I ran into these group of students promoting UCLA's Mighty Mic concert that raises awareness about different humanitarian crises in the world. This year the concert will educate attendees about the crisis in Burma and raise funds for Burmese refugees. Read more (taken from Mighty Mic website):
"Burma is a country that has been crippled by a ruling military junta since 1962. Its civilian population has been forced to live under an oppressive rule and notorious government-sponsored violence. In East Burma the resident ethnic minorities are the target of a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing. This area of Burma has been labeled an "area of concern" by Genocide Intervention Network as human rights groups have reported documented evidence of ethnic minority groups being consistently targeted for acts of violence constituted as crimes against humanity. Yet Burma requries our attention not just because it is dangerously close to being declared a genocide, but because of the general oppressiveness of the regime: political dissidence is punishable by imprisonment and torture, forced labor is the primary labor resource in most government projects (such as major infrastructure like roads and bridges), Burma's health services rank 190th out of 191 nations. and kidnapping of children to train as soldiers is an accepted practice (there are as many as 70,000 to date). The outcry of pain by Burmese civilians is silenced by isolationism and the government's total refusal to allow the traffic of ideas, news, or even material assistance, such as the government refusal to allow international non-profit associations to enter the country to aid victims of the cyclone.
In Burma, it is the young people. It is the young people that have taken leadership in the struggle to take back their country. It is the students that have closed their books and set down their pens to take to the streets and take up the banners and chants. It is those barely out of adolescence that have always laid down their youths and laid down their lives in defiance of a violent, unjust, and corrupt government and now languish by the thousands in barren 8x10 cells as political prisoners, hide like hunted animals in the darkness of the jungles, or lie broken and bloody in unremembered graves.
We wish to honor their passion and sacrifices by presenting a concert of education and conscience at UCLA, highlighting the Burmese struggle. We will use innovative techniques not only at the concert, but throughout the school year in preparation for the concert. We will build an understanding throughout the year through cutting edge marketing methods, mid-scale cultural and political programs, and educational workshops for the staff and coalition student groups."
