Museum’s Burma Trip Draws Opposition

A student group dedicated to opposing the ruling Burmese military dictatorship has denounced a Harvard Museum of Natural History (HMNH) trip to the country, saying the University’s expedition is giving undeserved legitimacy to the ruling regime.

Harvard Burma Action Movement (HBAM) President Mamie M. Thant ’04 said that the museum’s sponsorship of the trip suggests that the University condones the behavior of the Burmese government, which she says has committed a host of human rights abuses and prevented the democratically-elected Nobel Prize Winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from taking office.

“Because Harvard is such an internationally known figure, the fact that the museum is sponsoring this trip allows the [Burmese] government to appear legitimate,” said Thant.

Thirteen people, who have paid over $9,950 each, are currently travelling around Burma—now know as Myanmar—as part of a museum-led exploration of the country’s culture and geography.

But HMNH Director of External Affairs Philip W. Lovejoy said the museum’s leading of the trip does not mean that the University approves of the actions of the Burmese government.

“The sponsorship of a trip to a country does not in any way imply an endorsement by the HMNH of the government, conservation policies, human rights stance or any other policies of a country being visited,” Lovejoy said.

Thant said that HBAM is specifically concerned that the expedition may stay in goverment-owned hotels and visit places where the government subjects Burmese people to forced labor.

“We don’t know how responsible the people organizing the trip are being in where they are going,” Thant said.

Lovejoy said he could not comment on specifics of the trip.

According to an itinerary on the HMNH website, John Constable, a veteran HMNH trip leader and associate clinical professor at Harvard Medical School, is leading the expedition.

The travel group is scheduled to visit cities, small villages and tribal markets in the Shan Hills. The trip will end in a 10-day voyage on the Upper Irawaddy river, where the travellers will see monasteries and markets, according to the itinerary.

Lovejoy said he has been in contact with HBAM since June.

But Thant said she feels HMNH has not been cooperative since she first e-mailed Lovejoy to voice HBAM’s concerns about the Burmese expedition.

The HMNH Travel Program began in 1974 at the Museum of Comparative Zoology with whale-watching expeditions, but now sponsors trips to far-flung destinations like Burma, Scotland and Antartica.

“We seek to enhance public understanding and appreciation of the natural world and the human place in it, sparking curiosity and a spirit of discovery in people of all ages,” Lovejoy said.

HBAM does not have any plans to publicly protest the trip, but will mention it on their October 18 day of fasting in support of Burmese political prisoners.