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:

Thirty students, recent alumni receive Fulbright grants
Today at Brown, Providence, RI
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Patrick Cook-Deegan, Founder of Cycling for Schools, to Lecture
Hamilton College News, Clinton, NY
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Converse to host talk about Burma
Spartanburg Herald-Journal, Spartanburg, SC
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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
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Patrick Cook-Deegan: U.S. must force help into Burma
The Providence Journal, Providence, RI
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Human Rights Torch Rallies Support in Rhode Island
The Epoch Times, Boston, MA
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Putting the Squeeze on Burma's Military Junta
Brown Policy Review, Fall 2007, Providence, RI
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Patrick Cook-Deegan: Why the young back Obama
The Providence Journal, Providence, RI
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Former Annapolis High athlete aids Myanmar protesters
The Capital, Annapolis, MD
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Patrick Cook-Deegan: Push China to stop outrage in Burma
The Providence Journal, Providence, RI
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300 rally in red for Myanmar
The Brown Daily Herald, Providence, RI
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Burmese days
The Brown Daily Herald, Providence, RI
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Patrick Cook-Deegan '08: Ending China's support for Burmese oppression
The Brown Daily Herald, Providence, RI
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Students quick to act for freedom in Myanmar
The Brown Daily Herald, Providence, RI
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Big adventure in Laos became mission of love
The Capital, Annapolis, MD
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A roundabout route to Southeast Asia schools
The Sunday Boston Globe, Boston, MA
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Exploration, education mark student's bike odyssey
The North Carolina News and Observer, Durham, NC
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Biking 2,800 miles helps build school
The Providence Journal, Providence, RI
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A Trek to Change the World
The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.
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Student to bike 900 miles through Laos
The Capital, Annapolis, Maryland
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A long and winding road to a Laotian school
The Brown Daily Herald, Providence, RI and Vientiane Times, Laos
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M. lax running lots of laps for a good cause
The Brown Daily Herald, Providence, RI
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Thirty students, recent alumni receive Fulbright grants
By TBA staff
Today at Brown, Providence RI

A contingent of Brunonians will fan out around the world this coming year, performing original research and teaching English in countries from Ghana to the Kyrgyz Republic.

Twenty-three members of the class of 2009, four members of the class of 2008, one 2007 graduate, and two graduate students have been awarded Fulbright grants for the 2009-2010 academic year. With funding from the international education program sponsored by the U.S. government, this year's recipients will pursue independent research, study, and/or teach English in more than 20 countries including Brazil, Egypt, Ghana, Greece, Indonesia, Kyrgyz Republic, Norway, and Syria. Their projects will span a wide variety of fields such as chemistry, dance studies, and urban development.

Of the 91 graduating seniors and recent alumni who applied for the fellowships, 28 received them. "Our success with this award demonstrates the strength of our undergraduate curriculum," says Associate Dean of the College Linda Dunleavy, who serves as the fellowship dean and the Fulbright Program advisor at Brown. The curriculum, she says, "prepares students to take risks and chart their own intellectual journeys."

Charles Frohman '09 will travel to Spain to work with Alicia, a nonprofit government-funded center of gastronomic research. With an abiding passion for cooking, and having recently completed a chemistry concentration, Frohman will develop innovative cooking technologies that bridge the interface between chemistry and gastronomy, fusing his interests in science with his love for cooking.

Another senior Fulbright recipient, George Mesthos '09, will investigate the Greek Orthodox Church's response to the country's recent flow of immigrants. "My study [will] transform what are essentially two monologues," Mesthos explains, "into a dialogue about how Greece should handle immigration and what role the church plays in the changing state." At the same time, he will pursue a master's degree in political science at the University of Athens.

Patrick Cook-Degan '08 will go to Thailand to research the measures Thai disaster-relief organizations have taken to prevent devastation from future natural disasters following the 2004 Asian tsunami and 2008 Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. He hopes his Fulbright experience will move him closer to his goal of working on issues related to economic and civil-society development in Southeast Asia.

In addition to the 28 graduating seniors and recent alumni, two Brown graduate students also won Fulbrights this year - Christopher Gibson '06 A.M., a Ph.D. candidate in sociology, and Amy Marshall '05 A.M., a Ph.D. candidate in history. Gibson will study urban inequality and participatory democracy in Brazil's largest cities, while Marshall will research patriotism and popular media in interwar Japan. David Lindstrom, associate dean of the Graduate School, oversees the Fulbright program at the graduate level.

