Hello, I am a 2nd year medical student living in Myanmar who has been stuck at home for two straight years due to the 2020 covid crisis and the 2021 military coup. As a citizen of a third world country, official online classes of course don't exist so all students are stuck at home, doing practically nothing. With all the ridiculous shit happening in this country everyday, our dim situation will likely continue for several years. Contrary to what you might expect however, I'm not particularly bothered because right now, staying alive is my main priority. I'm an above average class citizen anyway so it'll be offensive for those less unfortunate, which are the majority of the population if I'm bitching about just my irrelevant levels of sadness.
Reminder: Referring to direct sources for multiple events below is impossible for me. I believe you'll understand why if you keep on reading.
So before I start rambling about the depressing stuff, let me give you a rundown on what has happened to this country in 2021. There're a lot of historical context behind these events so if you're truly interested, I recommend checking out our country's history over the decades (from around 1950 to 2016) . For this thread, I'm just going to emphasize on the incidents that happened this year. It's a little long so skip to the next post if you want to see the main points.
(1) On the 1st of February, a military coup occurred and our country's leaders were detained. Immediately, a state of emergency was declared and the military announced they were going to take control of the country. Apparently, the 2020 Myanmar elections were a fraud and they were worried about the threat to democracy . There are so many blatant lies regarding this statement, including the absurd claim 40 million people voted for the military backed political party(I'll be surprised if more than 1 million people can even withstand the thought of supporting these creatures), the disgusting façade about pretending to care for democracy (the military was single handedly responsible for the downfall of Myanmar and the abolishment of democracy for about 50 years) and the laughable excuses they made to accuse and capture our actual leaders. Unfortunately, the military managed to get away with this atrocious act relatively easily because they are the most powerful organization by far, even the current leaders were already at their mercy beforehand. Combined with the sixty years worth of brainwashing done to both citizens and their puppet like soldiers, the weapon backed military is able to exert their dominance without any formal resistance.
(2) Having tasted democracy for a couple years, people were not willing to go back to the dark eras. For the first month, they protested very peacefully. The amount of people all over the country participating in this fight against the juntas were mind-blowing. If you can, go search for the images of Myanmar's protests in February and I'll be surprised if you don't feel at least something.
(3) Of course, the military doesn't just sit and watch these protests unfolding. After all, their efforts in brainwashing the citizens for decades were at risk now. Soon, excessive force was applied. It started from tear gas and arrests but gradually escalated to real gunfire and murder. The protesters tried to resist as best as they can, with molotovs, shields, helmets, everything we can think of with our limited knowledge and tools. I even once personally volunteered as a defense force specifically tasked to protect fellow protesters (Sadly, the breakdown on our protest was fierce and we couldn't protect some from being arrested). But of course, we were no match to real weapons and inhuman techniques they utilized. Imagine setting 2000 criminals free from the prison, drugged and hungry, just to make room for innocent protesters and create havoc to keep the citizens occupied at home. At the end of March, over 500 people have been killed and the protest activities ceased.
(4) Resistance activities now come in the form of underground movement and CDM. CDM is 'Civil Disobedience Movement' in which the citizens refuse to work under the military. Participated by various walks of life ranging from doctors to accountants, CDM aims to disrupt the balance and force the junta government out.
For the underground movement, the NUG, the public supported party, now tries to get support from the outside world and the P D F, the people's army, are combining in forces with armed minority races to thwart their rule. However with this resistance comes extreme suppression to public from the military as they tried to desperately preserve their authority. This has led to several terrible crises.
Reminder: Referring to direct sources for multiple events below is impossible for me. I believe you'll understand why if you keep on reading.
So before I start rambling about the depressing stuff, let me give you a rundown on what has happened to this country in 2021. There're a lot of historical context behind these events so if you're truly interested, I recommend checking out our country's history over the decades (from around 1950 to 2016) . For this thread, I'm just going to emphasize on the incidents that happened this year. It's a little long so skip to the next post if you want to see the main points.
(1) On the 1st of February, a military coup occurred and our country's leaders were detained. Immediately, a state of emergency was declared and the military announced they were going to take control of the country. Apparently, the 2020 Myanmar elections were a fraud and they were worried about the threat to democracy . There are so many blatant lies regarding this statement, including the absurd claim 40 million people voted for the military backed political party(I'll be surprised if more than 1 million people can even withstand the thought of supporting these creatures), the disgusting façade about pretending to care for democracy (the military was single handedly responsible for the downfall of Myanmar and the abolishment of democracy for about 50 years) and the laughable excuses they made to accuse and capture our actual leaders. Unfortunately, the military managed to get away with this atrocious act relatively easily because they are the most powerful organization by far, even the current leaders were already at their mercy beforehand. Combined with the sixty years worth of brainwashing done to both citizens and their puppet like soldiers, the weapon backed military is able to exert their dominance without any formal resistance.
(2) Having tasted democracy for a couple years, people were not willing to go back to the dark eras. For the first month, they protested very peacefully. The amount of people all over the country participating in this fight against the juntas were mind-blowing. If you can, go search for the images of Myanmar's protests in February and I'll be surprised if you don't feel at least something.
(3) Of course, the military doesn't just sit and watch these protests unfolding. After all, their efforts in brainwashing the citizens for decades were at risk now. Soon, excessive force was applied. It started from tear gas and arrests but gradually escalated to real gunfire and murder. The protesters tried to resist as best as they can, with molotovs, shields, helmets, everything we can think of with our limited knowledge and tools. I even once personally volunteered as a defense force specifically tasked to protect fellow protesters (Sadly, the breakdown on our protest was fierce and we couldn't protect some from being arrested). But of course, we were no match to real weapons and inhuman techniques they utilized. Imagine setting 2000 criminals free from the prison, drugged and hungry, just to make room for innocent protesters and create havoc to keep the citizens occupied at home. At the end of March, over 500 people have been killed and the protest activities ceased.
(4) Resistance activities now come in the form of underground movement and CDM. CDM is 'Civil Disobedience Movement' in which the citizens refuse to work under the military. Participated by various walks of life ranging from doctors to accountants, CDM aims to disrupt the balance and force the junta government out.
For the underground movement, the NUG, the public supported party, now tries to get support from the outside world and the P D F, the people's army, are combining in forces with armed minority races to thwart their rule. However with this resistance comes extreme suppression to public from the military as they tried to desperately preserve their authority. This has led to several terrible crises.
