Press Coverage

Patrick has received paper coverage in the Washington Post, the Providence Journal, the North Carolina News & Observer, and the Sunday Boston Globe, among others. He has been interviewed on a number of radio stations, including Radio Free Asia, Abroad View Radio, and NPR. In addition, Patrick writes frequently for the Providence Journal. To read the articles, please scroll down and click on the selected article:

Making Money Grow as Trees: Tevis Howard turns his passion for science to fighting poverty in Kenya through a self-started microforestry program
Abroad View, Bennington, VT
go to article >>

Patrick Cook-Deegan: U.S. must force help into Burma
The Providence Journal, Providence, RI
go to article >>

Human Rights Torch Rallies Support in Rhode Island
The Epoch Times, Boston, MA
go to article >>

Putting the Squeeze on Burma's Military Junta
Brown Policy Review, Fall 2007, Providence, RI
go to article >>

Patrick Cook-Deegan: Why the young back Obama
The Providence Journal, Providence, RI
go to article >>

Former Annapolis High athlete aids Myanmar protesters
The Capital, Annapolis, MD
go to article >>

Patrick Cook-Deegan: Push China to stop outrage in Burma
The Providence Journal, Providence, RI
go to article >>

300 rally in red for Myanmar
The Brown Daily Herald, Providence, RI
go to article >>

Burmese days
The Brown Daily Herald, Providence, RI
go to article >>

Patrick Cook-Deegan '08: Ending China's support for Burmese oppression
The Brown Daily Herald, Providence, RI
go to article >>

Students quick to act for freedom in Myanmar
The Brown Daily Herald, Providence, RI
go to article >>

Big adventure in Laos became mission of love
The Capital, Annapolis, MD
go to article >>

A roundabout route to Southeast Asia schools
The Sunday Boston Globe, Boston, MA
go to article >>

Exploration, education mark student's bike odyssey
The North Carolina News and Observer, Durham, NC
go to article >>

Biking 2,800 miles helps build school
The Providence Journal, Providence, RI
go to article >>


A Trek to Change the World
The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.
go to article >>


Student to bike 900 miles through Laos
The Capital, Annapolis, Maryland
go to article >>


A long and winding road to a Laotian school
The Brown Daily Herald, Providence, RI and Vientiane Times, Laos
go to article >>


M. lax running lots of laps for a good cause
The Brown Daily Herald, Providence, RI
go to article >>

_________________________________________________________

Making Money Grow as Trees: Tevis Howard turns his passion for science to fighting poverty in Kenya through a self-started microforestry program
By Patrick Cook-Deegan
Abroad View, Bennington, VT

Tevis Howard never imagined he would one day operate a tree farm in one of the poorest districts of Kenya. But today the 24-year-old graduate of Brown University runs an up-and-coming organization that uses tree farming as a mechanism to fight chronic poverty.

Only a few years ago, Howard believed he would devote his life to scientific research. "Science was my passion. I believed that I would be doing research my whole life."

At the age of 17, he was named one of the country's top-10 teenage high-tech superstars by Forbes ASAP Magazine.

To jumpstart his scientific career, Howard decided to take a year off after graduating high school to investigate malaria at a world-renowned medical research facility in Kilifi, Kenya, a small coastal town of 40,000 people.

After 11 months at the lab, Howard returned to the United States to start his freshman year at Brown. As a freshman and sophomore, he continued to travel to Kilifi to work on malaria research.

But in the summer of 2005, after completing his sophomore year, Howard had a life-changing experience in Kilifi.

During a routine lunch break, Howard sat down to a $10 meal at a creek-side expatriate restaurant. As he sank into his fish and chips, Howard watched as a mother and her three small children waded through the water, carrying heavy loads of firewood on their heads.

Reflecting on the scene, Howard realized that the price of his lunch was "infinitely out of reach" for the Kenyan family slogging through the water. The family would earn less than a dollar that day for the arduous, hours-long journey.

Howard returned to the United States having made his decision to leave the world of science. His new mission was to find the most effective means to fight poverty in Kilifi.

After months of frenzied research, he decided on the idea of tree farming. Kilifi district has a particularly difficult climate for traditional farming. Irregular rainfall and poor soils prevent farmers from producing plentiful yields from traditional crops like beans and maize. Trees are better able to cope with the climate, making tree farming much more lucrative than traditional farming. But tree farming is logistically complicated and requires expensive inputs, which is why many poor Kilfians rely on traditional crops.

In January 2006, Howard returned to Kenya to start an organization that would provide poor farmers with the tools to profit from tree farming - providing farm inputs, giving farm training, helping harvest the trees, finding a place to process the trees, and finally locating a buyer for the timber.

A few months later, in April 2006, accompanied by $75,000 that he raised through family and friends, Howard launched KOMAZA (Swahili for "promote development, encourage growth") by planting a five-acre test farm with 3,000 eucalyptus trees to measure how well they would grow in the region.

To help run KOMAZA, Howard hired three full-time Kenyan employees before returning to the United States for his senior year in the fall of 2007.

Back at Brown, Howard faced a tough balancing act as a full time student and KOMAZA Executive Director. "It was a huge responsibility to build KOMAZA while trying to pass 10 classes," he says. Howard was constantly on the phone searching for money and frantically sending out e-mails to pay for the salaries of his three Kenyan employees and operations at KOMAZA, giving him a lot of sleepless nights.

After graduating from Brown in May 2007, Howard moved to Kilifi to work at KOMAZA full time. He and his Kenyan staff spoke with farmers in the region about the best model for planting trees. After working through many options, they decided on planting trees with individual families.

According to the current model, each farmer gives a portion of her land to plant trees. With the assistance of KOMAZA, the farmers plant, grow, and harvest their trees during the course of several years.

This model comes with a lot of responsibility. "These farmers are right on the edge of starvation," says Barrett Hazeltine, a professor emeritus at Brown University who has spent 10 years in Africa working on different engineering and agricultural projects. Hazeltine has been working with Howard as an adviser since KOMAZA's inception.

Howard also decided to test several other models of planting trees with more than 50 pilot farms in April 2008. The result was 17,000 trees planted with 48 families, four schools, and one women's group.

Howard sees many other opportunities to leverage tree farming for economic growth. KOMAZA is working to sell tree-farming packages to Kenya's middle- and upper-class investors. "Many wealthier Kenyans with good jobs in towns and cities have large farms that are completely underutilized. These people are also very eager to put some of their money into a low-risk, high-return investment such as tree farming," explains Howard.

Howard has plans to work with these investors, using the profits to reinvest in poor, individual farms. Howard also has been tinkering with the idea of using the trees to sell carbon credits.

Howard's innovative methods are garnering attention in the United States. Earlier this year, Howard was awarded two prestigious fellowships. The first, The Rainer Arnhold program, is a two-year fellowship designed to help social entrepreneurs build organizations that create maximum impact. The other, the Draper Richards Fellowship, is a highly-selective venture-philanthropy group that provides strategic guidance and $100,000 annually for three years to social entrepreneurs launching new, innovative organizations.

In October 2008, Howard aims to plant trees with at least 100 small-scale farmers. In 2009, he is optimistic KOMAZA will work with more than 500 poor families. Howard anticipates problems but believes he will find solutions. "As long as our model stays flexible, we will be able to overcome difficulties."

Currently, KOMAZA's greatest hurdle is funding. Howard hopes to raise $100,000 by the end of 2008 to fund KOMAZA's growth. "If we don't raise at least another $50,000, we'll have to seriously cut back," says Howard.

But in as little as five years, Howard hopes that KOMAZA will not need donations. If everything goes according to plan, KOMAZA will be receiving revenues from its current tree plantings. With a profitable investment model, KOMAZA expects to eventually attract for-profit investments in small-scale family tree farming.

Bringing in private investments will greatly ease, and possibly replace, the need for philanthropic donations. In addition to reducing overheads, a for-profit company can attract a lot more capital, enabling much faster growth to serve more families. "If you create something that is attractive to the private sector, it can be rapidly scaled up," says Howard.

Howard dreams big. In the future, "I want to help thousands of communities throughout East Africa and beyond," he says. The next several months will be a big test to see if these dreams will come true.

