WEBVTT - CZM Rewind: Printing the Revolution 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:07.600 A media. Hi everyone, it's President's Day today. Cool anyway, 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:10.640 that means that we are giving you a rerunt and 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:12.760 the rerun that I wanted to air today was the 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:15.160 first series that I ever made for iHeart, or indeed 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:17.560 the first series I ever made for anyone. It's called 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:20.480 Myanma Printing the Revolution, and if you've heard it before, 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:22.880 you know what it's about. If you haven't, this takes 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:25.760 us through the early days of the Mianma Revolution, from 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:28.920 the coup to people taking to the mountains and fighting. 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:32.160 I wanted to share this because it's been a couple 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:34.880 of years since we first made it, and I think 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:37.680 at a time when the whole world is worried about 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:39.960 the way politics are going and the way that states 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:42.640 are behaving, we can learn a lot from the people 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:44.680 of Meanma. I don't think it matters where you are. 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:47.000 There's something that you can take from this, from the 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:49.839 way that these people stayed in the street and the 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:52.320 way that they were willing to work together to learn 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:55.920 from one another and to become better people as they 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:59.560 struggled to make their world better. It's a long series, 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:01.520 spoken to many of the people who are in it 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:04.160 this week, most of them are fine, they're doing well, 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:08.240 but you will hear about somewhat dying at the end 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:10.360 of this. This is war like, this is a thing 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:12.280 that happens in war, but I wanted to give a 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:15.959 content warning for that such if anybody was upset by it, 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:17.600 they could turn off. It just comes at the end 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:20.240 of the final episode. If you've not heard this before, 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:22.000 I hope you'll take the time to listen. We worked 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:24.120 very very hard on it and it's very important to me. 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:32.280 Hey everyone, I'm Robert Evans and this is Me and 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:37.200 Mar printing the Revolutions. It could happen here special mini series, 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:42.080 an in depth documentary investigation with me and journalist James Stout. 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:45.160 Over the next four days, you're going to learn about 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:47.880 the gin Z militias of the Me and Mar Civil War, 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:50.240 three D printed weapons, and a bunch of other really 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:54.600 fascinating stuff. Besides, so, without any further ado, here's James. 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:58.720 Ever since the first person built the first fence, took 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:03.040 land from everybody and to themselves, property rights and violence 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:06.960 have gone hand in hand. With property grew the state, 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:10.639 and with the state came the police. Today, most of 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:12.639 us grew up under the control of states and they're 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:15.800 so ubiquitous that their violence is often overlooked until a 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:20.960 particularly egregious incident occurs. But all states, even the most benign, 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:24.840 rest on a monopoly on violence. State to the entities 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:27.040 that imposed laws on a given area, and if you 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:30.400 break those laws, state can beat you up, lock you up, 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:34.400 or shoot you up. When the state loses the monopoly 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.359 on violence, it ceases to be able to enforce its laws, 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:40.400 charges taxes, and enforce its will on the people at rules. 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:43.120 We've seen this all over the world, from the Democratic 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:47.320 Republic of Congo to briefly downtown Seattle. Our state in 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:51.480 the USA speaks a language of rights and liberties. When 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:53.680 we want to appeal to the state, we tend to 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:57.079 use that language, even though our state, as we saw 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:00.160 in twenty twenty, is backed by plenty of violence, as 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:03.240 much as any other, goes a long way to camouflage 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:06.560 that violence. Some states are a bit more mask off. 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:09.760 They speak to their citizens more or less exclusively through violence, 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:12.680 and when citizens need to respond to that state, they 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:15.239 respond to the language it uses to speak to them. 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:18.440 That's how a teenager from yangon Meh and Mar ended 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:21.079 up on Reddit in summer of twenty twenty one asking 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:23.720 strangers have to use a three D printer and computer 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:26.960 to make a rifle. Me and Ma isn't a country 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:28.840 that is on the radar for most of the US. 