With both Mizzima News and the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) subjected to recent Distributed Denial of Service attacks it makes sense to draw some more attention to the excellent work of their journalists and editors.

Earlier in July the DVB carried an outstanding report on the Burmese government effort to modify radios donated by the Chinese in the wake of Cyclone Nargis. In some ways the report is very funny; it has to be read to be believed. It is ripe, I would think, for the touch of a deft satirical hand. Of course, in Burma the government doesn’t usually have much of a sense of humour. Mizzima reports that the authorities censored a number of cartoons that were exhibited as part of a post-cyclone fundraising campaign. The cartoons obviously hit a raw-nerve. There is no indication of whether the cartoons were laugh out loud funny..but I really do hope they were.

For previous New Mandala coverage of Burmese efforts to keep ahead of the censors, and crack a joke at the same time, check out these posts from the past year.

And — as a final endorsement of Mizzima and DVB and all the rest — the brave men and women who keep the news stories coming out of Burma (so, ultimately they can get back in) are among the real heroes of the current economic, political and social quagmire. For that simple reason, among the many other obvious ones, it really does make sense to keep up-to-date with their articles, pictures…and cartoons. Some of these ones are particularly good, and so are these. But please feel free to suggest your own favourites.