Years ago, he trained to be a dentist. But he kept making his patients laugh. So he sensibly stopped drilling and began joking full time.
He came up with a nickname, Zargana, which means tweezers, in Burmese. Before long, he was the most famous comedian in the country.
Now Burma is ruled by a military regime not known for its sense of humour - and therefore, of course, ripe for ridicule.
For a while - a surprisingly long while - the men in uniform tolerated Zargana's jokes about corruption, superstition, bad roads and all the laughable rules that dictatorships require.
But in October 1988, someone's fist came down on a desk somewhere, and Zargana was sent to prison.
Banned
At first it was for just a few months. But in 1990, he began four and a half years in jail - much of it in solitary confinement. His wife was already pregnant with their second child.
Burma's Orwellian censors deserve their own comedy show
Inside Insein prison Zargana was in good company.
Opposition activists, writers, actors, intellectuals and of course the country's pro-democracy leader, the Nobel prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, were all being rounded up.
And they still are. Today Burma has more than 1,150 political prisoners. Earlier this year two students were given 19-year sentences for the crime of writing poems.
When Zargana came out of Insein, he was banned from performing in public. But he was allowed to make tapes and videos - under strict supervision. Big Brother was, of course, on hand to remove any punch line with too much punch.
In fact Burma's Orwellian censors deserve their own comedy show.
A rare image of Burma's secret new capital
They have blacked out pictures of women who happen to look a little like Aung San Suu Kyi. References to the Nobel Peace Prize are of course unacceptable, along with anything which could conceivably show the regime in a less than flattering light.
And now, in a sublimely absurd move, the country's brand new capital city has itself been ruled top secret. People caught taking photos of it have been locked up. What more could a satirist want?
And so, with a combination of subtlety and defiance, Zargana has kept on working, and the years have slipped by.
'Into the sunshine'
His children are growing up. His wife runs a small clothing shop in a Rangoon, and Burma's scowling dictatorship is still failing to get the jokes.
Then a few weeks ago Zargana decided to complain about the continuing censorship to a foreign media organisation.
The regime responded by outlawing him altogether - no more recordings, no interviews, no mention of him whatsoever in the local press. He became officially, invisible.
Government and military officials are ever-present in Rangoon
I went to Rangoon soon afterwards.
It was the rainy season and the city seemed drab and claustrophobic. Narrow mouldy streets, crowds huddled under umbrellas and clusters of men gathered round television sets following the World Cup with silent intensity.
I spent days arranging secret meetings with dissidents, endlessly worrying about whether they were being followed, or I was.
Meeting Zargana was like stepping back into the sunshine. He was relaxed and bold and normal. "Of course I'll be interviewed," he chuckled. "Most of our comedians are scared of the military. I'm not."
Ricochet
We discussed serious issues. Zargana concluding that he preferred Benny Hill to Mr Bean.
I wanted to hear some of his material. "Ah", he said, almost apologetically, "I'm afraid Burmese jokes can be rather subtle and long".
But he told me one about a newspaper article. A man was reported to have died of an electric shock but everyone knew the paper was lying because the economy is in such a mess that most of the time the power is off.
Being officially invisible is not good for business. Zargana is struggling financially at the moment and talking to people like me will not help.
I worry that there may be repercussions for him - but he insists he is ready for anything, including a return to prison.
And all the time, he keeps spreading his jokes by word of mouth - joking from the heart, he calls it. Such is the thirst for comedy in Burma, that they ricochet around the country in a matter of days.
Before I left him I asked him if he thought his jokes had the power to change things.
"I don't think so," he said, "not directly anyway. All they can do is ignite the brains of the people." bbc news
http://newsfreedomofexpression.blogspot.com/2008/11/burmese-comedian-wins-pen-canadas.htmlPEN Canada Honorary Member and One Humanity Award winner
ZARGANA sentenced to 45 years
TORONTO: November 21, 2008—PEN Canada is appalled by the forty-five year prison sentence handed down today by the Myanmar regime to Burmese poet and comedian Zargana (Maung Thura) for violating the Electronics Act. He is among a number of leading dissidents sentenced in recent days in special courts held inside Insein prison in Rangoon, for their peaceful opposition activities. More than 100 dissidents have received extremely long sentences; in addition to Zargana, Ashin Gambira, leader of the monks’ alliance in the September 2007 uprising has received 68 years and members of the socalled 88 Generation of activists have received 65-year sentences.
