Retired professor discusses crisis, ways students can help
Thomas Van Dyke, executive director of Heroes Serving Humanity, speaks to OU students about detained Nobel Peace Prize winner and Burma National Leage of Democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi
You won’t find the UN, Red Cross, or even Doctors Without Borders in the Free Fire Zones of Burma, a humanitarian aid worker told OU students and others Tuesday in Dale Hall.
Thomas Van Dyke, executive director of Heroes Serving Humanity, said Burma’s ruling military regime, the State Peace and Development Council, is committing systematic genocide against the various ethnic groups in the country.
Heroes Serving Humanity is a non-profit humanitarian relief and development organization focused on aiding victims of crimes against humanity in areas that are overlooked by the international aid community, according to its Web site.
“For 20 years, the Burmese military has been waging a slow genocide and up to a million people have been displaced,” Van Dyke said.
Van Dyke worked on the ground in Burma with the Free Burma Rangers, an aid organization that operates unknown to the Burmese government.
He said the Burma army uses various tools of repression, such as forced labor, torture, and forced relocation, against ethnic groups to exert ethnic dominance and control over the territory’s natural resources.
“Anyone who says this is occasional violence or civil war is sorely mistaken,” Van Dyke said. “This is the systematic destruction of people.”
Van Dyke said the U.S. sanctions are not enough to destabilize the military regime, which remains strong because of its control over the population. Since 1995, the Burma army has destroyed more than 3,500 villages of different ethnic groups, he said.
“There’s really no [U.S.] government activity in Burma simply because we don’t have a dog in the fight,” Van Dyke said. “There’s no oil, no Muslim terrorists, not a compelling national interest, except a humanitarian one.”
He said the U.S. has only used military intervention for humanitarian reasons during the Bosnian War in 1994. He said the U.S. was pressured to intervene because of media attention given to the conflict and the fact that Bosnians resembled Americans in appearance.
“Politicians will only take action against genocide when the cost of inaction is greater than the cost of action,” he said.
Van Dyke encouraged students to contact Congressmen to support aid organizations in Burma so the Free Burma Rangers can bring on more volunteers.
"We always have people who want to help out, but we don't have the financial resources to bring everyone on board," he said.
Burma’s military regime seized power after widespread pro-democracy demonstrations in the country in 1988. The military regime rejected the victory of the National League of Democracy, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, during the free elections of May 1990. Suu Kyi is currently under house arrest in Burma, where she has remained for the past 20 years.
OU’s chapter of STAND sponsored the event. STAND is the student-led division of the Genocide Intervention Network, an international anti-genocide coalition, according to its Web site.
Cynthia Kao, vice-president of STAND, said she felt a connection to Burma when she learned about it at a recent STAND conference in Washington, D.C. because of her Taiwanese background.
“When I saw pictures of what’s happening in Burma, I felt this special connection like I was related to these people,” Kao said.
The discussion session after Van Dyke’s presentation concerned how the U.S. should respond to the situation.
“If I had my way, I’d love to drop the 82nd Airborne in there and put an end to this,” Van Dyke said. “However, there is a possibility of a successful uprising among the people, and external forces should aid those people.”
A member of the Genocide Intervention Network, attending the event said the U.S. has many resources to advance human rights in other countries, but military intervention is not always the best solution.
“We can’t force democratic nations to come into existence, because often Americans don't know how other cultures operate,” said Genocide Intervention Network member, Marty Michelson.
Kao said students should get involved in humanitarian organizations because it is easier to learn about injustices across the world than ever before.
“The world is so much smaller now than before,” Kao said. “And if students don’t feel called to get involved on an international level, there are people in need even at a local level.”
Van Dyke retired last year from his teaching position at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro to work full time raising support for humanitarian organizations in Burma through Heroes Serving Humanity.
“I’d love nothing more than to be an expatriate living in Burma, led by Aung San Suu Kyi,” he said.
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