KA HSAW WA. 114 Speak Truth to Power. Ka Hsaw Wa, 2000 Eddie Adams

Transcription

1 114 Speak Truth to Power KA HSAW WA I THINK TO MYSELF, WHAT AM I DOING? I DON T GAIN ANYTHING FOR MYSELF AND I CAN T SEEM TO DO ANYTHING TO LESSEN THE SUFFERING OF THE VILLAGERS. AT THE SAME TIME, IF I TURN MY BACK AND WALK AWAY, THERE WOULD BE NO ONE TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE. Ka Hsaw Wa is the founder of EarthRights International, a nongovernmental organization that filed a precedent-setting lawsuit against a U.S. corporation for torture committed by its agents overseas. The suit charges that Burmese government agents hired by Unocal, a U.S.-based oil company, to provide security, transportation, and infrastructure support for an oil pipeline, committed extortion, torture, rape, forced labor, and extrajudicial killings against the local indigenous population. Ka Hsaw Wa knows about the abuses committed by the military regime firsthand. He has spent years walking thousands of miles through the forests of Burma, interviewing witnesses and recording testimonies of victims of human rights abuses. He has taught hundreds of people to investigate, document, and expose violations of international human rights. As a student leader in the 1980s, Ka Hsaw Wa organized prodemocracy demonstrations in Rangoon. He was seized and tortured by agents of the Burmese military regime, in power since 1962 (and renamed SLORC State Law and Order Restoration Council in late 1988). When police opened fire on peaceful demonstrators, one of Ka Hsaw Wa s best friends died in his arms. Ka Hsaw Wa fled into exile along the Thai border. To protect family members he took a new name, Ka Hsaw Wa, which means white elephant. Ka Hsaw Wa s meticulously compiled documentation of systemic rape and forced labor is relied upon and cited by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and other international organizations. He has collaborated on several books about the abuses, including School for Rape (1988): Take over 300,000 men, many of them under the age of seventeen and largely uneducated. Force some of them to enlist at gunpoint and promise all of them a salary they never receive entirely. Give them guns and bombs. Train them to shoot, to crawl through the jungle at night, to ambush. Convince them that their enemies are ethnic minorities, students, women, anyone who disagrees with the government, and that these millions of people are traitors or infidels. Starve them. Withhold their mail and don t allow them to send any letters. Forbid them from visiting their families. Force them to beat each other for punishment. Abandon some of them if they are too sick to walk. Abuse them verbally and physically every day. Allow them plenty of alcohol and drugs. You have just created the army of Burma s ruling military regime. Ka Hsaw Wa s work, at tremendous personal risk, continues in the jungles of Burma. Ka Hsaw Wa has been awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, Reebok Human Rights Award, Whitley Fund for Nature/Sting and Trudie Styler Award for Human Rights and the Environment, the Conde Nast Environmental Award, and the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership for his work in defense of human rights and the environment. Ka Hsaw Wa splits his time between the U.S. and Southeast Asia offices of EarthRights International. I ve been doing this for eleven years. Most of the time I coordinate fieldwork, collect information, conduct fact-finding missions, and train my staff to do the same, specifically in the pipeline area of the U.S. oil company Unocal. We currently have a lawsuit pending against Unocal. The crux of the case is that a U.S. company is using human rights abuses to further their profit margins. We interview people inside Burma and ask questions about human rights violations perpetrated by the military government. We hear cases of torture and forced labor, forced portering and rape, and extrajudicial killings. Sometimes I collect information outside of Burma along the Thai border and at other times I collect it in the refugee camps. The villagers who support us keep in touch secretly or by code. We use radios and GPS (Global Positioning Systems) to find our way through the jungle. It is extremely dangerous. There are a lot of military bases. We listen to the radio in order to track the military s movements and to avoid being caught. I wear black clothes and carry a backpack. We travel with a maximum of three people at a time. Sometimes, the military walks across the path just in front of us, so close we can touch them. We have to be very careful. I have been shot at twice. We make our decisions based on the movement of the troops. Normally, we don t go into the villages because it s Ka Hsaw Wa, 2000 Eddie Adams

