There is a crisis in Myanmar.
For the past 50 years prior to 2015, the military party of Myanmar was in power in the form of a dictatorship. In the most recent election in November 2020, Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, won 396 out of 476 seats in the government, leaving the military with only 33 and confirming their power for the next five years. The military party began pointing fingers at election fraud (sound familiar?), but the election committee ruled against it, shutting down the military’s claims. Now that the military had no way to legally overturn the election, people feared that the military would resort to a coup. The military spokesman publicly ruled that out; however, he went against his word on February 1, 2021 when the coup started.
The coup brought the military back to power and led to Aung San Suu Kyi’s and other elected leader’s arrest. Protests grew on Saturday, February 6, on the country’s commercial capital of Yangon. Thousands of protestors, in a movement called Justice For Myanmar, called for the return of Suu Kyi, who was rightfully elected and supposed to be in office. The protests have been supported by both citizens and international organizations. Citizens began boycotting items and companies associated with the military party. Local businesses threw away cigarettes produced by the Virginia Tobacco Company, which is owned partly by Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd, a military corporation. Kirin, a Japanese brewing company, withdrew from a project involving a military-owned beer company. The United States imposed sanctions on Myanmar.
Protests also consist of civic worker strikes from many military businesses. According to one protestor, Thinzar Shunlei Yi, their goal is to stop all parts of the government from working to disable “the military’s ability to rule.” Because of the strikes, trains have stopped running, hospitals have closed and many government agencies are wavering. Employees have pledged to not go to work until Aung San Suu Kyi’s party members are released from prison and back in power.
Tensions grew even more when the first person was fatally shot during a protest. On February 9, 2021, Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing was shot in the head and died soon after. The police denied ever using brutal and lethal force during the rally at Myanmar’s capital that day. Contrary to the police’s claims, two other people reported being hit by live ammunition.
Since then, at least 54 people have died at the protests. Tensions have not been relieved, the situation has only grown bloodier and activists are still fighting for the freedom and power of Aung San Suu Kyi. Although the protests are 7,630 miles away, we can still help by donating to sites such as International Rescue Committee and GoFundMe. If we all contribute, we can help make a difference.