Global Peace Centre

September 23, 2008 Ashun Kovida, an Arakanese Monk who is native birth in Ann, was invited to a Freedom Agenda lunch with President Bush on September 23, 2008 on Governors' Island during the UN General Assembly meetings in New York. The lunch had brought together democratic luminaries and democratic activists from repressive regimes of Burma and provided them with an opportunity to recount how they triumphed over tyranny, share lessons...

Tue, 11/20/2007 - 12:07 On October 18th, Ashin Kovida, 24, secretly crossed the Thai border, escaping Burma by dyeing his hair blond, wearing a crucifix and holding a false identification card. He spent two weeks hiding in a safe house, not taking a shower or anything, just waiting. He says that the people of Burma will never “forgive and forget” the Burmese military regime’s insult to the Buddhist religion. The Refugees International Board delegation met Ashin Kovida in Mae Sot, a town along the border which is home to Mae...

January 13, 2009 | Kenneth Bacon | Tagged as: Burma "What do they think when they see me?” asked the Venerable Kovida, a Buddhist monk from Burma. Given that he was dressed in bright saffron robes and flip-flops while hiking in the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, the question made sense.In fact most of the hikers who passed Kovida walking in the new Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve last week seemed quite nonchalant. Maybe they were too busy looking at their feet on the path. But for those of us from Refugees International—both...

On April 10, Refugees International hosted the Venerable U Kovida in Washington, DC as he testified before the House of Representatives' Human Rights Caucus. Ven. Kovida is a Burmese monk who helped lead the September protests in his home country. He was recently resettled to the United States as a refugee after a harrowing escape from Burma to Thailand. The following is the text of his testimony: Respected Congressmen, staff members, Ladies and Gentlemen. I would like, first of all, to offer my sincere thanks to...

Young Burmese monk Ashin Ven Kovida talks to SPIEGEL about how he became one of the leaders of the Yangon uprising, how the army cracked down on protests and why he had to flee across the border to Thailand. Roger ArnoldAshin Ven Kovida was a leader of the recent peaceful protests in Myanmar. In this photo, taken in a safe house in Thailand on Oct. 30, he stands next to a photo of himself with fellow monks marching in Yangon.My name is...

By Barry Bergman, NewsCenter | November 21, 2011BERKELEY —Jeff Durkin was a Berkeley architecture student in 1999 when “it all came together in a spark of light,” and his life was forever changed. He fell in love with film.Fast-forward to 2011, when following his bliss leads Durkin, now a San Diego-based filmmaker, to the Burmese border to finish shooting a documentary on how art can change the world. At least that’s the...

Burma's Most Wanted By LESLIE HOOK February 2, 2008; Page A11 Mae Sot, Thailand 'We did not reach final victory. We were defeated in the middle of our struggle," says the young Burmese monk sitting in front of me. "It will be very hard to have another demonstration." He should know. Ashin Kovida chaired the impromptu committee that organized last year's democracy protests in Rangoon, Burma. The marches, sparked...