Zargana is a leading Burmese comedian, poet and activist who has been an Honorary Member of PEN Canada for more than 15 years, during which time he has been arrested many times by the Myanmar regime, serving four years in solitary confinement in Rangoon’s notorious Insein prison.
According to PEN's information, Maung Thura, best known by his stage name, "Zargana” (also transcribed as “Zarganar”), was arrested on the evening of June 4, 2008 after leading a private relief effort to deliver aid to victims of Cyclone Nargis which struck on May 2, 2008. He is believed to be sentenced for his outspoken criticism of the government’s slow response to the cyclone, and his opposition activities. He still faces additional charges.
A major crackdown by the Myanmar regime has been underway since early September 2007, following demonstrations led by monks and pro-democracy activists which began on August 19, 2007. Many of those who took part in these protests, including Zargana, poet Saw Wei and musician Win Maw have been sentenced in the past two weeks in what the BBC describes as “a judicial crackdown across the spectrum of Burma's pro-democracy movement.”
Zargana was given The One Humanity Award by PEN Canada in October, 2008.
PEN Canada joins centres of International PEN around the world in condemning
these sentences, and demands the immediate and unconditional release of all those currently detained in Myanmar in violation of Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, protecting the right to freedom of expression.
BACKGROUND:Zargana (nicknamed “tweezers” because he trained as a dentist) was first arrested for mocking the government in October 1988 and freed six months later. He was a leading voice of the student pro-democracy movement, his crowd-drawing ability second only to that of Aung San Suu Kyi. In May 1990, Zargana was arrested for impersonating General Saw Maung, former head of the military government; he served four years of a five-year sentence, during which time he was banned from reading and writing, so he scratched poems on the floor of his cell with a piece of pottery, before committing them to memory.
Upon release in 1994, Zargana was banned from performing in public, his tapes and videos strictly censored by Myanmar authorities. In May 1996 he was banned from performing altogether and stripped of his freedom to write and publish. He remained defiant, spreading his jokes by word of mouth, until his arrest on September 25, 2007, for supporting the monks in the Rangoon protests. He was released in October, and rearrested in June, 2008 for his criticism of the Myanmar junta's handling of the Nargis cyclone, made while he was mobilizing 400 entertainers to provide relief for its victims.
The PEN Canada One Humanity Award honours someone “whose work has transcended the boundaries of national divides and inspired connections across cultures. The writings of the individual reflect honesty, good judgement and a courageous belief in the peaceful expression of ideas through any medium.”
2008-09 marks the 25th anniversary of PEN Canada as the English-speaking Canadian centre of International PEN. The first Canadian centre was founded in Montreal in 1926, five years after the founding of PEN in Europe in 1921, and in 1983 became two centres, le Centre québécois based in Montreal and the Canadian Centre, moved to Toronto in83- 84 and later renamed PEN Canada.
For more information about PEN Canada and about Zargana and for samples of his work:
http://www.pencanada.ca/Media contact: Marian Botsford Fraser, 416-938-4204,
m.b.f@sympatico.caMAUNG THURA ('ZARGANA') is a 46-year-old comedian, poet and opposition activist, most recently arrested on June 4, 2008 by Myanmar authorities. When Cyclone Nargis hit in May, Zargana mobilized more than 400 entertainers to deliver aid. Their efforts, which they funded themselves, began just 5 days after the storm and reached people in 42 of the hardest-hit villages, few of whom had received sufficient aid from the government.
