US-Backed Racist to Run in Myanmar’s Elections

Source globalresearch, 24 July

Meet Ko Ko Gyi. He is a US-funded agitator working hard to reinstate Western hegemony in Myanmar (still referred to by its British imperial nomenclature "Burma" by the Western press) since at least the late 1980's. Now, he seeks to take the next step, running for office in upcoming elections, but in order to do so, the West will now have to cover up his dark past and his controversial present.

His "88 Generation Students" group is described by the BBC as:

The 88 Generation Students group is synonymous with the long struggle for democracy in military-ruled Burma.

Its name comes from the 1988 uprising, when troops opened fire on mass student demonstrations in Rangoon, leading to the deaths of thousands of people.

In addition to the 1988 protests, he and his group would join others, including throngs of saffron-clad "monks" during the so-called "Saffron Revolution" in 2007. Together with Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party, these three groups form a trifecta of foreign-funded sociopolitical destabilization, subversion, and serve together as a vector for Western special interests seeking to reenter and despoil the Southeast Asian state's economy, resources, and sovereignty.

There is, however, another factor, all three groups share – a passionate, racist hatred of the Rohingya people – many of whom have lived in Myanmar for generations. This racist hatred has manifested itself not only in words, but also in violence. Mobs led by Suu Kyi's "saffron monks" have raided Rohingya communities, hacking to death their inhabitants and burning to the ground their homes. Those who survive end up in refugee camps which are likewise raided by Suu Kyi's followers, or driven into the sea in such large numbers they are sometimes referred to as the "boat people."

Ko Ko Gyi has previously articulated his views on the Rohingya. In a report titled, "'Trauma Will Last Long Time': Ko Ko Gyi," posted by the US State Department-funded propaganda clearinghouse "Irrawaddy" it states that:

In early June, Ko Ko Gyi accused "neighboring countries" of fueling the unrest in Arakan State, and stated categorically that the 88 Generation group will not recognize the Rohingyas as an ethnicity of Burma. He said that his organization and its followers are willing to take up arms alongside the military in order to fight back against "foreign invaders."

The Rohingya people have been living in Myanmar for centuries, with many being brought in generations ago by the British Empire as part of a wider strategy of divide and conquer across South and Southeast Asia. Ko Ko Gyi's comments would resonate well with his ideological counterparts in the Ku Klux Klan in the United States who are often fond of stating how African-Americans aren't truly Americans and should be "shipped back to Africa."

To drive home the point of Ko Ko Gyi's absolute and utter racism, he was also quoted as saying:

Genetically, culturally and linguistically Rohingya is not absolutely related to any ethnicity in Myanmar.

Ko Ko Gyi says his followers are "willing to take up arms" against the Rohingya, but it seems that his followers and his "saffron" allies have already long ago resorted to violence in their bid to "racially cleanse" Myanmar. It is difficult to distinguish Ko Ko Gyi and his 88 Generation Students group from the Ku Klux Klan, Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party, and other political factions around the globe and throughout human history that denigrated and dehumanized their enemies based on genetics, culture, linguistics, and ethnicity.

US Supports Myanmar's Rabid Racists

Myanmar's opposition, composed of Suu Kyi's NLD, her "saffron" supporters, student groups like 88 Generation, and a myriad of NGOs are all funded, directed, and supported by the US State Department through extensive backing via the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and other corporate-financier organizations including George Soros' Open Society Foundation.

The British-based "Burma Campaign UK" published an extensive report detailing US and British backing of these networks in a report titled, "FAILING THE PEOPLE OF BURMA? A call for a review of DFID policy on Burma." Not only does the report expose immense support for these groups, it argues that despite the vast amounts of funding being channeled to them, it is not enough.

The report details the specifics of each organization involved, including the National Endowment for Democracy (NED):

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED – see Appendix 1, page 27) has been at the forefront of our program efforts to promote democracy and improved human rights in Burma since 1996. We are providing $2,500,000 in FY 2003 funding from the Burma earmark in the Foreign Operations legislation. The NED will use these funds to support Burmese and ethnic minority democracy-promoting organizations through a sub-grant program. The projects funded are designed to disseminate information inside Burma supportive of Burma's democratic development, to create democratic infrastructures and institutions, to improve the collection of information on human rights abuses by the Burmese military and to build capacity to support the restoration of democracy when the appropriate political openings occur and the exiles/refugees return.

