WEBVTT - Myanmar: Printing the Revolution, Part One 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:07.560 Hey everyone, I'm Robert Evans and this is Me and 0:00:07.680 --> 0:00:12.479 Mar printing the Revolutions It could happen here special mini series, 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:17.360 an in depth documentary investigation with me and journalist James Stout. 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:20.440 Over the next four days, you're going to learn about 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:23.160 the gin Z militias of the Me and Mar Civil War, 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:25.520 three D printed weapons, and a bunch of other really 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:29.920 fascinating stuff. Besides, So, without any further ado, here's James. 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:34.000 Ever since the first person built the first fence, took 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:37.800 land from everybody and annex it to themselves, property rights 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:41.760 and violence have gone hand in hand. With property grew 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:45.680 the state, and with a state came the police. Today, 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:47.479 most of us grew up under the control of states, 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:50.360 and they're so ubiquitous that their violence is often overlooked 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:55.400 until a particularly egregious incident occurs. But all states, even 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:59.360 the most benign, rest on a monopoly on violence. Stay 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:01.800 it to the entity that imposed laws on a given area, 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:04.320 and if you break those laws, the state can beat 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:08.320 you up, lock you up, or shoot you up. When 0:01:08.360 --> 0:01:11.360 the state loses the monopoly on violence, it ceases to 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:13.920 be able to enforce its laws, charge its taxes, and 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:16.560 enforce its will on the people it rules. We've seen 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:18.880 this all over the world, from the Democratic Republic of 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:23.240 Congo took briefly downtown Seattle. Our state in the USA 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:27.080 speaks a language of rights and liberties. When we want 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:30.000 to appeal to the state, we tend to use that language. 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:33.640 Even though our state, as we saw in twenty twenty's 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:36.280 backed by plenty of violence as much as any other, 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:40.679 it goes a long way to camouflage that violence. Some states, 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:42.840 for a bit more mask off. They speak to their 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:46.160 citizens more or less exclusively through violence, and when citizens 0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:48.560 need to respond to that state, they respond to the 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:51.320 language it uses to speak to them. That's how a 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:54.520 teenager from Yangon miel Maar ended up on Reddit in 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:57.280 summer of twenty twenty one asking strangers how to use 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:00.000 a three D printer and computer to make a rifle. 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:02.680 Me and Ma isn't a country that is on the 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:05.240 radar for most of the US. If it is at all, 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:08.440 it's probably because the State councilor and Foreign Minister ensign Succi. 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:13.840 She managed perhaps the history's fastest pivot from Nobel Peace 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:16.800 Prize winner to head of a government accused of genocide. 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:20.480 But Tsuki is in jail now and the Rohingia, the 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:23.240 Muslim ethnic group that the military attempted to eliminate from 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:25.160 the east of the country under her rule, are just 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:28.440 one of many ethnic and political groups. They're in open 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:31.480 armed conflict with the military, who now hold control of 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:34.240 the government of me and mar known locally as a 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.160 tatmodor the military sees power. In early twenty twenty one, 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:39.560 you might have seen a video of a woman doing 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:42.919 an aerobics workout as the vehicles rolled in behind her 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:46.800 to seize power. Ever since that day they've been committing 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:49.760 crimes against humanity all over the country. Me and Marh 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.960 has a longer history of dictatorship than democracy. The British 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:56.600 East India Company occupied the area that now represents the 0:02:56.639 --> 0:02:59.639 country in the nineteenth century. As always, they talked about 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:03.639 civiling missions and freedoms, but in practice the occupation was 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:06.840 extractive and only benefited the Anglo Burmese and a few 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:10.320 Indian civil servants they brought with them often. But this 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:13.680 month led to resistance that manifested itself in hunger strikes 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:17.600 and everyday acts of disobedience, small ways of saying no. 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:21.560 In a few instances, it became open and unbrest build 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:25.280 into the streets. The country became a major battleground during 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:28.120 the Second World War, with Japan evading and seizing the 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:30.680 country before Allied forces took it back in a fierce 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:33.600 campaign in nineteen forty four. As many as one hundred 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:36.960 and fifty thousand Japanese troops died. Burmese people fought on 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:41.960 both sides. Ag San Agsang Suchi's father demanded that Britain 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:44.720 grant him and his fellow Burmese people independence if they 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:49.120 fought for the Allies. The British refused. Nstan then went 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:52.200 first to China and eventually Japan for support, and eventually 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:54.960 he fought against the British with his Burmer Independence Army. 