As they worked to deliver supplies, Zargana gave several interviews about his work and the needs of the people, and ridiculed state media reports about the government's relief effort. Zargana was charged with seven offences, including "defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion," during an August 14th hearing at the Rangoon West District Court and is currently being held in Insein prison.
Background: Zargana, (Maung Thura, whose pseudonym means "tweezers", referring to his years spent training as a dentist), was born in January 1962, the youngest son of writers Nan Nyunt Swe and Daw Kyi Oo. From a young age he accompanied his parents on speaking tours, and entertained people by giving performances and doing impersonations.. He went on to form a dance troupe and a drama group, which both performed on national television, and between 1985 and 1988 he played lead roles in four films.Zargana became Burma's leading comedian, popular for his political satires, reviving the traditional Burmese role of the court jester who is the only person allowed to criticise the leader. When he joined a travelling troupe of comedians in 1982, Zargana was optimistic about the role of the comic, saying, "If the government takes a wrong step in the morning, we can criticise it at night..." For a while, the military authorities tolerated him, and even on occasion invited him to perform for them. But as the political climate deteriorated, the authorities lost patience and attempts were made to silence him.
During the 1988 uprising, Zargana gave speeches at the Rangoon General Hospital which attracted large audiences and won rousing ovations. He quickly became a leading voice of the student pro-democracy movement, although he never officially joined a political party. His crowd-pulling ability was second only to that of Aung San Suu Kyi, and his jokes were passed on by word of mouth throughout Burma.
Zargana was first arrested in October 1988 after making fun of the government, and freed six months later. However, on 19 May 1990, he impersonated General Saw Maung, former head of the military government, to a crowd of thousands at the Yankin Teacher's Training College Stadium in Rangoon. He was arrested shortly afterwards, and sentenced to five years in prison. He was held in solitary confinement in a tiny cell in Rangoon's Insein Prison.
In prison, Zargana was banned from reading and writing, so he scratched his poems on the floor of his cell using a piece of pottery before committing them to memory. These poems were only written down after his release. After his release in 1994, Zargana was banned from performing in public, but continued to make tapes and videos which were strictly censored by the authorities. In May 1996, after speaking out against censorship to a foreign journalist, he was banned from performing his work altogether, and stripped of his freedom to write and publish. He continued to defy the authorities, spreading his jokes by word of mouth, until his arrest on September 25, 2007, for supporting the monks in the Rangoon protests. He was released in October, and re-arrested in June, 2008.
For more information and a photo please see:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5349552.stmExtract from Zargana’s unpublished memoir of his time prison in 1988 (translated
by Si Thu Htaik and Ophelia Field)
Q: “Your Name?”
Zargana
Q: “No, the original one?”
Maung Thuya
Q: “Do you have other names?”
No
Q: “Don’t you have names that your friends and colleagues use?”
Oh that! There are lots.
Q: “Go on”
LanchaKala
KalaAhPhoeGyi
OoPoneNya
ZartSaYar
Maung Yit
KaDingPone
Sean Conerry
Big Daddy
KoKo…
Q: “That’s enough, that’s enough”
Didn’t I tell you there are lots!
Q: “I will just put down KalaAhphoeGyi”
Up to you.
[…]
The above exchange was not an interview for a magazine. It was the beginning of my interrogation in No. 6 Military Intelligence Unit, and it started about half an hour after having been beaten in a small cell. Hands cuffed at the back, and the covering over the head were still not removed.
“We consider you to be a gentleman; we want to examine you in that manner.
You can help us by not concealing any information. If not, then there are ways to make you talk. Our team don’t do that, but others will. We don’t want that to happen to you, so… ” The words are like sharp-edged spears covered with honey, sweet and penetrating.
The handcuffs and hood were removed and they continued questioning me about my personal details: which school I attended, date of graduation, how did I land a career in the performing arts, how many movies have I been in, etc.
Three men, a uniformed one with the camera and two others, entered the room. I thought it must be to record this interview, but I got it wrong. Three photos were taken of me against a wall, from either side and from the front, holding a board up which says “Thura or Zargana (Ba, meaning father) U Aung Thein”.
