SEARG's new leadership team would like to begin planning for next academic year. We are operating under the assumption that we will be on campus for in-person instruction but things could change. We want to begin to plan for next year by getting your suggestions for activities and speakers. We look forward to hearing from you and thanks for making SEARG so great! Submit your ideas for next year here!
We are excited to congratulate Grace, Ik, and Rodlyn as SEARG's new executive members for next academic year! The three will be featured in our last newsletter, April 30th, marking the beginning of a new era. On behalf of all SEARG members, we look forward to the more youthful and exuberant group of incoming leaders.
The students of the University of Wisconsin Madison's Southeast Asia Research Group (SEARG) and members of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) stand together with the people of Myanmar in opposition to the anti-democratic military coup and attempted invalidation of the 2020 national election results. SEARG fully condemns the military coup and calls upon the international community to denounce this violation of democracy, freedom, and human rights.
On the morning of February 1, 2021, Myanmar's military declared a one-year state of emergency citing baseless allegations to electoral fraud in the country's November 2020 elections. The military has indefinitely detained multiple democratically elected representatives and other civil society leaders, demanding the reform of the Union Election Commission and new elections. The military has installed their own unelected General Myint Swe as interim president and transferred full control of the government to the unelected head of the military Senior Min Aung Hlaing.
SEARG and members of the CSEAS stand in full solidarity with the people of Myanmar in calling for the immediate release of all those detained, the recognition of the 2020 election results, and the return of power to the civilian government.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison occupies ancestral Ho-Chunk land, a place their nation has called Teejop (day-JOPE) since time immemorial. In an 1832 treaty, the Ho-Chunk were forced to cede this territory. Decades of ethnic cleansing followed when both the federal and state government repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, sought to forcibly remove the Ho-Chunk from Wisconsin. This history of colonization informs our shared future of collaboration and innovation. Today, UW-Madison respects the inherent sovereignty of the Ho-Chunk Nation, along with the eleven other First Nations of Wisconsin.