Maung Zarni
{{Short description|Burmese democracy activist}}
{{Burmese name|Maung}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Maung Zarni
| image =
| alt =
| native_name = {{nobold|{{lang|my|မောင်ဇာနည်}}}}
| native_name_lang = Burmese
| caption =
| birth_name = Zarni
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1963}}
| birth_place = Mandalay, Burma
| death_date =
| death_place =
| education =
| years_active =
| party =
| parents =
| spouse = Natalie Brinham
| children = Nilah & Dewi
| alma_mater = University of Mandalay (1984)
University of California, Davis (1991)
University of Wisconsin-Madison (1998)
| movement =
| organization =
| other_names =
| known_for =
| occupation = Human rights activist
| website = {{URL|maungzarni.net}}
}}
Maung Zarni ({{langx|my|မောင်ဇာနည်}}; born 1963) is a Burmese educator, academic, and human rights activist.{{cite news |title=Maung Zarni: Myanmar feels like a big cage for Rohingyas |url=https://www.dhakatribune.com/world/south-asia/2018/02/19/maung-zarni-myanmar-feels-like-big-cage-rohingyas |work=Dhaka Tribune |date=19 February 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.mei.edu/experts/maung-zarni|title=Maung Zarni|website=Middle East Institute|language=en|access-date=2019-12-27}} He is noted for his opposition to the violence in Rakhine State and the Rohingya genocide.{{cite news |last1=Tanaka |first1=Chisato |title=Activist for Rohingya Muslims calls on Tokyo to speak out over refugee crisis|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/10/25/national/activist-rohingya-muslims-calls-tokyo-speak-refugee-crisis/#.XE03fmkVR-E |work=The Japan Times Online |date=25 October 2018}} Zarni is a co-founder of several activist platforms, including the Free Burma Coalition (1995-2004), the Free Rohingya Coalition (2018-present), and Forces of Renewal Southeast Asia (2018). He is also a Fellow at the Documentation Center - Cambodia, specializing in genocide, and serves as an advisor to Genocide Watch.
Early life and education
Zarni was born in 1963 into a Burmese Buddhist family in Mandalay, Burma. He migrated to the United States on the eve of Burma’s 1988 uprisings. He graduated with a BSc (Chemistry) from University of Mandalay in 1984{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}, MA from University of California, Davis in 1991{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}, and earned his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1998.{{cite news |last1=Rahman Khan |first1=Mizanur |title='Don't be swayed by Suu Kyi's poisonous snakes'|url=https://en.prothomalo.com/opinion/news/162617/‘Dont-be-swayed-by-false-promises-of-Suu-Kyis|work=Prothom Alo |date=11 October 2017|language=en}}
Career
Zarni founded and led the Free Burma Coalition, the then pioneering Internet-based human rights movement and spearheaded a successful international boycott against Myanmar’s military dictatorship from 1995 to 2004. Zarni has held a series of academic positions, or research and leadership fellowships, including at the London School of Economics' Human Security Research Unit.{{cite news |last1=Tin Htwe |first1=Nan |title=Myanmar activist, professor resigns over Brunei university 'censorship'|url=https://www.mmtimes.com/national-news/3743-outspoken-professor-resigns-over-brunei-university-censorship.html |work=The Myanmar Times |date=14 January 2013 |language=en}} He resigned from an academic post at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam in 2013, citing academic censorship.
Zarni is a member of the board of advisors of Genocide Watch and a non-resident fellow at Genocide Documentation Center in Sleuk Rith Institute, Cambodia.{{cite news |title=Broader global coalition can solve Rohingya issue|url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/broader-global-coalition-can-solve-rohingya-issue-/1333418 |work=Anadolu Agency |date=9 December 2018}}
In 2014, Zarni co-authored an academic paper, "The Slow Burning Genocide of Myanmar's Rohingyas", with Alice Cowley, an academic study that examines the plight of the Rohingya using the genocide framework.{{Cite web|url=https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A377529194/AONE?sid=lms|title=The slow-burning genocide of Myanmar's Rohingya|last1=Zarni|first1=Maung|last2=Cowley|first2=Alice|date=2014-06-01|website=Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal|language=English|access-date=2019-12-27}} In 2015, he was awarded the "Cultivation of Harmony Award," by the Parliament of the World's Religions, an international interfaith dialogue.{{Citation|last=Parliament of the World's Religions|title=Cultivation of Harmony Award - Dr. Zarni|date=2016-12-07|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQvrtXngea4 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/fQvrtXngea4 |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|accessdate=2017-09-08}}{{cbignore}}
Zarni served as a member of the Panel of Judges in the Permanent Peoples Tribunal on Sri Lanka's genocidal crimes against Eelam Tamil in 2013 and was the initiator of the Permanent Peoples Tribunal on Myanmar in 2017. He has held visiting and research fellowships at institutions including UCL Institute of Education, Oxford, Harvard, and the London School of Economics.
On 21 May 2021, in the aftermath of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, he was initially appointed as the director of the Department of Advisory Cooperation at the Ministry of International Cooperation of the NUG by Minister Sasa. However, the appointment was revoked just one hour after a statement was released, for reasons unknown.{{cite news |title=Appointment of Dr. Maung Zarni as Director of the Department of Advisory Cooperation of the Ministry of International Cooperation |url=https://www.burmalibrary.org/en/appointment-of-dr-maung-zarni-as-director-of-the-department-of-advisory-cooperation-of-the-ministry |work=Burma Library}}
In 2024, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Northern Irish peace activist Mairead Corrigan Maguire, herself a recipient of the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize.{{cite news |title=Burmese activist Maung Zarni nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize |url=https://eng.mizzima.com/2024/04/17/9074? |work=Mizzima |date=17 April 2024}}
Personal life
Zarni is married to Natalie Brinham, an English researcher,{{Cite web|url=http://www.amnestypress.se/artiklar/reportage/25748/burma-rohingya-utsatts-ett-langsamt-folkmord/|title=BURMA: "Rohingyas utsätts för ett långsamt folkmord"|website=AmnestyPress|language=sv|access-date=2019-12-27}} and has a daughter, Nilah.{{Cite web|url=https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/voices-inside-rohingya-refugee-camps/|title=Voices from Inside the Rohingya Refugee Camps|last=Gindin|first=Matthew|date=2017-11-27|website=Tricycle: The Buddhist Review|language=en|access-date=2019-12-27}}
Books
- Myanmar’s Enemy of the State speaks: Irreverent Essays and Interviews (2019)
- Essays on Myanmar's Genocide of Rohingyas (2011-18) (2018)
- The Free Burma Coalition Manual: How You Can Helpagn Burma's Struggle for Freedom (1997)
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{official|https://www.maungzarni.net/en}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zarni, Maung}}
Category:Burmese expatriates in the United States
Category:Burmese expatriates in Malaysia
Category:Burmese expatriates in the United Kingdom
Category:Burmese human rights activists
Category:Burmese democracy activists
Category:University of California, Davis alumni
Category:Mandalay University alumni