To learn more about KOMAZA, to make a donation, or to volunteer/intern for KOMAZA visit www.komaza.org.

Patrick Cook-Deegan: U.S. must force help into Burma
By Patrick Cook-Deegan
The Providence Journal, Providence, RI

DURING THE PAST two weeks, I have spent most of my waking hours poring through reports detailing the Burmese junta's response to Cyclone Nargis. My initial reaction to the storm was despair. I have been to Burma (now called Myanmar) twice and the Burmese people and their desire for a free, democratic government hold a special place in my heart.

My reaction quickly turned from despair to rage as I read that the military junta failed to alert people about the storm. Four days before the cyclone, Indian meteorologists told the junta about the impending storm. But the junta did not inform anyone in the country about its seriousness. Instead, state-sponsored media promoted the junta's incredible "constitutional referendum" held May 10.

In the aftermath of the storm, the junta's reaction has been even more callous. While hundreds of thousands of victims go without water, food and medical supplies, the junta continues to prevent U.S., British and French naval troops from providing aid. This is in sharp contrast to the Indonesian government's response to the tsunami of 2004, when the U.S. led a nearly $1 billion relief effort within 48 hours of the storm.

The junta has also rejected aid from international organizations. Long after the cyclone, the junta was still refusing to give visas to most United Nations workers and siphoning off international aid. A head U.N. worker called the junta's response "unprecedented in modern humanitarian relief efforts."

To those of us involved in Burma's democracy movement, the junta's response is not so much surprising as gut-wrenching. This is, after all, the same regime that has burned down 3,200 ethnic villages in eastern Burma, recruited 70,000 child soldiers, and imprisoned Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

However to those not familiar with Burma, the junta's response is almost unfathomable. Many TV commentators stare in disbelief as their correspondents in Bangkok (the junta has refused entry to foreign journalists) explain that the military is forcing children to perish as aid sits by.

How has the international community reacted to the junta's cruel response? Western countries, led by France, called for the U.N. to force the junta to open its doors to U.N. aid, regardless of the junta's decision. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner invoked the "responsibility to protect" principle, which essentially states that international borders can be crossed without a government's consent when a government fails to care for their own people during genocide, ethnic cleansing, or other crimes against humanity.

But China, Russia, South Africa and Indonesia blocked Kouchner's effort to pass a "responsibility to protect" resolution at the U.N. Security Council. China refused the effort saying, "We should take full consideration of Myanmar's willingness and sovereignty." China is, of course, Burma's most critical ally, routinely protecting Burma at the U.N. Security Council.

In addition, Indonesia claimed that France was "politicizing" the issue, disregarding the fact that the junta was to blame for making this into a political issue in the first place by refusing aid from certain countries. Even Iran let U.S. aid into the country after a devastating earthquake in 2003.

This week the junta allowed a few U.S. aid flights into the country, hailed by some as a breakthrough. But this is a ploy by the junta to string out the international community, much as it did by allowing U.N. envoys into the country after the crackdown on monks last September.

At this point, it is clear that the Security Council, led by China, will continue to prevent any meaningful action. Meanwhile, Secretary Gen. Ban Ki-moon keeps stating his "immense frustration" with the junta's response. That is nice. Really. But I am not sure how many sick and starving people that will save in Burma.

So what should be done? This week, Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, said the international community should provide aid "by any means." It is now time that the U.S., French, and British navies go into Burma to provide aid regardless of the junta's response.

This raises a lot of questions about international sovereignty, Western neo-imperialism, the invasion of Iraq and other matters of international law. But I also know this: During the tsunami in 2004, 234,000 people died. Tens of thousands more would have died if the U.S. had been forbidden to provide aid. Right now, if the junta continues to block aid, as many as 2 million people could perish. That is five times the number of deaths thus far in Darfur and more than twice the number of those killed in Rwanda.

Furthermore, such a move would not be unparalleled: The U.S. provided aid in Bosnia in the 1990s, Kosovo in 1998, and to the Kurds in northern Iraq in 1991.

Given the long period since the cyclone, deaths from waterborne diseases have been spiking. The first large outbreak of cholera has been reported. Burma has one of the worst health-care systems and almost no ability to cope with the overwhelming public-health crises.

A French aid worker recently said of the junta's response, "It's a crime against humanity....It's like they are taking a gun and shooting their own people." I agree. The U.N. had its time to talk and the junta should have allowed a full-fledged international response long ago.

President Clinton has said his biggest regret is not taking action over the genocide in Rwanda. I hope that President Bush will not have to say the same thing about Burma when he leaves office. It is time for the U.S. to form a coalition of willing navies and enter Burma, regardless of whether Burma's homicidal rulers agree.

The clock of death is now ticking fast.

Patrick Cook-Deegan is a regional coordinator for the U.S. Campaign for Burma. He is about to graduate from Brown University.

Human Rights Torch Rallies Support in Rhode Island
By Connie Phillips
The Epoch Times, Boston, MA

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Scenic Roger Williams Park was the site Saturday, April 5, for Rhode Island to welcome the arrival of the global Human Rights Torch Relay. Providence is the second stop in New England for the HRTR, which began its East Coast tour in Boston on March 30.

Initiated by the international human rights organization Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, the HRTR is a global campaign that started last August in Athens to raise awareness of the Chinese communist regime's escalating human rights violations ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Organizers in Rhode Island were hoping the rain would subside in time for the outdoor events, which included a 5-kilometer race and a rally. And it did, although the sky remained overcast and the temperature brisk throughout most of the day.

After the race, the ceremony began with the arrival of the torch carried by 13-year-old Jenirose Mercier from Massachusetts, dressed as a Grecian goddess.

State Representative Pat Serpa officially welcomed the torch to Rhode Island and read a joint House/Senate Resolution from the General Assembly, for which she was also a co-sponsor, expressing support for the Human Rights Torch Relay.

"It's our responsibility to serve as stewards of human rights and human dignity," said Rep. Serpa in her welcoming speech. "It is this stewardship that will bring about the change that we need in this world to end violence."

Letters of support from U.S. Congressman James Langevin and U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse were read at the ceremony, and the Rhode Island HRTR received a citation from Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Roberts.

The first speaker was Xu Wenli, one of China's most recognized pro-democracy advocates. Mr. Xu, now a Senior Fellow at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies, spent 16 years imprisoned in China. He spoke in Chinese, with a translator, about how his imprisonment affected his family - especially his daughter. He pointed out that the Chinese people have been brainwashed by the regime into thinking that those who "yearn for change because they love China" are criminals.

Other speakers from Brown University included junior Scott Warren, director of the student group STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition. He provided staggering statistics of displacement, death, and destruction in the ongoing genocide of Darfurians at the hands of the Sudanese military - which is funded by China.

"Genocide is an expensive venture; it doesn't occur cheaply," stated Mr. Warren.

"Genocide is not just a Sudanese problem, and it's not just a Chinese problem - but it's a universal problem, it's a global problem," he said. STAND and other human rights activists are calling for world leaders to boycott the opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics, which Warren called "China's coming-out party," unless significant action is taken.

Patrick Cook-Deegan, also from Brown, is the Northeast student coordinator for the group U.S. Campaign for Burma. He talked about the atrocities committed by the military in eastern Burma, which is also backed by the Chinese regime. Deegan has been to the region and described how 3,200 villages have been systematically burned and destroyed, as in Darfur, and that eastern Burma has the most landmine victims in the world.

"For people that don't have a voice, I think it's important that we show up at things like this," Deegan said referring to the HRTR, "to show that even though someone is half a world away, their story still touches us, and their lives and their freedom are so important to us."

His organization is also calling for a boycott of the opening ceremony on Aug. 8, which is the 20-year anniversary of the uprising in Burma.

Steve Gigliotti, Boston HRTR coordinator, spoke about how the Chinese communist regime - as part of its premeditated genocide of Falun Gong - is carrying on forcible organ harvesting for profit from live Falun Gong practitioners held as prisoners of conscience in concentration camps, according to witnesses. He described how quickly transplants are made available in China - within two to four weeks - while in other countries like the U.S., patients wait for several years.

