THE (ir)REGULAR RANT
The minimum read for the maximum knowledge.
I know. I know. It's been a while between drinks.
Don't you think that 2020 was just... a lot?
In order to get through in (mostly) one piece, I stuck my head in the sand for long periods and self-medicated with long walks, busy work days and too much pet nat. I regret nothing.
EXCEPT! I regret not writing to you. I'm sorry. I will, as always, endeavour to be better.
But enough of that! There is LOTS happening in the world at the moment that isn't specifically related to covid.
I wrote about Myanmar (sorry - promised it last week to a few of you, but was struck down with the ol' tonsillitis. 35 and still over-promising and under-delivering - when will I learn?!) on request from a few of you that reached out. I love when you do that. Reach out more often.
Anyway, if you have any other suggestions for what I should cover, let me know. If not, I have a few. Like I said, there is LOTS happening in the world at the moment. It is an honour to be able to write about it and have your beautiful eyes read it. Or at least scan it. Or at least open the email so that my open rates look mint.
If you would like to share this with your friends, please do! You can also send them here.
Right - let's get into it!
The Military Coup in Myanmar
So – I heard that there’s been a coup in Myanmar…?
Yes! You heard correctly. On the morning of the 1st February, the military arrested members of the National League of Democracy (NLD, the party that has “ruled” since 2015), including their leader Daw (meaning ‘mother, and how she is referred to in Myanmar) Aung San Suu Kyi, who has previously spent 15 years under house arrest while fighting for democracy.
They also cut the electricity, phone lines and mobile internet, closed the banks and the stock market, grounded all domestic and international flights, surrounded the parliament with barbed wire and soldiers with guns, and called a one-year state of emergency, which means that the military, or Tatmadaw, as they are known, will be in control of the whole country for at least the next 12 months.
Okay – that seems extreme. Why?
Well, the Tatmadaw are disputing the results of the November election. It was the third election since the military ‘allowed’ democratic rule after they controlled the country from a coup in 1962.
In 2010, the military supported party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) ‘won’, although that is disputed by many western countries and the UN as being fraudulent. (In addition, the NLD boycotted that election due to the proposed influence of the military on the final parliament – that of having a 25% quota, regardless of the final victor). In 2015 the NLD won significantly in both houses of parliament. By then, a rule had been passed to disallow any person married to a foreigner to be the leader of a party. This was targeted directly at Aung San Suu Kyi, so she become the General Secretary and is the spiritual leader of the country.
To bring us back to the November election, the third since democratic rule – the NLD won in a landslide but the military refused to acknowledge the results and labelled the election as fraudulent. I was asked whether this had anything to do with Trump’s behaviour, and to be honest, who knows. It is possible that the military gained confidence in their claims from seeing Trump do the same. If the leader of the free world declares that fraud occurred in the US, then it could definitely happen in Myanmar. But if we’re to hold Trump accountable, then we should also look towards Thailand. In 2014, the Thai military overthrew the caretaker government and remain in power today. Plenty of countries (Australia included), along with the EU and the UN spoke out against the coup, but really, there have been no consequences for the military.
In truth, there were some troubling issues with the 2020 Myanmar election though. (Edit: probs no worse than the gerrymandering and blatant racism exercised in the US, but I digress)
Oh yeah, like what?
Well, elections were cancelled completely in 15 towns, and partially in an additional 41. This was said to be because of covid and internal conflicts, but it was mostly the Rakhine and Shan states that were decimated of polling places.
The Rakhine in the country’s west is where the Rohingya have been methodically murdered since 2017 by the military, with the support of the government. This has resulted in over 25,000 dead and 725,000 forced to flee the area, mostly to Bangladesh. The Shan state, which is in the east of Myanmar and part of the Golden Triangle, is the site of an ongoing conflict between the Tatmadaw and smaller militia groups.
The election result was unlikely to be any different had these areas been able to vote though, as the constitution states that 25% of the parliament must be held by the Tatmadaw (the NLD tried to amend this rule last year, but the constitution also states that 75% is needed to make any changes to the constitution, so thus, the motion wasn't passed). That leaves only 75% up for democratic decision. Of that, the NLD won 61.6% and the USDP 3.1%. An additional 3.1% of seats weren’t voted for because of the above cancellations. The remaining 7.2% balance was split between 10 parties.
Other issues affecting the election were the Rohingya genocide and the lack of press freedoms, although unfortunately, most Burmese believe in the government-supported military-led genocide upon the Rohingya. This coup and the genocide are not at all related. I haven't written specifically about the genocide in the past, but let me know if you'd like to hear more about it.
Arguably the press hasn’t ever been great in Myanmar. But they did rise 20 places in the World Press Freedom Index between 2013 and 2017 (from a low base, to be fair). Since then, several Reuters journalists were arrested for trying to investigate some Rohingya massacres and there are still currently two journalists imprisoned. In general, banned topics are: the Rohingya (or more specifically, calling for human rights for the Rohingya and claiming that they are Burmese (which they are)); the Buddhist religion (practically perfect in every way); and any criticism of Aung San Suu Kyi or the Tatmadaw. The government (ergo, the military) own most of the media around the country and therefore use it for propaganda purposes.