2 Speak Truth to Power 115 so dangerous. Instead, we ask the people to come secretly to the jungle because we don t want to expose ourselves to them and also because we might put them in jeopardy. Among the villagers, there are spies for SLORC, the local military organization. Therefore, we must be very, very careful. There are many human rights violations directly connected to the Unocal pipeline. The most common is forced labor and portering. The latter occurs when soldiers force villagers to carry their ammunition, their supplies, and food. The porters are not paid for their labor and, at times, they try to escape and to report these crimes to the authorities. If they are caught, the porters may be tortured, imprisoned, or possibly killed by members of SLORC. This happened recently to a close friend of mine. He and a group of villagers had been collecting information for me in order to help themselves and to raise public awareness of local human rights violations. SLORC suspected him of these activities and killed him. Likewise, in the last four or five years, I have heard of twelve to fifteen rapes against local women by SLORC soldiers providing security for the pipeline. Two of these rape victims are plaintiffs in our lawsuit. The whole area is crawling with soldiers and these women were raped while walking between their village and a nearby farm. In response to abuses like these, I organized a group of students in 1988 to protest against SLORC and to demonstrate for democracy. Though I was living in Rangoon, each student in my group organized a demonstration in the towns outside Rangoon. Eventually, there were protests all over Burma to educate people about democracy and to resist SLORC. During one demonstration in Rangoon, two of my friends were shot. One died there with me; the other was shot through the mouth and jaw. I carried him to the hospital but, in order to escape, I had to abandon him. I didn t want to leave Burma and my elderly parents, so I decided to go to an area outside of Rangoon. At that time, I stayed in the jungle and observed the terrible lives of the villagers. In the morning, the villagers took hoes and baskets and were forced to build things for the military. One day the owner of the house that I was living in said, Tomorrow I have to go and work for the dogs again. What are you talking about? I asked. The villagers refer to the soldiers as dogs because they hate them, he replied. We don t have time to do anything we need to do because we always have to work for them. We don t get any pay. Then, I got a letter from my mum saying, Son, it s too dangerous. Wait for me and I will come to see you. My mother came and I said goodbye to her. I walked through the jungle for five days to the Karen area with another student and a villager. As we neared the village, I saw a sight that I will never forget. I saw a dead woman with a large tree branch in her vagina. I walked to the village and I asked about her. The villagers told me that she was a nurse and that a group of soldiers had taken her to cure one of their comrades who had contracted malaria. Instead, they raped and killed her. It was so sad. I stayed around the village for quite a while. This totally changed my life. Since no one was doing interviews at the time, I decided to do some. I talked to everyone. I talked to one mother whose son had committed suicide because a group of soldiers had forced him to have sex with her. The soldiers then clapped their hands and called the boy a motherfucker. The son later killed himself out of shame. The mother was heartbroken. It was then that I made the decision to work for these people. In the beginning, I had neither a pen nor paper to work with. I went to the Karen National Union (KNU) resistance authority and was dismissed as just another young student. The union told me that this kind of incident happened all the time and that no one cared. They told me not to bother, but to take arms and to fight the soldiers. I didn t know how to go about the work I wanted to do without the necessary resources or support. I kept approaching the KNU and asked them to buy me a tape recorder, paper, and a pen with which to write down and pass along important information to the concerned people. They simply told me not to fool myself. I made a decision to continue working on the testimonies. All that I could do was to talk with the people and to absorb their stories as best that I could. We were living in the middle of the jungle, so I decided to go to a town to get some paper and a pen. I used these resources to write messages to people, but no one listened and no one even cared. What am I doing? I thought. I was so frustrated. Finally, in the beginning of 1992, I met a man by the name of Kevin Heppner. He was a Canadian and together we started doing human rights documentation. I translated the testimonies to English, he typed them, and we sent them to anyone who might be interested. Kevin primarily sent the information to human rights groups like Amnesty International because I didn t have papers to cross into Thailand. I got arrested four or five times in Thailand because I was illegal there. They d put me in jail for seven days and then release me. It was extremely difficult. In the beginning, we were very poor. Finally we met a woman from France who gave us money for paper and mailing. I was so happy that we could finally do something. In Burma, I was arrested before the student uprising and tortured as well. A friend of mine had had a fight with one of the authorities children and then had disappeared. Although I didn t know where he had gone, the authorities tortured me and insisted that I tell them of his whereabouts. The torture began with something referred to as the motorcycle ride, in which I was forced to assume a specific position and to utter the sounds vroom, vroom, vroom. Once I was exhausted, my shins were beaten with a special tool with a tough outside and pure metal core. Next, I was subjected to the railway. I had to pretend to ride a railway and to call out the name of each stop. If I didn t know the name or if I pronounced it incorrectly, I was beaten. They would beat me continuously and let me break, asking me the same question repeatedly. Finally, I couldn t say anything more and they didn t believe me. Before I passed out, I was tortured once more. There was a cement floor with a pile of sharp rocks in one corner. These rocks were typically