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:31.200 If it is at all, it's probably because of State 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:36.360 Councilor and Foreign Minister ensign Suchi. She managed perhaps the 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:39.800 history's fastest pivot from Nobel Peace Prize winner to head 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:43.280 of a government accused of genocide. But Tsuki is in 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:46.280 jail now, and the Rahingia, the Muslim ethnic group that 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:48.400 the military attempted to eliminate from the east of the 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:51.440 country under her rule, are just one of many ethnic 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:54.360 and political groups. They're in open armed conflict with the 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:56.840 military who now hold control of the government of me 0:03:56.920 --> 0:04:00.440 and Ma, known locally as a tatmodor the military's whose power. 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:02.840 In early twenty twenty one, you might have seen a 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:05.800 video of a woman doing an aerobics workout as the 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:10.120 vehicles rolled in behind her to seize power. Ever since 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:12.880 that day, they've been committing crimes against humanity all over 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:16.000 the country. Mia Mah has a longer history of dictatorship 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:20.320 than democracy. The British East India Company occupied the area 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:23.799 that now represents the country in the nineteenth century. As always, 0:04:23.800 --> 0:04:27.520 they talked about civilizing missions and freedoms, but in practice 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:31.000 the occupation was extractive and only benefited the Anglo Burmese 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:34.680 and a few Indian civil servants. They bought with them often, 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:37.560 but this month led to resistance that manifested itself in 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:41.839 hunger strikes and everyday acts of disobedience, small ways of 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:45.640 saying no. In a few instances, it became open an 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:49.280 unbrest build into the streets. The country became a major 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:52.359 battleground during the Second World War, with Japan evading and 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:55.000 seizing the country before Allied forces took it back in 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:57.880 a fierce campaign in nineteen forty four. As many as 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:01.360 one hundred and fifty thousand Japanese troops died. Burmese people 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:06.240 fought on both sides. Ag San Agsan Suchi's father demanded 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:09.160 that Britain grant him and his fellow Burmese people independence 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:13.320 if they fought for the Allies. The British refused. Ansan 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:16.120 then went first to China and eventually Japan for support, 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:18.800 and eventually he fought against the British with his Burmer 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:22.640 Independence Army, but after two years of occupation, Agsian and 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:25.720 his comrade changed sides under a broad alliance called the 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:29.360 Anti Fascist Organization. They turned on the Japanese and they 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:32.440 once again took up arms to liberate their country. On 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:35.560 the fourth of January nineteen forty seven, Burma became an 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:40.240 independent republic. The new republic's territory combined three British territories 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:43.800 and over one hundred distinct ethnic groups. For the next 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:48.880 fourteen years, these groups struggled to find a democratic Burma 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:52.520 and an identity for themselves within it. Mostly they failed. 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:56.200 The period was characterized by the Chinese Civil War, spilling 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:59.800 it to Burma ethnic armed insurgencies and repeated to Ma 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:03.479 for a federal republic with a weak central government. In 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:07.440 nineteen sixty two, the military a rate at new demands 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:12.000 for a federal republic stage to coup. Burmer spent the 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:14.880 next twenty two years under the military rule of a council, 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:20.000 pursuing what they called the Burmese Way to socialism. Burmer's 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:22.320 planned economy left it largely isolated from the rest of 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:25.160 the world. At home, the press was censored, and a 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:28.760 type of nationalism that combined nominal socialism and Burmer ethnic 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:33.080 identity became the official state ideology. During this period, Burmer 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:36.880 became one of the world's poorest countries. Sporadic protests were 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:41.240 met with overwhelming force, and the eighth of August nineteen 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:45.200 eighty eight, an uprising began. It started among his students 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:48.479 in Yangon, it took real quickly around the country. The 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:51.960 so called eight eight eight eight Uprising because of the date, 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.920 began with the general strike and huge non violent protests. 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:59.919 These were met with gunfire. Protesters fought back with molotov 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:04.640 cocktails and rocks. The military fired into hospitals, and by 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:07.280 September eighteenth they'd launched a coup to take the country 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:10.480 from a one party state back to a military dictatorship. 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:15.320 Through in these protests, Angsan Suki, the daughter of independence 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:18.880 here at Anksan, emerged as a national figurehead, especially in 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:23.840 the west. Amitov Ghusch, the Indian writer, wrote the following 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:29.120 about a eight eight eight across Burma. People poured out 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:31.920 in thousands to join the protests, not just students, but 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:35.840 also teachers, monks, children, professionals, and trade unionists of every shape. 