Su Wai Hlaing*
On 1 February 2021, the Burmese military detained the elected president and leaders of Burma without reason or warning. This led to nationwide strikes and protests across the country as most people had voted for the detained government in 2020. From 2 February, residents in Yangon started banging pots at 8pm every night to show their anger towards the military. Pot banging was traditionally practised by the Burmese to scare off evil. Strikes and protests were initiated by the young people of Burma and on 6 February, over 20,000 protestors were on the streets in Yangon and it quickly led to protests in Mandalay, Pyinmana, Naypyidaw and across the country. The campaign also gathered momentum among the Burmese diaspora in other countries. Without ‘citizen journalism’ and social media platforms, it is doubtful if we would be fully aware of the situation in Burma.
On 2 February 2021, a national civil disobedience campaign was initiated by the healthcare workers including nurses and doctors to oppose the military junta and this led to a nationwide civil disobedience movement (CDM) including the Ministry of Union offices, universities, copper mines, factories, students, teachers, and youth groups. People also refused to pay tax and loans to the military government as part of the CDM. Other campaigns started such as the military boycott campaign against military owned businesses including Mytel (a national telecom brand), Myanmar Beer, Mandalay Beer, 7th Sense Creation film production company, and some coffee and tea brands and bus lines. A red ribbon campaign emerged to support the National League for Democracy which is led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Citizen journalism is being used in Burma to record the brutal acts of the military and police towards the protestors and those who joined the CDM. People inside Burma posted their recordings to social media platforms and also sent them directly to the news agencies to let the world know about the coup in Burma. The military clearly do not like it as they are losing face internationally. To retaliate they announced a cyber security bill and the telephone lines and internet were cut. This severely restricted the flow of information from inside Burma.
But Burmese people worked around this by starting to use SIM cards from Thailand to get data roaming and to send videos and pictures of the attacks to social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Journalists also did this to report to international audiences. Therefore, the military started randomly checking phones on the street and arresting people whose phones contained video recordings of the crackdowns and movements of the pro-democracy activists. People tried to find ways to hide any incriminating evidence on their phones when they went out. The military also used seized phones and tracked other activists using the phones of arrested activists by pretending to be them. To counter this, the families of those arrested starting reporting to social media companies that their accounts had been hacked to try to deactivate them.
The military continues to control the people of Burma and tries to hide evidence of their unjust and evil acts. However, Burmese people are still recording the cruelty of the military in every way they can despite the danger of being arrested and killed. They strongly believe these recordings will show the price the military leaders will have to pay to the citizens of Burma one day. As I write, news from Burma is that even wi-fi connections will be cut soon to stop the leak of information to international audiences. May the citizen journalists continue to find ways to record and report and may justice for the Burmese people prevail very soon.
*the author is a Burmese citizen living outside of Burma
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