Teaching assistantships offered by numerous countries through the Fulbright program present another option for graduating seniors. This opportunity often appeals to students interested in a completely new cultural experience who are not wedded to a particular idea for a research or study project. While teaching 12 to 15 hours per week, students use their free time to pursue a side project of their own design, such as language study or the exploration of a serious hobby.

Renee Ahlers '09, who has previous teaching experience, earned a teaching assistantship in Mexico. A dual concentrator in Hispanic studies and international relations, Ahlers hopes not only to foster learning between the United States and Mexico but also to investigate human rights protection through NGO work.

Rajiv Jayadevan '09 will travel to Indonesia for his English teaching assistantship. "As a teacher and mentor in Indonesia, I look forward to being part of an educational cross-cultural exchange and representing my country abroad," says Jayadevan. He will also undretake formal language instruction in his host country.

Prior to the announcement of this year's Fulbright winners, on April 30 the Office of the Dean of the College celebrated past, present, and potential recipients of the award. Current students who are considering Fulbright applications learned about the process at an information session that was followed by eclectic presentations by Brown Fulbright alumni. Alumni presenters included Afreen Akhter '06 (Jamaica), Zachary Barter '06 (ETA Taiwan), Jennifer Chudy '07 (ETA South Korea), Linda Evarts '06 (Colombia), Gregory Fay '07 (China), Jacob Izenberg '08 (Malaysia), Andrew Matheny '06 (Ukraine), and Natalie Smolenski '07 (Egypt).

In late October, when the Chronicle of Higher Education publishes the results of this year\u2019s Fulbright competition, Dunleavy says, Brown is expected to rank well among its peer institutions in the number of awards.

Patrick Cook-Deegan, Founder of Cycling for Schools, to Lecture
By Danielle Raulli
Hamilton College News, Clinton, NY

Patrick Cook-Deegan, a 2008 graduate of Brown University who raised funds to build schools in Laos by bicycling through Southeast Asia, will give a presentation about his experiences on Thursday, April 23, at 8 p.m. in the Fillius Events Barn. The lecture is sponsored by STAND, the student coalition against genocide, and is free and open to the public.

Cook-Deegan was a sophomore at Brown University when he decided to travel through New Zealand, Australia, through Southeast Asia and the Middle East, eventually arriving in Istanbul where he spent his junior fall semester at the University of the Bosporus. His time spent traveling inspired him to create a fundraising trip called "Cycling for Schools" which he used to raise money for building schools in Laos through the charity, Room to Read. By biking approximately 2,700 miles through Southeast Asia, Cook-Deegan managed to raise $22,500 to build a school in Laos as well as provide two K-12 scholarships for girls in Cambodia.

Following his trip, Cook-Deegan began working for an organization called the U.S. Campaign for Burma, a Washington D.C.-based advocacy group that promotes freedom, democracy and human rights in the country. He went on to volunteer as the Northeast regional director for the U.S. Campaign for Burma. In his time there, he has raised more than $75,000 for the organization and published a host of articles on the subject of Burmese human rights violations. In 2007 Cook-Deegan created an organization called Transform Abroad, which sends low-income college students abroad to volunteer in underdeveloped countries during the summer.

In addition to managing his roles in these organizations, Cook-Deegan also travels around the U.S. speaking to students about his experience and encouraging others to become impassioned by global issues that interest them.

Converse to host talk about Burma
Spatranburg Herald-Journal, Spartanburg, SC

Patrick Cook-Deegan of the U.S. Campaign for Burma will give a presentation on Burma, now commonly known as Myanmar, and the conflict that engulfs it at 8 p.m. today.

The free event will be in Dalton Auditorium in Converse's Phifer Science Hall.

Cook-Deegan's visit is sponsored by the Converse chapter of STAND, a national student-run organization that has mainly focused on the conflict in Darfur but recently has broadened its scope to include Burma, in southeast Asia.

Cook-Deegan, a recent graduate of Brown University, said the military junta that rules the country has been responsible for the burning of 3,300 ethnic minority villages in the past decade.