"Several years compared to a few weeks is shocking documentation that there is a live bank of people waiting to be harvested for their organs," said Gigliotti.

Other speakers at the event included John Kusumi, founder and director of the China Support Network, who has started a new coalition called Freedom First, Olympics Second; Voice of the Martyrs representative Vincent Lifieri, who spoke about the intensifying persecution of Christians in China; and Sylvia Weber from the International Campaign for Tibet, who called the situation in Tibet genocide and went on to describe the horrors Tibetans have endured.

After the rally, Rhode Island HRTR coordinator Al Iannotti expressed how happy he was to have such a diversity of speakers come together, and summed up its significance: "We had almost every group recognized and supported here, which was great," he said.

"To clarify the situation about what's going on in China and to really move forward with it, I think it really takes a collaborative effort and none of these groups alone, I think, can do this on their own. It seems like working together as a team in a mutually respected field is much, much better because it really shows that we all understand each other, that we all respect each other, and that we all feel that these issues are important."

In New England, HRTR events are scheduled for Portsmouth, NH; Portland, ME; and New Haven, CT. For information, see www.humanrightstorch.org.

Putting the Squeeze on Burma's Military Junta
By Patrick Cook-Deegan
Brown Policy Review, Fall 2007, Providence, RI

Introduction
A month after peaceful pro-democracy marches were brutally repressed in Burma, the international community has failed to take effective action against the Burmese military junta. China and India, Burma's most important allies, have put no real pressure on the junta; meanwhile the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) managed only to issue statements condemning the crackdown. The UN, for its part, has sent two failed envoys. What little concessions the military junta has made-appointing an official for preliminary meetings with democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and allowing Suu Kyi to meet with her party officials-are little more than attempts to buy time until international attention fades away. Yet, if Burma's ruling junta can be brought to the international negotiating table, the conditions for change are in place. Burma's ongoing Saffron Revolution provides the U.S. government an opportune chance to support the Burmese people's desire for freedom and democracy and to compel Burma's rulers to negotiate.

U.S. Policy
To ratchet up pressure on Burma and force its rulers to negotiate with opposition forces in good faith, the U.S. must pass stricter sanctions that would eliminate the junta's financial lifeline. Specifically, Congress must pass the Burmese Democracy Promotion Act of 2007 (S.2257) in the Senate and the Block Burme JADE Act (H.R.3890) in the House, both of which will likely be voted on in December. If passed, these bills would deny third-country financial institutions that harbor assets of Burmese regime to access the U.S. banking system, effectively cutting off the junta's monetary flow from foreign banks. These sanctions are specifically targeted at the ruling elite-they would not be harmful to the average Burmese citizen. In addition, the new bills would cut off hundreds of millions of dollars to the ruling junta by closing loopholes in existing sanctions that allow the sale of precious gems through third-country businesses. Lastly, the Senate bill proposes the creation of a special coordinator for dialogue between all relevant parties in the region, including Burma's neighbors ASEAN, China, and India.

To date, the Burmese junta has been defiant in the face of domestic and international political pressure. Current U.S. sanctions prevent almost all American companies from operating in Burma and ban nearly all Burmese imports to the United States. This fall, the Treasury Department issued a new set of "smart sanctions" which target Burma's military and business elite. The Bush administration presented a list of 14 top Burmese officials and 11 prominent leaders, mostly businessmen, who are barred from entering the U.S. and whose U.S- controlled financial assets were frozen.

The current "smart sanctions" against Burma, however, only permit the Treasury Department to deal with U.S.-based accounts and business transactions, not international institutions. The Burmese elite keep little, if any, of their money in U.S. accounts; therefore, Bush's new sanctions will have a much greater effect if the Treasury Department is allowed to prohibit foreign financial institutions--who funnel money to the regime and its cronies--from using the US financial system. The sanctions in the current Congressional bills would give the Treasury Department the power to compel international banks to enforce the American sanctions. Any bank harboring money of the Burmese elite would be faced with the following dilemma: either freeze the junta's accounts or the Treasury Department will cut off access to all U.S. markets and institutions. Furthermore, the E.U. is also considering additional sanctions and Canada recently imposed the self-declared "toughest sanctions in the world" that included such banking provisions. The combination of E.U., Canadian, and U.S. clampdowns on foreign assets controlled by Burmese regime officials and their business associates will provide critical leverage that can be used to pressure the junta into dialogue.

These strict sanctions, if enforced internationally, will hit the junta and the elite business tycoons who support them where it hurts: in their pocketbooks. Burma's currency - the kyat - is worthless abroad and the country lacks an economic infrastructure to survive in the absence of international financial support. Without access to foreign banks, the Burmese elite will no longer receive be able to send their children abroad for school, put their wives on planes for shopping bonanzas, or travel abroad for healthcare (many junta leaders receive world-class health treatment in Singapore).  Strapped for cash, the junta will find it difficult to support their military and governmental operations. At that point, they will be more inclined to begin substantive dialogue with the democratic opposition and ethnic minority groups.

The Next Step: From Sanctions to Negotiation
All of the major international players regarding Burma-namely, the United States, China, ASEAN, Japan, India, and the European Union-have compelling reasons to act. For one, the U.S. views Burma as an excellent opportunity to promote democracy abroad and boost an otherwise beleaguered reputation. In light of the Beijing Olympics in 2008, China is unusually vulnerable to international condemnation and does not want to be viewed as the main crux preventing change in Burma. The crisis in Burma presents an excellent opportunity for the world's two biggest democracies, India and the U.S., to strengthen relations. ASEAN wants more respect worldwide and Burma's behavior as a member of the group is a continual embarrassment. Japan is shocked by the killing of a Japanese photojournalist during the September protests, and the E.U. seeks a more pronounced role in human rights promotion abroad. Moreover, China, India, ASEAN, and Japan would profit tremendously from a more productive Burmese economy. And the United States and the E.U. could hope to gain more control in a country that has denied Western influence for decades, if a new government came to power.

Regionally, Burma presents Southeast Asia's gravest stability threat, both because of its horrific human rights record and its unwillingness to reign in the illicit drug trade. In the eastern part of Burma, the military has burned over 3,000 ethnic villages to the ground, creating a refugee population of over 1.5 million on the Thailand-Burma border. Burmese refugees have also poured into India, Bangladesh, and other parts of Southeast Asia, burdening their host countries¿ social systems. The Burmese crisis will only increase over time, as Burma boasts the largest child soldier population in the world-an estimated 70,000-and a militarized forced-labor system that enslaves around 900,000 people each year.

Burma's unwillingness to reign in the illicit drug trade along its borders has caused an influx of HIV/AIDS victims and drug addicts in neighboring countries.  Burma is the second largest producer of opium in the world and the largest producer of methamphetamines on the globe.  Thailand has over 4 million people addicted to methamphetamines; most of the drugs come from Burma.  In China, India, and Thailand, Burma's opium trade has created thousands of new HIV/AIDS patients along the drug route.

China could present the largest roadblock during the negotiations, however. China uses Burma as a de facto vassal state and has little desire to see a democratic, potentially Western or Indian-allied country to its southwest. At the beginning of this year, China blocked a UN Security Council resolution on Burma, but last month they signed onto a UN Security Council statement condemning the brutal crackdown-a small but significant move. China is especially vulnerable to international public opinion as the Olympics approach; its current foreign policy reflects, in part, fears of the Olympics being overshadowed by the abuses of Chinese-backed regimes like Burma. This makes China more inclined to start talks. And once talks begin, China does not want to be pinned as the culprit responsible for the junta's continued rule.

Conclusion
To increase the likelihood of fruitful negotiations, the U.S. Congress must immediately pass both the Burmese Democracy Promotion Act and the Block Burmese JADE Act. Tightened sanctions will enable the U.S. government to sever the junta's financial lifeline-and push them towards the negotiating table. Once these sanctions have been passed, the U.S. government must press China, India, and ASEAN to turn up the heat on the military junta. In September, the long-suffering Burmese people stood up bravely for freedom and democracy; the U.S. must now do its part by passing the increased sanctions.

