Burma: the civil disobedience movement calls for not giving up
Demonstration against the military coup in front of the Central Bank of Burma in Yangon, February 16, 2021. AFP - SAI AUNG MAIN
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5 mins
In Burma, calls for civil disobedience against the junta continued on Tuesday, February 16, despite the toughening of repression by the army.
It turns a deaf ear to the multiple international condemnations.
The junta has once again indicted Aung San Suu Kyi on spurious charges.
According to information from the New York Times, the ex-leader appeared in a video conference, for the first time since the coup on February 1.
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Khin Maung Zaw, the attorney for the Nobel Peace Prize, confirmed this: Aung San Suu Kyi and ex-President Win Myint made
a brief video appearance in court
.
The start of the hearing would have lasted only one hour but the lawyer could not have attended because according to him, the soldiers "
want to avoid any public attention
".
A next session should be held on March 1st.
The "lady of Yangon" was already accused of having imported a dozen walkie-talkies illegally into the country.
And this Tuesday, February 16, the junta brought a second indictment: it would have, like the former president, violated a law on the management of natural disasters.
The army keeps up the pressure
These accusations, which seem fanciful, are reminiscent of those that targeted Aung San Suu Kyi in the past: she had notably seen her sentence of house arrest extended because an American had swam in the lake bordering her villa which, according to the military, had breached the terms of his confinement.
But for Marc, an analyst in a private company in Yangon (who wished to remain anonymous), the army thus lets know that it is indeed back in power.
"
Everyone knows it's rubbish
," he says.
"
And now we have the accusations of importing walkie-talkies and it's just to show the public that the military is back and that they're going to do whatever they want
."
"
Marc explains that “
fear is real
”.
“
Every night, people no longer sleep because they are afraid that the army will come to their homes to arrest those who participated in the civil disobedience movement
,” he explains.
We are all really scared.
"
"
The only way to say stop to the junta
"
The Burmese continue to mobilize, despite an increasingly severe repression of the army, especially young people, between 18 and 30 years old, who represent nearly a quarter of the population.
They did not live under military rule or have very few memories of it.
They have evolved in a country open to the world, in semi-democracy, and even if they hope that the international community can act, these young people know that it has very few levers to bring down the junta.
For Marta, a 23-year-old student in Mandalay, the civil disobedience movement is the only way to overthrow the military.
"
What scares me is that the military is in power,
" she insists.
“
When they were there in the past, there was no freedom of expression, the country was blocked,
” she recalls.
“
Everyone who has ever experienced this is afraid of this oppression.
There was so much corruption within government institutions and people didn't know about anything because they were isolated from the whole world.
I'm afraid this will happen again.
"
Marta hopes "
that the civil disobedience movement grows, at the national level to stop the army, so that the military can no longer control the country
."
According to her, "
this movement is very effective, because the head of the junta, Ming Aung Hlaing, on the national television channel, asked the officials to return to work
."
But she fears the army's methods of repression: “
I am also afraid for those who participate in the movement because they get arrested during the night, others are forced to return to work.
So I hope that the movement will win, because it is the only way to say stop to the junta
.
"
China's support is, according to experts, what allows the military to continue their actions.
But after a crowd demonstrated in front of the Chinese embassy on Monday, February 15, the ambassador said on Tuesday that the coup and the growing movement of the population was "
absolutely not what China wanted to see.
".
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Burma
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