"They're trying to assert control over these areas by burning villages, raping women, pushing people out of the country, pushing people out of the jungleside," Cook-Deegan said, "and in the process they've created hundreds of thousands of refugees."

Cook-Deegan's visit was orchestrated by Converse sophomore Lisa Godenick, STAND's Southeast regional outreach coordinator and co-chairwoman of the Converse chapter with sophomore Madison Webb.

"Of all the colleges we've been working with in the past few years," Cook-Deegan said, "she's definitely been one of the most responsive and enthusiastic and detail-oriented."

Last spring, the Converse chapter held a benefit dinner for victims of Darfur, and Godenick said that helped spark interest in the organization on campus, which has about 20 active members, she said.

"I think people saw that we were serious about what we wanted to do and we weren't just a little organization trying to take budget money from the student government association," Godenick said.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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."

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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.

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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.

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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?"

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

Propelled by a "cosmic moment," Brown University student Patrick Cook-Deegan combined adventure with altruism this summer by cycling through Laos, to help build a school in a remote country where few schools exist.

Carrying a spare change of clothes, bug spray, sunscreen and "a bunch of books," Cook-Deegan persevered for a daunting 1,200 miles to publicize his fundraising campaign for the nonprofit Room to Read organization (www.roomtoread.org) that builds schools, libraries and language labs in developing countries. He also rode 1,600 miles in Cambodia and Burma.

The lithe 21-year-old got off to an inauspicious start. His bike gears worked erratically at first. His outstanding athletic skills -- in lacrosse, football and track -- did little to prepare him for the undulating Laotian highlands. Seasonal rains turned roads to quagmires.

He shed 25 pounds, but gained appreciation for the concept of freedom and those who live without it.

Most importantly, Cook-Deegan's efforts have paid for one new school and an adjacent library in the far-northern village of Ban May, and two educational scholarships for young Cambodian women.

Jayson Morris, development associate at Room to Read's San Francisco headquarters, said he was "a bit skeptical" at first whether someone as young as Cook-Deegan could raise $16,000 to build a school. He was soon pleasantly surprised.

" We've had a few people do cycling fundraisers, but in terms of Patrick's age and his ability to organize and galvanize support, it's been very rare..... But Patrick was quite confident in his ability to raise that money before he went to Laos, and throughout the process he showed fantastic energy and dedication.

" The support started rolling in almost immediately, and I know he sent letters to various constituencies; family, friends, friends of friends, networks through Brown. He kept tapping into new networks and refused to give up, and raised over $22,000, which was an amazing achievement."

Cook-Deegan, whose tousled, laconic presence belies his steely motivation, believes his Cycle for Schools contribution will foster economic and social advancement.

Bricks and mortar "are more than just a building," he says. "You also give a village a sign of hope -- one that villagers pass by every single day." He adds, "Most of the elders that I talked with are illiterate and never went to school. That's what the people said -- they said they wished they could all turn into kids again, so they could go to school."

COOK-DEEGAN's CYCLING project was borne of a 2005 hitchhiking and backpacking tour of Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, followed by a fall semester at the University of the Bosporus in Turkey.

In part, he was taking a breather from a stellar athletic career that included lettering in lacrosse and football during high school in Annapolis, Md., as well as running track (the lacrosse and track teams both were state champions). Brown recruited him to play lacrosse.

His 2005 trip included a month in Laos, a country under communist rule by the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and ground zero for a secret war conducted by the United States during the Vietnam era. Mountainous and remote, it is considered one of the world's 10 poorest countries. At times, it has denied entry to outsiders. The country's "complete lack of resources," including educational opportunities, sanitation and other basic necessities, troubled him. The warmth, curiosity and friendliness of the Laotian people impressed him.

He wanted to give back, but how?

Then came the cosmic moment when Cook-Deegan's mother met him in Slovakia during his fall semester abroad, and handed him a pamphlet she'd picked up at the airport. The pamphlet advertised Room to Read.

Cook-Deegan e-mailed the organization and asked if could adopt a project. He also made a radical decision to put aside athletics.

From Istanbul, he says, "I called my lacrosse coach, and I told him I didn't want to play anymore."

Returning to Brown in January, he enlisted a friend to create a Web site for his project, Cycle for Schools (www.cycleforschools.com), whose proceeds he would donate to Room to Read. Eventually he raised $22,000.

