Phil Thornton, Restless Souls*.

Pour info : En 1942 "l'armée d'indépendance birmane", à la solde de l’occupant japonais, commet ses premières exactions. Accusant à tort les Karens d'être des espions Anglais, les Birmans pillent et violent dans les villages Karens.
En 1947 l'Angleterre quitte la Birmanie sans accorder l'indépendance aux Karens.
Le premier responsable politique de la Birmanie indépendante, le Général Aung San (père d'Aung San Suu Kyi) propose une constitution respectant le droit des minorités et obtient le ralliement des Karens. Cette constitution, issue des accords de Panglong prévoit "qu'après une période de dix ans, chacun des groupes ethniques de la fédération sera en droit de se séparer de l'union et de reprendre sa totale indépendance.
En avril 1947 des élections consacrent la légitimité du Général Aung San et de cette constitution. Aung San est assassiné avec six de ses ministres le 19 juillet de la même année.
Le nouveau régime dirigé par U Nu plonge rapidement le pays dans le chaos, et renforce les pouvoirs de l'armée.


"... the Burmans and Japanese took revenge on our (Karen) villages for our supporting the English. Our fighting Britain's war didn't help our struggle for independence."

... the British government handed control of Burma to Aung San, the country's nationalist hero, founder of the Burmese Independent Army (BIA), and father of Aung San Suu Kyi. Many of the Karen leaders today, their memories scarred by the destruction of hundreds of Karen villages and the slaughter of thousands of their people, find it difficult to understand how the British could have been so treacherous.

Tha Ko pointed out that even though many karen admire Aung San Suu Kyi, the confidential 'democracy talks' between her and the regime exclude ethnic groups, and there won't be a resolution to Burma's conflict if they are not included.

Before Burma could savour its independence victory, Aung San was assassinated by his political foes. Before his murder, he had tried to unite Burma but had indicated he was in favour of Karen autonomy. But for many Karen, a grim shadow hangs over Aung San's BIA that fought with the Japanese.

Tha Ko claimed the BIA were more brutal than the Japanese to the Karen. "They were trained by the Japanese on the Thai border. They then marched together to Rangoon, raping and looting as they went. They took Karen women as sex slaves. There is not one Karen family who escaped them.

"She's not our leader, but we regard Suu Kyi as a genuine and legitimate Burmese leader. We don't trust the people around her.

... the driver took the NGO delegation back to their hotel, Mae Sot's most expensive... the women had come to assess if their money was being well spent. During the meeting, they had grilled Dr. Cynthia about the clinic's "mission statement", "objectives" and "strategies." I thought, if they had taken the time and ignored the mud, a quick tour of the wards would have answered their questions.

" They (the NGOs) fool themselves. They're like vampires sucking our blood. They leave nothing behind but hot air. They've become experts in other people's despair-ours. They spend large amounts of money... When their conferences and workshops are over, what do they produce, besides more reports ?

Pierre Benoît, Le roi lépreux*.

Tu ne peux savoir à quel point, succédant à ces affreuses nuits moites, les matinées de là-bas sont exquises. Une joie quasi enfantine anime les hommes, les bêtes, les fleurs. On a hâte de vivre le plus possible, avant le retour de la grande torpeur.
Qui peut avoir une idée du paradis terrestre n'a qu'à descendre la vallée de l'Irraouadi. Cent villes s'y élèvent, dont une seule suffirait à la gloire d'un pays. Ava, qu'on nomme la cité des pierreries; Amarapoura, la ville de l'immortalité; Mandalay, la captale, avec ses plus fleuris que ceux de Perse et ses toits d'or massif; Pagan, qui a eu neuf mille neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf temples, et aujourd'hui encore en compte plus que n'importe quelle cité terrestre; Mogoung, la ville de jade; Kalé, celle de l'ambre; Mogok, celle des rubis; Moulmeïn; Rangoun enfin, la seconde capitale, dont la pagode est la plus belle du monde.
Le charme de la vie est qu'elle se renouvelle sans cesse dans l'inattendu.
... je restai deux bonnes heures à regarder aller et venir dans la rue ces êtres bizarres, qui avaient des pardessus et des chapeaux melons, et qui paraissaient attacher à leurs gestes une importance ridicule, comme si, au bout de tout ce vain et importun remue-ménage, il n'y avait pas l'anéantissement final.

Frank McCourt, Teacher Man**.

It was clear I was not cut out to be the purposeful kind of teacher who brushed aside all questions, requests, complaints, to get on with the well-planned lesson. That would have reminded me of that school in Limerick where the lesson was king and we were nothing. I was already dreaming of a school where teachers were guides and mentors, not taskmasters. I didn't have any particular philosophy of education except that I was uncomfortable with the bureaucrats, the higher-ups , who had escaped classrooms only to turn and bother the occupants of those classrooms, teachers and students. I never wanted to fill out their forms, follow their guidelines, administer their examinations, tolerate their snooping, adjust myself to their programs and courses of study.

He carried no bag, no books, no notebooks, no pen. He joked that it was partly my fault because of the excited way I once talked about Thoreau and how you should simplify, simplify, simplify and get rid of possessions.

Jean Giono, Le bonheur fou.

C'était le policier qui avait juré sur le corps du soldat de ne plus boire une goutte d'eau-de-vie avant d'avoir mis un terme aux agissements criminels des républicains. C'est à lui que ceux qui ne marchaient pas droit auraient affaire.