Patrick Cook-Deegan: Why the young back Obama
By Patrick Cook-Deegan
The Providence Journal, Providence, RI

I HAVE VAGUE, distant memories of watching the 2000 election as a 15-year-old boy. I remember staying up late into the night, watching red states and blue states pop up on the map. In the following weeks, I overheard heated discussions in my house and on television about voting problems in Florida, irregularities in Ohio, and a controversial Supreme Court decision. But I was only a sophomore in high school. I did not really understand what was going on.

Now, at 22, I am a voting adult who comprehends the consequences of that election. I have friends from high school serving in Iraq. Now I understand the grave danger of alienating the Muslim world. I have traveled to over 25 countries. Nearly everyone I meet tells me how his or her respect for America has plummeted during the Bush presidency.

But that is all that I have ever known as an adult: a reviled America under George Bush, and a Congress dominated by petty bickering instead of big ideas. The 2004 election offered an opportunity to vote for a Democrat, but few people my age were excited about Kerry. I have come of political age at a time when America is divided, disliked, and fading as the leader of the Free World. There is a thirst among young Americans for a new era of politics at home and abroad and for an America that is creative at home and respected abroad. And there is an overwhelming sense that only one person can usher in that new era: Barack Obama.

It is a well-known fact that young voters are coming out in droves for Obama. In Iowa, the youth vote increased by 135 percent. Young Iowans supported Obama by a margin of 4-1. Obama's energy, hope and optimism for American government make him a more attractive candidate for young voters than Hillary Clinton for a number of reasons.

First of all, we are a generation free from any huge upheaval like the 1960s and the fierce cultural divisions that followed. We find no fulfillment in divisiveness. Friends my age who support Barack are conservative Christians and liberal activists. Obama's unique ability to transcend traditional cultural divides in America makes him popular across a spectrum of young voters, even young evangelicals.

Secondly, it must be remembered that my generation grew up in a time when young men and women - for the most part - have had the same opportunities. I have some female friends who are supporting Hillary because they believe she is the better candidate. But my generation is not fixated on race or gender like the Baby Boomers and older generations. Obama excites us on his own merits.

Thirdly, my generation grew up in a post-Cold War era. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of the Internet marked an opportunity in history for the world to come together in a new way. We are a global generation, and we want to live in a United States respected by the world. There is a conviction among young voters that Barack - in part because of his background - understands what it means to live in a truly global society and will best restore America's image abroad.

Obama is immensely popular internationally and we know that having him in the Oval Office holds the most promise to turn the page on George Bush. Bill Clinton is loved around the world, but my generation has moved beyond those years. In addition, we know that Obama's charisma and his living for several years in a Muslim country, Indonesia, will let him reach out across borders in a way that Hillary cannot.

But there is one curious question: Why would my generation support Obama if he is the less "experienced" candidate? After all, we have lived under one remarkably inexperienced president, George H.W. Bush, and we have suffered the consequences.

Many older Democrats who argue for Hillary's experience do so because they remember her years in the White House - the good old days before Bush. My generation does not want to turn back the page to the 1990s. We also worry about the fact that America lacks universal health care and about massive student debt. And we mourn friends killed in Iraq. We believe that Obama's experience outside of D.C. is equally - if not more - important.

Above all, my generation is focused on creating a new era of American politics in which our country is dynamic, united, and a respected both at home and abroad. We want to whisk away the defeating years of the Bush presidency. We want a leader who will transform our country, restore our status in the world, and ease the level of partisanship in our politics.

Just as John F. Kennedy did, Obama has inspired a new generation of young Americans to believe in government. This young group of inspired young citizens will not come out with the same fervor for Hillary - especially if she tries to play games with Michigan, Florida, or wins the nomination through the votes of superdelegates. I hope the young voters who have poured out for Obama spark this country's enthusiasm for the promise he holds. For eight years my generation has heard the same tune, "President George Bush." We're tired of it, and eager for a catchy new song with the sweet phrase, "President Barack Obama."

Patrick Cook-Deegan is a history major at Brown University, where he is a senior.

Former Annapolis High athlete aids Myanmar protesters
By Wendi Winters
The Capital, Annapolis, MD

Less than 4 1/2 years ago, Patrick Cook-Deegan was a happy-go-lucky Class of 2003 senior at Annapolis High School.

He was All-County in varsity lacrosse, not to mention All-Metro and All-American. He played free safety on the varsity football team and carried a 4.3 grade point average. Recently, the Brown University senior easily held his own in a 15-minute, nationally broadcast interview with anchor Tanya Rivero on the ABC's "All Together Now."

The anchor described the broadcast as a "show about people who are doing their part to make the world a better place."

On the air, the 22-year-old smoothly expounded as an authority on conditions inside Myanmar, also called Burma, where a military junta has held the country in its grasp since September 1988.

Myanmar has been in the spotlight infrequently. Political leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, won election to national office in a landslide. But the dictatorship held on, invalidated the results, imprisoned her in her own home - and ignored international outrage.

In recent months, Buddhist monks protested worsening conditions and were killed, beaten or thrown in jail. Their monasteries were closed.

"After The Sudan, Burma has the worst human rights record in the world," Mr. Cook-Deegan said. "The junta has bankrupted what was the most prosperous country in Southeast Asia. In 1962, it had the highest literacy rate in the region - 90 percent. It had the region's best university system, the biggest rice exports in the world.

"Today, almost one-third of its children are malnourished. The junta closed down its univer-sities in the mid-1990s for several years. Ninety percent of the population now lives on less than $1 a day."

Last summer he spent a month in Myanmar while on a 2,800-mile bicycle trip through Southeast Asia to raise funds to build a Laotian schoolhouse. More than $22,500 was raised. He traveled alone to areas where tourists are discouraged or banned from venturing. Some towns forbid foreigners from sleeping within their limits overnight.

Mr. Cook-Deegan was able to convince townsfolk to feed him and let him stay. He quietly befriended and met with Burmese dissidents in abandoned monasteries and empty houses to learn more about the county's situation. He keeps in contact with his Burmese friends trapped inside their homeland and others in open exile in bordering countries.

Since his return to the U.S., Mr. Cook-Deegan has become the Northeast Regional Student Coordinator for the U.S. Campaign for Burma. His fundraising efforts for this cause have raised more than $75,000.

He is lobbying for the passage of bills currently in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. The Senate bill, S.2257, known as the Burmese Democracy Promotion Act of 2007, and the House bill, Block Burmese JADE Act, H.R. 3890, may be voted on late this year.

In Maryland, Mr. Cook-Deegan is asking his friends and contacts to call U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Baltimore, and Sen Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., to discuss sponsoring the bills. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., is already a co-sponsor. The bills are intended to bring economic sanctions against the wealthy, elite ruling class of Myanmar, not the country's poor in the hopes it will force the junta to the negotiation table.

Before taping his ABC interview, Mr. Cook-Deegan met with Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. It was a private, "off-the-record" meeting with other activists to discuss the issues, Mr. Cook-Deegan said.

In Rhode Island, The Providence Journal published a lengthy column he wrote.

"The tightened sanctions will enable the U.S. government to sever the junta's financial lifeline - and push them toward the negotiating table," he wrote. "Once these sanctions have been passed, the U.S. government must press China, India, and ASEAN to turn up the heat on the military junta. In September, the long-suffering Burmese people stood up bravely for freedom and democracy; the U.S. must now do their part and stand with them by passing the increased sanctions."

An eye-opener

In 2003, the Annapolis resident eased into life at Brown University as his family moved to a new home near the campus of Duke University in North Carolina, where his father heads up the school's Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy.

An eight-month odyssey around the world his sophomore year in 2005 brought him to Southeast Asia. Spending a month in Laos, he saw firsthand the need for schools, books and libraries for the country's vast numbers of unschooled children. He also began hearing "horror stories" about Myanmar from its refugees.

He decided to fund the construction of a schoolhouse in Laos, and set up his trip through the three countries in the summer of 2006. Part of his plan was to spend some time inside Myanmar, after visiting Laos and Cambodia. He'd done extensive research, and, finding it unbelievable, determined to find out for himself.

