Angelina Jolie is in Thailand urging the government to give more freedom to Myanmar (Burmese) refugees locked inside camps. Yesterday, the celebrity dogooder visited Thailand’s Ban Mai Nai Soi center, home to nearly 20 000 refugees.
“I was saddened to meet a 21-year-old woman who was born in a refugee camp, who has never even been out of the camp and is now raising her own child in a camp,” Angie is quoted as saying. According to the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees office, the actress sat down on the floor in a thatched two-room house on stilts and chatted with refugee Ma Pai, a 44-year-old woman who has applied for resettlement to the United States.
a boarding school for orphans and children separated from their parents, Angelina listened as two teenage girls — sent across the border to the refugee camp by their parents for education — told of their fears that they might have to go back to Myanmar when they finish their schooling.
Said Miss Jolie: “I hope we can work with the Thai authorities to speed up the government admissions process and that you will not be forced to go back to Burma if danger remains.”
31 Comments
What a great woman!
ANGIE IS OUR ROLE MODELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLlll
The irony of seeing each multi-million dollar mansion Brad & Agie rent as they float around the world as overpaid movie stars, while she pretends to be a credible spokesperson for worldwide poverty, is pretty thick with hypocrisy.
I am Thai. So, please Angelina. A lot of Myanmar people are allowed to work in thailand if they have a permit. They are millions of them working in a lot of gas station and resturant. So, please. Shut Up.
I know why I have never like her since the …. She is fake. Love spotlight much.
#3, that is how I feel. They go from city to city and country to country and throw millions away with their humongous rental houses. Then fly to places where people are actually starving to death and being raped and murdered on a daily basis. So she sits on the floor for a few hours and listens to them to get press, that makes her a saint? Not to me.
#2 You need to get a grip seriously. She is no role model for any age group anywhere. #3 I couldn’t have said it any better.
I’d like to remind you that she is NOT the only person/celebrity who gives to charity. She is just the only one who gets pictured everytime she does.
#3 and #5…this is exactly how i feel. mangie is a hypocritical phony babymaking machine.
Oh nein, lass es nicht wahr sein. Bald sind die Oscar-Nominierungen, und schwupps, schon spielt sie wieder Frau Barmherzigkeit. Why, we have to ask why???? Angelina stay at home and care about your kindergarten.
There are many things to do. You are fake. And no. 4, you are so right.
oscar season
#3 and #5…. your comments are really true
Well you have Matt Damon doing good by actually doing something about it.. You have Ben Affleck making
a video and it made it to the Sundance Film Festival.. But what does she do once a year she comes out and
goes to these camps knowing what kind of conditions there are in.. does she do anything NO!! Just thinks about herself and her huge mansion and talks about her kids and so on…Why didn’t she help them out..
no she only thinks of her once a year visit and than she goes back to her multi million dollar life.
#9 lmao I am starting to question her sincerity as well. There are plenty of people right here in America who are suffering terribly and they feel the need to go to Third World countries to do their good deeds.
I’m from Thailand too and this pisses me off. Angelina Jolie has NO clue what the hell the going on here. We help all of those who are not accepted by their own country. We give them jobs and everything if they apply legally… and what, a superstar comes in.. pretends to listen (how does she communicate with them anyway? a translator?).. writes some letter to our government, and then goes back to her glamorous life. I don’t care if she has 6 or 7 children or whatever because I am from a family of 5 children and so? So Angie, how about ditching your multi-million dollar ESTATES and just get A normal one like normal people do. Stop going to the red carpet altogether (btw wearing the same dress in 3 different colors to 3 different events is kind of lame - what are you trying to say? That you’re not living large?).. stop faking it just ’cause the whole world knows you’re a husband-stealer.
I live in berlin and as berlinale started today we got to know that the film “International” was shoot here. It means that Clive Owen and Naomi Watts managed to stay in Germany without even being photographed by paps. Whenever we get Pitt-Jolie holy family in Berlin the only photos of them we dont have in every tabloid in the country are ones from the restroom. It’s amazing that Angie really takes herself seriously. She is just one more attention-seeking insecure lady trying to convince the world she’s got no personal problems.
may her skanky ass stay
So what y’all are saying is that she’d be more credible if she lived like a pauper herself? You Angelina haters are a real trip. How you can knock someone for doing charitable work is beyond me.
Maybe Bill Gates Clooney, Damon and Bono should sell their mansions. Are they hypocrites for visiting Africa and talking about poverty and AIDS. As for Clive and Naomi they don’t sell magazines.Naomi just said in Parade that she rarely gets recognized on the streets.Angie has made 50+ trips to refugee camps in the last 8 years for her unpaid job as UNHCR ambassador Her cause is refugee awareness she works with refugees in America such as providing legal aid for unaccompanied minors.She produced and directed a film about children around the world in 2007 that is shown in schools called A Place In Time .Who do you suggest speak about poverty and refugees you have to have powerful people spotlight the issue Matt damon has said he got involved with the water project after seeing Angie and Bono use their celebrity to bring attention to important issues.Dr Jeffrey Sachs of the Millenium project has praised her activism. I guess if a celebrity isn’t shopping on Robertson, Sunbathing in Cabo are clubbing in Hollywood they are poor role models.What celebs do you like and respect. Oh, if you mention Reese or Halle they publicize their involment with breast cancer research. Even Jen does ads for St Jude . Why don’t she just donate to St Jude rather than appear in ads I guess she is a publicity whore too like Damon, Bono and the others
First off, all charity work isn’t equal. I’m sure that Tom Cruise get a nice tax break for all the money that he donates to the Church of Scientology. Legally it is a charity, like any other the religious organization. So, yeah, I think it fair to look at “charity work” with a critical eye.
