Maung Zarni ( my, မောင်ဇာနည်; born 1963) is a Burmese educator, academic, and human rights activist. He is noted for his opposition to the violence in Rakhine State and Rohingya refugee crisis.

Early life and education

Zarni was born in 1963 into a Burmese Buddhist family in Mandalay, Burma. He migrated to the United States on the eve of Burma’s 1988 uprisings. He graduated with a BSc (Chemistry) from

University of Mandalay Mandalay University (also translated as University of Mandalay; my, မန္တလေးတက္ကသိုလ် ) is a public liberal arts and science university located in Mandalay, Myanmar and one of the sixteen autonomous universities un ...

in 1984, MA from

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The inst ...

in 1991, and earned his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

in 1998.

Career

Zarni founded and led the Free Burma Coalition, the then pioneering Internet-based human rights movement and spearheaded a successful international boycott against Myanmar’s military dictatorship from 1995 to 2004. Zarni has held a series of academic positions, or research and leadership fellowships, including at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

' Human Security Research Unit. He resigned from an academic post at the

Universiti Brunei Darussalam Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD; Jawi: ) is a national research university located in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. It was established in 1985 and has since become the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curric ...

in 2013, citing academic censorship. Zarni is a member of the board of advisors of Genocide Watch and a non-resident fellow at Genocide Documentation Center in Sleuk Rith Institute, Cambodia. In 2014, Zarni co-authored an academic paper, "The Slow Burning Genocide of Myanmar's Rohingyas", with Alice Cowley, an academic study that examines the plight of the

Rohingya The Rohingya people () are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar (previously known as Burma). Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an ...

using the genocide framework. In 2015, he was awarded the "Cultivation of Harmony Award," by the

Parliament of the World's Religions There have been several meetings referred to as a Parliament of the World's Religions, the first being the World's Parliament of Religions of 1893, which was an attempt to create a global dialogue of faiths. The event was celebrated by another c ...

, an international interfaith dialogue.

Personal life

Zarni is married to Natalie Brinham, an English researcher, and has a daughter, Nilah.

Books

*''Myanmar’s Enemy of the State speaks: Irreverent Essays and Interviews'' (2019) *''Essays on Myanmar's Genocide of Rohingyas (2011-18)'' (2018) *''The Free Burma Coalition Manual: How You Can Help Burma's Struggle for Freedom'' (1997)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zarni, Maung Living people 1963 births People from Mandalay Burmese Buddhists Burmese academics Burmese expatriates in the United States Burmese expatriates in Malaysia Burmese expatriates in the United Kingdom Burmese human rights activists Burmese democracy activists University of California, Davis alumni Mandalay University alumni Academic staff of Universiti Brunei Darussalam