Patrick Cook-Deegan: Push China to stop outrage in Burma
By Patrick Cook-Deegan
The Providence Journal, Providence, RI

OVER THE PAST two weeks, over 500,000 brave souls have taken to the streets in Burma, also known as Myanmar, demanding freedom and a peaceful transition to democracy. With the world watching, tens of thousands of maroon-clad monks led the Burmese people through the street, in what the international press has dubbed the “Saffron Revolution.”

The Burmese people have suffered under a dictatorial regime for more than 45 years, with one notable uprising. In 1988, students led a peaceful democratic uprising against the regime, similar to the demonstrations taking place today. The government reacted with brutal force, gunning down over 3,000 people on the streets and arresting 10,000 more. Last week, political analysts suggested that the government would be less likely to use force on the current demonstrators because they were being led by monks, who are deeply revered in Burma. They were wrong.

After over a month of peaceful protests, the government launched its much-feared military crackdown last week. The government started by raiding monasteries, arresting and torturing over 4,000 monks. The monasteries are still surrounded by government troops, preventing the monks from leading the people in the streets. In addition, troops have rounded up thousands of monks, who are now being held in at a technical college and a race track on the outskirts of Rangoon. One Burmese military officer who took part in the crackdown fled to Thailand, reporting that in an effort to cover up the evidence, troops are burning the monks — even those who are only injured.

With the monks off the streets, the government started shooting civilians. In Rangoon, troops started firing spontaneously into crowds, killing scores of people. Government troops opened fire on demonstrators in front of a local high school, killing 50-100 students at the school to take annual exams. There is also footage of a Japanese journalist being shot by a soldier at close range. Over 200 people are reportedly dead.

Western countries have been admirably vocal in calling for an end to violence and a peaceful transition to democracy. President Bush has made several strong public statements and ordered new sanctions on the military junta. Unfortunately, the United States and Europe have little influence over the junta; Burma’s economic and military support come primarily from Asian countries, with its largest financial support from neighboring China.

China has over 700 companies operating in Burma. Chinese companies are building 14 hydropower plants in Burma, and a Chinese energy firm is building a 1,500-mile-long natural-gas pipeline across the country. Last year, the two countries did over $2 billion in trade. In return for economic exploitation, China provides Burma with dirt-cheap weapons and political protection.

The Chinese have consistently blocked the international community from taking any effective action on Burma. Earlier this year, China vetoed a resolution in the U.N. Security Council to take action on Burma. Last week President Bush invited the Chinese foreign minister into a private meeting in the Oval Office to discuss Burma. During the meeting, Bush reportedly suggested this solution: The Chinese let Burma’s military junta receive exile status in China. In exchange, China would support the release of all political prisoners, including 1991 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and let democratization begin.

China is the only country standing in the way of international action. Already Russia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have called for strong action. With the notable exception of India, which has yet to use its leverage with the regime, the world has loudly declared its opposition to the military junta.

Citizens around the world are joining their governments in calling for action. There have been protests in Malaysia, Britain, Australia, America and dozens of other countries. The Chinese must wake up and recognize that they are going to be held accountable for what happens in Burma.

China is a rising superpower and needs to start taking on the responsibilities that come with the status. This includes dropping support for such rogue regimes as those in Zimbabwe, Sudan, North Korea and Burma.

The most effective leverage the international community can use against China is the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Olympic Games next summer are to be China’s “peaceful rise,” and the government does not want the Olympics to be overshadowed by its support for the worst human-rights abusers. Indeed, China has already acted twice in the past year to prevent such negative press coverage, persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear-weapons program and permitting international peacekeepers to enter Darfur.

Last week, South African Bishop Desmond Tutu called for a boycott of the Olympic Games unless China takes action on Burma. On Aug. 2, six House Republicans introduced a resolution to boycott the Olympics because of China’s human-rights records in Sudan, North Korea and China. The resolution, House Resolution 610, is currently being circulated for co-sponsorship.

Even the threat of a boycott will force China to re-evaluate its position. The Washington Post reported that Chinese government officials were reportedly “shocked” by the world’s outpouring of support for the protesters in Burma. They would be even more inclined to act if world leaders, joined by their citizens, called for a boycott of the games. China’s intervention does not guarantee a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Burma, yet given its influence in that nation, China has an obligation to use all its power to seek a peaceful resolution.

The world cannot let China off the hook. American officials, and leaders around the world, need to state clearly: We will boycott the games if China does not take action. No country or person of conscience should take part in an Olympic Games run by a country with blood on its hands.

Patrick Cook-Deegan is a senior at Brown University and the Northeast regional student coordinator for the U.S. Campaign for Burma.

_________________________________________________________

300 rally in red for Myanmar
By Sam Byker
The Brown Daily Herald, Providence, RI

Hundreds of students dressed in shades of red and purple gathered Friday at noon on Lincoln Field to draw the campus' attention to ongoing anti-government protests in the Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar.

Attendees at the event - organized by Brown's recently inaugurated chapter of the U.S. Campaign for Burma - were urged to wear red or maroon to show solidarity with Myanmar's monks, whose rust-covered robes have come to symbolize the protests.

The demonstration, which included several speeches followed by a silent march around the Main Green, was likely the largest gathering in support of Myanmar on an American campus, according to the Brown chapter's director, Patrick Cook-Deegan '08.

Over the past week, peaceful crowds of up to 100,000 have taken to the streets in Myanmar - formerly known as Burma - only to be brutally dispersed by the military junta that has ruled the country for decades. Dissident groups have put the death toll as high as 200, the Associated Press reported.

The United States and members of the European Union have condemned the Myanmar regime's actions and have begun freezing finances of leaders associated with the junta. President Bush has called on countries in the region to pressure Myanmar to end its violent crackdown.

A few minutes after noon Friday, Andrew Lim '08 mounted a platform on Lincoln Field to address the crowd. Lim, whose parents emigrated from Myanmar 25 years ago, has been a leader of the Brown chapter of the campaign since its founding earlier this semester.

"The Burmese government is extremely scared," Lim said. "This might be the time that they can finally fall. ... One day maybe we can all say together that we helped to overthrow this terrible regime."

A number of speakers from the Watson Institute for International Studies also addressed the crowd. Former Sen. Lincoln Chafee '75, now a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute, spoke first, excoriating the Bush administration for responding insufficiently to the crisis.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, a visiting professor of Latin American studies and the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, lamented the intractable nature of the situation.

"Every morning I ask myself: 'How many dead?' " he told the assembled crowd.

Pinheiro will attend a special U.N. session on Myanmar next week in Geneva, and he promised to carry the crowd's message with him.

Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the former president of Brazil who is a professor-at-large at the Watson Institute for International Studies, also criticized the United States' actions in the crisis. "It is not enough to put more sanctions on," Cardoso said, adding that as a former world leader, he would do all he could to aid the people of Myanmar.

Wenli Xu, a famed Chinese pro-democracy advocate who spent 16 years in prison, told the crowd through an interpreter, "I see that we are all wearing red today. ... This represents that there is red in the fire of our hearts. We're here in support of democratic change, and for that I would like to thank all of you."

Xu, who was dressed in a crimson t-shirt and baseball cap, is a senior fellow at the Watson Institute.

Following the brief speeches, Lim and other campaign members led the crowd in a silent march around the Main Green. They circled three times before turning toward the lawn in front of Faunce House.

As the crowd dispersed, a reporter for the NBC Providence affiliate WJAR - dressed in a blindingly red suit - interviewed Lim and several others for Providence NBC affiliate WJAR.

Several elements of the event came together at the last minute, said Adriane Lesser '08, one of the march's organizers. Chafee agreed late Thursday night to attend, and all of the other speakers confirmed the morning of the march. An audio system arrived just 30 minutes before noon.

Joel Tracy '09 heard about the march in an e-mail from his lacrosse coach. "I think the main point was, 'There's going to be this big thing on Friday, just make sure you wear red.' It had an outline of the whole situation, and it was tough to ignore," Tracy said. "You see the sacrifices of the monks out there, and it doesn't seem too hard to come out."

About 300 students took part in the march, and many more on campus wore red or maroon shirts to show their support. An event of that size "doesn't happen very often at Brown," said James Chaukos '09 of Amnesty International.

He added that much of the march's appeal came from its straightforward message. "It's a simple concept," Chaukos said. "All you have to do is wear a red shirt and show up at 12:00."

