But perhaps the most permanent form of protest is the tattoo.
From big cities like Yangon and Mandalay, to the Shan states Nyaung Shwe, a small town near the popular tourist resort of Inle Lake, is being colored by protesters for democracy.
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A protester gets a tattoo of the three-finger salute, a popular gesture from ‘The Hunger Games’ seen by the protests in Myanmar. Browse the gallery for more information. Credit: Robert Bociaga for CNN
“Tattoos are a lasting memory for your whole life, and a way to express our dreams. It can not be removed and therefore shows our solidarity. It unites our protesters,” said Htun Htun, a resident of Nyaung Shwe, originally from Yangon.
Htun Htun was one of about 70 people who took part in a tattoo event in Nyaung Shwe on Friday.
The event, organized by a local youth group of the Intha ethnic minority, invited residents to get a protest tattoo to raise funds for the civil disobedience movement, or CDM. The movement saw thousands of white and blue-collar workers, from medics, bankers and lawyers to teachers, engineers and factory workers, leave their jobs as a form of resistance to the February 1 military coup.
Protesters in Nyaung Shwe on March 5, 2021, proving their support for the civil disobedience movement. Credit: Robert Bociaga for CNN
Eight tattooists colored in dozens of participants, each asking for a minimum donation of $ 2. Each tattoo took about 20 minutes to complete, and the speed gave participants a choice of four styles: the face of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the words ‘Spring revolution’, the phrase ‘Kabar Ma Kyay’ Bu ‘(referred to as a protest song and means “we will not forget until the end of the world”) and the ubiquitous ‘three-finger salute’ from ‘The Hunger Games’ films, which became a symbol of resistance during demonstrations in Myanmar and neighboring Thailand.
The most popular design? An outline of Suu Kyi’s face.
A protester shows off his new tattoos. Credit: Robert Bociaga for CNN
‘I got a tattoo because I like Aung San Suu Kyi and admire people who stand up and suffer under a dictatorship. Getting a tattoo is painful, but it is nothing compared to the sadness (caused by the coup). freedom back, ”says Moh Moh, a 26-year-old contestant who did not want to give her full name for security reasons.
“The tattoo campaign was our own idea – it is a group of tattooists who use the opportunity to support the CDM. What is happening now with the protests is more worrying than Covid,” said organizer Nyi Nyi Lwin.
He said the incident had been damaged by recent deadly repression of peaceful protesters by Myanmar security forces, and some people feared a rumor that the police would do so. arrive to arrest participants.
Continuous collisions
According to the watchdog group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), nearly 2,000 people have been arrested, charged or sentenced by the military junta since the regime. Many of them are people who are being evicted from their homes by police and military personnel during the night, with family members often unsure where they are being held.
“Demonstrations continue despite innocent people dying at the hands of an army,” said one tattooist, who held up the three-finger salute but did not want to be named for safety reasons. “This situation must stop. We are demonstrating to release Aung San Suu Kyi and restore democracy.”
Just like in movies “The Hunger Games”, the salute has become a symbol of resistance among a loose collection of activists across Asia who call themselves the Milk Tea Alliance due to the popularity of the drink in places rocked by protest actions. The movement, which started as a hashtag to protest online harassment of Chinese nationalists, has since grown to include members from Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Myanmar and even India.
The members supported each other’s struggle for democracy and adopted similar iconography during demonstrations in each country, including slogans, protest signs, the now famous uniforms of helmets and goggles, protest tactics and the three-finger salute.
A demonstration at Nyaung Shwe on March 5, 2021. Credit: Robert Bociaga for CNN
The popularity of the symbol at Nyaung Shwe’s tattoo for tattooing is an indication of how far and wide the movement has spread – and how the visual dissent is waning smaller and more remote parts of Myanmar.
Distressed past
Not far from Nyaung Shwe, located in the Shan Hills, is the tourist spot of Inle Lake. Thousands of people have staged a unique protest on the lake in recent weeks: on traditional wooden and fishing longboats vessels, which raise their oars and express signs expressing military domination.
Protesters wearing traditional Shan dresses stop paddles and signs as they take part in a protest against the military coup in Myanmar on Inle Lake on 11 February 2021. Credit: Calito / AFP / Getty Images
Demonstrations have also erupted near other iconic Burmese landmarks, including the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bagan, known for its thousands of ancient pagodas and temples.
From Yangon to the capital Naypyidaw, and even among Burmese migrants in Thailand, people tattoo 75-year-old Suu Kyi’s face on their chest and arms. A Nobel Prize winner and former political prisoner, Suu Kyi, has led Myanmar as the first civilian leader since military rule ended in 2011.
Protesters take part in a protest against the military coup in Myanmar in Bagan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, on February 11, 2021. Credit: STR / AFP / Getty Images
In 1988, Aung Soe (49) took part in mass pro-democracy protests, known as the 8888 uprising, which were violently suppressed by the military and eventually ended in a military coup.
At the time, “all the protesters at the time got tattoos on the upper arm to show unity, but it differs from the design of today,” he said. “Mine show circles that form a clenched fist.”
Aung Soe said that during the 1988 repression, in which at least 3,000 people presumably died, he had to change places regularly to evade authorities. During the recent protests, many protesters, activists and journalists also hid, for fear of arresting security forces.
“Generation Z is much more emotional than us,” he said. “They care so much about freedom. The situation today, compared to 1988, is different because we now have the elected government … and the world knows what is happening in Myanmar now. In the past we could not spread any information.” “At home or abroad, the international community did not care about us.”
Tattoo culture
Myanmar has a long and rich history of tattooing, especially among the different ethnic groups in the country. In the northern state of Shan and the central Karen region, men would tattoo their thighs to symbolize masculinity and bravery. Others believed that the traditional tattoos would possess magical powers. In the remote, mountainous Chin state in western Myanmar, it was known that local women had their faces tattooed.
But tattooing was banned in Myanmar – then known as Burma – under British colonial rule. And the use of Chin women tattooing their faces was banned in the 1960s by the Burmese army’s socialist government.
Since the country started in 2011 and started a series of reforms, tattoo marks have become more popular, especially among the younger generation.
Htun Htun said all his friends in Nyaung Shwe get a protest tattoo, “but in Yangon it is no longer possible due to the repression,” he said. “We all hope for democracy and to see the release of our leaders.”
The power of small protests, he said, was “to unite the people in one movement”.
“The increase in violence scares me to death, we are defenseless,” he added. “Guns are not a solution to the problem.”