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:58.400 But after two years of occupation, Agstan and his comrade 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:02.280 to change sides broad alliance called the Anti Fascist Organization. 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:05.320 They turned on the Japanese and they once again took 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:08.200 up arms to liberate their country. On the fourth of 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:12.560 January nineteen forty seven, Burma became an independent republic. The 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:16.159 new republic's territory combined three British territories and over one 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:20.880 hundred distinct ethnic groups. For the next fourteen years, these 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:25.040 groups struggled to find a democratic Burma and an identity 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:29.440 for themselves within it. Mostly they failed. The period was 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:32.040 characterized by the Chinese Civil War, spilling it to Burma, 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:36.640 ethnic armed insurgencies and repeated demands for a federal republic 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:40.240 with a weak central government. In nineteen sixty two, the 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:43.920 military a rate at new demands for a federal republic 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:48.320 stage to coup. Burmer spent the next twenty two years 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:51.920 under the military rule of a council, pursuing what they 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:56.120 called the Burmese Way to socialism. Burmer's planned economy left 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:59.280 it largely isolated from the rest of the world. At home, 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:01.479 the press was censored, and a type of nationalism that 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:05.320 combined nominal socialism and Burman ethnic identity became the official 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:09.080 state ideology. During this period, Burma became one of the 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:13.520 world's poorest countries. Sporadic protests were met with overwhelming force, 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:18.360 and the eighth of August nineteen eighty eight, an uprising began. 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:21.840 It started among his students in Yangon, but it took 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:24.880 realt quickly around the country. The so called eight eight 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:28.360 eight eight Uprising because of the date, began with a 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:32.160 general strike and huge non violent protests. These were met 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:36.600 with gunfire. Protesters fought back with molotov cocktails and rocks. 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:41.159 The military fired into hospitals, and by September eighteenth, they'd 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:43.080 launched a coup to take the country from a one 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:47.160 party state back to a military dictatorship. It was thuring 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:50.880 these protests Angsan Suki, the daughter of Independence. Here at 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:54.599 Angsan emerged as a national figurehead, especially in the west. 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:59.520 Amitov Ghusch, the Indian writer, wrote the following about eight 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:05.000 eight eight eight across Burma, people poured out in thousands 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:08.960 to join the protests, not just students, but also teachers, monks, children, 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:12.120 professionals and trade unionists of every shade. It was on 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:15.560 this day too, that the Hunter made its first determined 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:19.039 attempt at repression. Soldiers opened fire on the demonstrators and 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:22.560 hundreds of unarmed marchers were killed. The killings continued for 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:25.839 a week, but still the demonstrators continued to flood the streets. 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:31.440 After the uprising had been suppressed, multi party elections were 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:35.120 later held, while the new National League for Democracy party 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:38.360 of Ansong su Qi won the most votes. The Hunter 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:41.719 refused to seed power. Protests continued off and on for 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.920 decades with the two thousand and seven Saffron Revolution, in 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:48.039 which the government violently cracked down on monks, resulting in 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:53.120 the most international condemnation. Following the Saffron Revolution, the government's 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:56.800 isolationism hindering aid After extensive cyclone damage in two thousand 0:06:56.839 --> 0:07:00.200 and eight, the military government finally implemented the roadmap to 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:03.760 discipline flourishing democracy that had developed in nineteen ninety three. 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:06.280 If you're wondering about the name of the country, this 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:08.840 officially changed in nineteen eighty nine as well. I Like 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:11.680 much of the nation's history, a grand proclamation from the 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:15.040 government didn't mean much on the ground. Both words derived 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:18.480 from Buranma, a name that the majority ethnic group who 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:22.320 we're calling Berman here used for themselves. Many opposition groups 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:26.040 still use Burma instead of Meemma. It's another small way 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:28.480 of saying no to the military's attempt to control every 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:29.520 aspect of their lives. 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:33.880 Finally, on the eighteenth of September, the army took to 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:36.160 the streets and the coup, led by their Chief of Staff, 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:56.520 General Saumon the next day, the killings began again. The 0:07:56.680 --> 0:08:05.560 army later described these people as looters. 