The skies turn an angry orange across Myanmar even when it is neither dawn nor dusk. Fires keep breaking out, at times because of an unexplained explosion, at other times because the military has burned yet another community to the ground.
A year after they suddenly announced themselves in charge of the entire country, Myanmar’s military forces still refuse to give up the power they had grabbed from the democratically elected government. But the people of Myanmar have been as adamant in refusing to give up on their rights, even if the military keeps snatching these away, and even if they are up against a brutal force that gets crueler each passing day.
No one can stay safe and secure inside Myanmar. Due to the violence and crimes committed by the Myanmar military, the number of displaced people in the country has been rising since Feb. 1, 2021, the day of the coup. More than 405,700 have been newly displaced within the past year, which means there are now around 776,000 internally displaced people in Myanmar. In the last 12 months, too, more than 1,500 civilians have been killed by the Myanmar military, even as it has arrested scores more and thrown them in jail.
The military has been trying to build bases in public places like schools and religious buildings. There have been reports of markets and other public places being set on fire by unidentified groups of people across the country. More than 2,200 houses and public properties have also been burnt down, mostly by the military that is bent on showing the people who is boss.
In sheer frustration and anger, many young people have taken up arms and partnered with ethnic fighting forces to defend themselves against the military. Between February 2021 and Jan. 20, 2022, there have been 2,325 armed clashes in Myanmar. Caught in the crossfire, thousands of people have been forced to abandon their villages and towns, and seek safety and shelter in communal humanitarian camps. In the eastern state of Kayah alone, more than 170,000 people have been displaced in the last year, with most fleeing to the nearby jungle.
Cities, however, are far from being safe. In just the first seven months of the military takeover, the economic capital Yangon had already seen more than 600 explosions.
The social and economic conditions in Myanmar are in shambles. The United Nations has predicted that nearly 25 million people in Myanmar will be living under the poverty line by early 2022 and that the country’s urban poverty figure will be triple that of 2019’s. A recent UN Humanitarian Needs Overview meanwhile says that “14 out of 15 states and regions (in Myanmar) are within the critical threshold of acute malnutrition.” The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has also observed that “the unrelenting stress on communities is having an undeniable impact on the physical and mental health of the nation, particularly the psychological well-being of children and young people.” Indeed, on the first anniversary of the coup, a young man from Kyakpadaung township committed self-immolation.
Most other people of Myanmar, however, are turning to one another for support and also offering to help however they can. Many young people across the country, for example, have initiated food-sharing campaigns such as “Lo Yin Yuu, Po Yin Hlu (Take the food if you need, donate if you have extra)” and “Sar Thu Win Sar (Grab and eat if you are hungry),” as well as put up low-cost food courts.
Others have taken to boosting communal morale by participating in the pots-and-pans protests that have taken place since the early days of the coup and in the more recent nationwide “strikes of silence” designed to show the people’s non-acceptance of military rule. The uthorities have retaliated with more arrests and detentions, so now protesters are doing flash demonstrations to avoid getting caught.
Myanmar is on fire, but it is on fire in more ways than one. ●
The skies turn orange at night as unexplained explosions occur and the military burns communities to the ground. Seen here are the Shwe Bo and Nat Mauk market fires; the burnt ruins of Ye Myat Nar village in the Sagaing region where over 60 houses were destroyed; and an aerial shot of the Thantlang township in Chin State after 90 houses were razed in January 2022. (Photos supplied by citizen journalists, People Defense Force-Ye Oo, and Chinland Post)
Amid dark times, the people of Myanmar turn to one another for support. Many have set up food-sharing campaigns such as Sar Thu Win Sar, or (Grab and eat if you are hungry) where locals sit down to share meals at a table as seen here in the Pathein, Ayeyarwady Region in April 2021. Appreciative citizens, such as those from Bagan, Mandalay Region, also queued to receive or donate food through Lo Yin Yuu, Po Yin Hlu (Take the food if you need, donate if you have extra) campaign. (Photos supplied by citizen journalists)
Civilians flee the Kayah state because of armed clashes in Loikaw township in January 2022. Many of them ended up in camps along the Thai-Myanmar border. Others displaced citizens, who escaped fighting in the Myawaddy area in Karen state a month earlier, were in less-than-ideal circumstances, sleeping on the banks of the Taung Yin river. (Photos supplied by the Kantarrawaddy Times, Kayan Region Leftist Youths, Delta News Agency, and citizen journalists)
Resistance and protests continue — from banging pots and pans in a noise barrage in the Depayin, Sagaing region in July 2021, to flash mob strikes in Yangon in January and February 2022. A fallen protestor committed self-immolation in Kyauk Pa Daung, Mandalay Region on the first anniversary of the coup on Feb.1, 2022. Others joined a silent strike on the same day. (Photos supplied by the General Strike Committee-GSC and citizen journalists)
Jesua Lynn is an independent researcher and peace-education trainer. He has authored and co-authored more than four publications in Myanmar in the fields of human rights, hate speech, youth activism, and peace-building.
