Abstract
Across all art forms artists, comedians, film-makers, writers, translators and publishers have been very quick off the mark to make the most of the loosening of censorship regulations and increase in access to the arts and publications across Burma, says
A few years ago vendors would not dream of selling Aung San Suu Kyi memorabilia or activists of giving out political campaigning literature for the opposition party in the streets. These days walking along those same streets you would find many stalls and books selling t-shirts, keyrings, mugs and even pendants all with her image on them as well as political campaigning paraphernalia.
Visiting a guesthouse in early 2012, I returned to my room with Aung San Suu Kyi trinkets to be told by the owner that a year earlier even asking where Aung San Suu Kyi’s lived would have forced him to tell the authorities and probabably have me followed.
Since 2010 when Aung San Suu Kyi was released, as detailed in Index’s recent Burma: Freedom of Expression in Transition report, censorship boards have been abolished, the leading opposition political party the NLD has been allowed to regroup and by-elections have given leading National League for Democracy figures seats in parliament for the first time. While the political situation remains volatile, the art world has changed considerably. There are now international film festivals, and there’s been some reform of media laws. While these are not perfect they have changed how reporting happens.
Dr Thant Thaw Kaung, executive director of the book publisher and distributor, Myanmar Book Centre said: “Now is a really good time to read so many news books on… politics, history, fiction and non-fiction which were previously banned. Books on politics are in the highest demand….biographies, memoirs of political prisoners become best sellers nowadays.”
But not everyone is so positive. Blogger, writer, and former political prisoner Nay Phone Latt, in a recent interview with International PEN, conceded that the situation for writers in Burma had “changed a little bit”. The new censorship laws are seen by many as little more than a switch of tactics, the laws now penalising work that has already been published rather than at the pre-publication stage. Political interference isn’t the only problem facing publishers. According to an International Publishers’ Association report “deep-rooted infrastructural and training problems create significant challenges…These problems are linked to the decades of economic decline the country has faced under military rule”.
So even though every street vendor and bookshop gives the Aung San Suu Kyi section pride of place in their displays, it is not going to be plain sailing for publishers. Burma remains an extremely poor country and the majority of people work extremely long hours; the average family will spend 68 per cent of the household budget on food. Even with literacy at 92.7 per cent (according to UNESCO), making the country one of the most literate in the world, reading is regarded by many as a luxury. Nay Phone Latt said “there isn’t a strong readership in Burma and despite a population of 60 million, the circulation of any book usually only runs to 1,000. So it’s just not profitable to write”.
ABOVE: The front page of the Myanmar Times (27th August 2012) marking the lifting of censorship laws
Credit: Cedric Arnold
Waing Waing, joint secretary of the Myanmar Publishers and Booksellers Association, said: “Many publishers including myself publish new titles and the market varies… Apart from the dramatic increase in the demands for political books, the whole market remains quite the same as before. The market accepts some [new titles] but many can’t penetrate the market.” Lucas Stewart, literary advisor at the British Council said: “Most of the publishers I meet are not that positive about the current state of publishing”. One publisher had told him he was only able to continue because he subsidises his publishing company with his successful monk clothing business. However James Byrne, editor of Bones Will Crow, a bilingual book of Burmese poetry, says that Monument Books in Yangon, a very stylish modern bookshop, “is selling books like chocolate”.
Publishers in Burma are not exempt from the influence of the internet, even though penetration is currently estimated at between 1 and 7 per cent. A recent article in the business pages of The New York Times, paints a bleak picture for print media. “Despite expectations of pent-up demand, publishers say they are suffering from a lack of advertising and competition from the internet.” Following the governments granting licences to publish Burmese daily newspapers for the first time in 60 years, 12 new independent dailies starting in April this year, three of which have already folded.
The circulation of any book usually only runs to 1,000. So it’s just not profitable to write
Lucas Stewart, who runs a project promoting writers in ethnic minority languages called Hidden Worlds, for the British Council, said that writers from this group are currently rarely published. This is another legacy of military dictatorship, where until recently teaching ethnic literature in schools had been banned. Stewart told Index that “ethnic regions lack the printing facilities to press their own works and publishers in Yangon and Mandalay don’t publish works in ethnic minority languages claiming there is no market for it”.
The new Myanmar PEN Centre, currently based in Yangon and launched late last year, is also addressing this deeply entrenched imbalance by encouraging membership amongst ethnic minority writers and aims to publish a multi-lingual anthology of new writing at the end of the first year.
PEN Myanmar came about thanks to a 15-year campaign led by writer and former political prisoner, Ma Thida. It is part of a critical shift to a democratic society, where civil society organisations have increasing influence. Like all PEN centres around the world, it is a writers club and since it was launched last year is attracting a large volume of applications for membership. However, as Paul Finnegan, centres and committees officer of PEN International said, not all these applicants will be successful. “The independence of its membership is absolutely crucial and PEN Myanmar are trying to admit only suitable young writers who are not affiliated with other writers’ associations, such as the National Writers Association, which are often seen as overly influenced by the government. Board members of the centre are formally required to give up their membership of any other writers association in order to help retain this independence”. Nay Phone Latt, a newly elected board member of Myanmar PEN, speaks for the many people who are working to make Myanmar a more just society when he says; “The future of our country is in the hands of its citizens. How much we can try our best will determine the destiny of our country.”