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:39.000 It was on this day, too, that the Hunter made 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:42.920 its first determined attempt at repression. Soldiers opened fire on 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:46.280 the demonstrators and hundreds of unarmed marchers were killed. The 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:49.679 killings continued for a week, but still the demonstrators continued 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:53.840 to flood the streets. After the uprising had been suppressed, 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:58.720 multi party elections were later held, while the new National 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:01.440 League for Democracy party of Angsang shu Ki won the 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:05.960 most votes. The Hunter refused to see power. Protests continued 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:07.960 off and on for decades, with the two thousand and 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:11.720 seven Saffron Revolution, which the government violently cracked down on monks, 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:16.600 resulting in the most international condemnation. Following the Saffron Revolution, 0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:21.040 the government's isolationism hindering aid After extensive cyclone damage in 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:24.120 two thousand and eight, the military government finally implemented the 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:27.880 Roadmap to discipline flourishing democracy that had developed in nineteen 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:30.720 ninety three. If you're wondering about the name of the country, 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:33.400 this officially changed in nineteen eighty nine as well, but 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:36.319 like much of the nation's history, a grand proclamation from 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:39.400 the government didn't mean much on the ground. Both words 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:43.000 derived from Buranma, a name that the majority ethnic group 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:46.720 who we're calling Berman here used for themselves. Many opposition 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:50.520 groups still use Burma instead of Mienma. It's another small 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:52.960 way of saying no to the military's attempt to control 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:54.479 every aspect of their lives. 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:58.600 Finally, on the eighteenth of September, the army took to 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:00.880 the streets and the coup, led by Chief of Stamp 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:21.240 General Sumoon. The next day the killings began again. The 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:28.200 army later described these people as lutus. 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:33.680 It was not until twenty eleven that the military junta 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:36.840 finally stepped down and passed on power to the Union, 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:40.040 Solidarity and Development Party in an election that was widely 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:43.400 seen as fraudulent. A year later, long San sou Chi 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:46.760 was released, and by twenty fifteen her National League for 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:50.880 Democracy won an absolute majority. While she was barred from 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:53.520 holding the presidential office, she took on the role of 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:57.559 State councilor, and Mienmar entered a period of liberalization, which, 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:00.720 although never the federal democracy promised when the country gained 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:04.319 its independence in nineteen forty seven, allowed for significant freedoms 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:08.240 of communication and speech, especially for the Burman majority ethnic group. 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:12.160 Not everyone was reconciled to the change. Many of Myanmars 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:14.959 one hundred and thirty five ethnic groups feel marginalized by 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:18.199 the state, which tends to be dominated by the Burman ethnicity. 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:21.520 Some of these groups have armed insurgeon wings, often more 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:24.280 than one per ethnic group, as they disagree on politics 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.840 or religion. These groups have fought various Burmese governments since 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:30.679 the nineteen forties, but many of them reached a ceasefire 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:33.120 with the government as the country passed from military to 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:37.280 civilian rule. One group, however, saw a huge uptick in violence. 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:41.160 The Rohingya ethnic group have been persecuted by Buddhist nationals 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:44.400 since the nineteen seventies, but the campaign against them increased 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:47.680 in violence and scale in twenty sixteen, when the Tatmadab 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:51.280 began a huge crackdown against Rohinga people in Rakin's State. 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:54.680 The persecution began in response to attacks by the Arkan 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:58.760 Rohinga Salvation Army on Burmese border outposts, but the campaign 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:01.199 that followed had nothing to do with a small insurgent 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:03.440 group and a lot to do with the desire of 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:06.840 the Totmadaw to destroy or drive out all Rohinka people, 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:10.480 who they claim are undocumented migrants from Bangladesh and not 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:14.600 citizens of Myanmar. While the world praised Suki her government 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:16.800 looked the other way as the military carried out a 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:20.120 genocide that displaced over a million people and killed tens 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:23.720 of thousands. It was in the context of growing international 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:26.560 