For credibility's sake, he also wanted greater familiarity with Laos and its people. Biking, he decided, "would be an awesome way" to steep himself in the culture, raise his project's profile, and keep donations flowing.

There was one major problem: Cook-Deegan knew next to nothing about bicycle mechanics -- not even how to change a flat tire.

He did a quick course in bike maintenance, then a week before a scheduled training ride, "I ran over the bike and totaled it."

A Good Samaritan from REI outdoor gear store repaired the bike, free of charge.

HE ARRIVED IN Laos in late June, during rainy season. Frequent deluges obscured his vision or washed out the roads, and sometimes, he says, "there was like a foot of mud and I had to walk my bike."

He slept at guesthouses and monasteries, and camped out. He ate a lot of rice and bananas. When conversation proved difficult, he sang karaoke or played soccer with the locals, or read books (including Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance).

Bike travel gave him an entry ticket: people shared their meals and homes, "even if they wondered what exactly a big, awkward white guy was doing riding a bike into their village," he wrote in his online journal. He saw few fellow westerners.

" I remember the first time I saw one of the houses and realized that 8 to 12 people sleep in a house that isn't much bigger than my bedroom at home. You can see pictures and read about it, but to walk in and see 10 people going to sleep on the floor is a lot different."

He visited a completed school funded by Room to Read, and another that was under construction.

" The villagers build it. There's some help with the foundation work, but all the construction is basically done by the villagers -- one, to cut down on costs, but more importantly to give them a sense of ownership."

In July, Cook-Deegan traveled to Cambodia, where he biked another 600 miles, spent 10 days in a meditation retreat, and turned 21.

In August and September, he rode through parts of Burma, where he observed "a complete lack of freedom" under the current military dictatorship, legendary for its human-rights abuses. That regime squelched a pro-democracy movement in 1990 and placed the movement's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest, where she remains.

" You can't read what you want, or talk about what you want" in Burma, he says. "You can't use e-mail. You can't get a job -- you can't teach your kid to read."

Government rules precluded Cook-Deegan from staying in people's homes; at times, he was followed.

After hearing a former political prisoner and Burmese activist speak at Brown this spring, Cook-Deegan signed on as the volunteer head activist in Northern New England for the U.S.-based Free Burma campaign. He is also on a speaking tour to tell American students about his cycling-for-schools experiences. He will return to Brown next fall for his senior year.

By the way, Cook-Deegan's mileage counter broke at the end of his 2,800-mile trip. And in the last few days, he got three flat tires.

This time, he could fix them.

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A Trek to Change the World
Student's Bike Ride To Raise Money for New School in Laos
By Angus Phillips
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, April 6, 2006; Page AA19
Is there life after high school football? All right, how about after a highly successful run in football, track and lacrosse?
Former sports star Patrick Cook-Deegan is set to prove there is, with a 900-mile trek through Laos this summer for a good cause.
Sports have been good to Cook-Deegan. In his last two years at Annapolis High he was a three-sport mainstay -- starting defenseman on the lacrosse team that won a state championship, free safety on a football team that lost just four games over two seasons, half-miler on a track squad that was state champion.
"I loved Annapolis High," said Cook-Deegan, now a junior at the Ivy League Brown University in Providence, R.I., "and I loved those Friday night games."
He was recruited to play lacrosse at Brown and was on the field every game his first two years as a longstick midfielder. But everyone has to move on, and last year he did. "I'd been playing organized sports since I was 4 years old," he said. "I just realized after two years at Brown that if I kept playing, it was lacrosse and school, no time for anything else."
He opted for a summer off and a semester abroad that changed his way of looking at things. Starting last May, Cook-Deegan hitchhiked around New Zealand, backpacked in Australia, thumbed his way through Thailand and Laos, then went to Turkey for a semester at Bogazici University that included a bit of exploring Eastern Europe.
The place that left the strongest impression was Laos, which he described as "untouched by Western civilization -- so far." Traveling by boat up the Mekong River with five other adventurers, he stayed with farmers and fishermen and made friends playing soccer and volleyball with locals. "It was probably the most relaxed place I've ever been," he said. "The people are friendly, but not in-your-face friendly. And everything moves so slowly."
He made an impression at karaoke bars, where he said he was the only one who knew all the words to pop songs and understood what they meant. "They're so happy for somebody who actually speaks English and can say the words correctly."
Relying on locals to help as he scratched out a living on $8 a day, Cook-Deegan fell in love with Laos. When he returned to Brown, he hatched a payback plan. In June, he intends to return, this time with a bicycle, and ride from the northern to the southern border, about 900 miles. He'll send back Internet reports to sponsors he's enlisted in the United States, and the money he raises will go to build a school in a rural area in Laos.
He's working through a charity called Room to Read, which estimates it costs $15,500 to build a school in the country. Cook-Deegan said he's already generated about half that from relatives and friends and hopes to spread the word to raise the rest.
"It's a terrific impact for the money. Half the women and a third of the men in Laos are illiterate, but you can build a school for 150 kids there for what it costs to send one kid to private school for a year in the U.S.," he said.
The ride will be in the rainy season, but, Cook-Deegan said, he's prepared for the worst. He's training for a half-Ironman this spring, either in Maryland or Rhode Island. By the time college lacrosse teams head to Philadelphia for the NCAA final-four Memorial Day weekend, he'll be plugging along in the Laotian mountains somewhere, doing his bit for a better world.
To find out more about Cook-Deegan's ride, visit his Web site, http://www.cycleforschools.com , or the Room to Read Web site at http://www.roomtoread.org .

