Look To The Stars News: US Campaign for Burma

Will Ferrell Films Charity Video For The US Campaign For Burma

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:30:00 +0000

The US Campaign for Burma has announced that a video by actor Will Ferrell is kicking off a 30-day campaign to help the campaign build one million voices of support for human rights and democracy in Burma.   

Every day for 30 days you will be able to tune into the campaign’s website www.uscampaignforburma.org or www.burmaitcantwait.org (or YouTube, Myspace, and many more sites) to watch a new celebrity video about Burma. Instead of watching one single video with limited information, viewers will be able to learn a great deal about the people of Burma’s courageous struggle for human rights and democracy. Each video is different — some are deadly serious while others have a light touch. Most of these are meant to be different than a typical public service announcement — more like a short movie or skit.  

The videos include many of the top actors in Hollywood and others in music, such as Jennifer Aniston, Woody Harrelson, Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Eric Szmanda, Anjelica Huston, Ellen Page, Sheryl Crow and more.

Desmond Tutu Calls For Action In Burma

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:30:00 +0000

Nobel Peace Prize recipient Desmond Tutu is calling on people to sign a petition to the U.S. and U.K. Ambassadors to the United Nations asking for a UN Security Council Commission of Inquiry and a global arms embargo on Burma.

The timing on this is crucial: the United States (and United Kingdom) have an unparalleled opportunity to take action. In August and September, the UK and US will serve consecutively as President of the UN Security Council. The UK and US ambassadors to the UN, John Sawers and Susan Rice, have the power to propose a Security Council resolution creating this investigation (also called a “Commission of Inquiry”).

About six weeks ago, 55 members of Congress sent a letter to the Obama administration urging him to call for an official UN Security Council investigation into crimes against humanity in Burma. So far, the administration’s verbal calls for change in Burma are falling on the deaf ears of Than Shwe’s military regime.

Joan Baez to Sing for Burma

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:30:00 +0000

On May 1st, in remembrance of the first anniversary of Cyclone Nargis, an extraordinary Burmese choir will bring the gift of their music to the Cowell Theater in San Francisco. Their stories of courage and hope will honor the strength of the human spirit through song, and the evening will include a special guest performance by Joan Baez.

Tickets for the event begin at $25 for general admission, and go up to the $500 Saffron Supporter level, which includes admission for 2 at the pre-event Mingala Reception with the Gitameit Choir, 2 reserved tickets, plus $350 tax deductible donation to Foundation for the People of Burma.

For more information on the event, visit the Foundation for the People of Burma website. To purchase tickets, click here.

Julie Benz To Host US Campaign For Burma Dinner

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Fans of Dexter may like to get down to Beso on Hollywood Blvd later tonight, December 30, as one of the show’s stars is hosting a special charity gala.

Julie Benz, who plays Rita on Dexter, is hosting the Celebrity Foundation Dinner to benefit the US Campaign for Burma and the Human Rights Action Center. The evening will also include a performance by Jose Cortes from the Gipsy Kings, and stars such as Sylvester Stallone, Jason Biggs, Jenny Mollen Biggs, Stacy Dash, Maria Conchita Alonso, and Valerie Cruz are expected to attend.

The US Campaign for Burma aims to help the people of Burma achieve their dreams of freedom, peace, democracy, and human rights. The organization is dedicated to empowering grassroots activists around the world to bring about an end to the military dictatorship in Burma.

World Leaders Ask For UN Help In Burma

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:30:00 +0000

A massive group of former world leaders, presidents, and prime ministers – including Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter, Tony Blair, and George Bush Sr – have written to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to ask him to secure the release of all political prisoners in Burma by the end of this year.

“We write this letter to applaud your public consideration of traveling to Burma, also known as Myanmar, before the end of the year,” the leaders wrote in the letter. “We encourage this trip because it would illustrate for the world whether or not the Burmese military regime is serious about making changes called for by the United Nations Security Council and your good offices.”

The Burmese military regime is currently trying to silence the people of Burma through a major crackdown on human rights activists, but the leaders from 50 countries have joined the effort to set them free and make their voices heard.

Will Ferrell Launches Human Rights Awareness Month

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:30:00 +0000

Funnyman Will Ferrell launched Human Rights Awareness Month earlier this week with a passionate plea to help Burma.

“You know when you hear about something happening in the world that is so awful, so violent and terrible and evil and wrong and you think wait – I have to do something about this,” he said in a PSA. “But it just seems too big… this month, all that is going to change for you. A human rights crisis is happening right now in the South East Asian country of Burma… Today we’re launching a 30 day campaign for human rights and democracy in Burma.”

Ferrell announced that over the next month, special videos featuring stars such as Jennifer Aniston, Woody Harrelson, and Jackson Browne will be featured on the US Campaign for Burma YouTube page, to talk about the Burmese fight for freedom from an unjust and violent military regime.

Students Launch Fundraising For Burma

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:30:00 +0000

The US Campaign for Burma is excited to announce the launch of their first-ever Student Fundraising Challenge.

This fall, on campuses across the United States and around the world, students will participate in an effort to raise $32,000 to increase awareness of 3,200 villages that have been destroyed in Eastern Burma during the military regime’s ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Aung San Suu Kyi - Birthday Wishes That Can't Be Heard

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:38:00 +0000

On June 19, Burma’s Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi will spend her 63rd birthday as a political prisoner in Burma (Myanmar). And to mark the occasion, the US Campaign for Burma have organized over 200 events to help Americans learn more about her and the struggle for human rights and democracy in her military-led country.

Aung San Suu Kyi is a brave and courageous woman whose face is now more well-known than her name. But it is a face etched with sincerity, a face that has retained its youthful vigor despite the hardships it has endured, despite the years spent watching her fellow people suffer, and the lines that now run over it only add a look of wisdom and determination to her dogged drive and dedication.

Hers’ is an incredible and powerful story in a country that is struggling – a story of an academic based at Oxford University in England who returned to her native Burma to oppose the brutal military regime in her homeland, risking her life and leaving her husband and children behind. She led the National League for Democracy to a staggering win – with 80% of the votes – at the 1990 elections, only to have her post as Prime Minister nullified, and she has been imprisoned almost ever since. She even had to wait under house arrest when her husband was diagnosed with cancer. She was prevented from seeing him before he died, not allowed to comfort him at his bedside or help her children through their pain.

Celebrities Raising Voices For Burma

Wed, 07 May 2008 10:46:12 +0000

Will Ferrell and Jennifer Aniston have joined the US Campaign for Burma, and are asking others to do the same for the Burma: It Can’t Wait Campaign. Stars are on a mission to raise one million voices in 30 days against the human rights atrocities occurring in the Southeast Asian country.

The people of Burma are being attacked by their own government, and, just as the world stood together to demand the freedom of Nelson Mandela, the campaign is asking people to speak up for the leader of Burma’s democratic party, Aung San Suu Kyi. The world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Suu Kyi has been deprived of her freedom for 12 of the last 18 years. She has appealed to people around the world, saying, “Please, use your liberty to promote ours.”