condemnation of the genocide that Mianmar went to the polls 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.880 in November of twenty twenty. The November twenty twenty election 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:32.439 was only the nation's second since the official end of 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:37.200 military rule. On Sansuchi's National League for Democracy won a 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:41.680 resounding victory. The military backed Union Solidarity and Development Party 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:44.560 holds twenty five percent of seats under a constitution that 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:48.080 SUCHI wanted to change. It didn't take defeat well. The 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:51.320 election was neither perfectly free nor fair. The Rohinga have 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:55.160 been almost wholly disenfranchised. The government claims they are illegal 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:58.840 immigrants from Bangladesh and thus unable to vote. Areas with 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:01.720 ethnic armed organ as if which opposed the government often 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:04.600 had poles canceled and internet cut off. According to Human 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:07.920 Rights Watch, The Carter Center estimates that one point four 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:12.000 million citizens couldn't vote. The one opposition party that was 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:16.080 certainly not short changed was the military's. However, it was 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:19.959 the Union Solidarity and Development Party USDP, which had been 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:23.120 calling for election delays due to COVID before poles opened. 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:27.400 Once the elections concluded, they immediately began questioning the results. 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:29.920 They continued to attempt to undermine the vote for months 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:32.520 before they resorted to force on the first to February 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:36.040 twenty twenty one, the day before the newly elected legislators 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:39.000 were due to be sworn in. The world largely ignored 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:41.800 the situation, apart from the one viral video where a 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:45.800 masked fitness instructor dances in the foreground as APC's roll 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:49.000 through a roadblock and into the parliament complex behind her. 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:53.360 Ensang su Chi was arrested, charged with breaching COVID nineteen 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:57.080 restrictions and illegally importing a walkie talkie, and General min 0:12:57.080 --> 0:12:59.960 Angkhlang was installed at the head of a military hojna 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:02.640 to If this sounds a little like a stop to 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:05.880 Steel fantasy, that's because it is eerily similar to one. 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:10.080 Meanmar's democracy is not what academics call a consolidated one, 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:12.360 which is to say that democracy has never been the 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:15.520 only game in town there, but the United States seems 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:19.640 to be rapidly deconsolidating its own democracy. The allegations of 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:22.120 election fraud in Meanmar were no more credible than those 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:26.000 in Arizona. However, the military's tradition of political engagement there 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:29.160 removed many of the barriers in between electoral defeat and 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:32.400 the death of a short lived democracy. Within twenty four 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:34.880 hours of the coup, the people of Myanmar had fought back. 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:38.400 Healthcare workers and civil servants were on strike by February third, 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:42.120 and a boycott of junta owned businesses had begun. Protests 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:44.720 began with a handful of people. The memories of massacres 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:48.000 of pro democracy protesters in the nineteen eighties kept many away, 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:51.559 but a younger generation who had grown up with relative liberty, 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:55.000 internet access and basic freedoms had not seen blood in 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:58.000 the streets like their parents. They had seen activists in 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:01.760 Hong Kong, the USA, and Ukraine on violent state APPARATUSUS, 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:03.840 and they'd often seen them win. 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:07.800 By the sixth of February, twenty thousand people in the 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:11.000 streets of Yangon, the largest city, and the internet was 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:15.920 shut down nationwide. Protests began peacefully, with mimeable signs like 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:18.760 my eggs is bad, but the military is worse and 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:22.520 we are protesting peacefully. But with the WAP capitalized so 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.800 it said whap. These signs were designed by a generation 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:28.200 of kids who grew up with access to the Internet 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:33.520 to attract international attention. Despite the ban, they used VPNs 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:36.680 to show imagury to their struggle. One sign read I've 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:39.320 messed with the wrong generation. Now we'll never be allowed 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:43.360 to ruin our own lives. The Tatmador showed its cards 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:47.440 pretty quickly. Police began the suppression with sling shots and clubs, 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:51.560 then tear gas and flashbrang and quickly they moved to 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:55.280 rifles and rocket the pel grenades. By the ninth of February, 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:59.040 maya thway thway, heine, a twenty year old woman have 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:01.720 been shot in the street. 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:06.000 What did you. 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:32.200 Soon? 