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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I know what come

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Speaker 1: to stafmon. I never told you a prorection, but iHeart radio.

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Speaker 2: And welcome to another feminist around the world. We are

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Speaker 2: still doing the AAPI History Month. Of course, we're going

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Speaker 2: a little bit outside of the US because that's what

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Speaker 2: we typically like to do, and today we are focusing

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Speaker 2: on Me and Mar slash Burma and an activist from there.

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Speaker 2: We were talking about way Way new who is an activist,

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Speaker 2: an advocate who's been working to empower people all over

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Speaker 2: the world and her story is pretty amazing. Yeah. So

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Speaker 2: Nu was born in me and Mar where she grew

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Speaker 2: up with her family who are part of the Rowhinja community.

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Speaker 2: And if you look up this community, it's pretty in

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Speaker 2: depth and there's a lot of conversations, so you have

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Speaker 2: to read a lot. I decided this is one of

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Speaker 2: those regions are like, if I'm not a real expert,

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Speaker 2: I'm not going to go into it because I'm afraid

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Speaker 2: of all of the mistakes I'm about to make. But

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Speaker 2: here's what we do know. The Rowhinja people are considered

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Speaker 2: one of the most persecuted ethnic minorities according to a

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Speaker 2: National Geographic article, and are primarily a Muslim community, with

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Speaker 2: a small group identifying as Hindu, and at one point

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Speaker 2: in time there were an estimated one point four million

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Speaker 2: Rowhinja people who were residents of Me and Mar, But

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Speaker 2: in twenty seventeen, after at least one hundred thousand were

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Speaker 2: imprisoned in camps for quote internally displaced persons, many others

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Speaker 2: fled to two surrounded countries at that point. So in

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Speaker 2: nineteen eighty two, after the passing of the new citizenship

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Speaker 2: law through Rohinjas were stripped of their citizenships and no

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Speaker 2: longer recognized as an ethnic group in Me and Mars.

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Speaker 2: So that means they had no rise and it's still

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Speaker 2: that way today and though many have left Me and

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Speaker 2: Mar due to this type of persecution, there are still

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Speaker 2: an estimated six hundred thousand Rowhinja people.

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Speaker 1: And a news father fought against the government and as

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Speaker 1: a political activist had to run for parts as a

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Speaker 1: National League of Democracy or a n LD party member

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Speaker 1: in the nineteen ninety general election. He was an advocate

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Speaker 1: for the people of Myanmar and fought for labor and

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Speaker 1: human rights, and though he was elected as a member

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Speaker 1: of parliament, the Military Hunter or the military group who

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Speaker 1: took control of the country by force, much like what

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Speaker 1: is happening now, would not allow for the voted officials

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Speaker 1: to take their roles. Instead, many of the elected officials

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Speaker 1: were immediately arrested after the results of the election. However,

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Speaker 1: news father was not one of those who were immediately arrested.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't until two thousand and five that he and

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Speaker 1: the rest of the family, including Knew, would be arrested.

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Speaker 1: Knew had already started school and was in her second

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Speaker 1: year of law school when she was arrested.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, right, and at that time, she nor her family

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Speaker 2: had any representation and were all sentenced to prison. She

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Speaker 2: was sentenced to seventeen years along with the rest of

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Speaker 2: our family, except for her father, who was sentenced to

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Speaker 2: forty four years. There was not a clear reason for

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Speaker 2: the sentencings. Some reported it was due to imtegrate violations,

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Speaker 2: while others reported sedition. She and her family were in

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Speaker 2: prison until twenty twelve when they were finally given amnesty

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Speaker 2: by the President of b and Mar. At that time,

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Speaker 2: and it was during her time of incarceration she and

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Speaker 2: her family went through severe mistreatment, causing health problems for

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Speaker 2: several of the family members. For the rest of their lives,

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Speaker 2: and while she was in prison, she was able to

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Speaker 2: hear the stories of many of the women with her

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Speaker 2: and learned of the different types of hardships that those

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Speaker 2: women's face living under that regime. In an interview with

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Speaker 2: Time magazine, she said, after meeting so many people in

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Speaker 2: prison who were not guilty of crimes, I realized I

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Speaker 2: wanted to do something that could really change the country's

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Speaker 2: political and economic system, and went on to say in

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Speaker 2: another interview with Reuters, I didn't want to wallow in

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Speaker 2: self pity after meeting them. Insane prison was my university

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Speaker 2: about life.

