Urgency is the reason why I needed to write this essay “How will we fight?”. Urgency as a general strike is raging in Myanmar. As of penning this essay, protesters are waging streets wars in the wide avenues and narrow lanes of Yangon, Mandalay, and in other major cities and small towns. Myanmar people are fighting for their freedom battling against the uniformed armed thugs of Myanmar military and police forces. Myanmar, sadly, is at war with herself. The pressing question now is how Myanmar people can win this crucial war against the brutal Myanmar junta.
First thing first, if you, the reader, ponder whether the unarmed protesters will win against the uniformed thugs who are armed to the teeth, my honest answer will be, “I don’t know”. However, from what I have seen, there certainly is a hope for Myanmar people even though it could still go both way. There is no doubt that it will be a very challenging battle but not an impossible one to win. Yes, if we do it right, we will win.
While at war, a combatant needs to identify allies, assess enemies, analyse their strategies and tactics, identify their generals and foot soldiers, know their strengths and weaknesses. And you hit hard, hit where your enemy will hurt most, their Achilles’ heel, bleed them dry and white. Hit to hurt, hit to cripple, hit to eliminate, hit persistently and wage the war of attrition. At all times, conserve one’s own resources and energy. One should expect to fight for the long haul.
What is the strategy of Myanmar junta? The enemy has been using fear and opportunism, stick and sweet, as always. They will threaten to kill you, arrest you or beaten you down. On the other hand, they will corrupt you with economic incentives be it financial or phantom rewards. They will use brutalities to over-compensate their lack of legitimacy. At the same time, we can give them their own bitter medicine. We can hurt them in non-violent ways: economically, emotionally, functionally breaking down state organs, and diplomatically.
Let’s elaborate. We can punish them economically or financially by not supporting their businesses. Destroy them by not buying their products or services. We vote with our wallets and bank accounts. Starve their businesses. Choke their lifelines.
We can hurt them emotionally, cutting them off from social circles by shunning them and not mixing with them.
Functionally, break down their state organs. That is by means of short-term general strikes and street protests and civil disobedience. They are effective tools. We can even go one-step further and practice CDM (civil disobedience movement) in stealth mode. CDM is not just about quitting jobs, you can sabotage the designs of uniformed armed thugs by destroying machines, messing up with materials leading to productivity losses due to machine break downs and lack of human resources at critical hours. It is employing passive-aggressiveness to fight against armed thugs. Also, you can be a teacher who will educate next generation of Myanmar to go against the uniformed armed thugs. CDM is a tool to be used.
However, while protesting on streets, better to avoid frontal confrontations except for achieving and optimizing media exploitation. Harass them more. Make them feel tired, make them sleepless, make them nervous. Let them feel unwanted and force them to drain their resources. The resources are always limited.
You can wait for the time to strike too, like our Myanmar ambassador to the UN U Kyaw Moe Tun did at New York. He waited for the perfect timing. He used his platform to strike hard where military thugs worried most, legitimacy.
Myanmar diaspora can do something too. You could start by lobbying the host governments to seize the junta’s assets such as overseas bank accounts. Burning their dollars will certainly hurt them. You can make what those rich generals, colonels and their cronies fear? They fear that their children will lose opportunities to study in prestigious overseas universities. They worry that their children will no longer be able to do business with foreign companies. They fear that they cannot seek medical care in foreign countries. One good idea is to lobby the international community to increase head counts of their family members in the sanction lists. What to do with their family members who already are residents or citizens of western countries? A caution here is that you as a law-abiding citizen or as a courteous visitor cannot break the laws. However, you can research thoroughly, and consult lawyers if there is any reason to revoke their visas. Even a small innocent sounding mistake they have committed in the past, may be useful to be used against them. Use them if you are sure that they deserve to be punished. However, by no means, never ever break the law.
We can also fight diplomatically. Overseas Myanmar can pressure their local representatives, seat holding and politicians to take actions on Myanmar junta- most of us are no ones, ordinary Janes and Joes but we are valuable tax payers. At least we can do letter writing campaigns without costing us a cent!
One thing is for certain, this will be a long and hard fight, as it is an uneven fight between the uniformed trained thugs who are armed to teeth by their well-funded elite and the rest of us, who are not even armed with broomsticks. To keep the fighting spirit alive, we should start developing not an individual memory but an institutional memory. Never ever speak to anyone who is proven to be siding with them, supporting them, sympathizing them. This is how we will fight!
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