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:35.760 There's young protesters to switch signs for shields. By mid 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:38.560 March and I'm forties day, one hundred and forteen civilians 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:41.480 were killed in a single day, including sixty five in 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:47.200 Yangon who were kettled by police, surrounded net shot. Quickly, 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:50.280 shield walls were set up. Medics identified themselves in the 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:54.240 protest movement, and hard hats and goggles were distributed, but 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.160 this didn't tip the balance of power in their favor. 0:15:57.120 --> 0:16:00.640 So Orlin, a former student union leader, was there from 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:04.120 the start. In a text message, he told me I 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:06.400 did not miss a single day as a member of 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:10.160 the Caya State National Strike Committee. I later became more 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:14.400 involved in anti authoritarian protests. In the early protests, you 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:16.080 see him in photos walking at the front of the 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:19.080 group carrying flags and banners with his student ID card 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:22.320 on a lanyard around his neck. But by March he's 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:27.119 wearing a black shirt, goggles and a hard construction hat. Meanwhile, 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:30.280 the National League for Democracy politicians who had escaped attention 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:33.720 joined other parties and set up a National Unity Government 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:38.240 in April. The National Unity Government contained members of the 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:42.520 National League for Democracy, but significantly, a Rahindio activist was 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:45.000 appointed an advisor in the Ministry of Human Rights, and 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:48.240 the National Unity Government has announced it would for the 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:51.960 first time accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:54.400 with respect to all international crimes committed in me and 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:57.840 Mah since two thousand and two. This would include the 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:02.440 Rhinga genocide. By May, both the National Unity Government and 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:05.400 Zwelin had realized that no amount of non violent protests 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:07.760 was going to this lodge regime that was happy to 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:11.080 gun down kids in the street. So on the fifth 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:14.440 of May, he left for the jungle. That same day, 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:17.080 the National Unity government announced the formation of the People's 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:20.600 Defense Force or PDF. Within a month, eight hundred soldiers 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:23.800 has it affected to these pro democracy guerrilla units. Many 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:28.400 bought their guns with them, but Twa didn't join the PDF. Instead, 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:30.720 he joined one of ME and R's many ethnic armed 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:34.520 organizations groups opposed to a central state and its domination 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:38.520 by the Burman ethnicity. To understand these groups, you need 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:41.000 to understand that ME andm R is composed of dozens, 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:44.200 not hundreds, of ethnic groups, but that the Burman, who 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:46.840 make up about two thirds of the population, have always 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:48.800 controlled the state and used it as a tool in 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:52.560 furthering their interest. Some of these groups, like the Kurrent 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:55.760 National Liberation Army and the Kachin Independence Army, have been 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:58.479 fighting for decades since the country emerged from British colonial 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:00.960 rule at the end of World War Two. All of 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:04.040 these groups drew on a combination of ethnic and political grievances. 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:09.240 Many of them administer semi autonomous territories like the Kurrent State. 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:14.800 In twenty thirteen, thirteen ethnic armed organizations or EAOs came 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:18.879 together to form the nationwide Ceasefire Coordinating Team in CCT 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:22.720 and signed an eleven point Common Position of Ethnic Resistance 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:27.159 Organizations on national Ceasefire or the LEISA Agreement. Most of 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:29.240 them seemed to agree that they would accept a federal 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:33.240 system rather than complete autonomy. In twenty fifteen, a ceasefire 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:37.040 was signed, but conflict between ethnic armed organizations and between 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:41.320 EAOs and the government continued. Since the coup began, EO 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:45.560 membership has skyrocketed, and in October, the National Unity government 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:49.640 announced alliances with several groups under a central chain of command. 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:52.520 Some political organizations who played a part in the nineteen 0:18:52.560 --> 0:18:55.920 eighty eight uprising, like the Al Burma Students Democratic Front, 0:18:56.119 --> 0:19:00.480 have been revived as armed groups. The ABSDF recently attacked 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:04.520 top Madaw ships using an RPG. Attacks on military bases 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:07.640 have also stepped up. PDF units have ambushed and killed 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:11.360 policemen and raided police and military outposts. Each time they do, 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:14.760 they steal valuable weapons and ammunition. The top Madaw has 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:19.320 responded with shellings and airstrikes against residential areas, executions, mass 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:22.760 physical retribution, and the murdering of civilians and aid workers 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:25.919 and burning of their bodies. As a result of all this, 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:30.240 ethnic armed organizations have joined forces with anti authoritarian Burman 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:33.800 people under the auspices of the People's Defense Forces, which 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:37.320 are under the command of the exiled National Unity Government. 