Monthly Archives: October 2014
Getting good students through college
Written on October 31, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
In the US, determined efforts are increasingly being made to get good, but poor, students through college – students who excel in school, but for one reason or another fail to graduate from university. Many school districts now help every high-school junior take the SAT. Delaware has a programme for advising needy students on college…
Neruda in Burma
Written on October 30, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
Yesterday morning I came across a lovely travel piece on the BBC website – Dave Seminara’s exploration of Chile through Pablo Neruda’s eyes. I visited Chile a couple of years ago and really liked the country – so I tweeted the story. In response, my friend Professor Kanishka Jayasuriya at the University of Adelaide sent…
The Politics of Rakhine State
Written on October 29, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
Myanmar: The Politics of Rakhine State is another weighty and welcome ICG report, released in the middle of last week. The opening sentence of the executive summary (on page i) leaves no doubt about the gravity of the issue it addresses: “The situation in Rakhine State contains a toxic mixture of historical centre-periphery tensions, serious…
Forced to Flee
Written on October 28, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
Erika Berg is seeking crowdfunding through Kickstarter to help publish her book Forced to Flee: Visual Stories by Refugee Youth from Burma. In it, she presents more than 200 narrative images gathered at a series of visual storytelling workshops held in Mae Sot on the Thai-Myanmar border. “In this book,” she says, “refugee youth harness…
CSIS stocktake
Written on October 27, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
Myanmar: Regressed, Stalled, or Moving Forward? is the latest report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. Drawing on a six-day, four-city, fact-finding mission conducted in mid-August, it provides, in just 13 pages of text, an excellent overview of where things stand with Myanmar’s transition. The greatest concerns listed in the…
Bringing the people back in
Written on October 24, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
On the DVB website, Ashley South this week published a neat, informative and persuasive article on Norwegian government engagement with a hydropower project in Kyauk Kyi Township, eastern Bago Region. Should it go ahead, the project will result in a dam being built, lives and livelihoods being affected, and a very precious environment being impacted….
Banned in Burma first night
Written on October 23, 2014 at 7:51 am, by Ian Holliday
We had a great first night at Banned in Burma, with the show looking fabulous in its warehouse space and more than 100 people in attendance. Myint San Myint did a performance piece comprising three songs and a video produced specially for the show. San Minn recreated a censored installation from the 2000s. Michael Nock…
Banned in Burma opening
Written on October 22, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
Banned in Burma, surveying painting under censorship, opens today at Unit 16A, 40 Wong Chuk Hang Road. It will run for three weeks before transferring at the end of November to Central for a three-day residency at Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre, 7A Kennedy Road. Full details are on our Facebook page. My friends Melissa…
Another Lady?
Written on October 21, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
The Irrawaddy recently carried an interview with The Maw Naing, debut director of new movie The Monk. It looks really good, and I certainly hope to see it soon. In the article, the last question put is this: “What will your next film be about?” The core of the answer: “The main character in the…
Fear and loathing in Hong Kong
Written on October 20, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
At the start of this month, the photographer Moises Saman spent a weekend documenting Hong Kong’s protests for the New Yorker. His slide show contains a dozen images, few of which, it seems to me, quite capture the essence of what’s been taking place in the city. Alongside them, though, is a brief commentary focusing…