This month’s gallery/photo blog leaves me with two thoughts in particular: 1) Despite the myopia of the US media, by no means do Americans have the corner on conflict and terror, and 2) if we put as much effort into our freedoms as these souls do, this country of ours would look quite different. - the editor.

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All photos and captions are copyright 2007 John Santerre. Click ‘more’ for the photo captions.

The Karen are an ethnic group of Tibetan descent who live mostly in the hilly eastern border region of Myanmar and Thailand. They originally came to the area as refugees of the Japanese occupation of Tibet. Today there are an estimated 7 million Karen living in Myanmar and another 400,000 in the hills to Thailand. Their revolutionary government organization, the Karen National Union (KNU), and it’s armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), have been fighting the Burmese government for independence since 1948. This conflict is the longest war of independence in the world, having been waged for 58 years.

Photo 1: A young Karen soldier hunts small birds in a KNLA-controlled area in Western Myanmar, Friday, December 29, 2006. The KNLA (Karen National Liberation Army), the military branch of the KNU (Karen National Union), has been fighting for Karen independence from the Myanmar since the late 1940s.

Photo 2: Soldiers from the KNLA 22nd Battalion construct devices used to trigger land mines from bamboo, batteries, and wire, Eastern Myanmar, Thursday, January 4, 2007. Land mines play a significant role in both defensive and offensive operations for both Karen Nationals and the opposing SPDC forces.

Photo 3: A member of the KNLA 22nd Battalion displays a photograph of a dead DKBA soldier from earlier fighting, Eastern Myanmar, Wednesday, January 3, 2007.

Photo 4: Commander Griko of the KNLA 22nd Battalion displays the components of a common type of land mine used by his unit, Eastern Myanmar, Friday, December 29, 2006. Commander Griko has been in the Karen military for over 40 years and has witnessed many of his men being wounded by land mines.

Photo 5: The KNLA (Karen National Liberation Army), the military branch of the KNU (Karen National Union), has been fighting for Karen independence from the Myanmar since the 1940s.

Photo 6: A prosthetic limb hangs from the wall leading into a soldiers hut in Myanmar, Friday, December 29, 2006. The KNLA (Karen National Liberation Army), the military branch of the KNU (Karen National Union), has been fighting for Karen independence from the Myanmar since the 1940s.

Photo 7: A Karen soldier with the 22nd Battalion of the KNLA rebel forces sorts and feeds chickens in Myanmar, Friday, December 29, 2006. The KNLA (Karen National Liberation Army), the military branch of the KNU (Karen National Union), has been fighting for Karen independence from the Myanmar since the 1940s.

Photo 8: A Karen soldier with the 22nd Battalion of the KNLA rebel forces walks toward the front line in Myanmar, Friday, December 29, 2006. The KNLA (Karen National Liberation Army), the military branch of the KNU (Karen National Union), has been fighting for Karen independence from the Myanmar since the 1940s.

Photo 9: A Karen soldier with the 22nd Battalion of the KNLA rebel forces tends a fish trap on the border of Thailand and Myanmar, Friday, December 29, 2006. The KNLA (Karen National Liberation Army), the military branch of the KNU (Karen National Union), has been fighting for Karen independence from the Myanmar since the 1940s.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 25th, 2007 at 11:17 am by John Santerre and is filed under Anthropology, Feature Stories, Photo Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.