Thursday, June 14th, 2012

25 Years of Isolation

Part I: The History Behind the Burma Travel BoycottBurmese Freedom Fighter Aung San Suu KyiApril 2012 was a landmark month for Myanmar (formerly known as Burma); as ex-political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi was elected to parliament, President Barack Obama dropped the 16-year US travel boycott against the country. Over the past 50 years, Burma had been one of the most… [Read Full Article]

Thursday, June 07th, 2012

War Photography for Peace

Nick Ut photographed by Tim MantoaniIn May a small group of Santa Barbara high school students gathered in Hope Ranch over nems and Vietnamese curry to reflect on their March tour through Vietnam. Their trip had been extraordinary. Armed with cameras and critical minds, these students revisited the site of the Vietnam War’s famous photograph of Kim Phuc (the “Girl… [Read Full Article]

Thursday, April 26th, 2012

Looking at "Laos Scarred by Secret War"

Just a few weeks ago a group of our students returned from Laos, where they experienced first hand the ravages of the "Secret War," played out by the CIA during the 1960s and 70s. While the press covered the horors of what was occurring in Vietnam, the millions of tonnes of cluster bombs concurrently dropped on Laos went largely unrecorded. When American… [Read Full Article]

Thursday, April 12th, 2012

Spring Brings Democratic Reforms to Myanmar

Myanmar (also known as Burma) is a country long marred by the corrupt oppression of a military government and after its disputed “democratic” elections in 2010, neither its people nor the global community expected much to change. In 2010, international monitors were banned from the country, and Noble Peace Laureate, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as well as her party—the… [Read Full Article]

Monday, April 09th, 2012

Living Legacies: the Human Cost of the "Secret War"

Laguna Blanca School in Laos  A special guest blog by PWT's founder, Alethea Tyner Paradis, reflects on the lingering effects of the CIA's "Secret War" in Laos, while traveling with a group of students through Xien Khuang and the Plain of Jars.   We travel the bomb-riddled mountains riding aloft in our air-conditioned private bus, views of a struggling existence rolling along like… [Read Full Article]