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Student to bike 900 miles through Laos
By WENDI WINTERS
The Capital

This summer, Patrick Cook-Deegan, a Class of 2003 Annapolis High graduates, is planning to take a bike ride.
It will be no ordinary ride. The former Epping Forest resident intends to pedal 900 miles over three weeks from the northern tip of Laos, near China, down to its southernmost point, close to the borders of Thailand and Cambodia.

Alone. During monsoon season.

The trip is a means for the 20-year-old to raise money to build and stock schools in some of the villages he will pass through, or to rebuild others destroyed by war or neglect.

He's hoping to encourage donations of over $15,000 to the project he's established, Cycle for Schools. Proceeds will be turned over to the nonprofit group Room to Read.

Mr. Cook-Deegan is also approaching bike manufacturers and bicycle shops to sponsor him by providing a sturdy bike for the trip. A good model with accessories and extra parts costs about $1,000. Costs for airfare and per diem expenses - he estimates those are less than $10 per day - will come out of his pocket.

Now a junior at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Mr. Cook-Deegan spent eight months of his sophomore year traveling around the world. One month during his journey, he roamed throughout Laos.

"I went to villages with no electricity," he said. "It was safe, not like going to France, but not dangerous either. The people of Laos are amazing."

Villagers scavenge the nose cones of exploded bombshells from the Vietnam War as the foundation for their homes.

Everywhere Mr. Cook-Deegan went, people housed him as their honored guest and fed him. They played soccer and sang karaoke.

Stateside, he decided to do something to help the Laotians he'd met, and found Room to Read online in hopes of producing tangible results within six months.

Room to Read has been a partner in the construction of over 197 schools, 2,565 libraries and dozens of computer and language labs. It has put 1.1 million English language books in the hands of kids worldwide and established scholarships for nearly 1,800 girls.

With a friend, he set up a Web site, lavishly illustrated with photos from his travels in Laos, that outlined his ambitious project.

The monsoons and hours of heavy rainfall will determine Patrick's route in Laos. To get there, he'll probably fly into Bangkok and take an overnight train to Changtnai, Thailand, and then cross the border into northern Laos.

His cell phone won't work, so he'll contact his family from the occasional cyber cafe.

Patrick traces his wanderlust to his dad, Robert, who was hired in 2002 as the head of Duke University's Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy. He commuted weekly between the family's home ouside Annapolis and Durham, N.C., during Patrick's final year at Annapolis High.

Meantime, his mother, Kathryn, has also been commuting for six years to Switzerland, pursuing a degree in psychoanalysis and is now working on her dissertation. Patrick also has a sister, Maeve, 13.

His parents hyphenated their names when they married.

"Since we moved, I don't have a 'home home,'" Patrick said. Since his college years began, he's traveled through 20 countries.

Mr. Cook-Deegan spent his freshman, junior and senior years at Annapolis High, where he fondly remembers World Civilizations teacher Phil Greenfield. Sophomore year was spent at a Baltimore school he didn't like.

Patrick was All-American his senior year in lacrosse, a sport he also played his first two years in college.