3 116 Speak Truth to Power used for roads and construction. I was forced to swing myself across them until I would talk. I can t say anything, I said. They continued to torture me until the pain was unbearable. They stepped on my back and asked me whether I was going to talk. Again, I responded that I didn t have anything more to say and they kicked me. Two of the soldiers, their faces covered, held me and proceeded to punch and kick me. I was so angry but all I could do was to look at them. I finally started to throw up blood and passed out. Although the entire ordeal lasted for about three days, I ve seen worse. Some of my friends have been shot and killed. A lot of my former classmates now have their Ph.D. s in the United States. They are educated and come here with money. I think to myself, What am I doing? I don t gain anything for myself and I can t seem to do anything to lessen the suffering of the villagers. I see the situation worsening and I blame myself for not being able to do enough. At the same time, I can t quit. If I turn my back and walk away, there would be no one to address the issue. In 1994, one of my friends died and I wanted to give up. I decided that I had to do something for myself. I needed an income to be able to give money to the people. If I turn my back, I thought, who is going to do this work? The suffering would never end. Although it was a hard decision to make, I decided not to stop working for the people. I committed myself to poverty, living in the jungle with very little available food. There was a time when I wanted to shoot myself when there wasn t any water and we had to eat raw rice. We couldn t cook for fear that the soldiers might see the fire. One of us contracted malaria and we didn t have any medicine. It was very cold in the hills and all we had was a sheet of plastic and a blanket to cover ourselves. Some people felt sorry for us and gave us a hammock. In the rainy season, life was very tough. Although we hung our hammocks to avoid the leeches on the ground, in the morning we realized the leeches had fallen from the trees and sucked our blood. We knew the difficulty of the situation, but if we wanted to help the people, we had to make big sacrifices. At times we felt dumbfounded because we had committed a great deal of time without seeing significant results. At one point, I saw the documentation in the trash that we d been working so hard on. It had been scrunched up and thrown away. I felt heartbroken, though I understood that the issue they were working on was different than ours. I had to be open-minded and to understand the situation. It was so difficult for us to get that piece of paper mailed and to document the suffering that the people had endured. We have an ideal goal: we just want people to be treated like human beings. I don t know if courage comes from power or from pain. I remember a time that I listened to someone s testimony and my whole body began to shake. It was the most horrible thing I had ever heard. The wife of a revolutionary had been arrested in an attempt to get to her husband. The soldiers killed their baby and burned it, then forced the mother to eat it because the father didn t come back. Tales like this repulse me and simultaneously give me courage. The suffering that I have endured is nothing compared to theirs. These people s needs are greater than my own.