Once this photo shoot was finished, the second part of the interview recommenced, about how I came to be involved in political activities. The questioning continued, interspersed with punches from left and right, mild and hard, until half past six in the afternoon. The military intelligence officer and police intelligence officer who did the questioning had been working for more than six hours and they got hungry, so they left the room and the process was paused for a while. I was left alone on a bench in the middle of the room as if I were not made of flesh and blood, as if I lacked any sense of tiredness or hunger.
Eventually a hero appeared. He entered the room with a little cup of tea and said: “I wish to offer you food, but I am not allowed to. Here is some tea, and also some cigarettes if you want.” He left the room swiftly. I considered the interviewers’ questions and my answers while I puffed on the cigarette and drank the tea….. The night passed, and by 7a.m. the interrogators seemed to be tired, so the session came to an end. I was then taken to a cell, again handcuffed and head-covered. The room this time was not as grand as the first one in which I had been beaten. The floor area seemed about 9 ft square, but the whole room was boarded up, the air vents covered with cardboard. It was filled with termite-eaten pieces of wood and rubbish. A dirty spittoon was in the corner and an incredibly thin mat lay on the floor. A quick wipe away of the
dirt and rubbish, then I just dived down to lie on that mat. The pain of being beaten and sitting all night was penetrating my bones and flesh.
“Sssssh Ko Zargana! Do you want to drink some water?” Just having fallen
asleep, I heard somebody whispering at the front bars. There was a man with a jug and a warm smile. I could not pretend I did not want the drink, so took the jug’s spout in my mouth through the bars and drank thirstily…..
[…] The next person I encountered was not an interrogator; it was the
commanding officer Major San Pwint. He explained for more than two hours about the army’s objectives. I was promoted to become his captive audience. By the time I returned to my cell after this listening session, tiredness was forcing my eyelids shut. But my eyes widened again when Maung Htay [that is, Zin Wine, a famous Burmese actor] was brought into the neighbouring cell. He seemed so weak and looked like a terminally ill patient, weak with diarrhoea or lack of drink. I whispered to him after the guards had left.
It was quite unbearable when he was under interrogation. A car arrived and a Major came in, smelling strongly of alcohol. That Major repeatedly screamed at him: “Are you ‘Zin Wine’?” and started punching and kicking. He was only saved when the people around pulled that Major away; I could then see the wounds on his shoulder and neck. It might be forgivable if a stupid, ordinary soldier had done this, but an officer -- it was ridiculous. But we can not do anything but feel anger in our hearts and gnaw the iron bars in front of us.
Five Poems by Zargana, translated by Vicky Bowman
A History of OblivionAt night
The moonbeams are snapped
The stars are smothered.
The much maligned barn owl
Inauspicious beast
Screeches in her grief.
The poor train on the tracks
Races, hurtles to her destination
Wheezing with exhaustion.
I try to send my mind
Beyond the walls
Day in, day out
Day out, day in
Morning and night
Night and morning
Long days dreaming
Days unending
A journey without end
Round and round
Groaning, muttering
The one I call for
Does not come
The one I wait for
Never appears
My soul defiled
Worn, gnawed away.
If only I could
I'd give up thinking
Seeing, hearing
So I wouldn't feel a thing.
Don't Wake Him Up
When will the door finally click open?
They won't let me know. Never mind
As long as my heart still beats,
I'll be free some day.
Every door has two directions
In and out. Every coin has two sides
Heads follow tails. So,
Thanks to the law of averages
I can set my homesick mind at rest.
Shame on you!
Night comes quickly
Springs up like a black wall
The last cracked beams of light
Fade from the edge of the western sky.
A forty watt bulb
Dangles from the ceiling of my cell
And flickers into life
Trying to outshine the fears
Blazing in my heart.
I consider my age.
Already over twenty.
What steps have I taken in my life
To light the way for others?
I turn this question over in my mind
But fail to find an answer
Like carrying water in a sieve.
