🇲🇲 The bloodiest day yet

China enters the fray

Hello friends!

Just a bit of a ~life update~ here from me. Like just about everyone in media, I lost a whole bunch of work last year. Luckily, the only other thing I have experience in is medical admin and that’s the only thing hiring in the last 12 months! It’s been really great so far (paid? On time? With no invoicing??) but Australia has just started its vaccine programme and I’m in for an overtime nightmare. This means the schedule I try to stick to will be upset quite a bit, although I always endeavour to give a heads up about that. 

I’m also trying to do shorter bursts for our freebies, so we can keep them frequent but digestible. This is why today you won’t read the words ‘Aung San Suu Kyi’ except for here in the intro. We’ll be back with her next time. 

See you next week — and be nice to your medical receptionist! Erin Cook

The latest in CDM

  • A second National League of Democracy member has died while in Tatmadaw custody. Ko Zaw Myat Lin, from the Yangon area, died March 9 — just a day after being arrested. His wife told a colleague Ko Zaw Myat Lin had suffered a deep wound to his abdomen. Authorities say this was an accident that occurred as he attempted to escape. “I can’t bear this. How could they do this to an unarmed civilian? Even I was in tears after I heard of this shocking death,” colleague Ko Min Wai told the Irrawaddy.  

  • Reports of torture and mistreatment in prison are rife. One report from Reuters shows deep bruising across a man’s back after three hours in a so-called ‘hell room’. “We got beaten the whole time even while we were walking to the room. The soldiers said, ‘This is the hell room, why don’t you guys have a taste?’” the man told Reuters. 

China-Myanmar

The Chinese-owned factories which burned on Sunday led not just to the deadliest day yet and the introduction of martial law, but a deep fracture between China and Myanmar. 

There is a heavy caveat in each piece on this which notes that it is not clear who started the fires. Twitter users participating in the CDM have been super quick to point out this sort of thing is a known Tatmadaw tactic and was used in 1988. There’s also snaps floating around of authorities setting barricades alight. OBVIOUSLY, I don’t know who is doing what but just so you know, that’s what that caveat is about! 

"China won't allow its interests to be exposed to further aggression … If the authorities cannot deliver and the chaos continues to spread, China might be forced into taking more drastic action to protect its interests," state media CGTN reported, as per Nikkei Asia. 

State firms have advised non-essential staff to leave the country (an instruction given to basically all foreign nationals since February 1, if not earlier with the resurgence in cases at the end of last year). 

The incident has pushed China into the spotlight of the movement. I really liked this one from Andrew Nachemson for Foreign Policy that looks at where China stood in the country prior to the coup and how that is quickly shifting now with many viewing the rebuke of the factory fires as putting property and profits over people. 

The Tatmadaw vs the Monks

Monk and Tatmadaw relations are a new one for me and I’m still trying to get my head around it. 

There should be movement on this front this week with the monks association calling for the violence to end and a peaceful resolution. 

United Nations speaks up — CDM wants more

The United Nations special rapporteur Thomas Andrews has come out swinging against the Tatmadaw during an address to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. 

“There is growing evidence that [the] Myanmar military, led by the same senior leadership, is now likely engaging in crimes against humanity, including acts of murder, enforced disappearance, persecution, torture,” he said, as reported by the AFP. 

While the death toll will need an update since last week’s address one frightening figure stands out. Let’s let Wa Lone take this: 

The United Nation’s words have heated up this week as detention and deaths rise. 

Something I’m very interested in noting here is the pleading with the UN for intervention as seen in social media posts and memes. This is becoming more and more common, I feel. I’ve also seen a bunch of Change petitions and pleads to the US for intervention. Which a very smart friend, who probably doesn’t want to be quoted but can let me know if he changes his mind, suspects may be the natural progression of decades of propaganda on Western countries' nefarious powers.

Hmm, maybe these PR guys can help? Good Lord, no points in the afterlife for a gig like that. 

Let’s close out today with wise words from Aaron Connelly:

Reading list:

While humanitarian aid workers report that the Rohingya are generally receptive to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available, the reduction in staff will also impinge on their ability to contain the spread of misinformation related to the vaccine, especially as the Bangladeshi government has restricted internet and phone service within the camps.

Despite its attempt to follow the Indonesian model, the Myanmar military did not pursue the path laid out by Indonesia's democratic transition. At the heart of it, the Tatmadaw is not ready to give up power.  

After living under five decades of brutal military dictatorship between 1962 and 2011, Myanmar’s people understand one thing: if they can cripple the economy, they can cripple the military.

The guerrilla-style protests represent the “fifth version” of the movement, said Kyaw Thu Win, lead singer of activist punk band Rebel Riot. 

Any grudging respect the military may have retained for its role in guiding the political transition over the past decade has now well and truly evaporated.

“He was wearing a hat that said press, and he showed his staff identity card and shouted ‘I am a journalist! I am a journalist!’” the photojournalist told CJR. In response, the beating intensified.

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