4 BULLYING: DOES COURAGE COME FROM POWER OR PAIN? KA HSAW WA LESSON GRADE LEVEL: GRADES 6-8 HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE: MULTI-NATIONAL CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS: Article 2: Freedom from Discrimination Article 3: Right to Life, Liberty, Personal Security Article 5: Freedom from Torture and Degrading Treatment Article 7: Right to Equality Before the Law Article 19: Freedom of Opinion and Information Article 20: Right of Peaceful Assembly and Association Article 23: Right to Desirable Work and Join Trade Unions Article 25: Right to Adequate Living Standard Article 30: Freedom from State or Personal Interference in the Above Rights TIME REQUIREMENT: Anticipatory set 80 minutes Individual activity 40 minutes Eight activities 320 minutes GUIDING QUESTIONS: An inevitable consequence of being a member of society is to experience or witness discrimination or oppression. In what ways do people contribute to, cope with, or avoid this phenomenon? What roles do indifference and courage play? How does this apply to the perpetrators, victims, bystanders, and defenders within specific situations involving the jungles of Burma, the Holocaust, or students own lives? OBJECTIVES: After this lesson, students will be able to Relate the concept of bullying in their own lives to new information. Identify significant literary elements including metaphor, symbolism, foreshadowing, irony) in a poem and use those elements to help create original poetic devices to interpret the work. Produce an original poem focused on the concepts of indifference, courage, and perseverance. Listen and speak about personal experiences that relate to new information. Evaluate and apply vocabulary words in various contexts to facilitate generalization. Collect data, facts, and ideas on Ka Hsaw Wa and corporate responsibility; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations integrated with bullying between the Holocaust, Ka Hsaw Wa s life, and their own experiences. Develop information with supporting materials such as sensory/reporter notes, facts, details, examples and exclude extraneous materials. Synthesize information to select, organize, and categorize information to produce an original poem and slideshow in sequential steps. Analyze and evaluate information from a variety of perspectives and recognize the relative validity of divergent points of view. Write a poem to create narration to be used under a sequence of slides for an original Movie Maker slideshow comparing and contrasting a bullying situation with Ka Hsaw Wa s story. Listen attentively to others and build on others ideas in conversation and class discussions. Gather a collection of Internet-based photographs or video clips to demonstrate a particular point for slideshow. Evaluate information to justify speaking out against bullies and not being a bystander. STUDENT SKILLS: Writing and application of the writing process Writing in a variety of genres Grammar and mechanics Gathering and using information for research Critical thinking and problem solving NEW YORK STATE LEARNING STANDARDS: English Language Arts Standard 1 Language for information and understanding Intermediate Reading PI 1, 2; Writing PI 1, 2, 4 English Language Arts Standard 2 Language for literary response and expression Intermediate Reading PI 1; Writing PI 3 English Language Arts Standard 3: Language for critical analysis and evaluation Intermediate Reading PI 1, 3; Writing PI 1 English Language Arts Standard 4: Language for social interaction Intermediate Reading PI 1, 2; Writing PI 1, 2 Social Studies Standard 1: The History of the United States and New York Intermediate KI 2 PI 3; KI 4 PI 1, 2 Social Studies Standard 2: World History Intermediate KI 1 PI 1; KI 3 PI 1, 2; KI 4 PI 1, 2, 3, 4 Social Studies Standard 4: Economics Intermediate KI 1 PI 1, 2, 4; KI 2 PI 4 Social Studies Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship, and Government Intermediate KI 1 PI 1; KI 4 PI 1, 2 Health, Physical Education, and Family & Consumer Sciences Standard 2: A Safe and Healthy Environment Intermediate Physical Education KI 1 PI 3 Health, Physical Education and Family & Consumer Sciences Standard 3: Resource Management { Intermediate Family & Consumer Sciences KI 1 PI 2 Speak Truth to Power 117

5 Career Development and Occupational Studies Standard 3a: Universal Foundation Skills Intermediate Thinking Skills KI 2 PI 1 Intermediate Personal Qualities KI 3 PI 1 Intermediate Managing Resources KI 7 PI 1 The Arts: Dance, Theater, Music, and Visual Arts Standard 2: Knowing and Using Arts Materials and Resources Intermediate Visual Arts KI 2 PI 2 MATERIALS: Speak Truth to Power interview Click on Defenders/click Defenders list/scroll to Ka Hsaw Wa Vocabulary Student handouts Internet connection PowerPoint template VOCABULARY: Lawsuit Profit margin Pending Perpetrate Porter/portering Extrajudicial killings Refugee Plaintiff Demonstration Atrocities Testimonies Repulse STUDENT ACTIVITIES ANTICIPATORY SET Begin a dialogue with the students on what it means to stand up to bullies. After a brief discussion, give students Handout #1, Journal Entry #1 (Link for the PDF) Instruct the students to write a short narrative describing a time when they stood up for someone else. When students have finished, ask them to share their situations and experiences in a class discussion. Write these names on the board: Perpetrators Victims Bystanders Defenders Discuss and brainstorm the characteristics of each person. Have students write the description under the appropriate heading. ACTIVITY 1 Give students Handout #2 Vocabulary List (Link for the PDF) Students are to work in pairs to find the definitions of the words. Once students have defined the words, they are to create sentences using the words appropriately. Students will share the definitions and sentences in a class discussion. ANTICIPATORY SET: VOCABULARY SCAVENGER HUNT Upon entering class, students are given a Post-it with either the definition or a vocabulary word. Time the students to see how long it takes them to find their match. Students quickly sit down when they find a match. Review the words and definitions and discuss how they can be used. ACTIVITY 1 Have students work in pairs. Assign students to choose a minimum of 15 vocabulary words and definitions. Students are to write a mini-story using these vocabulary words in the correct context. This counts as a quiz grade ANTICIPATORY SET: Repeat Day 3 s anticipatory set ACTIVITY 1 Give the students Handout #3 Journal Entry #2 (Link for the PDF) Instruct the students to write their thoughts inside the box on: What kind of people do you see getting picked on? When done, ask students to share their answers with the class. Students can volunteer to write their answers on the board. ACTIVITY 2 Give students Handout #4, Building Perspectives (Link for the PDF) Ask students to complete the feelings/traits worksheet individually to categorize the traits and feelings of a victim, perpetrator, and defender. Instruct the students to log the words they don t know and look up the meaning. When done, ask students to justify their answers in a class discussion. Students will share their experiences and examples. 118 Speak Truth to Power

