Burma

Here I present two videos featuring two women doing remarkable work toward freedom and democracy for their home country, Burma: the artist Chaw Ei Thein and the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, newly elected Parliamentarian, and chair person of the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi (affectionately known as "The Lady").

The actor, artist, and activist Kyaw Thu made a splash in New York City over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Curated by Burmese artist collective art@apt (dear friends of The Mantle), "First Break Out," a solo show, featured a wide variety of Thu's work, including still lifes, studies, and works trumpeting messages of peace.

The rhetoric coming out of the Republican presidential primary candidates would have you believe that President Barack Obama is actively engaged in a foreign policy whose sole purpose is to weaken America's standing on the global stage.  This is, of course, nonsense.  But it also hides the fact that Obama has been rather consistently engaged in a foreign policy strategy followed by the hero of the Republican Right, Ronald Reagan, who himself was following a policy originally laid down by Pres. Harry S Truman.

Here is the final installment of our week long vlog series of four Burmese artists who will be headlining our first ever art show "To Be or Not to Be" at Gallery35 in New York. Below is a profile of Min Kyaw Khine which I chef-ed up. Check it out and if you're in the NYC area, feel free to swing by and experience their work first hand. 

Follow Anthony on Twitter @culturegy

Here is the third installment in our week long vlog series of four Burmese artists who will be headlining our first ever art show "To Be or Not to Be" at Gallery35 in New York. Below is a quick profile of Kyawswar Thant (also known as KST) which I strung together. If you look closely you can even spot a cameo by Mantle head chief Shaun Randol striking his art pose. Check it out and if you're in the NYC area, come by and support these great artists and their work. 

Follow Anthony on Twitter @culturegy

Here is the second installment of The Mantle's week long vlog series of four Burmese artists featured this weekend in our first ever art show "To Be or Not to Be" at Gallery35 in New York.

Below is a quick profile of Chaw Ei Thein. Check out her work and if you're in the NYC area, come by and support the other great artists on this bill.

Follow Anthony on Twitter @culturegy

Here is the first installment of The Mantle's week long vlog series of four Burmese artists featured this weekend in our first ever art show "To Be or Not to Be" at Gallery35 in New York. Below is a quick profile of Aung Zaw Tun which I shot and edited (co-interview creds of course aided by Mantle cheif Shaun Randol).

Check it out and if you're in the NYC area, please come by and support these great artists and their work.

Follow Anthony on Twitter @culturegy

by Harry W.S. Lee. Originally published by our partner site, World Policy Blog.

In a prison-issued white sarong, the artist enters, blinded by a black bag over her head, stumbling her way on tiptoes, her legs trembling from hunger and fear. On the floor, she struggles to devour rice and the water through the black bag, venting out heavy gasps, punctuating with groans—a disturbing sight almost too private to be public.

At what point in a revolutionary moment do you put down the drums and take up the guns? It used to be that I was a stubborn advocate of total pacifism and non-violence. Over the past few years, however, I have shifted—very slowly—from that position. The sounds of gunfire and the sight of unarmed protesters scurrying for their lives in Tahrir Square in Cairo last night have once again given me pause.