Myanmar: Resistance, Business and Nuclear Secrets

Myanmar is one of the world’s most closed and surveiled societies.

It is a nation where independent journalists are banned and where translators and guides are often threatened. Even the most banal street shots must often be stolen. Yet, thanks to a courageous few members of the internal resistance, Paul Moreira was able to covertly work from the heart of this prison-state that would be governed by King Ubu.

Never before published images, testimonies and documents now shed light on Burma’s military projects and their financing. Premières Lignes has finally managed to dissolve the shroud around the seemingly respectable western corporations operating in Burma, and how there are helping the dictatorship in place further entrench itself.

Democracy activists use the Internet as their main tool and weapon of counter information. Since the military seized power in a coup d’état in 1990, they have mercilessly repressed any democratic upheaval, as they did in 2007. Yet, they still struggle to control the flow of information through the Internet. Every day, classified information makes its way to the inboxes of opposition members exiled in Europe. Monitoring telecommunications has become a key strategy to their survival.

In the last few months, American and European intelligence services have suspected the Burmese junta of using diverted funds to finance a clandestine nuclear project. Leaked documents have shown exchanges between Burma and North Korea. Deserters claim the existence of a secret nuclear programme whose main objective is the acquisition of an atomic bomb in 2014. For the democratic resistance, it has become a matter of emergency. If Burma gets its hands on an atomic weapon, the junta will be able to lay its claim to power indefinitely, much like its North Korean counterpart…