6 Precedent Extortion Indigenous Meticulously Sweatshop Exploit Activist Suppression Courage Perseverance Indifference Bystander Self-doubt CONCEPTS: Culture Empathy Needs and wants Justice Decision making Civic values Human rights TECHNOLOGY REQUIRED: Internet Windows Movie Maker ANTICIPATORY SET Give to students Handout #5 Ka Hsaw Wa Guiding Questions (Link to the PDF) Have students read through the questions aloud. ACTIVITY 1 Give students the story of Ka Hsaw Wa from the book, Speak Truth to Power. Have students take turns reading the story aloud. When the story has been completed, instruct the students to answer the questions individually. Review the answers aloud with the class. ANTICIPATORY SET Give students Handouts # 6 and #7 Sensory Notes and Reporter Notes (Link to the PDF) Have students work in pairs. Instruct students to fill in the sensory notes organizer, Handout # 6, from the perspective of Ka Hsaw Wa s five senses in the story. Using Handout # 7, have students classify the roles of the perpetrators, bystanders, and victims according to Ka Hsaw Wa s story. ACTIVITY 1 Give students Handout # 8 Have students read Pastor Neimoller s quote and write an interpretation on the guiding questions. ANTICIPATORY SET: Give students Handout #8, Developing Inter-textual Connections (Link to the PDF) and Courage (Link to the PDF) Ask students to read the quote written by Pastor Martin Neimoller and answer the following: Why do you think it is important to speak up when there is injustice? Describe the benefits and risks involved with speaking out. Have students work in pairs. Instruct students to classify and organize the similarities between the three situations; their own experiences with bullying, Ka Hsaw Wa s story, and the Holocaust. After completing the worksheet, have students answer the following: Who are the heroes in each encounter? Who are the ones that show courage, who persevere, and take action to speak out against injustice? Students will share their information in a class discussion. Extension/homework. CULMINATING ACTIVITY: Give students Handout #9 Movie Maker slideshow template and directions Review directions for storyboard. The slideshow will consist of a sequence of thematic connections. There should be a minimum of 14 slides and a maximum of 23 slides unless there are requirements to provide accommodations and/or modifications. Speak Truth to Power 119

7 BECOME A DEFENDER ADDITIONAL RESOURCES The school needs to provide the space and support for students to take a leadership role and responsibility for stopping bullying in their school. On a personal level, try to understand how your actions impact others and work to create a safe environment for all the students in your school. On the school level, take the Bully Free temperature to see if your school is a safe learning environment. Create a Bully Free Zone with identified safe places, safe staff/teachers, an alert box for students to flag issues or perceived issues. Write the No Bullying Code of Conduct that includes responses from students who bully or falsely accuse someone of bullying. Host an evening for parents to highlight achievements in creating a Bully Free School. Students can create a movie about bullying using Windows Movie Maker Handout #10 and #11 tell how to make a movie. Students can present the movie to their school, board of education and community. TELL US ABOUT IT The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights is sponsoring an annual contest honoring a student who submits the best advocacy activity based upon the lesson studied. A goal of the lesson is to instill into each student that one voice, one person can make monumental changes in the lives of many. Tell us how you Became a Defender! THE CRITERIA FOR THE CONTEST ARE: A one-page summary of the advocacy activity Digitized copies of materials that can be sent electronically Photos of the activity (please include parental consent form) A one-page summary of how the activity made a change in the lives of one person or many THE PRIZES INCLUDE: A week long virtual internship at RFK Center An opportunity to meet the defender through a SKYPE visit, A visit from Kerry Kennedy or a defender to your school A poster of a Speak Truth to Power Human Rights Defender A donation of a signed copy of Speak Truth to Power for the school library Bullying.org Where you are NOT alone! An interactive website with information about bullying and how to prevent it. The organization provides resources and educational programs to individuals, families, schools, community organizations to help educate against bullying. Stop Bullying Now This is an interactive website for children with explanations of what bullying is, what they can do to prevent bullying, and has games and Webisodes. There is also an adults page that has state-by-state anti-bullying laws, tip sheets, and other resources. CNN: Stop Bullying: Speak Up antibullying.resource/index.html This is a website for students, parents and teachers. It includes tips for teachers and parents on how to talk with their children about bullying and videos for students with interviews with kids who have been bullied and their reactions and feelings. Kids Turn Central Anti-Bullying Resources. An interactive website for children from the UK, showing that bullying is not just a problem in the United States. The Ellen DeGeneres Show Anti-Bullying Web site stop_bullying_0930.php This popular comedienne and daytime show host provides resources for children and supports the Trevor Project. The Humane Connection Banishing Bullying banishing-bullying-5-anti-bullying.html The site has multiple links to resources for kids on bullying and how to stop it. Bullying Information Center at Education.com This site has information on cyberbullying, school bullying and raising children in the digital age. The application and instructions for entry can be downloaded here (link for materials) The deadline for all applications is the third week in November. The winning student and teacher will be notified by the last week of January. 120 Speak Truth to Power

