During the years of conflict in the jungles and mountains of Myanmar, ethnic people were witnessed and subjected to horrific atrocities, including massacre, rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture, forced labor and displacement by the armed forces, as well as discrimination perpetrated by the state is ratified.
Determined to fight the abuses and ensure that their voices and demands are heard, ethnic peoples loudly joined the nationwide protests and united in solidarity against a common enemy. Although many fear further violence and the intensified conflict of an uncontrolled military junta operating without punishment and now in strong control of the country.
“This struggle has been since the beginning of the formation of the country itself. We hope that the current struggle against the military coup in the 21st century can be a new hope for our people,” said kin activist Sang Hnin Lian.
Ethnic demands go deeper
But minority people, of whom there are 135 official groups, say these demands are largely made by the country’s majority group, the Buddhist Bamar, which traditionally lives in the country’s heartlands – which include major cities such as Yangon and Mandalay – and say the fight will deeper than just the military verses the NLD.
“This is a very important transition period,” said Karen activist Naw Esther Chit. With another name for Myanmar, she added: “In Burma, ethnic people have been marginalized and their voice excluded … ethnic people must come together and raise a voice for our rights.”
A group called the General Strike Committee of Nationalities (GSCN) was formed to support the protests and to be a central place for the numerous protesting ethnic minorities. The GSCN consists of 29 ethnic groups and wants to end military rule, abolish the military drafted 2008 constitution, establish a federal democratic union and release all those detained illegally.
“Ethnic people do not want dictatorship, we do not want to bring back the military government to govern the country, because we already know the consequences of military rule in ethnic areas,” said Chit, a GSCN member.
When Suu Kyi’s NLD won elections in 2015, there was hope that her promise of national reconciliation would stop the abuse, strengthen the peace process and give ethnic people a voice in the new Myanmar. But many minorities believe Suu Kyi rules for the majority and is excluded from consulting on issues that have affected them.
Meanwhile, the peace process has fluttered.
The NLD has made progress in building infrastructure such as roads, construction, internet access and education, “but when we talk about policy things, nothing has changed in the last ten years,” said Sang Hnin Lian, a Chin Human Rights activist. . Organization.
High in the mountains bordering India and Bangladesh in western Myanmar is the state of Chin. The remote and rugged state of 500,000 people is one of the poorest in the country, and over the past twenty years, according to Sang Hnin Lian, a strong military presence has built up there. Its people were recently captured in fighting in the south of the country between ethnic Rakhine rebels and the military.
Sang Hnin Lian said that in the past, people from the Chin were used as human shields in war and were forced to carry or lead the army.
“Porting was one of the worst human rights abuses, forcing villagers to carry it (rice and equipment) and asking civilians to guide them when they go. And it’s been happening for the past two years,” Lian said.
And because of decades of conflict, landmines continue to pollute many ethnic areas across the country. The Chin Human Rights Organization has documented more than 12 deaths in the state over the past two years.
CNN has issued an email to the ruling military regime, but has not yet received a responsee.
If the military in Myanmar succeeds in establishing a full government, Lian’s biggest fear is that fighting will escalate in ethnic areas.
“There will be more human rights violations, loss of life,” he said. “It will, of course, cause a massive exodus to neighboring countries.”
In the Chin capital Hakha and other areas, anti-coup protests were held. Lian said a federal democracy and the abolition of the 2008 constitution are among the biggest demands.
In the months before Myanmar’s independence from the British, an agreement was signed in 1947 between some of the country’s ethnic groups to unite the country in exchange for federal autonomy. Suu Kyi’s father, General Aung San, led the interim government that negotiated the Panglong agreement, but was assassinated shortly thereafter and the promise of a federal union was never fulfilled.
Instead, successive military rulers subjected ethnic minorities to a policy of forced assimilation called ‘Burmanization’, which made non-Bamar religious and cultural practices compulsory in the Burmese language and favored the dominant Buddhist religion. has.
