"My fight against the Burmese junta"

Audio 04:31

Cover of the book: “My fight against the Burmese junta” by Thinzar Shunlei Yi, co-written with French journalist Guillaume Pajot.

© Robert Laffont

By: Clea Broadhurst

7 mins

Thinzar Shunlei Yi has been a human rights activist in Burma for more than ten years, one of the first to oppose the junta and one of the few to remain in the country.

This soldier's daughter, brought up in army barracks, has, in particular, discovered her history and her country during her encounters with minorities.

She has just published her book, co-written with French journalist Guillaume Pajot. 

is at the same time an autobiography, on her childhood, but also the account of the events as she lived them since the coup.

Interview with Clea Broadhurst.

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RFI: Why did you choose to stay in Burma, when many activists went into exile after the army took power?

Thinzar Shunlei Yi

I wanted to stay closer to people and their suffering, and that's how young activists like me stay connected to all communities. Now we can't protest in the streets anymore, but that doesn't mean our voices are disappearing. There are many ways to oppose the military junta. This is why I decided to continue my fight.

Even in the worst situation of oppression, there are always ways to resist: for the past seven decades, the Burmese people have survived and the resistance has never wavered. Especially when you look at the history of ethnic minorities such as the Rohingya, who have long been discriminated against. But we will get justice, we have to keep fighting, oppression will not last and things have to change.

This is also the reason why everyone is doing their part: many officials have left their jobs to join the civil disobedience movement.

Each citizen can also contribute in a certain way, by refusing to pay certain bills or by refusing to buy the products resulting from the activities of the army.

Each person has a role to play in this revolution.

Since the February 1 coup, the junta has not let a day go by without killing or arresting someone.

The situation is deteriorating, but the resistance is still on.

In your book, you tell about your childhood, the fact of having been raised in the army, how did that influence your career?

I was born in a military barracks, I had no choice. Being a soldier's daughter, from the main ethnic group, while also being a Buddhist [the main religion in Burma, Editor's note]. So things were easy for me. But on the other hand, there are many problems within the army where there is strong discrimination and where human rights are not always respected. The hierarchy is very strong there, so abuse of power and oppression are common there. I lived that way, and I “normalized” this oppression.

But when I came out of the barracks, I met a lot of different people and heard a lot of testimonials from all walks of life. It was then that I started to learn more about human rights and the basic rights to which everyone is entitled. It opened my eyes, that's how I found my way.

I wanted to fight for my dignity, but also that of others: I decided to fight for those who did not have the privilege.

I realized that, being part of a religious majority, coming from the army and the main ethnic group, I had more power to raise my voice, especially against the military.

But at the same time, by doing this, I became a target for the military: I have been indicted for the past three years for organizing protests in favor of minorities and I am now wanted by the junta.

In your book, you talk about how Aung San Suu Kyi influenced you, to a certain extent ...

It is very rare to see a woman rise to the rank of leader in a country as conservative as Burma. When she emerged as a figure of democracy, speaking out against the military junta, it gave a lot of hope to many people, myself included. She was also from a military family, so she became a role model for me. His speeches on human rights and democracy inspired me. I wanted to follow her, not for the person, but for what she believed in. I have become a human rights activist and a pro-democracy activist.

By leaning into the political world, it gave me a lot of new ways to understand how my country worked.

As a civil society activist, my role was also to monitor what was happening at the political level.

When she was in power, you had to scrutinize what she was doing as well, what she decided or not decided to do.

When she ignored the plight of the Rohingya community, and that of other minorities, it broke my heart.

I wondered who she really was, as the way she acted while in power had changed dramatically.

All the young people of my generation saw it in a new light.

Today, she is in the hands of the military and I am fighting for her to be released, for all political prisoners to be released because I assume that no one should be imprisoned on the pretext of having a different political ideology. .

I don't agree with the way the military is treating her, but that doesn't mean that I endorse her actions because the plight of the Rohingya, as well as other minorities, is unfair.

Why was it important for you to publish this testimonial?

People's stories are very powerful and I am who I am today because of mine. It was after listening to the testimonies of people from minorities, especially those of the Rohingya, that I started to have new ideas, and a new way of seeing things. I had never heard these stories before, because I was living in the military, so I only had part of the facts. I wanted to become an activist to help those who were oppressed, I wanted to do something that made sense over time.

My story made me become who I am today and I lead my fight by sharing my autobiography so that people learn what happened, from the perspective of a very real experience.

I hope this will put Burma back at the heart of the discussions, but also show how we can be of use to young people.

After all, even someone like me raised in the military can become a human rights activist!

We must have hope in the young generation.

Young people have a different opinion than previous generations: that's my main message with this book.

Do you think that the coup d '

The building of our nation has never succeeded since our independence. We still need to agree on a large number of policies and on the system to be put in place. But we have wasted more than seven decades without knowing where we wanted to go. I think the coup gives us a chance to reassess where we went wrong, what went wrong over the past ten years, why the 2008 constitution, written by the military, was not the right solution .

Now the younger generations who are political stakeholders have learned the lesson.

For us, democracy must come first.

Today, things are clearer, we know what our goal is.

We are all creating new political structures without the military, for the first time in our history.

The military were just screenwriters, and now we don't need them anymore.

We want to write our story ourselves, be our own screenwriters.

And that gives me a lot of hope.

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