8 HANDOUT #1 KAHSAWWA JOURNAL ENTRY #1 Describe a time when you stood up for someone else. CHARACTERISTICS PERPETRATORS VICTIMS BYSTANDERS DEFENDERS

9 HANDOUT #2 KA HSAW WA VOCABULARY 1. lawsuit 2. profit margin 3. pending 4. perpertrate 5. porter/portering 6. extrajudicial killings 7. refugee 8. plaintiff 9. demonstration 10. atrocities 11. testimonies 12. repulse 13. precedent 14. extortion 15. indigenous 16. meticulously 17. moral 18. sweatshop 19. exploit 20. activist 21. suppression 22. courage 23. perseverance 24. indifference 25. bystander 26. self-doubt

10 HANDOUT #3 KA HAS WA: JOURNAL ENTRY #2: In the box below, write down the kinds of people that you see getting picked on.

11 HANDOUT #3 KA HSAW WA: BUILDING PERSPECTIVES Categorize the feelings or personality traits below to describe how you think each person (a bully, bystander, victim, defender) would feel in a bully encounter. If you do not know the meaning of a word, write it in the last column. Then, find its definition and write it on the back. Afraid annoyed anxious appreciated awkward betrayed bold brave concerned confident cowardly dejected desperate different disappointed distraught disturbed embarrassed excited exhausted fearful foolish frantic friendless frightened helpless hopeless horrible hostile lonely immobilized impatient inadequate infuriated insecure intimidated isolated miserable misunderstood nervous outraged overwhelmed panicked paranoid persecuted petrified quarrelsome sad scared shy threatened thwarted trapped troubled uncertain uneasy unsettled uptight vulnerable worried defeated abused angry arrogant ashamed bewildered careless combative cruel depressed domineering evil guarded hesitant hurt malicious mean ruthless thoughtless timid unsure wary worthless BULLY BYSTANDER VICTIM DEFENDER DON T KNOW MEANING OF WORD

12 HANDOUT #5 KA HSAW WA GUIDING QUESTIONS 1. Describe what a bully is. 2. Explain what Ka Hsaw Wa does in a sequence of four. 3. Why is there a lawsuit pending against Unocal? 4. How is an American company involved? 5. According to the people interviewed in Burma, what kind of human rights violations are occurring? 6. Where are two places that Ka Hsaw Wa is collecting information from? 7. How do the villagers stay in contact if they do not have phones or computers? 8. Describe how being in the jungle collecting information is dangerous for Ka Hsaw Wa. 9. Explain portering and why it is dangerous. 10. What did the SLORC soldiers (providing security for the pipeline) do? 11. Why did Ka Hsaw Wa organize groups to demonstrate in 1980? 12. Describe what Ka Hsaw Wa witnessed during the period of five days when he was in hiding in the jungle. 13. How did this change him? Why didn t he give up? 14. How did Kevin Heppner help Ka Hsaw Wa? 15. What made Ka Hsaw Wa feel like he wanted to give up? Explain how he decided to persevere. 16. Describe (in your own words) how Ka Hsaw Wa feels about pain and courage.