Cook-Deegan first introduced the idea of a campus march at a meeting Tuesday night, and for the next three days group members worked frantically to spread their message through tableslips, e-mail listservs, Facebook invitations and an information table set up in the center of campus.

_________________________________________________________

Burmese Days
By
The Brown Daily Herald, Providence, RI

Brown students are criticized ad nauseum for espousing idealism and settling for isolation atop College Hill. Though the University is widely known for its students' political activism, few campus movements speedily draw multiple student communities to a cause or powerfully reach out to the world beyond Brown. When Brown students do engage in issues that originate off our Hill, it is often with inconsistent ideologies and divisive intra-group politics.

And that's what makes a group like Brown's chapter of the U.S. Campaign for Burma so impressive.

When The Herald began a story on what was then a fledgling student group campaigning against an authoritarian regime in Southeast Asia just over a week ago, we doubt most Brown students would have been able to find Myanmar on a map.

One week later, as the political conflict in Yangon exploded, the student movement had expanded to seize the campus' attention and the involvement of several hundred people. Friday's rally drew Brown's best-known international experts, a sea of red in support and, possibly, more students than any other campus demonstration of solidarity with Myanmar's protestors.

On a campus jaded by a litany of impotent campus organizations - like the recently inaugurated Student Union at Brown University, which has been tackling critical issues like whether "decision-making" is one word or two (ahem, it takes a hyphen) - the campaign for Burma, like the Darfur divestment movement that preceded it, is refreshing.

Of course, this so-called Saffron Revolution is garnering tremendous attention on campuses and in communities around the world - despite the regime's attempts to silence communication in and out of the country. Myanmar's flagrantly politically oppressive regime has stemmed protest since the last major pro-democracy movement nearly 20 years ago. That uprising, which also resulted in a violent crackdown, spurred the regime to further isolate Myanmar from the rest of the world.

But in our increasingly interconnected world of text messaging, blogging and cell phone cameras, it seems unlikely that Myanmar's junta will silence the growing clamor. On campus, Brown students harnessed similar technology, using Facebook invites and e-mail listservs to reach out to their peers, friends and colleagues in an effort to bring attention to the attacks and need for justice in Myanmar.

Friday's demonstration on Lincoln Field - a sea of hundreds of students in red and purple - demonstrates how students across political affiliations, social circles and cultural ideologies can collectively mobilize for a deserving cause. As leaders of the campaign's Brown chapter geared up for the march, e-mails spread like wildfire to athletes, Amnesty International members and the College Republicans alike. The broad swathe of those who attended is a heartening reminder that alienating intra-group politics and partisan squabbling are not inevitable outgrowths of activism at Brown.

_________________________________________________________

Patrick Cook-Deegan '08: Ending China's support for Burmese oppression
By Patrick Cook-Deegan
The Brown Daily Herald, Providence, RI

During the past week, huge political protests have rocked Burma (Myanmar). On Monday and Tuesday, over 100,000 peaceful protesters took to the streets of Rangoon, Burma's biggest city, demanding an end to the brutal military regime that has oppressed the Burmese people for 45 years. On Tuesday, thousands of monks, accompanied by students and workers, again took to the streets shouting "Democracy! Democracy!" The protests are being dubbed the "Saffron Revolution" by the press, in reference to the color of the monks' robes.

The wave of protests, which started over a month ago, was sparked when the government decided to raise gas prices 500 percent overnight. Originally, the protests were small and led by an older generation of student leaders; some monks joined the protests as well. In a miscalculated move, the regime arrested and tortured several protesting monks. In response, monks around the predominantly-Buddhist country organized and subsequently demanded an apology. The regime refused to apologize, and protests erupted with new force last week. In the past week, the monks have been joined by tens of thousands of laypeople. They are demanding the release of all political prisoners (including Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi), and substantive political dialogue with the military regime. The regime yesterday threatened to break up the peaceful protests with characteristic force.

In 1988, similar widespread peaceful demonstrations took place throughout the country in response to an economic meltdown. The military dictatorship responded with brutal violence, killing more than 3,000 people in the streets and imprisoning 10,000 others. At this time, when the Burmese people peacefully stood up to tyranny, the international community shrugged its shoulders and offered little support. Following the uprisings in 1988, a new military junta took over, but nothing changed; the government continued its oppressive tactics.

Although similar to the 1988 protests, the current demonstrations are different in a number of critical ways. First, the protests are currently being led by monks, rather than students. Monks are greatly revered in Burmese society, and the government is less likely to use force on monks. An attack on monks could escalate the protests further.

Second, the onset of modern technologies has allowed the world to more effectively monitor what is going on. Although Burma has sealed the country to most foreign journalists, Burmese journalists and citizens are risking their lives by sneaking videos, text and photos to exile groups through cell phones and the internet.

Thirdly, the international community is paying close attention to the situation. Britain, Canada and France have all warned the government against using violence and called for reconciliation. Nobel Peace Prize recipients have led the charge calling for more sanctions on Burma, and action by the UN Security Council. President Bush, in his address to the UN yesterday, called for new sanctions on Burmese leaders and, more importantly, for every government around the world to use economic and political leverage to encourage change in Burma.

Finally, Burma's main political ally, China, is in a much different position than it was in 1988. Two decades ago, China followed the Burmese crackdown with its own suppression of pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square. Now, China is paying special attention to its global image given its rise on the international stage, particularly with the Olympics coming up next summer. The last thing China wants is for the Olympics to be overshadowed by the human rights abuses of Chinese-backed regimes. China is also Burma's leading arms supplier and most important economic partner.

Unfortunately, China has paralyzed the United Nations Security Council, vetoing a resolution that would have given the Secretary General more power in his dealings with the Burmese regime. However, in some cases, China has been willing to use its political leverage to deal with rogue regimes, as in the case of North Korea. China is also willing to change its international political position, given enough international outcry. China recently voted in favor of allowing UN peacekeepers into Darfur, after the international community put blame on China for its role in the genocide. Burma's regime has destroyed twice as many villages in eastern Burma as have been attacked in Darfur; the international community should pressure China to make a similar statesman-like compromise on Burma.

The world, and particularly the United States, needs to hold China responsible for the outcome in Burma. The international community should make it very clear that the military regime will not be allowed to kill off civilians with the tacit support of China. China could in fact benefit from the situation by using their sway with the military regime to press for peaceful reconciliation, boosting their international image. The international community must press China to use its leverage to push for a peaceful transition to democracy. This week, world leaders have gathered in New York for the UN Summit. The coinciding of the Burmese demonstrations and the UN Summit provides a unique opportunity for the UN to take a stand for its founding ideals - democracy, freedom and human rights. For the sake of the Burmese people, let us hope they act soon.

Patrick Cook-Deegan '08 is the northeast regional coordinator for U.S. Campaign for Burma. He has been featured on Radio Free Asia, NPR and Abroad View online magazine.

_________________________________________________________

Students quick to act for freedom in Myanmar
By Sam Byker
The Brown Daily Herald, Providence, RI

Today, as the bell atop University Hall tolls noon, members of the Brown chapter of the U.S. Campaign for Burma hope to see every Brown student standing on the Main Green in a red shirt. At 12 p.m., the students will begin a 10-minute silent march in support of protesters in Burma and former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies, will address the crowd.

The campaign's actions come at a critical time for Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Nine deaths were officially reported Thursday - with exile groups estimating higher numbers - in the second day of violent government crackdowns against a protest movement that has swept the Southeast Asian country.

Public dissent has been rare in Myanmar since its military seized power in 1962. The ruling junta's isolationist policies and socialist reforms plunged the country into steep economic decline. Once a prosperous nation with the world's largest rice exports, Myanmar now suffers from widespread hunger and disease. In 1989, the junta changed the country's official name from Burma to Myanmar. Since the change was never voted on by an elected legislature, many international groups refuse to recognize the new name.

Current demonstrations - the first major protests since 1988 - began in August after an increase in oil and fuel prices doubled the cost of transportation and left many Burmese unable to afford a bus fare. Unrest has spread rapidly since thousands of Buddhist monks became involved several weeks ago. The devoutly religious nation holds monks in reverence, and analysts say the government was reluctant to act against them for fear of sparking a massive public outcry.