General Aung San on the left and his daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, on the right, on an NLD sign in Kalaw from 2016. These sorts of signs were outside most houses and bars all around the (visitable) country.
So, what now?
Well, it’s still very early days. Apparently both Aung San Suu Kyi and the ousted President, Win Myint, are being detained in their houses, but as they are still being interrogated, no one is able to visit, nor can they speak to any foreign press or governments. Suu Kyi has, oddly, been charged with “possessing illegally imported communications equipment”, or rather, walkie-talkies. The punishment is a maximum of three years in jail.
Without doubt it is a bogus charge. The Tatmadaw are simply trying to justify their coup and prevent her from running in subsequent elections. But in charging the mother of the country, they have poked the rumbling bear… Protestors have now hit the streets in Yangon, Naypyidaw (the capital), and Mandalay, as well as several other smaller towns, calling for Suu Kyi’s release and wearing all red in solidarity with the NLD. These protests are likely to increase over the next week as more people are made aware of them.
On Saturday an Australian economic advisor to the NLD was also detained. Apparently, he is in good spirits, but Foreign Minister, Marise Payne, has called the ambassador and is said to be ‘deeply concerned’. Yah, you would be.
This is in addition to the 15-25 leaders of the NLD who were arrested without charge on the morning of the coup. When you remove the leaders of a movement it makes it hard to organise in protest, intimidates party members and locals with any party affiliations, and also removes a generation of knowledge.
Wow. That’s all a lot. Is there anything else I should know?
Well – several things.
Of most concern: this is almost a carbon copy of what happened in 1990 when Suu Kyi won that election in a landslide. She was arrested in that case too, then spent the subsequent 15 years under house arrest. Many are concerned that the similar fate awaits her and her country now.
The Tatmadaw has shutdown the internet across the country as much as possible. They have also specifically shut down facebook and twitter, neither of which will be functioning again for several weeks. This deflates the possibility of organisation on a large level (think Arab Spring), but despite that, as above, protests are still occurring and will likely increase as news of them spreads around the country in the old fashioned way.
Arguably, this is the climax of the battle between Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar’s military. This year, the head of the Tatmadaw, General Min Aung Hlaing, was meant to retire. Instead, he’s declared himself the leader of the country before they will apparently have another election in 12 months. If they can charge Suu Kyi with a crime, then she won’t be able to participate in politics at all in the future, meaning that the military may be able to continue their rule.
Because of the 25% military quota on parliament, it is possible to argue that Suu Kyi was never in control of the country. Many in the west have used this as reasoning for her defence of the Rohingya genocide in the Hague in 2019, but alas, her justification is not unusual in Myanmar where the population supports the murder/banishment of the Rohingya.
Finally, worth noting that the Australian Government is still supporting the Tatmadaw with training – we have spent about $1.5m AUD training the Myanmar military over the last five years. Labor and the Greens called for the support to be ceased last week, but the LNP have yet to withdraw money.
The next few weeks are crucial. The international community are calling for the Tatmadaw to release all NLD members and renege their coup, but that won't happen. Unfortunately, I suspect, not much will, and Myanmar is now back to the dark days of a brutal, closed military dictatorship. That will likely see the country closed to tourists (a key driver of income), news, internet and the future of so many innocent people snuffed out.
Read/Look:
Bummed about the situation in Myanmar? I was there in 2016 and wrote this about the incredible towns/kids in Myaing. It's certainly more uplifting (if you ignore the current situation...)
Window Swap. Loved having this on during lockdown, and even now - the concept is that you can click a button and look out of any window in the world. Have set up one to stream out my study window, so if you're lucky you may catch a glimpse of the Darebin Creek.
2020 was quite the year - here are some before and after shots captured from satellites.
Watch:
Anyone that works with me will have already seen this - but it's my Christmas ad pick of 2020. REAL FEELS YOU GUYS!
So - one more thing on Myanmar... turns out that the coup (the Tatmadaw rolling into Naypyidaw) was caught on camera by an aerobics instructor who was filming her daily workout for fans to follow at home. It makes for a bizarre scene.
These goats need to music turned UP!
Listen:
These mellow beats pretty much got me through 2020 - Stay High by Brittany Howard
Oh, and my housemate and I watched the Dermot Kennedy gig live from the Natural History Museum in London. Paul Mescal read poetry during it. It was PHENOMENAL. They finished the concert by singing together. Swoooooon.
And because he's brilliant - here's Dermot Kennedy singing on Insta live. Watch it. It/he's beautiful.
At the end of January 2021, 4 women in Australia have been killed due to domestic violence.
That is one death every 7 days.