13 Date: HANDOUT # 6 Class: Topic: 6A REPORTER NOTES SENSORY NOTES While reading, use what you SEE, HEAR, FEEL, SMELL, or THINK if you were in the passage. Create a movie in your mind while reading then write it! I SEE Most important thing I see is.. I HEAR.. Most important thing I hear is.. I SMELL.. Most important thing I smell is.. I THINK.. Most important thought I have is.. I FEEL.. Most important feeling I have is.. Put a check mark each time you write a sensory note on the chart above while reading. SEE HEAR SMELL THINK FEEL

14 Date: 6A REPORTER NOTES Class: Topic: GET THE IMPORTANT INFORMATION NOT JUST THE FACTS BUT ALSO THE MEANING OF THE FACTS. WHO is involved or affected? Most important WHO is WHAT happened? Most important WHAT is WHERE did it happen? Most important WHERE is WHEN did it happen? Most important WHEN IS HOW did they do it or others react? Most important HOW is WHY did they do this or react this way? Most important WHY is SO WHAT? Why is this event/idea/important? Most important SO WHAT IS

15 HANDOUT #7 Ka Hsaw Wa: Classifying Roles Who are the bullies, bystanders, victims, and defenders according to Ka Hsaw Wa s story? Briefly describe why you see them in this role, provide textual evidence from the story using bullet points. BULLIES BYSTANDERS VICTIMS DEFENDERS

16 HANDOUT # 8 KA HSAW WA DEVELOPING INTER-TEXTUAL CONNECTIONS There are similarities between a bullying encounter you or a friend has had, Ka Hsaw Wa s encounter in Burma, and the Holocaust. Who are the bullies, the bystanders, defenders and the victims in each scenario? Who are the defenders that make a difference in each encounter? Who are the ones that show courage, persevere, and take action to speak out against injustice? Classify your information in the table below. YOUR ENCOUNTER BULLIES? BYSTANDERS? VICTIMS? DEFENDERS? KA HSAW WA S STORY BULLIES? BYSTANDERS? VICTIMS? DEFENDERS? THE HOLOCAUST BULLIES? BYSTANDERS? VICTIMS? DEFENDERS?

17 HANDOUT # 8B KA HSAW WA COURAGE Read the following quote written by Pastor Martin Neimoller. First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a communist, Then they came for the trade unionists, but I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist, Then they came for the Jews, but I did not speak out because I was not a Jew, Then they came for the Catholics and I did not speak out because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me-- and there was no one left to speak for me. The Rev. Martin Niemoller, leader of the German Protestant anti-nazi movement Interpret and answer the following question below: Why do you think it is important to speak up when there is injustice? Describe the benefits and risks involved with speaking out.

18 HANDOUT #9 KA HSAW WA MOVIE MAKER SLIDESHOW TEMPLATE/DIRECTIONS STEP #1: STORYBOARD Tell the students that they are going to create a slideshow comparing the themes of bullying, bystanders, victims, and defenders across three textual connections of Ka Hsaw Wa s life, the Holocaust, and bullying using Movie Maker. Students will create 2 to 3 slides each about the Holocaust, a bullying encounter you or a friend have had, and Ka Hsaw Wa s encounter with Unocal and the military regime in Burma. Students will add a few slides at the end, depicting the defenders in a hopeful and supportive of speaking out against injustice in the various situations. USING MOVIE MAKER Select slides and video. Import and save in folder. Create title and text/narration for each slide Create effects for each slide Create transitions between sliders Add credit at the end Add music for a soundtrack (Royalty free music) Add narration: using your own words and voice to describe the scenes in your movie RESOURCES: Movie Maker Royalty Free Music STEP #2 CREATING POEM TEXT FOR SLIDESHOW Tell the students, When you finish uploading your slides, think about the feelings you want to convey. Use the five senses to help you. Keep the lists of words in front of you while you write. REQUIREMENTS: Use at least 20 words from feelings/traits handout #4 Use at least 5 words from Ka Hsaw Wa vocabulary handout #2 Use a tleast 10 words from supplemental list Use 3 5 poetic devices (simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, repetition, hyperbole.

19 HANDOUT #10 KA HSAW WA: MOVIE MAKER DIRECTIONS: All files must be saved on a jump/flash drive or other portable device in the same folder. Create a folder in which you will save your image, audio and video files and movie-in-progress. You will not be able to yourself the files separately. STEP ONE: Open Movie Maker o Start>All Programs>Accessories>Entertainment>Windows Movie Maker STEP TWO: Import your images: o Capture Video>Import Pictures>(from folder you have created on your jump drive)>select the images you wish to upload (use Ctrl key to select more than one image at a time)>click Import VIDEO: Download from youtube: o Get the youtube downloader: o Get the URL of your video o Launch youtube downloader>enter video URL>save (to folder you have created on your jump drive)>close>go back to downloader >choose convert video (previously downloaded) from file>select video file (find your file and select it)>convert to Windows media video >OK>import video>(from file you downloaded video to)>click import AUDIO: Import audio or music>paste URL of MP3 into file name>click import STEP THREE: Drag a clip from your collection to the storyboard below STEP FOUR: Add video effects, if desired Add video transitions, if desired Add title clip at the beginning (make sure to explore changing the title animation and the title text font and color)