In football, he played free safety and had seven interceptions his senior year. With a 4.3 weighted grade point average, he earned the Scholar Athlete Award his last year at AHS.

"I liked the camaraderie I had at Annapolis High with my friends on the lacrosse and football teams," Mr. Cook-Deegan reminisced. "I miss the water, going downtown and hanging out with my friends."

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A long and winding road to a Laotian school
Patrick Cook-Deegan '07 will cycle across Laos this summer for an educational cause
Ila Tyagi
Posted: 4/14/06



While other Brown students may spend the summer as camp counselors, in office internships or investment banks, Patrick Cook-Deegan '07 will bike along the entire length of Laos, alone. Cook-Deegan will cycle 900 miles in an effort to raise $15,500 toward building a new Laotian school.

Sandwiched between Thailand and Vietnam in Southeast Asia, Laos has the dubious distinction of being one of the 10 poorest countries in the world. A former varsity lacrosse player for the Bears, Cook-Deegan spent nearly a month in Laos last summer while on an eight-month journey around the world which culminated in a semester abroad at the University of the Bosphorus in Turkey.

The "incredible poverty of the majority of Laotians" that Cook-Deegan saw first-hand inspired him to help alleviate local challenges in his own way, he wrote on the Web site created for his trip. He sees his project, Cycle For Schools 2006, as an opportunity to better understand the needs of people in the developing world, something he hopes to continue to do after he graduates.

Cook-Deegan's trip is scheduled for Laos' monsoon season, which makes the country's terrain challenging. To prepare for the conditions, Cook-Deegan went snowshoeing in Vermont over spring break. As further training he will take part in a half Ironman competition in June, in which he will have to swim 1.2 miles, bike another 56 miles and run 13.1 miles.

"That should get me in pretty good shape," he said.

Despite the trying environment of his summer endeavor, the only special equipment Cook-Deegan plans to pack is a hammock with a mosquito net and "lots of bug repellant." Expressing a disdain for the traditional tourist traps found in every country, Cook-Deegan said he hopes to immerse himself in Laotians' lives, eat meals with them, sleep in their houses and see how they live in "more of a raw form."

So far, Cook-Deegan has raised approximately half the money needed to build the school, primarily through e-mails sent to friends and relatives requesting financial donations and encouraging them to pass the message on. STA Travel has agreed to subsidize Cook-Deegan's airfare, and DHL is sponsoring the shipment of his bike to Laos.

He is making his trip in partnership with Room to Read, an international organization that seeks to educate children in developing Asian countries by helping to provide schools, libraries and language and computer labs. The organization also strives to provide long-term scholarships.

Once the requisite funds are raised in full, they will be transferred to one of the communities Room to Read is working on in Laos. Cook-Deegan's cycle journey will fund the construction of one community's main secondary school as part of Room to Read's "challenge grant model," according to Jayson Morris, the organization's associate director. This program involves community members in the construction of new schools by requiring them to donate land, labor and materials - a method designed to ensure long-term sustainability that appealed to Cook-Deegan.

When he visited Laos for the first time, Cook-Deegan was surprised by how kindly Laotians treated him in a country where the aftershocks of the Vietnam War can be felt to this day. Laos has been dubbed "the most bombed country in the world," and the danger of leftover live bombs from the war makes traveling off the road a life-threatening activity.

Those who know Cook-Deegan say that his enthusiasm for community service and predisposition to challenging himself make him uniquely inclined to the cycling trip. "Patrick is a very socially minded young person, very determined and open to new ideas," said Adjunct Lecturer in Engineering Josef Mittlemann '72 P'00 P'04, who advised Cook-Deegan on a group independent study project focused on innovation in domestic and international education.

Even the parents of Cook-Deegan's friends seem to be enthusiastic about his summer journey. Julie Hill, mother of Matthew Newcomb '07, describes herself as "a bit of a cheerleader" for her friend's son's project. She has contributed to Cycle For Schools 2006 and helped spread the word to others.

"He's a very talented young man, but he has a real compassion of heart as well," she said, adding that Cook-Deegan's combination of athleticism, intelligence and compassion is rare.

