Interviews with Cheery Zahau

In terms of, you know, inspirations, I think for me, my greatest inspiration was the 1988 student uprising, where thousands of students came on the street and demanded for political change. That was my greatest inspiration. I’m sure those leaders, student leaders, have learned from other country; but once I got into this movement, I’ve learned a lot about transition period in Czech Republic. How the judicial systems, security and military systems have changed and need to be changed; what needs to prepare. So we learned over time what can happen in Burma and what we should be aware of.

Mahatma Gandhi and his nonviolent ideology, you know, is the greatest inspiration for me, because when you talk about nonviolent you’re trying to avoid killing people. And many people are frustrated now in the Burma movement, or Burma observers, that nonviolent movement does not work.

But although it doesn’t work now, nonviolent movement, at least we are avoiding killing people. We’re avoiding repressions against the civilians. So I think this is the inspiration for me.

Cheery Zahau is a human rights activist from Chin State, Burma, and is now based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. As a high school student, she was advised by her teachers that her independence and intellectual curiosity would get her into serious trouble if she remained in Burma. She sought refuge in India, where she became an advocate for thousands of ethnic Chin faced with forcible return to Burma.

Zahau also became a leader of the Women’s League of Chinland, an organization that works to call international attention to the situation inside Chin State, including the use of rape as an instrument of conflict by the Burmese military regime. She has spoken at the United Nations and in other venues around the world.

When Zahau relocated to Thailand, she began working as an advocacy officer at the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma, focusing on the U.N. Human Rights Council, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the ASEAN human rights process. She is also a management board member of the Network for Human Rights Documentation in Burma and is pursuing an advanced degree in international relations.