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:43.320 We have never experienced such kind of brutalities from the 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:46.840 military as well as as strong resistance from the people. 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:52.760 They try to make sure the whole country submit to them, 0:19:52.840 --> 0:20:04.560 but we still refuse to allow them to be our rulers. 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:08.600 This defiance has led to the formation of the People's 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:13.879 Defense Forces or PDF, a coalition of thousands of resistance 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:18.440 fighters who carrying out surprise attacks on hunter checkpoints, bombing 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:23.280 army convoys, and supporting ethnic armies in their fight against 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:26.760 the regime. Twelve months ago, these men and women were 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:31.640 students and office workers protesting the coup. Today they're training 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:33.800 to overthrow the military. 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:37.840 The Annesota is the tough choints, but the young people 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:42.040 they are ready to defend the communities. They have to, 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:46.359 of course, sacrifice their own daily life, ordinary life. 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:49.760 Since March of twenty twenty, the influx of new recruits 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:53.640 has changed these groups. Generation Z militias like the Carini 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:57.160 gin Z Liberation Army have sprung up, founded by kids 0:20:57.200 --> 0:21:00.840 who were holding ammable signs at protests a few months earlier. 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:04.320 They care less about ethnic independence and more about beating 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:08.560 the junta. Many Berman kids join these groups. These organizations 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:11.920 of young fighters received training from the experienced guerrillas hiding 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:14.240 in the jungle, but they tended to adopt a less 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:17.920 top down military structure and armed themselves by scavenging whatever 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:21.160 weapons they could find, often twenty two caliber rifles better 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:24.639 suited to shooting squirrels than soldiers. It was these kids 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:26.720 who grew up online and knew that there was nothing 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:29.440 you couldn't learn about on Reddit who tipped the balance 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:32.800 of force away from the state. Unlike the ethnic armed 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:36.680 organizations and other more experienced guerrillas than menmar these kids 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:41.119 have little military experience. Their organizations have few rules and regulations. 0:21:41.560 --> 0:21:44.520 They're made up entirely of young people. As a result, 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:47.720 there are certain things that they're less proficient at, but 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:50.560 they're much better at things like grasping the use of 0:21:50.640 --> 0:21:53.560 new technologies, which has led to me and Maar being 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:55.960 the first country in the world where three D printed 0:21:56.000 --> 0:21:58.920 weapons have taken part in a revolution against the government. 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:03.040 To hear more about that and many other things as 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:20.160 this series continues. Hey, everybody, I'm Robert Evans, and this 0:22:20.200 --> 0:22:24.800 is me and mar printing the Revolution Part two. Since 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:27.680 the dawn of firearms, regular people all over the world 0:22:27.760 --> 0:22:30.400 have had the same basic idea, maybe if I made 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:32.520 myself a gun, the government wouldn't be able to be 0:22:32.600 --> 0:22:35.640 such a dick to me. Historically, this has had little 0:22:35.680 --> 0:22:38.359 impact on the willingness of governments to be dicks to people. 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:42.440 In the beginning, all gun manufacturing was done by individual artisans, 0:22:42.480 --> 0:22:44.480 and thus making a gun in your home was really 0:22:44.520 --> 0:22:46.520 no different from making it in a shop, as long 0:22:46.560 --> 0:22:49.439 as you had the proper tools. Guns in this period 0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:52.199 weren't super useful on their own and were best fired 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:54.399 in a volley by a shitload of dudes at once. 0:22:55.160 --> 0:22:58.920 Since individual firearms were extremely inaccurate and cumbersome to use, 0:22:59.040 --> 0:23:01.440 the fact that some poor or blacksmith could make himself 0:23:01.440 --> 0:23:03.800 one wasn't much of a threat to anybody in power. 0:23:04.359 --> 0:23:07.320 It did mean that battlefield prowess came from large blocks 0:23:07.320 --> 0:23:11.760 of trained soldiers, not fuel lords on horseback rallying untrained peasants. 0:23:12.240 --> 0:23:14.879 This change in technology led to a change in warfare 0:23:14.920 --> 0:23:18.399 and helped to change society. As firearms evolved and became 0:23:18.440 --> 0:23:21.479 these central weapons of battle. They required more intense tooling 0:23:21.520 --> 0:23:25.600 and more expensive manufacturing capacity. Nations and peoples without the 0:23:25.680 --> 0:23:29.400 know how our infrastructure were at a tremendous disadvantage. As 0:23:29.400 --> 0:23:32.960 soon as this situation came into being, these unfortunate communities 0:23:33.000 --> 0:23:35.560 set to work finding ways to gain the advantages of 0:23:35.600 --> 0:23:41.040 firearms without the manufacturing capacity their foes enjoyed. Indigenous cannons 0:23:41.040 --> 0:23:45.800 and regions resisting imperialism often consisted of composite materials less 0:23:45.800 --> 0:23:48.879 sturdy than brods or iron. In the sixteen hundreds and 0:23:48.920 --> 0:23:52.920 seventeen hundreds, Indigenous Americans in South America used wooden cannons 0:23:52.960 --> 0:23:56.880 to fight against Spanish and Portuguese conquerors. The Vietnamese used 0:23:56.880 --> 0:23:59.600 wooden cannons to resist the French during the coachin China 0:23:59.640 --> 0:24:03.680