Britain-Burma Sociey

"Dying to Vote: How Burma’s passion for democracy was finally requited"
by Peter Popham

Burma’s so-called “Democracy Era” lasted barely a decade after the nation’s independence from Britain, but half a century of tyranny failed to crush the democratic spirit, which was finally vindicated in the general election of November 2015. Peter Popham is the author of two books about Burma, The Lady and the Peacock (2011) and The Lady and the Generals (just published) and he reflects on his encounters over 25 years with the country’s unquenchable thirst for freedom. He first reported from Burma one year after the notorious election of 1990, when the regime simply shrugged off the NLD’s landslide victory, and the coalition government was obliged to take shelter in the jungle camp of Manerplaw, near the Thai border, where he interviewed them. Nineteen years later, shortly before the rigged election of 2010, he was expelled from the country for activities incompatible with his visa status: the regime had no desire to have nosy outsiders inquiring into the means by which the USDP contrived its victory. And last November he followed at close quarters the campaign that culminated in the NLD’s triumph, thrilled by the enthusiasm but alarmed by the widespread conviction that merely choosing the right party guaranteed radical transformation.

Copies of Peter's books will be available to purchase on the evening.