Students, teachers join growing civil resistance to coup

Thousands of university and school teachers, students, doctors and nurses across Myanmar have taken part in civil disobedience actions against Myanmar’s military government after this week’s military coup in the country.

President Win Myint, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and newly elected members of parliament were unlawfully detained by the Myanmar military government this week.

Hundreds of doctors and medical staff joined the civil disobedience movement, refusing to go to hospitals. They said they hoped civilians would understand their actions.

Reports said some 200 teachers and students from Dagon University staged a rally on Friday, where they displayed the three-finger ‘Hunger Games’ salute used by Thailand’s protesters in the past year.

Teachers from the University of Yangon came out onto the streets in Yangon on Friday wearing the colours of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party.

Two universities made statements condemning the coup, with one of them, the University of Dental Medicine, Mandalay, signalling that the institution would not operate under the new regime.

Civilians who use Facebook, the most popular social platform in Myanmar, released many statements urging peaceful strikes as part of the civil disobedience campaign.

“We urge teachers, students, workers, organisations and individuals to fight peacefully against the military dictatorship and military junta,” Vice-President of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) Aung Pyae Sone Phyo told University World News. He added they would strike “in all possible ways without any violence”.

“We want all the people and students to organise pro-democracy movements and actions. However, we can’t say now that we will protest on the streets nor on the internet. We are trying all possible ways to fight against the military junta,” said Aung Pyae Sone Phyo, who is a fourth-year student at Yangon University of Education.

A statement issued by ABFSU on 3 February said it would work towards the “categorical annihilation” of military dictatorship.

In the first week of February, Acting President Myint Swe declared the country would be under a nationwide state of emergency for one year under Article 417 of the 2008 Constitution. After two days of detaining democratically elected leaders, Myanmar police filed charges against Aung San Suu Kyi for allegedly illegally importing communications equipment and took her into custody for two weeks.

President Win Myint was charged under the Natural Disaster Management Law, which can lead to up to three years’ imprisonment. This led to statements from different student unions, organisations and politicians to immediately release the detainees and officially acknowledge the parliament session.

Civilians from over 50 townships, hundreds of hospitals and universities joined the civil disobedience movement. Some of them posted live videos of their protests at home, hitting pots and singing revolutionary songs.

After civilian calls on Facebook for civil disobedience, the military government ordered internet service providers to ban Facebook, which has 22 million users registered in Myanmar, “for the sake of stability”. This prompted many messages to the international community from civilians to condemn the Myanmar military and to “do everything to save Myanmar”.

“We will press the international community to take action against the military coup. We need help from the international community”, said ABFSU’s Aung Pyae Sone Phyo.

No going back to ‘the bad old days’

Employees from the Ministry of Education joined hospital and medical workers in wearing red ribbons in protest, as many employees of ministry departments in the capital Nay Pyi Taw and around the country also joined in.

“We started the civil disobedience movement since the military coup. We do not want a dictatorship. We already experienced how bad the dictatorship was and how our education system fell back,” Hnin Yee, an English teacher from Dawei Township, Tanintharyi Region, told University World News, referring to the decades before 2011 when the country was under military rule.

Phyu Hnin Oo, a second-year distance university history student from Mawlamyine Township, Mon State, told University World News she was afraid to go back to “the dark old days”.

“Our education system was all learning by heart and memorising without knowing anything. I thought I could see a ray of light after Daw Aung San Suu Kyi took power,” she said, referring to Aung San Suu Kyi’s focus on reforming and modernising education.

“All the universities have closed for a year because of the coronavirus and now the military junta returns,” she added. After the closure of the university, she worked for an organisation an hour’s drive away in Hpa-An Township, Karen State.

She said there were now half a dozen tanks stationed near her home in Hpa-An, “but they have not yet done anything to civilians”.

“Although I am afraid of the military soldiers, I am more scared of going back to those days when our eyes were shut,” Phyu Hnin Oo said.

Build-up of the movement

University alumni and student unions across Myanmar have released statements saying they will take part in civil disobedience activities. After the coup, people signalled their opposition to the military junta noisily by hitting pots and pans – a Myanmar tradition to drive away evil, as well as starting car honking campaigns against military rule in Myanmar.

Civilians, including doctors, hospital nurses and staff across Myanmar sang revolutionary songs as part of the campaign.

The University of Dental Medicine, Mandalay, declared that they would no longer serve under the military regime. “We would like to urge the service personnel under other ministries to take part in the peace movement and civil disobedience campaign,” the statement said.

Myanmar Maritime University alumni released a statement saying they strongly condemn the actions of the Myanmar military that have “ruined the dreams of people in Myanmar [who want] to continue the country’s democratic transition”.

Another statement from international relations students and alumni from Dagon University, Yangon, said they strongly denounced the forced seizure by Myanmar military of state sovereignty against the provisions in the constitution and the detention of the representatives of Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (the parliament) and government officials who were officially elected by the people’s vote at the general election on 8 November 2020.

Students from the University of Medicine 2, Yangon, also said they would not attend university under the military junta. “We strongly call for all the professors to join against the military junta,” the statement said.

Arrests

Around 150 people have been arrested since the coup, including students, activists, elected members of parliament and members of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy government.

On Thursday morning, around 20 students and activists protested near the University of Medicine, Mandalay, calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other detained government officials and activists. Three of the protesters, a university student and two young activists, were arrested by the police.

“The students were protesting non-violently. The military shouldn’t do this. As an individual, I will strongly support the peace movement and civil disobedience campaign,” said Ma Nilar, a teacher from the country’s second largest city Mandalay.

But calls to demonstrate in the streets have been controversial.

“We would rather take to civil disobedience than going out into the streets as we can show many ways to strike against the military junta. It could become violent if we go out,” said Hnin Yee, commenting on protests on Friday morning in Dawei township, Southeastern Myanmar, where she is a teacher.

She told University World News that they all have the same goal to end military rule. As a teacher, she did not want students to be arrested and beaten. “We want justice. The education system just started changing and we don’t want to lose it.”

On the other hand, the so-called 88 Generation Students, a pro-democracy group that derives its name from the 1988 student-led uprising against military rule, which is led by many of those active in the 1980s, released a statement on 5 February saying they supported all actions including protesting on the streets and civil disobedience as the only way to stop the system of military rule.