What happened with Nargis?

• Published in: Index on censorship Vol. 38; no. 4; p. 86
• Main Author: Bowman, Vicky
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC 01.10.2009
• Subjects: Censorship; Motion picture directors & producers; Poetry; Zargana (film director); Myanmar (Burma)
• ISSN: 0306-4220; 1746-6067

Lin discusses a poem composed by comedian and film director Zargana. He argues that the poem, which was never published, was written by Zargana while he was involved in the indigenous volunteer relief effort that followed the massive cyclone Nargis, which hit the delta zone of Burma and the former capital Rangoon on 3 May 2008. Zargana was banned at the time from having his work published or from making films, but the subject matter alone, regardless of the author, would have made it impossible to get through the censors. In the poem, Zargana expresses his frustration at the disaster economy that grew up around the cyclone, sucking in many 'Holland Beers' (volunteers) to work for the international relief effort, who took advantage of the flows of international aid money to get paid jobs.