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:08.960 It was not until twenty eleven that the military junta 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:12.240 finally stepped down and passed on power to the Union's 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:15.320 Solidarity and Development Party in an election that was widely 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:18.680 seen as fraudulent. A year later, Ong San sou Chi 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:22.040 was released, and by twenty fifteen her National League for 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:26.160 Democracy won an absolute majority. While she was barred from 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:28.800 holding the presidential office, she took on the role of 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:32.800 State councilor, and Mianmar entered a period of liberalization, which, 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:36.000 although never the federal democracy promised when the country gained 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:39.600 its independence in nineteen forty seven, allowed for significant freedoms 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:43.480 of communication and speech, especially for the Burman majority ethnic group. 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:47.439 Not everyone was reconciled to the change. Many of Myanmars 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:50.240 one hundred and thirty five ethnic groups feel marginalized by 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:53.479 the state, which tends to be dominated by the Burman ethnicity. 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:56.760 Some of these groups have armed insurgeent wings, often more 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:59.480 than one per ethnic group, as they disagree on politics 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:03.120 or religion. These groups have fought various Burmese governments since 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:05.959 the nineteen forties, but many of them reached a ceasefire 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:08.360 with the government as the country passed from military to 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:12.560 civilian rule. One group however, saw a huge uptick in violence. 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:16.440 The Rohinga ethnic group have been persecuted by Buddhist nationals 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:19.679 since the nineteen seventies, but the campaign against them increased 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:22.960 in violence and scale in twenty sixteen, when the Tatmdaw 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:26.560 began a huge crackdown against Rohinga people in Rakin's State. 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:29.960 The persecution began in response to attacks by the Arkan 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:34.040 Rohinga Salvation Army on Burmese border outposts, but the campaign 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:36.480 that followed had nothing to do with the small insurgent 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:38.720 group and a lot to do with the desire of 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:42.120 the Toatmadaw to destroy or drive out all Rohinga people, 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:45.720 who they claim are undocumented migrants from Bangladesh and not 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:49.880 citizens of Myanmar. While the world praised Suki, her government 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:52.080 looked the other way as the military carried out a 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:55.400 genocide that displaced over a million people and killed tens 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:59.000 of thousands. It was in the context of growing international 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:01.480 condemnation of the j Aside that Mianmar went to the 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:04.800 polls in November of twenty twenty. The November twenty twenty 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:07.600 election was only the nation's second since the official end 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:12.000 of military rule on Sansu Chi's National League for Democracy 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:16.079 won a resounding victory. The military backed Union Solidarity and 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:19.000 Development Party holds twenty five percent of seats under a 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:23.200 constitution that SUCHI wanted to change. It didn't take defeat well. 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:26.480 The election was neither perfectly free nor fair. The Rohinga 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:30.080 have been almost wholly disenfranchised. The government claims they are 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:34.040 illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and thus unable to vote. Areas 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:37.199 with ethnic armed organizations which opposed the government often had 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:40.559 poles canceled and internet cut off. According to Human Rights Watch. 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:44.440 The Carter Center estimates that one point four million citizens 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:47.959 couldn't vote. The one opposition party that was certainly not 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:52.520 shortchanged was the military's. However, it was the Union Solidarity 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:56.040 and Development Party USDP, which had been calling for election 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:59.720 delays due to COVID before poles opened. Once the elections 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:03.400 concl luted, they immediately began questioning the results. They continued 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:05.600 to attempt to undermine the vote for months before they 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:08.640 resorted to force on the first to February twenty twenty one, 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:11.760 the day before the newly elected legislators were due to 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:15.480 be sworn in, the world largely ignored the situation. Apart 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:18.439 from the one viral video where a masked fitness instructor 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:21.960 dances in the foreground as APCs roll through a roadblock 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:26.760 and into the parliament complex behind her. Ensangsuchi was arrested, 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:30.360 charged with breaching COVID nineteen restrictions and illegally importing a 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:34.080 walkie talkie, and General min Ang Hlang was installed at 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:37.000 the head of a military junta. If this sounds a 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:39.640 little like a stop to Steel fantasy, that's because it 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:42.960 is eerily similar to one. Myanmar's democracy is not what 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:46.240 academics call a consolidated one, which is to say that 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:49.080 democracy has never been the only game in town there, 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:52.880 but the United States seems to be rapidly deconsolidating its 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:56.360 own democracy. The allegations of election fraud and mianmarb were 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:59.439 no more credible than those in Arizona. However, the military's 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:02.760 tradition of political engagement there removed many of the barriers 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:05.360 in between electoral defeat and the death of a short 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:08.560 lived democracy. Within twenty four hours of the coup, the 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:11.679 people of Myanmar had fought back. Healthcare workers and civil 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:14.640 servants were on strike by February third, and a boycott 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:17.920 of junta owned businesses had begun. Protests began with a 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:20.920 handful of people. The memories of massacres of pro democracy 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:23.960 protesters in the nineteen eighties kept many away, but a 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.480 younger generation who had grown up with relative liberty, internet 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:30.400 access and basic freedoms had not seen blood in the 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.839 streets like their parents. They had seen activists in Hong Kong, 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:37.440 the USA, and Ukraine take on violent state apparatuses, and 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:39.079 they'd often seen them win. 