It’s funny where life takes you. I started this as a travel blog, and during my travels I went to Myanmar and visited a little town by the name of Kyaukme. During my time there, I was able to visit contested villages in the mountains and was shown around by my guide and friend Johnathan.
Johnathan has asked me to help share the crisis in Myanmar with the world. While this is just a travel blog, I believe it’s best to show the plight of the Burmese people and how they’re braving themselves in the fight for their essential and basic freedoms.
The events in the larger cities are so widely shared and the news is well circulated, but Johnathan hopes that we can tell the story in the smaller rural areas. These people have been unheard by the world and they hope that their protests, their voices, will not be forgotten or overlooked. Johnathan has sent firsthand footage of the protests and an excerpt of the events the past month hoping that more people can see what the people of Kyaukme are doing.
A Quick Background
The 2021 election results in Myanmar resulted in a landslide in favor of Elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her National League for Democracy (NLD). The military declared this to be a rigged election, seized power in a coup and declared a yearlong state of emergency.
The struggle we’re going to follow is of those in the city of Kyaukme in the Shan State province. The little Kyaukme Township located east of the large city of Mandalay boasts a population of 130,000 and Kyaukme city has a population of just 40,000 people. This province is home to over a dozen ethnicities who have been at odds with the central government for some time.
Protests erupted all over the Kyaukme Township on February 4th and have continued almost every day since. The military has responded with vicious crackdowns, assault, tear gas and shootings against the peaceful protesting crowds.
The protests have continued through March. On March 13th, a peaceful protest was disrupted when police shot tear gas into the crowd to attempt to disperse them. This happened on three separate occasions that day.
To combat this, the protesters have switched tactics the next day. Starting March 14th, protesters do motorbike protest in the outlying villages to avoid any clashes or confrontation with the police and so that they may continue voice their protest.
“We are protesting peacefully two times a day. Around 9:30 AM, we are protesting with the motorbikes in the villages near around the town. In the villages there is no single police or a soldier. At afternoon, we also protesting with the motorbikes in the town but not in the downtown because we have to avoid the police and soldiers that are stand guard in the downtown. And at the evening at 6:30 pm, we are praying for all of the martyr who gave their lives on democracy movement by holding the candles.”
-Johnathan
Now I will do something I have never done before.
Please share this with everyone you feel comfortable sharing this with.
The government has already shut down internet usage from 1:00 AM to 9:00 AM local time and there’s the very real fear that if the protests continue, the government will completely cut off internet connection. This doesn’t seem like it amounts to much, but Johanthan is trying to get the story of the Kyaukme people out to the world. It’s my hope and it’s Johnathan’s hope that the Burmese struggle for freedom can be seen and recognized by the international community.
Stay safe everyone.