Non-Bamar ethnic people were oppressed, Lian said. “You can be slapped if you do not speak Burmese,” he added.
Since then, Myanmar’s ethnic groups have been fighting for self – determination of their ancestral lands, where states are run by ethnic people, not by the central government in Naypyidaw.
Karen protects their lands
The long struggle is shared by the Karen, an ethnic minority living mainly in the Irrawaddy delta and hilly border regions with Thailand in the east of the country.
Since December, renewed fighting has erupted between the military and the Karen National Union – one of the oldest rebel groups – despite a ceasefire in 2012, forcing villagers to flee their homes.
The Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian group working on the front lines of many of Myanmar’s conflicts, including in Karen, said attacks were the most intense and widespread since 2012 and 6,000 displaced people were hiding in the forest.
The group’s founder, Dave Eubanks, believes the increase in fighting is directly linked to the coup, as the military seeks full control of Burma. ‘
“The coup was apparently well planned in advance and we saw the pressure in the ethnic areas here start to build in December last year and January, and then even more after the coup,” Eubanks said. “At the moment, the ethnic leaders not only feel that they are trying to protect their people and protect the displaced, but they also feel solidarity with the pro-democracy and CDM in the cities and plains of Burma.”
On Tuesday, a statement from more than 2,500 Karen people in 34 towns claimed that the army was ‘occupying our country and threatening our lives and a peaceful existence’. In solidarity with the anti-coup movement, they demanded that the army “immediately withdraw from our territory” and that the regime “be held accountable for the crimes committed against ethnic people.”
“We exercise self-determination, and we declare that we are the legal political authority in our territory. We reject all centrally imposed systems, reject the Burmese military dictatorship and the imposed administrative system in our territory,” the group said. “As guardians of our ancestral territories, we must protect our environment and keep it free from outside interference that could harm our residents.”
Empathy for ethnic struggle
Although there is now an uncomfortable ceasefire in place, fighting in the western Rakhine state between the ethnic Arakan army and the army has become one of the most serious and intense conflicts in the country since November 2018, leading to civilian casualties, 200,000 displaced persons and a prolonged internet eclipse.
And although ethnic people are united in protests against the military coup, the attitude in the western Rakhine state is more complicated.
Khine, a Rakhine activist living in Yangon, said for many people in the conflict-torn north of the state, there is little difference between the military and the ousted NLD government, which has supported the army’s recent campaigns in the state.
“The majority (in northern Rakhine) see the two enemies, the NLD and the army, joining forces to fight the Arakan army for two years. Now they are fighting each other,” he said.
In March 2020, the government designated the Arakan army and its political wing as a terrorist organization. In the run-up to the November polls, the Electoral Commission canceled the vote in many townships in Rakhine, citing security issues.
Last month, the Arakan National Party – the largest political party in the state and fierce critics of the NLD – sent a representative to join the army’s state administration council, which has drawn widespread criticism from the Rakhine people and civil society. had.
Khine said the move had “totally damaged” the political reputation of the state. That is why he formed the Arakan Against Dictatorship Protest Group in Yangon “to show that we are against the coup and dictatorship and show solidarity with the people here.” Although he said that an outcome in which the NLD comes to power under the 2008 constitution is not worth risking lives.
The conflict in Rakhine followed the bloody military campaign against the Rohingya. Some Rohingya people now living in refugee camps in Bangladesh have expressed solidarity with protesters, posted on social media or held their own demonstrations.
The coup even led to soul-searching among the Burmese people. Some apologized on social media for not acknowledging the ethnic struggle.
As the Rohingya crisis unfolded, “the people of Myanmar at the time shared the same view with the military,” Khine said. When Suu Kyi defended the army’s actions at the ICJ, it may have even increased her popularity before the election.
“But after the coup, a lot of sympathy was shared with them that the terror took place, but we neglected it,” Khine said.
He added to move forward, “feelings and sympathy are not enough, they need to show with their actions.”
Salai TZ and Angus Watson contributed to reporting.