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Myanmar’s military junta Monday sentenced elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi to four years in jail – later reduced to two – but this shows no sign of slowing all kinds of resistance against military rule.
Suu Kyi has traditionally been seen as a singular symbol of opposition to the military in the southeast Asian country, and the junta hoped that jailing the popular leader would quash her political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), and quiet anti-military sentiment.
But just hours after the 76-year-old Nobel laureate was sentenced on December 6, protesters took to the streets in the capital Yangon and throughout the country carrying banners and shouting slogans denouncing military rule.
Many held three fingers aloft in a pro-democracy salute – the image of a movement that has evolved from having a sole leader into a country-wide resistance. “The protest is not about Aung San Suu Kyi being arrested or being in jail,” Kyaw Win, executive director of the Burma Human Rights Network told FRANCE 24. “It’s for the people. Every day people are giving their life for their country and for change.”
Much of this is down to younger generations who grew up in a period of relative democracy. While older people in Myanmar knew a culture of fear under military rule, “the youth were just used to speaking their mind on social media”, Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, told FRANCE 24. “They are used to more freedom of expression. They had a future ahead of them, and the military took that all away.”
It is still younger generations who are sharing stories of the resistance online and leading flash-mob style street protests – but older Myanmar residents are handing out face coverings to protesters even though they are banned…
Source : france24