Secondly and more to the point, Jolie’s position at the UN is quasi-political one. I think it very valid for Thais to question “the solution” she offers which is really a non-solution. Thailand can not absorb the number of Burmese that are fleeing the repressive military controlled government of Burma. The situation is complex and there is a real possibility that Thailand will become destabilized and end up another Burma. Jolie popped in and gave what amounted to a vague stump speech which offered nothing substantive help the situation. Perhaps the UN and Jolie hope that her appearance will publicize the plight of the refugees, but after how many years of her making such trips, it pretty clear that the most of the stories will be about Jolie and not about the refugees.
I also think it fair to look at Jolie’s “credentials” or lack there of, as an ambassador. Former UN goodwill ambassadors such Audrey Hepburn (she grew up during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands) had life experiences that gave them insight into the plight of those that they visited. Jolie has nothing comparable. It is laudable that she wants to help, but that doesn’t mean she experience and the knowledge that will allow her to do so.
Rmarie, most celebrity ambassadors lack credentials What credentials do Geri Halliwell(Ginger Spice), George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, Salma Hayek, Lucy Liu.Tea leone etc have . They bring awareness to these issues. Access Hollywood ,Et, People, The Insider, Eonline and Ok magazine all have this trip on their websites. Maybe a reader or viewer will see this and google Burma or refugees and learn more about this issue . They may not agree with her views on Thailand’s posiition but at least they would have gained awareness about t this as a result of clicking on a story about her. I wasn’t aware that there were Burmese refugees in Thailand until today .Now I wan’t to learn more.In 2006 Brad and Angie wen’t to San Juan , Costa Rica to meet with Columbian refugees that’s how I learned about Columbia refugees and the conflict between leftist guerrilas and paramilitary forces and the thousands of families that escaped to Costa Rica
Yes, I’m aware of Jolie isn’t the only celeb ambassador with little or no relevant experience. I don’t turn to Access Hollywood ,Et, People, The Insider, Eonline and Ok magazine for hard news, they are outlets for fluff pieces. It is just another story about Jolie and her “charity work”. Most people won’t even make a mental note of where or what the “charity” is. In fact, most of the stories give next to no information about the nature of the charity work.
Most celebrities make great fundraisers and a few work really hard and maintain a strict focus in their charity endeavors and succeed in getting the press to focus on the charity (or issue) not them. Jolie may be able to raise cash, but if she going to really make a difference, she has do more than give bland stump speeches when she visits camps. She needs to break out of the gossip mags and onto the news pages.
Burma no longer exists. The county was renamed Myanmar. Stupid bitch.
Cassie, George Clooney is a college graduate, unlike Jolie who didn’t make it out of middle school. Nicole Kidman, Tea Leoni and all of the others are so much more informed and educated than Jolie. You need to stop relying on celebrities for you information on the world (see my post above). Try opening a book, magazine or simply watch the News Hour on PBS. You sad ignorant person. It becomes more apparent why Anglina’s fans are so maniacal. Most of you appear to lack the basic skill needed to understand the world you like in. So very fucking sad.
You can tell that these causes are close to her heart and that she really does want to make a difference. She’s not just there for publicity, she is there to make the home countries of her children a better place for the future. I don’t really see how anybody can say bad things about her, when she’s doing so much good for other people.
I’m aware that the ruling government changed the name to Myanmar. I am also aware that military regime has been accused of crimes against humanity and is the reason the refugee camps in Thailand exist Opponents of the regime still use Burma. Not all governments have official recognized the name change because they do accept the current government’s legitimacy. In 1990 elections were held and the The National League of Democracy won an overwhelming majority of seats, but the military government simply annulled the election.
The United States Government still refers to it as Burma. As I am US who sympathizes with the opposition, I continue to use Burma. If at some future date the illegal rule of the junta ends and the a freely elected government confirms the change then I will use Myanmar.
major typos - should be:
Not all governments have officialLY recognized the name change because they do NOT accept the current government’s legitimacy.
changes in caps
Simply obnoxious and self-serving. Usually self-less acts/donations are done anonymously. Clooney was involved in world issues when the whore was frenching her brother and licking Billy Bob.
If Angelina wants to do good, she should go talk to the Burmese government to accept their own people!
These refugees have records of stealing food and such from local farmers, etc. That’s why they have to restrict access outside of the camp. But it’s not like they’re beating the refugees up like Burmese soldiers (the refugees’ own government) do.
Stephi have you not read any of the posts….surely that should have answered your question! It’s funny how people only see what they WANT to see.
Angelina is one fake ass bitch.
Brad and Angie in Thailand on CNN.com and ABC.com .Jen on People.com and Ellen talking finding a gray hair and that John has balls. Brad and Angie nominated for Oscars . Jen nominated for kids choice awards along with Miley.
Ah… yeah… If her intent is to get press coverage for herself, she doing a great job. Oh wait, maybe not… there is nothing about the trip on CNN.com and stuff on ABC.com is from AP filed under entertainment.