Cook-Deegan hopes this trip will inform his future plans to work in international development by giving him an understanding of the Laotian people and the challenges they face. He prefers this perspective to hypothesizing about development solutions from afar. "This trip is a way to be on the ground and talk to people as opposed to sitting in a classroom and reading about them," he said. "I wouldn't feel justified issuing blanket statements about what needs to be done about a different culture."

But he also hopes his trip will be an adventure. He said he likes knowing that while journeying across the country he will have no idea where his next meal will be coming from. As someone who said he finds himself "claustrophobic" in "distorted and mangled" urban environments, Cook-Deegan can look forward to hundreds of miles of solitary journey through Laos' lush natural landscape.

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M. lax running lots of laps for a good cause
By PETER CIPPARONE
The Brown Daily Herald

If you see a man running around the Main Green on Tuesday, Nov. 28, chances are he won't be on a morning jog. If you see someone else running across the Main Green at 1:45 a.m. that night, that person might not be on a buzzer-beating sprint to Josiah's.

Instead, you will likely be witnessing a leg of the men's lacrosse team's Room to Read run. From 10 a.m. Nov. 28 to 10 p.m. Nov. 29, the team will circle the Main Green to raise money for the construction of two primary schools in Sri Lanka, to be built in areas affected by the tsunami that struck the region in December 2004.

The team is hoping to raise $36,000 by having its 36 members circle the Main Green for 36 hours. Each player will run three 20-minute shifts over the course of the event.

The team's inspiration to participate in Room to Read came from Patrick Cook-Deegan '08, a former lacrosse player. Cook-Deegan spent this past summer biking 2,800 miles through Cambodia, Laos and Burma to raise money for Room to Read. He raised $22,500 for his efforts, enough to build a primary school with a library attached in Laos and two K-12 girls schools in Cambodia.

Cook-Deegan is currently taking a year off from school to tour America, raising awareness and funds for Room to Read. The effort is the brainchild of John Wood, a former Microsoft executive who was inspired to start a foundation to increase educational opportunities in developing countries by constructing schools.

Earlier this fall, while Cook-Deegan was back on campus, a few members of the lacrosse team, including co-captain David Madeira '07, ran into him.

"We picked (Cook-Deegan) up in our car and started asking him all about his summer," Madeira said. "He was telling us all about the trip, and we knew we were looking for a service project so we mentioned it to (Head Coach Lars Tiffany '90)."

Cook-Deegan then gave a presentation about his trip to the squad and the team was hooked.

"You could tell they were into it," Cook-Deegan said. "The idea was to teach them a little more about the project and to motivate them. Once you see the contrast between the old schools (in the Asian countries) and the new schools, it's easy to see the impact (of the project)."

Madeira mentioned that seeing Cook-Deegan's pictures of life in third world, rural communities was eye-opening. It was especially meaningful because few lacrosse players have the chance to go abroad during their time at Brown due to their commitment to the program.

After the team decided to take on the fundraising project, Cook-Deegan and Tiffany developed the idea to hold a charity run. Tiffany said that during his time as a Brown lacrosse player, his teammate, Vincent Marinelli, passed away and the team conducted a run to raise money for a scholarship in his honor. Inspired by that experience, Tiffany decided to propose another run to help Room to Read.

In order to raise money, each player sent out 10 letters asking for donations. The players are responsible for raising $1,000 by the time of the project, a figure that Tiffany and Cook-Deegan think is ambitious but not out of reach.

On Nov. 28, the team will work in shifts, and each player will have three shifts over the course of the run. The team chose to run on the Main Green because it would allow members to interact with the Brown community and raise awareness for the project.

"We wanted to do something that would show everyone what we're working for," Tiffany said. "So we said, 'Hey, let's take over the Main Green.'"

Tiffany also stressed that the effort is part of his and the team's commitment to give back to the community. The team participates in a variety of service projects in Providence, including working with Ronald McDonald House Charities and volunteering with a third grade class at an elementary school in Fox Point.

"I feel like once you get involved in giving to a community, it's infectious," Tiffany said. "I get hooked. The personal reward is great … the project will first, give a better (community) to live in, and second, the (positive) spirit of the project can infect our men."

Cook-Deegan said he hopes the run will inspire other campus groups that want to work with Room to Read.

"Brown sports teams are especially good candidates for the project because the teams meet regularly and have coaches who can help coordinate the effort," he said. "I hope the project will grow both here at Brown and everywhere else."