The role of US State Department-run Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Voice of America (VOA) is also discussed in detail, including the revelation that US foreign policy specifically supports and actively promotes Aung San Suu Kyi and "her" agenda, stating:

Both Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) have Burmese services. VOA broadcasts a 30-minute mix of international news and information three times a day. RFA broadcasts news and information about Burma two hours a day. VOA and RFA websites also contain audio and text material in Burmese and English. For example, VOA's October 10, 2003 editorial, "Release Aung San Suu Kyi" is prominently featured in the Burmese section of VOAnews.com. RFA's website makes available audio versions of 16 Aung San Suu Kyi's speeches from May 27 and 29, 2003. U.S. international broadcasting provides crucial information to a population denied the benefits of freedom of information by its government.

The US also pours vast resources into organizations affiliated with Aung San Suu Kyi, including "Prospect Burma":

The State Department provided $150,000 in FY 2001/02 funds to provide scholarships to young Burmese through Prospect Burma, a partner organization with close ties to Aung San Suu Kyi. With FY 2003/04 funds, we plan to support Prospect Burma's work given the organization's proven competence in managing scholarships for individuals denied educational opportunities by the continued repression of the military junta, but committed to a return to democracy in Burma.

Another active appendage executing US foreign policy is convicted financial criminal George Soros and his organization Open Society. Open Society not only funds and coordinates with the above mentioned "Prospect Burma," but also directly funds specific activities, literally training an army of subversion meant to return to Myanmar and overthrow the government:

Our assistance to the Open Society Institute (OSI) (until 2004) provides partial support for a program to grant scholarships to Burmese refugee students who have fled Burma and wish to continue their studies at the undergraduate, or post-graduate level. Students typically pursue degrees in social sciences, public health, medicine, anthropology, and political science. Priority is given to students who express a willingness to return to Burma or work in their refugee communities for the democratic and economic reform of the country.

NED is also cited as behind the creation of a vast propaganda network including the New Era Journal, the Irrawaddy, and the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) radio, all posing as "independent" media sources despite the fact they are in reality fully-funded by the US government.

Additionally, a 2007 Reuters article titled, "Myanmar information window closing, says dissident," would reveal another propaganda outlet created by and maintained not by the people of Myanmar, but by the US State Department. Reuters reported:

The United States helps fund Mizzima through its National Endowment for Democracy, one source of the generals' assertions that the protests are the result of outside agitation.

Reuters would also report that the Editor-In-Chief of US-funded Mizzima was (and still is) Soe Myint, a terrorist guilty of hijacking a passenger liner – a terrorist act committed before receiving US funding to start his propaganda outfit. Reuters would report:

Myint and a friend hit the headlines in 1990 when he hijacked a Thai International Airways plane to protest the junta's rejection of elections won by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. He used fake bombs made out of soap cases to hijack the plane flying from Bangkok to Yangon with 220 passengers on board. The two friends were released in 1991 after a three-month jail term and were recognised as refugees in India.

It appears that in addition to backing a movement predicated on racial purity and genocide, the United States and their British partners are also literally funding convicted terrorists.

As Ko Ko Gyi Runs for Office, Western Press Covers Up His Racism

This then returns to the subject of Ko Ko Gyi. Reuters has now reported that he and members of his 88 Generation Students group will be running in the place of many NLD members including Suu Kyi herself. The report titled, "Myanmar '88 student leader joins Suu Kyi's party to run in polls," states:

"Ko Ko Gyi and some other members from the '88 Generation students group will run in the next general election representing our party," Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), told Reuters.

Reuters claims that Ko Ko Gyi was a "leader of student protests in Myanmar in 1988 that grew into a nationwide pro-democracy movement." Nowhere is Ko Ko Gyi's racist views and calls for genocide mentioned – and considering how long he has held these views and the verifiable violence these views have manifested themselves in, it seems more than an oversight by Reuters and instead an intentional cover up.

By placing Ko Ko Gyi in a vacuum isolated from his bigotry, racism, and violence, Reuters affords him legitimacy he and his Western sponsors will be unable to contest upcoming elections without. Should Ko Ko Gyi and the rest of the West's proxies fail to win the elections, their perceived legitimacy will be necessary when they form street mobs and begin carrying out provocations across the country.

Should the global public understand that Suu Kyi and her political allies are foreign-funded bigots, racists, and genocidal thugs, little they do and little done to them in return will invoke sympathy. Again, just as in Syria where the West is backing Al Qaeda, in Ukraine where the West is backing literal Nazis, and now in Myanmar, the absolute worst has been brought together within a targeted nation to create a violent, loud front with which the West can smash local institutions and overwrite them with neo-liberal alternatives that answer to Washington, Wall Street, London, and Brussels.

Tony Cartalucci, Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine "New Eastern Outlook".