3 Jan 2022
News summary in short: Grisly attacks by tatmadaw on innocent people continue in retaliation for the acts of small bands of self-armed people, in numerous locations. A large number of harsh prison sentences have been handed out across the main spectrum of charges which boil down to either talking trash about the coup regime, or plotting to overthrow it. The rest of this is background and helpful links.
I had prepped a NYE post after stumbling across a video file that the BBS won’t accept for format and had no energy to convert it. Very short clip and not necessary as I’ve described the moment previously. I noticed in the BBS system’s year in review, this thread landed in top 5 in terms of hours read. It is fair to chalk much of this up to my posts last year being much too wordy. I’m grateful for each of you whose had to wade through them. It may prove a resource for future, better organized, writings.
I’ve been listening to the audiobook of Charmaine Craig’s (pretty much non-) fiction novel about the life of her late mother Naw Louisa Benson, Miss Burma, read by Charmaine herself. It better situates the world of DASSK’s father and the Thirty Comrades who received training in WWII Japan then invited the Japanese armed forces to invade Burma. It became such an obviously bad idea that most of the Comrades switched sides and struck a deal with the British. But I think that training left a permanent imprint on the Tatmadaw. These barbaric acts that the top generals have been so blasé about are really something they haven’t stopped doing since the 1930s - as many similar acts are described in the novel.
So too is the story’s backdrop of Burmese nationalism, the seeds of which were formed in Aung San long before he went to Japan.
In a trump MAGA thread, @Papasan’s sharing of the signs of rising fascism is quite suitable for what is happening now in Burma/Myanmar:
There’s more news that I’m skipping and may catch up with in coming days, so as a refresher to kick off the year, some great sources. I may return to these to append or repost it every month or quarter:
News
-The Irrawaddy
-Frontier Myanmar
-Mizzima
-Myanmar Now
-Tea Circle Oxford
-Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB)
Advocacy & Detailed Reports/data:
-Justice For Myanmar
-Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
-Progressive Voice Myanmar via this link has a long list of important reports from nearly every organization working on Burma/Myanmar.