Ashamed,
I cannot even raise my head
To the dangling bulb
And look it in the eye.
The following poem, addressed to his prison cell wall, was written by Zargana upon his release:
Words to the Wall
From sunrise to sunset
Through sunset to sunrise
You were my travelling companion
But now I can't greet you
Now I can't call out to you.
I waved as I left you
One day we'll meet again
When my tired old blood has been renewed
I'll flourish once again.
My shout will burst through the wall
A terrifying roar
A roar they'll hear
As far away as heaven
And tremble.
However…
We cry out
"We've won!"
And raise both arms in glee.
But when we lose
Both arms go up again.
PEN Canada Launches 25th Anniversary by giving One Humanity
Award to Burmese Poet
TORONTO: October 20, 2008—PEN Canada, celebrating its 25th anniversary fighting for freedom of expression, presents the 2008 One Humanity Award to Burmese poet, comedian and activist Maung Thura, known world-wide by his professional name—
Zargana.
Zargana is Burma’s leading comedian and a poet who has been an Honorary Member of PEN Canada for more than 15 years, during which time he has been arrested many times by the Myanmar regime, serving four years in solitary confinement in Rangoon’s notorious Insein prison.
The award will be given in absentia Wednesday, October 22 at the PEN Canada
Opening Night Gala at the International Festival of Authors (IFOA). Zargana is
currently again in prison, awaiting sentencing. He is also honoured as this year’s Empty Chair at the IFOA, a longtime collaboration between PEN Canada and the Festival acknowledging a writer who is not free to come to a literary festival.
"For twenty-five years, PEN Canada has been passionately engaged in work on behalf of fearless writers silenced in many ways,” said Nelofer Pazira, President of PEN Canada.
“Writers are routinely killed, imprisoned, threatened and harassed for expressing their ideas. One such writer is our Honorary Member Zargana, whose steadfast courage and integrity over many years we are honouring by granting him the One Humanity Award." Zargana (nicknamed “tweezers” because he trained as a dentist) was first arrested for mocking the government in October 1988 and freed six months later. He was a leading voice of the student pro-democracy movement, his crowd-drawing ability second only to
that of Aung San Suu Kyi. In May 1990, Zargana was arrested for mpersonating General Saw Maung, former head of the military government; he served four years of a five-year sentence, during which time he was banned from reading and writing, so he scratched poems on the floor of his cell with a piece of pottery, before committing them to memory. Upon release in 1994, Zargana was banned from performing in public, his tapes and videos strictly censored by Myanmar authorities. In May 1996 he was banned from performing altogether and stripped of his freedom to write and publish. He remained defiant, spreading his jokes by word of mouth, until his arrest on September 25, 2007, for supporting the monks in the Rangoon protests. He was released in October, and rearrested in June, 2008 for his criticism of the Myanmar junta's handling of the Nargis cyclone, made while he was mobilizing 400 entertainers to provide relief for its victims. The PEN Canada One Humanity Award honours someone “whose work has transcended the boundaries of national divides and inspired connections across cultures. The writings of the individual reflect honesty, good judgement and a courageous belief in the peaceful expression of ideas through any medium.” The $5000 award is made possible by the gracious generosity of PEN Canada supporter, Florence Minz.
2008-09 marks the 25th anniversary of PEN Canada as the English-speaking Canadian centre of International PEN. The first Canadian centre was founded in Montreal in 1926, five years after the founding of PEN in Europe in 1921, and in 1983 became two centres, le Centre québécois based in Montreal and the Canadian Centre, moved to Toronto in83- 84 and later renamed PEN Canada.
International PEN has 145 centres in 104 countries. The freedom to express ideas— without fear of attack, arrest or other persecution—has always been at the heart of International PEN's work.
For more information about Zargana and samples of his work:
http://www.pencanada.ca/For tickets to the PEN Canada IFOA Gala, October 22, 2008:
http://www.readings.org/Media contact for PEN/IFOA Gala: Sarah Elton, 416-995-2002,
sarah@openflows.net
