A 27-year-old in Myitkyina, Kachin State has heard from her parents and grandparents about the darkest times under decades of military rule. She tells the Kite Tales about her hopes and fears for the protests.
Why am I participating in the protests and CDM (Civil disobedience movement)? We want a government that will govern us according to a democratic system. So I would like to call for the release of the country’s leaders and elected officials who have been detained. Once we are in a real democracy, we hope to abolish the 2008 constitution which is prolonging this horrible dictatorship and work on a new constitution that truly comes from the people.
We want a constitution that can guarantee political, economical and social equality, justice and development for all citizens and ethnic groups in Myanmar. One that is based on the Panglong agreement and will lead to federal democracy.
We don’t want to go back to the era of fear. I feel we have gone back somewhat to that era these days because we are both mentally and physically exhausted day and night. But I really don’t want to go back to the time when there were no human rights and only military rule, an era I have heard about from my parents and grandparents.
There is a big difference between the protests now and in the past.
The biggest difference is the IT revolution but this is both a strength and a weakness. It is now much easier to connect to each other and share information. If there is violence or insecurity, it is easier to record the abuses. There is much more civic education too to raise awareness on citizen obligations, rights and duties and seeing things from different perspectives.
But sometimes it is difficult to trace where the information comes from and there are a lot more tools to manipulate people and engage in divide and rule. It’s also easier to spread misinformation and hate speech.
In Kachin state, our protests are not for a single political party or organisation. Hundreds of people have been protesting peacefully. But the army and the police have been working together to block us. In Myitkyina, a lot of people have been injured and had to go to the hospital and many people have also been sent to prison. Today, they abused and arrested two teachers and many people who were gathering peacefully at the Myitkyina Township Public Market. At least three people were detained yesterday and they weren’t carrying any weapons whatsoever.
They use slingshots to shoot at people. We can see military aircrafts above us. I am ok but they are threatening us in any way they can. They are trying to strike fear into us.
(Interviewed on Feb 18 and 19, 2021. Protest art from Art for Freedom (Myanmar) https://www.artforfreedommm.com/#Intro)
