"On Thursday, February 14, 2008, the Network for the Environment and Economic Development (NEED) organized a little party, more of a friendly dinner for two or three dozen friends, in the garden behind its offices in Chiang Mai, Thailand. NEED, as an organization promoting land rights, better farming practices, and environmental conservation, worked very closely with an entire ecosystem of civil society organizations that were based in Thailand but made up of activists from all across Myanmar, and that developed many of their activities, and certainly their research, in Myanmar itself. Indeed, those who attended that dinner came from all parts of Myanmar, and worked for any number of civil society organizations. At that time, everyone who was familiar with this ecosystem simply called it ?the border”. The border had a physical, geographic, aspect to it: the organizations that made up the border were based along the Thai-Burma border. But they worked inside Myanmar as much as they worked in Thailand, a country that was simply used as a base from where activities could be led inside Myanmar, in the refugee camps, and among migrant workers, and that allowed for easy communication with the world. Foreigners such as myself who visited organizations along the border, in Mae Hong Song, Mae Sariang, Mae Sot, Sangkhla Buri, or in Chiang Mai, and worked with them for a few months, for a few years, or for several decades, can be counted in the hundreds..."