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Speaker 1: After being released, Nu went on to earn her law

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Speaker 1: degree at the Young Gun East University and would go

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Speaker 1: on to start several nonprofits for her community. She started

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Speaker 1: Women's Peace Network are Ken, where she worked for Peace

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Speaker 1: for the People of meandmar and Justice for Women, which

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Speaker 1: is a network of women who are lawyers to provide

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Speaker 1: legal assistance for women in need. And she has used

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Speaker 1: her advocacy all over the world, speaking and educating people

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Speaker 1: on the issue of domestic violence and on sexual harassment,

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Speaker 1: and part of her work has included working for diversity

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Speaker 1: and tolerance using the power of social media, and new

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Speaker 1: launched a Twitter campaign to that end with hashtag my

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Speaker 1: friend to show diversity through friendships all over the world.

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Speaker 2: Right and as the situation and mean mare continues to

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Speaker 2: be dangerous, she's been working to bring attention to what

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Speaker 2: is happening in her country. She's been outspoken about the

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Speaker 2: world's lack of response to the situation with the row

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Speaker 2: Hingja people. She wrote recently in the Jerusalem Post quote

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Speaker 2: the international response to these atrocities has been frustratingly inadequate.

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Speaker 2: Though the same military that stage decup in February twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty one has been terrorizing the hundred people for decades.

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Speaker 2: The US only recently determined in March that their actions

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Speaker 2: amounted to genocide, something we've been urging the US government

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Speaker 2: to do for years. And she's been using her platform

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Speaker 2: to implore the officials all around the world to step

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Speaker 2: up to help those who are being persecuted by the

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Speaker 2: Junta of man Maar. And just last year, she's been

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Speaker 2: able to publish articles all over the world to implore

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Speaker 2: the government officials to take measures against the oppress of

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Speaker 2: regime within her country today and her work has been noticed.

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Speaker 1: Yes, she has been awarded the n Peace Award in

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Speaker 1: twenty fourteen, named one of the top one hundred Global

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Speaker 1: thinkers by Foreign Policy Magazine, also named one of Salt

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Speaker 1: and Dago's one hundred Inspiring Women by Salt Magazine, and

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Speaker 1: named one of the Next Generation Leaders by Time Magazine.

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Speaker 1: She received the Hillary Clinton Award from Georgetown University in

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Speaker 1: twenty eighteen. Twenty nineteen, she was selected as an Obama

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Speaker 1: Foundation Scholar at Columbia University. In twenty twenty, she was

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Speaker 1: elected as a Genocide Prevention Fellow by the United States

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Speaker 1: Holocaust Memorial Museum, and she received the City of Athens

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Speaker 1: Democracy Award from the Democracy and Culture Foundation in twenty

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Speaker 1: two Anyone.

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Speaker 2: Right, so she's doing a lot of work, and of

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Speaker 2: course we do want to hear what is happening because

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Speaker 2: we know the situation and me and Mars still ongoing.

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Speaker 2: There's not a lot coming out. They've definitely taken out

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Speaker 2: all of any kind of social media. A lot of

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Speaker 2: journalists are not able to get into there or out

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Speaker 2: of there. So there's a lot of conversation about what

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Speaker 2: is happening today and how dangerous that situation really is,

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Speaker 2: and the fact that we have not heard too much

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Speaker 2: outside of some of the horsors that are able to

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Speaker 2: reach out outside of the titan knit government and closed

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Speaker 2: off government of me and mar. So if anybody knows

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Speaker 2: updates that they can share with us, please.

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Speaker 1: Do Yes, yes, as always, and you can send those

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Speaker 1: two us at our email which is stephaniamomsteffantiheartmedia dot com.

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Speaker 1: You can find us on Twitter at most of a podcast,

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Speaker 1: or on Instagram and TikTok at stuff I've Never told You.

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Speaker 1: We're also on YouTube and we have a book coming

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Speaker 1: out that you can pre order at stuff you should

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Speaker 1: read Books dot com. Thanks as always to our super

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Speaker 1: producer Christina, our executive producer Maya, our contributor Joey, Thank

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Speaker 1: you all, yes, and thank you all for listening. Steffan

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Speaker 1: I ever told you inspection of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts

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