On Monday, over 100,000 people marched through the streets of Yangon, Myanmar's capital, led by hundreds of monks in traditional rust-red robes. The next day, witnesses saw uniformed security officers deploying in Yangon's streets for the first time since the protests began. Media outlets are reporting that violent clashes have begun and that crowds have shrunk dramatically over the past two days.

The United States already has strict sanctions in place against Myanmar, and President Bush announced Tuesday in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly that they would be tightened further. However, many analysts say only China has the power to influence Myanmar. China has been active in developing Myanmar's extensive natural gas reserves and on Tuesday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have condemned the nation's military government.

A movement born

At the Brown campaign's meeting Tuesday night, the energy in the room was palpable. Patrick Cook-Deegan '08, the group's director, concluded a brief history of the conflict by telling members, "When we wake up tomorrow, something's going to happen."

"I really haven't slept at all," Cook-Deegan said. "Last night around 3:30, I came up with the idea of having everyone at Brown wear a red or maroon shirt" to mimic the monks' robes. The group quickly took to the idea and began to plan for its execution.

Cook-Deegan divided responsibilities among members. Some would table-slip, and others would distribute information on the Green or in the Ratty. The rest would tell their friends, classmates and members of other organizations. For the past two days, campaign members have been working frantically to spread the word, and by Thursday afternoon, the group's tables on the Main Green and in the Sharpe Refectory had collected names and e-mail addresses from hundreds of passing students.

Even with boundless energy, starting a campus group at Brown is no easy task. The campaign joins an already-crowded field of human rights groups that includes Amnesty International and the Darfur Action Network. Finding available resources at Brown can be difficult for new organizations, and the campaign has sought help from established groups.

Amy Tan '09 and James Chaukos '09 represented Amnesty International at the meeting. From the finer points of table-slipping to the inner workings of the Student Activities Office, they offered their expertise to the new campaign. "Certain things that we had to go through last year in organizing, they won't have to go through this time because we can tell them what things to look out for - like booking space for banners, something you wouldn't think about," Tan said.

Students active in the campaign cite the Darfur Action Network, Brown's chapter of the national group STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, as a model for their work, and they've sought to partner with it. "I don't think the goal is to start another STAND for Burma. There's not time for that, and the reason that STAND exists is so that we don't have to do that," said Scott Warren '09, one of STAND's national student directors.

Many campaign members have personal reasons for caring about Myanmar. Eric Gastfriend '10, the group's networking coordinator, traveled to Thailand last year on a program sponsored by Brown Hillel. "We were right on the Thai-Burmese border, and I met a lot of Burmese refugees," Gastfriend said. "Even though they lived in bamboo huts, they said that anything was better than Burma. ... When I got back home, I started researching it. I got in contact with the (national) U.S. Campaign for Burma." The national organization connected Gastfriend with Cook-Deegan.

Cook-Deegan's interest in Myanmar was sparked by a trip to Laos during the summer of 2005, where he also heard horror stories about the country. "I wanted to be able to do something about it," he said, "but I felt that I would have a lot more leverage to do something about it if I'd gone there and experienced something."

The next summer, Cook-Deegan biked the length of Laos in order to raise funds for a school there. After that trip, he headed to Myanmar for a month, hoping to learn more about the country. "It's like living in '1984.' You're monitored everywhere," Cook-Deegan said. "There are spies on the streets. Military people followed me around on motorcycles, knocked on my door at midnight and asked for my ID. It's illegal for a foreigner to spend the night at a Burmese person's house … so I had to spend the night at a bunch of roadside stands."

During the trip Cook-Deegan talked with monks, political dissidents and dozens of ordinary people, and he came back with a drive to do something about Myanmar. He took a year off from Brown and traveled around the United States speaking at schools about his bike trip. "When I got back on Aug. 22, I started contacting (the campaign) again and working furiously, and then these protests started, and everything changed," he said.

Cook-Deegan's ideas are already gaining ground, said Thelma Young, the national campaign coordinator for the U.S. Campaign for Burma. "The idea to have everyone wear red ... came from Patrick," Young said, and the idea been spreading quickly, "even throughout Europe - a guy from Italy e-mailed me today about it."

"The amount of awareness about Burma that's been exploding in the United States is overpowering," Young added. "People who didn't even know where Burma was before now know what's going on."

_________________________________________________________

Big adventure in Laos became mission of love
By Wendi Winters
The Capital, Annapolis, MD

The Price Auditorium at Severn School was packed, standing room only, Feb. 6. Teachers were standing in the doorways, craning for a view of the stage.

But it wasn't a rock star that riveted the attention of the Severn School community. The solitary figure in the spotlight's glow was Patrick Cook-Deegan, 21, a former football star and lacrosse All-American from Annapolis High School's Class of 2003.

Mr. Cook-Deegan isn't the self-described jock who left Annapolis to attend Brown University three and a half years ago. He thought he'd become a politician or professional lacrosse player. Instead, he's evolving into an education missionary. The past two years, he's traveled to over 20 countries, many with emerging or third world status, to learn about the people and their diverse cultures, beliefs, economic and educational systems.

The young man controlled a slide presentation and a hand-held laser pointer as he talked about a bike trip that changed his life. The photos chronicling the journey were nearly all his, with a haunting quality reminiscent of a Marion E. Warren, Richard Avedon or Irving Penn. Last summer, in an effort to raise funds to build schools in Laos, Mr. Cook-Deegan set up a foundation, Cycle For Schools, and hoped to raise $15,000 by pedaling his bike on a trek down the backbone of Laos. Over $22,500 was raised, enabling the youth to fund a primary school in Laos with a library, plus grant scholarships for two Cambodian girls to attend school from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Showing a Laotian thatched-roof classroom that looked like the interior of a fallen tobacco barn or a decrepit shed, he explained as a typical classroom.

"It's flooded four to five months of the year. They don't have desks, books or blackboards. The walls have fallen down, but they still came here to learn."

Another slide revealed the new school built with the funds he raised. The Severn School students gasped with delight. It has windows, plaster walls, a tin roof and lots of books.

"One new school house," he pointed out, "costs as much as one year's tuition at Severn School. The average teacher in Laos earns $25 a month."

His trip last summer took 14 weeks - four weeks longer than he anticipated. He did not return to the states in time to resume the fall semester so he'll finish his degree in American History next
year. In the interim, he's been touring several cities to raise money for his new charitable venture: Transform Abroad.

It's a program that funds trips abroad for U.S. high school students, who would not normally be able to afford such a trip, to volunteer and travel for a summer in a developing country.

Transform Abroad is partnered with Global Routes, a charity that operates more than 20 volunteer programs in 15 countries around the globe.

"It has a Web site, dudes! www.transformabroad.com. If you have a charity, or if you have to go to the bathroom these days, you need a Web site. You need a Web site for everything!" he joked during his presentation to loud student laughter. He looked around guiltily to see if a teacher would swat him, but they laughed along, too.

His 2,800-mile odyssey took him 1,200 miles through Laos on his bike, 600 miles via bus through part of Vietnam, and overland by airplane to Burma.

He practiced biking for the trip in Rhode Island, near Brown University, which is flat. In contrast, Laotian roads usually snaked in one direction - up - for miles at a time. He biked as much as 100
miles on a good day, fewer than 14 when the rain came down so hard he couldn't see his hand in front of his face.

At every village, he recounted, children came out to greet him. While most adults were away working 18-hour days in rice fields or in urban sweatshops, the remaining adults would offer him food and hospitality.

"I had lots of offers of marriage to someone's daughter and tea," he laughed. "I was always surrounded by curious kids. Once two boys followed me on a bike for 8 miles up a hill."

"I didn't speak Lao," he emphasized during a question and answer session. "I'd point to them. They'd point to me. It was a point-fest and we'd be friends!"

He carried one change of clothes, bug spray, sunscreen and a full supply of bike parts. Since he rarely ate meat on his trip and often went without meals, he lost 25 pounds during the trek.

At nights, he'd pay $2 to sleep in a "guest house" with dozens of snoring strangers who spit red tobacco juice in their slumber.