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:53.319 By the sixth of February, twenty thousand people in the 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:56.400 streets of Yangon, the largest city, and the Internet was 0:12:56.480 --> 0:13:01.400 shut down. Nationwide. Protests began peacefully with memorable signs like 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:04.240 my ex is bad, but the military is worse, and 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:08.000 we are protesting peacefully, but with the WAP capitalized, so 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:11.320 it said whap. These signs were designed by a generation 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:13.679 of kids who grew up with access to the Internet 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:19.000 to attract international attention. Despite the ban. They used VPNs 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:22.160 to show imaguy to their struggle. One sign read if 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:24.800 messed with the wrong generation now will never be allowed 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:28.880 to ruin our own lives. The Tatmador showed its cards 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:32.960 pretty quickly. Police began the suppression with sling shots and clubs, 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:36.960 then tear gas and flash brang and quickly they moved 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:40.120 to rifles and rocket the pel grenades. By the ninth 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:44.320 of February, Maathway thway Heine, a twenty year old woman, 0:13:44.480 --> 0:14:19.040 have been shot in the street. Soon those young protesters 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:21.920 have switched science for shields by mid March and armed 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:24.440 fort this day. One hundred and fortyen civilians were killed 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:27.720 in a single day, including sixty five in Yangon who 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:33.280 were kettled by police, surrounded and then shot Quickly, shield 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:36.560 walls were set up, medics identified themselves in the protest movement, 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:40.160 and hard hats and goggles were distributed, but this didn't 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:43.080 tip the balance of power in their favor. So Orlin, 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:46.680 a former student union leader, was there from the start. 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:49.920 In a text message, he told me I did not 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:52.320 miss a single day as a member of the Kaya 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:56.040 State National Strike Committee. I later became more involved in 0:14:56.080 --> 0:15:00.400 anti authoritarian protests. In the early protests, to see him 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:02.160 in photos walking at the front of the group carrying 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:04.720 flags and banners with his student ID card on a 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:08.200 lanyard around his neck. But by March he's wearing a 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:12.920 black shirt, goggles and a hard construction hat. Meanwhile, the 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:16.480 National League for Democracy politicians who had escaped attention joined 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:19.720 other parties and set up a National Unity Government in April. 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:24.400 The National Unity Government contained members of the National League 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:28.560 for Democracy, but significantly, a Rahingio activist was appointed and 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:31.000 advised in the Ministry of Human Rights and the National 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:34.400 Unity Government has announced it would for the first time 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:37.960 accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court with respect 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:40.640 to all international crimes committed in Meh and Mah since 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:45.680 two thousand and two. This would include the Rhinga genocide. 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:48.720 By May, both the National Unity Government and Swollen had 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:51.280 realized that no amount of nonviolent protests was going to 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:54.160 dislodge regime. There was happy to gun down kids in 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:57.360 the street, so on the fifth of May he left 0:15:57.360 --> 0:16:01.080 for the jungle. That same day, the National Unity Government 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:03.840 announced the formation of the People's Defense Force or PDF. 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:07.000 Within a month, eight hundred soldiers had affected to these 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:11.080 pro democracy guerrilla units. Many bought their guns with them, 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:14.800 but Twa didn't join the PDF. Instead, he joined one 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:18.400 of me and R's many ethnic armed organizations groups opposed 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:21.280 to a central state and its domination by the Burman ethnicity. 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:25.120 To understand these groups you need to understand that MEMR 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:28.720 is composed of dozens, not hundreds, of ethnic groups, but 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:30.760 that the Burman, who make up about two thirds of 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:33.680 the population, have always controlled the state and used it 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:37.080 as a tool in furthering their interest. Some of these groups, 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:40.760 like the Koran National Liberation Army and the Kachin Independence Army, 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:43.320 have been fighting for decades since the country emerged from 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:45.240 British colonial rule at the end of World War Two. 