The Wisconsin Alumni Association will host a trip to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, despite calls for a boycott on tourism in the country due to the nation’s poor track record on human rights.
The WAA event is scheduled for October, creating controversy among University of Wisconsin students and activists across the United States.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient and leader of the Asian country’s efforts against a military regime in power there, has called for a “total boycott on tourism” because of its threat to democratic efforts in the country, according to Jeremy Woodrum, director of the U.S. Campaign for Burma.
Three major tours of the country have already been cancelled — originally offered by the American Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution and Asia Society — according to a USCB press release.
“The fact that they would schedule this trip in the first place is pretty unbelievable, and the fact they’re still going [after the other trips have been cancelled] can only be described in one word: scandalous,” Woodrum said.
Cheryl Porior-Mayhew, WAA vice president of marketing and communications, said although she has not heard of this issue until Friday, they currently do not have any plans to cancel the trip.
“[However], we also don’t have any plans for future trips,” Porior-Mayhew said. “We will definitely review these issues.”
Porior-Mayhew said alumni trips are about lifelong learning and have traveled to controversial places in the past.
“[Travelers] will be informed of all issues in the country,” she said. “We don’t just give glossy sides of issues and politics. The trip is in the spirit of education and exchange of ideas.”
The trip is described on the WAA travel website as “six nights in magical Burma and a four-night cruise on the Irrawaddy River (located in Burma) aboard the deluxe ‘Road to Mandalay’ river ship.”
Although tourism is usually good for countries, Burma’s situation is unique, according to Woodrum.
“This is specifically because the [military] regime has used a lot of forced labor, which amounts to slavery, to [improve] its tourism,” Woodrum said, adding that Myanmar is the only country to ever be suspended from the International Labor Organization.
“They take people out of homes and force them to work,” he said. “This is extremely brutal. Sometimes women get raped at night.”
Woodrum also said tourism puts a lot of money directly into the regime’s pockets.
Upon hearing about the trip, UW junior Travis Bird said he did not believe a social network organization such as the WAA could spend much time in Myanmar and not simultaneously aid the oppressive regime.
“What could [the alumni] do other than tourist stuff?” Bird said.
Bird also said he cannot believe he had not previously heard of the planned trip. He added that if more UW students knew about it, they might participate in peaceful protests to counter the WAA vacation to Myanmar.
Woodrum said this trip is extremely expensive and will likely “gloss over the harsh realities of the country.”
UW also had links to Myanmar in 2001, when alumnus Salai Tun Than was jailed by the military regime. His imprisonment resulted in a widespread campaign which worked to free him from jail. The campaign included figures such as Wisconsin Sen. Herb Kohl and Sen. Russ Feingold, but UW did not release any statement regarding the matter, according to sources.
