8.8.88 remembered in Chiang Mai

Minghlaba from Chiang Mai, where our day began six hours earlier than in Scotland, when Sheila was tucked up in her bed – oh, no... she was probably up blogging still!

Mar Mar from Suvannabhumi Gallery who is a good friend of BEST, has allowed us to put on Forthview and Hle Bee’s “Our Lives... Looking East, Looking West” exhibition on in her gallery, throughout August, to commemorate the 8.8.88 uprising as a community awareness event.

Our friend Khun Big, Murray and Stewart spent the afternoon before hanging it in the gallery, together with three very special portraits of Daw Aung Suu Kyi belonging to Mar Mar and Murray’s precious copy of David Mach’s Daw Suu portrait, the original version of which hangs in the City of Edinburgh headquarters, Waverley Court.

That morning we had met with Jon Glendinning the British Consul and British Council representative in Chiang Mai, to update him on the latest activities of the Global Schools Partnership and we came up with some good ideas about how to develop the programme further in Thailand.

There were two big commemorative events in Chiang Mai today. At seven o'clock in the evening in Chiang Mai, at one o’clock Edinburgh time, there was also a minutes silence to remember those killed by the Burmese soldiers twenty years before and since, followed by songs in Burmese, Karen and English language sung by survivors of those demonstrations - known as the Generation 88.

The hall was packed with young people, many of whom have been born since then and have never seen their own country, as well as older faces that haven’t seen their friends, families and home for many years.




Later in Suvanabummi gallery, Democratic Voice of Burma Televison did an interview with Murray for their new youth programme, which will be aired next week, beamed by satellite into Burma, where children there can hear about the link between Pilton in Scotland and Hle Bee in Mae Sot.


The young production crew had so many questions and were fascinated by the link: how it had started; the fact that Pilton was a community with many challenges; that the pupils of both schools were able to communicate so eloquently using both art and language and to do so in a way that raised awareness and solidarity in both Scotland and Thailand.



They took lots of pictures of the etchings and writings and copied the wonderful video of Hle Bee children receiving their letters.

Some of the older visitors to the gallery recognised many of the faces of prisoners used in David Mach's collage portrait - many were personal friends and they were very moved by the simplicity of the idea and its execution.


Murray and Stewart told them about the events that were taking place in Edinburgh at the precisely the same time and we texted Sheila a wee message of solidarity, which she received and replied to, after the Burma Play had finished in the City Chambers.

The world may be a big place, but the hope, love, creativity and active citizenship demonstrated today is truly universal and Forthview, Pirniehall and BEST can be proud of the small part that we have played. With special thanks to Amnesty, Unison, the Cooperative bank, the Festival of Spirituality, Northern International Theatre and City of Edinburgh Council, as well of course to all our Burmese friends, whose day this truly was!