. The game is back-breakingly difficult, yet is played by almost all Burmese, from young children to octogenarians.

There is a lot to say about the movie, and I recommend it highly.  You can get copies through the website, and it would be a great film to show on campus.  Lots of lessons about culture, and while specific to Burma, I think it resonates with our students who are on a similar sojourn on study abroad — crossing cultures, learning new things, and going outside of themselves to become part of a new community in Thailand.

Here is a clip.  Jump to the website for more: www.mysticball-themovie.com

Most student who have been on an ISDSI semester know Dr. Christina Fink (Ajaan Christina) from the Foundations course.  Ajaan Christina has been teaching with ISDSI for years, along with her other work in the region.

She has just updated her book, Living Silence in Burma: Surviving Under Military Rule.

If you’ve already read the first edition, it is still worth getting and reading the new edition.  It has been updated with a chapter covering developments since 2001, as well as other changes.

It is very readable, and a great introduction to how “normal” life has been impacted by military rule. Not so much statistics (like a lot of books on Burma), but more nuanced and rich in its description of what is happening on the ground throughout Burma.

“Living Silence is particularly valuable for its study of the psychological effects of military rule on the people of Burma. The real struggle in Burma is the struggle between the desire to opt for the easy option of submitting to the demands of the powers that be and the commitment that leads to the hard road of resisting the threats and blandishments of a ruthless regime. By exploring the impact of military rule on the lives of ordinary people against a broad historical and social backdrop, Christina Fink makes an important contribution towards an understanding of the root causes of the problems and choices that the people of Burma are facing today.” — Aung San Suu Kyi

If you are interested in Burma and Southeast Asia more generally, this is highly recommended.

Available on Amazon.