"I learned a lot on this trip you wouldn't learn otherwise," he told the kids. "Every day, I didn't know what would happen."

In moving terms, illustrated with his own photos, he described the social and economic disparities he learned about on his travels. Mr. Cook-Deegan urged the audience to "think globally. Don't pretend these things don't happen. You can make a big difference with not a lot of time or money."

When one teen asked him why he wants to build schools instead of health clinics or homes, his answer was direct.

"Village elders told me they wanted a school. It's a sign of hope. A sign their kids will grow up literate. That things will get better. It's a catalyst for change in the community."

"If you can't read, there's not a lot you can do. You can't read a stop sign or a contract. You don't know if someone is coming to seize your land because you accidentally signed your rights away."

He held a fundraiser in the auditorium of Annapolis High School yesterday, where adults were asked to donate $100.

Once a resident of Epping Forest, the Cook-Deegan family now resides in Durham, N.C., where his father, Robert, has been the head of Duke University's Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy since 2002. His mother, Kathryn, commutes to Switzerland, where she is working on a
degree in psychoanalysis. His sister Maeve attends high school in North Carolina.

To learn more about Mr. Cook-Deegan's project, visit www.transformabroad.com. Until Transform Abroad receives non-profit status, any donations should be sent to a dedicated fund at Global Routes. Global Routes is a registered 501(3) and all donations are tax-deductible. Checks can be made out to "Global Routes" and write " Transform Abroad" at the bottom left-hand corner. The mailing address is Global Routes, Attn: Transform Abroad, One Short Street,
Northampton, MA 01060.

_________________________________________________________

A roundabout route to Southeast Asia schools
by Diane Daniel
The Sunday Boston Globe, Boston, MA

WHO: Patrick Cook-Deegan, 21, of Providence

WHERE: Laos, Cambodia, and Burma

WHEN: Last June-September

WHY: "I wanted to do a bicycle ride to raise $15,500 to build a school in Laos," said Cook-Deegan, who worked with Room to Read (roomtoread.org), a nonprofit group that helps build schools and libraries in developing countries.

FROM THE GROUND UP: On a backpacking trip in summer 2005, Cook-Deegan, a senior at Brown University, toured Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and Laos. "Laos affected me the most," he said. "The villages are so isolated. Sometimes that's idealized -- the lack of resources, farming in a third-world county. But the other side is that you don't have running water, you don't have a school, you don't have a doctor."

CYCLING SENSE: Having decided to return to Laos, he wanted to combine adventure and helping people. "I hadn't owned a bike since I was 14, but I thought it would be a great way to get a more intimate feel of the country and the people," said Cook-Deegan, an athlete for most of his school years. He called the project Cycle for Schools (cycleforschools.com) and asked everyone he knew for donations to Room to Read. Before he left, he had raised close to the $15,500 goal and he has since raised $8,000 more.

LEARNING CURVE: Cook-Deegan stresses that while he was happy to help the Laotians, he received much in return. "I wish there was more emphasis placed on what we can learn from them," he said, such as being more in touch with nature, making family a priority over work, and revering the elderly population.

PEDAL POWER: In one month, he cycled 1,200 miles through Laos, often slogging through muddy, potholed, and mountainous roads to reach small towns off the main roads. "I got a map and just went from there. I'd get to one place to sleep and ask how many miles away another guesthouse was. I had a phrasebook and picked up the basics. My number one question was, 'How far?' " He often stayed in villages with no plumbing or electricity. A highlight was meeting with local Laotian Room to Read staff members and visiting two schools they had built. "I asked them, 'Let's say you as a village needed any one thing, what would you ask for?' I thought they'd say electricity or plumbing, but they said a school. That affirmed what I believe about the importance of education."

BODY AND SOUL: Cook-Deegan next cycled 600 miles through Cambodia and flew to Burma (whose government refers to the country as Myanmar), where he cycled another 1,000 miles and worked with the US Campaign for Burma (campaignforburma.org). In Cambodia he took a 10-day course in silent meditation, something new to him. "The course totally changed my life," said Cook-Deegan, who continues with meditation.

NO LOW GEAR: Cook-Deegan is taking a year off from Brown to travel and speak about his trip and promote Room to Read and the US Campaign for Burma. "The chief thing I'm emphasizing is learning at an experiential level, and that's what travel allows you to do." He also plans to start a study-abroad scholarship fund, and next summer plans to work at a school in Sierra Leone.

_________________________________________________________

Exploration, education mark student's bike odyssey
What did you do this summer? This guy helped fund a new school in Laos
by Stanley B. Chambers Jr.
The North Carolina News and Observer

His father's commitment to human rights inspired Patrick Cook-Deegan to bike 2,800 miles across Southeast Asia this summer to raise money for a school in Laos.
His odyssey began last year when Cook-Deegan, 21, backpacked across New Zealand and Australia. He had planned to visit Bangkok, Thailand, but became interested in Laos after he asked other backpackers about places he could visit in Southeast Asia.

What he found in Laos, sandwiched between Thailand and Vietnam, were remote villages with deteriorating schools or none at all.

"It was a realization of the inequality of the world," said Cook-Deegan while in Durham recently. "I thought back to when I went to school and how much we had. And thought back to some things I took for granted, such as waking up in the middle of the night and turning on running water."

It was then that Cook-Deegan decided he wanted to help build a school in the country. His fundraising tool? A bike ride that would allow him to explore while making a difference. His mother told him about Room to Read, an organization striving to improve education in developing countries. Volunteers with big ideas are common in the group, but development associate Jayson Morris had doubts about a college student raising $15,500 on his own.

"[Patrick is] definitely a unique, special individual to be that globally aware ..." Morris said.

Cook-Deegan created a Web site (www.cycleforschools.com) to spread the word about his trip. More than 100 contributors in the U.S. and Europe gave a total of $22,600, well surpassing his goal. The money will help build a primary school in Laos and provide two K-12 scholarships for girls in Cambodia.

Cook-Deegan's journey began on June 23 at the Laos-China border. He biked 1,200 miles through Laos in a month, traveling up to 75 miles a day. After reaching Cambodia, he continued another 600 miles before taking a bus to Bangkok and then a plane to Burma, where he biked another 1,000 miles. He completed his adventure on Sept. 19.

During the trip he napped in strangers' living rooms. Nights were spent in guesthouses, monasteries or camping out. Days were spent riding "around the slums of Cambodia, military compounds in Burma and in distant villages in Laos," he said.

It was not a leisurely trip. Biking through the steep mountains in northern Laos made his legs burn with pain. Cook-Deegan had a fever and chills for two days while in Burma -- made worse by a seven-hour bus ride.

Most of his time was spent in small fishing villages, using a phrase book and lots of pointing to communicate. Although he was an American in places where few foreigners venture, Cook-Deegan said he never feared for his safety.

" The locals are always really friendly," he said. "The children would come up to you and tug at you. You're kinda like a spectacle."

Cook-Deegan's background belies his sensitivity. An all-star high school athlete (football, track and lacrosse) in Annapolis, Md., he completed six weeks of Marine Officers Candidate School before attending Brown University, where he will be a senior this fall.

Maybe it's genetic. His father, Dr. Robert Cook-Deegan, is a former board member of Physicians for Human Rights. He is currently director of the Center for Genome Ethics, Law and Policy at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy.

The younger Cook-Deegan now spends his time writing about his trip and supporting the U.S. Campaign for Burma. He also makes presentations to schools, including a recent stop at Durham Academy. There he told students to reach out to developing countries and to not be afraid to explore the world.

Pat McLendon, a Durham Academy junior, was impressed by Cook-Deegan's journey.

"I had no idea that traveling could be used to make a difference like this," Pat said. "Personally, I don't think I could ever bike through Laos, but I will definitely try and make a difference, even if it's just volunteering around Durham."

Cook-Deegan plans to visit the school he helped sponsor. He dedicated the school to his dad and wants him to come along.

"What father wouldn't want that? It's an incredible honor," Robert Cook-Deegan said. "What else can you ask for from a son?"

__________________________________________________________

Biking 2,800 miles helps build school
By Karen Lee Ziner