Dear All,
On April 9, hundreds of you -- some as far away as from Chicago, Los Angels and Santa Cruz, Fresno, joined the Peace Walk for Burma across the San Francisco Golden Gate bridge and other actions despite being on work day and uneasy commute. You do care about Burma and stood up for her at a time when she needed you most. Thank you all.
Amid beautiful weather, clear sky, and kinder wind, bearing peaceful mind and kind heart, the Free Burma supporters gathered and marched peacefully across Golden Gate Bridge to relive the memories of last September saffron peaceful marchers in Burma. Even a Wheelchair-bound women (who worked for Mayor) joined the walk to show her support for Monks, nuns and the people of Burma. What a way to open an important day, and in fact, with this great walk completed successful, we the Burma supporters had already had our day even before the torch relay began.
After the walk, many of us did proceed to protest at the torch relay closing designated location. While most of us are walking on the Bridge, some of us were at the locations near McCovey Cove to protest for Burma. Both groups met and protested near the Justin Herman plaza. Our day ended with a march to the City Hall along Market street chanting slogans; and then a rally and protest at the City Hall steps. We really had a long day then.
Due to your support and hard work and good team work by the organizers, we have noticed the significant progress in mentioning Burma-China connection in the Olympic torch protest news. Pased below please find the coverage for April 9 Burma actions. And here are some highlights:
A couple of local stations aired the peace walks; and national networks also carried it
Among others, CNN photographer was on site taking pictures and there of those made it into the collection
Radio Free Asia allowed us to broadcast live of the Peace Walk into Burma as it was happening.
Voice Of America also cover the events in detailed
A reporter from Salon.com trailed the Burma protesters and produced a featured cover story about our protests
Saw significant progress in mentioning Burma explicitly by high-profile news agencies including AP, USA Today, BBC, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal and others in their coverage about Olympic protests.
Bush, Pelosi, other leaders are now consistently mentioning Burma along with Tibetan and Darfur as issues China has been heavily citied
Photos and videos are on Flicker and many other news reports including CNN.
Videos Burma Peace Walk are posted on YouTube (believed to be taken from the air probably from Helicopter that we saw)
However, In their call for Bush to to boycott the opening ceremony of Beijing Olympic games, Senator Clinton and Obama and McCain did not mention Burma at all. Therefore we need to do a lot of work in highlighting China's support to Burma's dictator and the suffering of 50 millions due to Chinese arms, trade and veto at the UNSC).
Nothing has changed in Burma and she still needs you to help free her from the brutal dictatorship.
Thanks.
BADA
Photo: BADA flickr Album
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Local TV Stations News Video of Burma Peace Walk:
(National NetWork also aired theses)
ABC& Local Network Coverage; Monks march through Golden Gate
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=6070807
KRON 4 NEWS Video: Burmese Monks and Supporters Walk Across Golden Gate Bridge
http://www.brightc ve.tv/title.jsp?title=1496480847&channel=1274168794
Burma April 9 Torch Protest Featured Coverage:
Salon.com spent a day with Burma protesters and made this feature front page story:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/04/10/torch/
Press Democrat: On day of chaos, quiet march speaks loudly
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080410/NEWS/804100357
YouTube Video of Peace Walk taken from the Air
San Francisco: Peace Walk begin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-ro6eSs0SE
Peace Walk Across the Golden Gate Bridge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-ro6eSs0SE
Peace Walk Across the Golden Gate Bridge2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4wCF_b7_c4
CNN.com Photo Collection:
CNN: There photos from Bridge Walk made it to this collection of 14 photos by
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/09/sf.protests.ireport/index.html
The Province: Bridge Walk Photo is used in this Canada Article:
B.C. residents join anti-China demo
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=ac65862f-f072-42ba-b23f-a824f50848b0
Other coverage where Burma was mentioned:
Americans take dim view of relay
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23518784-2703,00.html
Olympic Torch Takes Unexpected Route Through SF
http://www.cityonahillpress.com/article.php?id=1137
CBC Canada on the Bridge Walk Coverage:
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/080410/w041015A.html
USA Today: Olympic torch run out of sight for most:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-04-09-torch_N.htm
BBC: Confusion strikes US torch relay:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7339380.stm
The Guardian: San Francisco is braced to greet Olympic torch - and thousands of protesters
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/09/olympicgames2008.usa
AP: Torch concludes bumpy tour of Bay Area:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/olympics/2090ap_oly_olympic_torch.html
Some of the coverage before April 9 :
NBC11 Video: Burmese Activists To SF: Drop Torch Run completely
http://www.nbc11.com/newsarchive/15734804/detail.html
Video: Burmese activists protest SF torch run
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lfvXVbPjtc
Video: Burmese activists protest SF torch run
ABC7 News:
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=6048985
