Louisa Charmaine Benson Craig (sometimes spelled Luisa Benson; 10 March 1941 – 2 February 2010) was a Burmese-born two-time beauty pageant winner and Karen rebel leader of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and Karen ancestry.

Early life and education

Louisa Charmaine Benson was born to Saw Benson (also known as Moses Ben-Zion Koder), a

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

in Rangoon, and his wife Naw Chit Khin, a Karen woman. He was descended on his father's side from the Koder family, a prominent Cochin Jewish business clan in

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...

Cochin Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

(now Kochi), and on his mother's side from the Leynado family, a Sephardic Jewish family. Orphaned as a child, Koder was sent to

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

to be raised by aunts. He later converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. In 1939, after returning to Rangoon, he married. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Louisa's parents were separated for lengthy periods as they tried to find safety from the Japanese occupation of Burma. After the war, the independence movement and Karen movement for autonomy resulted in more societal disruption. Louisa went to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

for college. Later, she returned to Karen State, becoming involved in the

Karen National Liberation Army The Karen National Liberation Army ( ksw, ကညီဒီကလုာ် တၢ်ထူၣ်ဖျဲး သုးမုၢ်ဒိၣ်, my, ကရင်အမျိုးသား လွတ်မြောက်ရေး တပ်မတ� ...

. She left the country for the United States in 1967, after marrying a former classmate and US naval officer.

Marriage and career

Benson returned to Karen State and in 1964 married Lin Htin, a commander of the

(KNLA). He died in 1965, and she led the Fifth Brigade. She fell out with the

Karen National Union The Karen National Union ( my, ကရင် အမျိုးသား အစည်းအရုံး; abbreviated KNU) is a political organisation with an armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), that claims to represent the Ka ...

leadership following a power struggle with

Bo Mya Bo Mya ( my, ဘိုမြ ; born Htee Moo Kee; 20 January 1927 – 24 December 2006) was a Karen leader born in Papun District, which is in present-day Karen State, Myanmar. He was a long-standing chairman of the Karen National Union (KNU) ...

. As a "Most Wanted" independence warrior leader, Benson was urged by her people in 1967 to flee Burma to save her life. She emigrated to the United States by marrying Glenn Campbell Craig, a former classmate from her overseas studies at

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

. A scion of a Mayflower family, Craig had reconnected with her as a U.S. Naval officer after being assigned to Asian waters near Karen State. After emigrating, Louisa Benson Craig earned a master's degree in

international affairs International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. She worked as an advocate for Burmese democracy and for resettlement of Burmese refugees in the United States. In 2004, she was named a

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of t ...

in a landmark

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

case against

Unocal Union Oil Company of California, and its holding company Unocal Corporation, together known as Unocal was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headqu ...

for profiting from the Burmese military's alleged

human rights abuses Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

by operating the

Yadana gas field The Yadana gas field is an offshore gas field in the Andaman Sea. It is located about offshore to the nearest landfall in Myanmar.Yadana means "treasure" in Burmese. The gas field is an important source of revenue for the Myanmar Army. Gas fro ...

. Louisa had three children with Glenn Craig. After his naval career, he became an entrepreneur, helping found an international school publications enterprise based in California.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, Louisa Benson 1941 births 2010 deaths American people of Anglo-Burmese descent American people of Burmese-Jewish descent People of Karen descent American people of Portuguese-Jewish descent Anglo-Burmese people Asian Sephardi Jews Burmese beauty pageant winners Burmese emigrants to the United States Burmese Jews Burmese Karen people Burmese people of Portuguese-Jewish descent Cochin Jews Malayali people Women in war 1945–1999 Women in war in Southeast Asia