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.280 All of these groups draw on a combination of ethnic 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:53.000 and political grievances. Many of them administer semi autonomous territories, 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:54.760 like the Koren State. 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:09.960 In twenty thirteen, thirteen ethnic Armed Organizations or EAOs came 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:14.040 together to form the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordinating Team in CCT 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:17.840 and signed an eleven point Common Position of Ethnic Resistance 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:22.280 Organizations on National Ceasefire, or the LEISA Agreement. Most of 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:24.400 them seemed to agree that they would accept a federal 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:28.400 system rather than complete autonomy. In twenty fifteen, a ceasefire 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:32.200 was signed, but conflict between ethnic armed organizations and between 0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:36.480 EAOs and the government continued. Since the coup began, EO 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:40.679 membership has skyrocketed, and in October the National Unity government 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:44.399 announced alliances with several groups under a central chain of command. 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:47.679 Some political organizations who played a part in the nineteen 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:51.080 eighty eight uprising, like the Al Burma Students Democratic Front, 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:55.600 have been revived as armed groups. The ABSDF recently attacked 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:59.639 Tottmadaw ships using an RPG A tax on military bases 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:02.800 have also stepped up. PDF units have ambushed and killed 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:06.520 policemen and raided police and military outposts. Each time they do, 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:09.920 they steal valuable weapons and ammunition. The top Madaw has 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:14.520 responded with shellings and airstrikes against residential areas, executions, mass 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:17.920 physical retribution, and the murdering of civilians and aid workers 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:21.080 and burning of their bodies. As a result of all this, 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:25.399 ethnic armed organizations have joined forces with anti authoritarian Burman 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:28.960 people under the auspices of the People's Defense Forces, which 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:32.480 are under the command of the exiled National Unity Government. 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:38.480 We have never experienced such kind of brutalities from the 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:41.960 military as well as as strong resistance from the people. 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:47.920 They try to make sure the whole country submit to them, 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:51.800 but we still refuse to allow them to be our rulers. 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:03.760 This defiance has led to the formation of the People's 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:09.000 Defense Forces or PDF, a coalition of thousands of resistance 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:13.600 fighters were carrying out surprise attacks on hunter checkpoints, bombing 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:18.399 army convoys, and supporting ethnic armies in their fight against 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:21.880 the regime. Twelve months ago, these men and women were 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:26.800 students and office workers protesting the coup. Today they're training 0:19:26.840 --> 0:19:28.960 to overthrow the military. 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:33.000 The Innesoja is the tough choints, but the young people 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:37.199 they are ready to defend the communities. They have to, 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:42.159 of course, sacrifice their own daily life, ordinary life. 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:44.880 Since March of twenty twenty, the influx of new recruits 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:48.800 has changed these groups. Generation Z militias like the Carini 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:52.320 gin Z Liberation Army have sprung up, founded by kids 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:55.200 who were holding memeable signs at protests just a few 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:58.760 months earlier. They care less about ethnic independence and more 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:02.320 about beating the junta. Many Burman kids join these groups. 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:06.280 These organizations of young fighters received training from the experienced 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:08.959 guerrillas hiding in the jungle, but they tended to adopt 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:12.200 a less top down military structure and armed themselves by 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:15.560 scavenging whatever weapons they could find, often twenty two caliber 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:19.159 rifles better suited to shooting squirrels than soldiers. It was 0:20:19.200 --> 0:20:21.400 these kids who grew up online and knew that there 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:24.119 was nothing you couldn't learn about on Reddit who tipped 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:27.240 the balance of force away from the state. Unlike the 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:30.959 ethnic armed organizations and other more experienced guerrillas than me Anmar, 0:20:31.359 --> 0:20:34.840 these kids have little military experience. Their organizations have few 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:38.679 rules and regulations. They're made up entirely of young people. 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:41.600 As a result, there are certain things that they're less 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:45.119 proficient at, but they're much better at things like grasping 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:48.040 the use of new technologies, which has led to me 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:50.600 Anmar being the first country in the world where three 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:53.520 D printed weapons have taken part in a revolution against 0:20:53.520 --> 0:20:56.480 the government. We're going to hear more about that and 0:20:56.680 --> 0:21:04.800 many other things as this series continues. It Could Happen 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:06.720 Here as a production of cool Zone Media. 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:09.480 For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:12.640 coolzonemedia dot com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, 0:21:12.680 --> 0:21:16.040 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can 0:21:16.040 --> 0:21:18.760 find sources for It Could Happen Here, updated monthly at 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:21.960 coolzonemedia dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.