20 THE HANGMAN By Maurice Ogden Into our town the hangman came, smelling of gold and blood and flame. He paced our bricks with a different air, and built his frame on the courthouse square. The scaffold stood by the courthouse side, only as wide as the door was wide with a frame as tall, or a little more, than the capping sill of the courthouse door. And we wondered whenever we had the time, Who the criminal? What the crime? The hangman judged with the yellow twist of knotted hemp in his busy fist. And innocent though we were with dread, we passed those eyes of buckshot lead. Till one cried, Hangman, who is he, for whom you raised the gallows-tree? Then a twinkle grew in his buckshot eye and he gave a riddle instead of reply. He who serves me best, said he Shall earn the rope on the gallows-tree. And he stepped down and laid his hand on a man who came from another land. And we breathed again, for another s grief at the hangman s hand, was our relief. And the gallows frame on the courthouse lawn by tomorrow s sun would be struck and gone. So we gave him way and no one spoke out of respect for his hangman s cloak. The next day s sun looked mildly down on roof and street in our quiet town; and stark and black in the morning air the gallows-tree on the courthouse square. And the hangman stood at his usual stand with the yellow hemp in his busy hand. With his buckshot eye and his jaw like a pike, and his air so knowing and business-like. And we cried, Hangman, have you not done, yesterday with the alien one? Then we fell silent and stood amazed. Oh, not for him was the gallows raised. He laughed a laugh as he looked at us, Do you think I ve gone to all this fuss, To hang one man? That s the thing I do. To stretch the rope when the rope is new. Above our silence a voice cried Shame! and into our midst the hangman came; to that mans place, Do you hold, said he, With him that was meat for the gallows-tree? He laid his hand on that one s arm and we shrank back in quick alarm. We gave him way, and no one spoke, out of fear of the hangman s cloak. That night we saw with dread surprise the hangman s scaffold had grown in size. Fed by the blood beneath the chute, the gallows-tree had taken root. Now as wide, or a little more than the steps that led to the courthouse door. As tall as the writing, or nearly as tall, half way up on the courthouse wall. The third he took, we had all heard tell, was a usurer..., an infidel. And What said the hangman, Have you to do with the gallows-bound..., and he a Jew? And we cried out, Is this one he who has served you well and faithfully? The hangman smiled, It s a clever scheme to try the strength of the gallows beam. The fourth man s dark accusing song had scratched our comfort hard and long. And what concern, he gave us back, Have you... for the doomed and black? The fifth, the sixth, and we cried again, Hangman, hangman, is this the man?

21 It s a trick, said he, that we hangman know for easing the trap when the trap springs slow. And so we ceased and asked now more as the hangman tallied his bloody score. And sun by sun, and night by night the gallows grew to monstrous height. The wings of the scaffold opened wide until they covered the square from side to side. And the monster cross beam looking down, cast its shadow across the town. Then through the town the hangman came and called through the empty streets...my name. I looked at the gallows soaring tall and thought... there s no one left at all for hanging... and so he called to me to help take down the gallows-tree. And I went out with right good hope to the hangman s tree and the hangman s rope. He smiled at me as I came down to the courthouse square...through the silent town. Supple and stretched in his busy hand, was the yellow twist of hempen strand. He whistled his tune as he tried the trap and it sprang down with a ready snap. Then with a smile of awful command, He laid his hand upon my hand. You tricked me Hangman. I shouted then, That your scaffold was built for other men, and I m no henchman of yours. I cried. You lied to me Hangman, foully lied. Then a twinkle grew in his buckshot eye, Lied to you...tricked you? He said Not I... for I answered straight and told you true. The scaffold was raised for none but you. For who has served more faithfully? With your coward s hope. said He, And where are the others that might have stood side by your side, in the common good? Dead! I answered, and amiably Murdered, the Hangman corrected me. First the alien... then the Jew. I did no more than you let me do. Beneath the beam that blocked the sky none before stood so alone as I. The Hangman then strapped me...with no voice there to cry Stay!... for me in the empty square. THE BOTTOM LINE:...I did no more than you let me do.