Myanmar Spring Chronicle – July 24 Scenes
MoeMaKa, July 25, 2023
What will be the success and the requirements of the armed movement against the military dictatorship?
After the mass protests against the military coup were cracked down on by force, many protesters decided to take the path of an armed movement to fight the armed forces of the military council in Myanmar. They gathered to establish defense forces by villages, by cities, by ethnic groups, by states, etc., to learn military skills, to get access to weapons, or to learn to produce hand-made guns and mines. In May 2021, the National Unity Government announced the formation of an armed force under the name People’s Defense Force. Even before the People’s Defense Force was established, strike forces in Karenni State, Sagaing Division, Kale, and Bago have been resisting with weapons that they could gather.
In some villages in Sagaing, defense forces have already been formed to resist the military council troops, and there have already been attacks. I don’t think it’s wrong to say that the armed movement itself emerged regionally. Before choosing the armed path, there were casualties in the crackdown on mass protests by tear gas, sound bombs, and later live ammunition shot at the protesting public. It can be concluded that such losses of lives encouraged the public to choose the armed path.
In summing up the events that happened after the military coup, firstly the mass protest against the military coup, followed by the violent crackdown a few weeks after the protest, and the resistance that responded to the crackdown with shields and sticks. From resistance with sticks and shields, it has been transformed into armed resistance in a month or two. At first, the people who lost their lives due to the crackdown by the armed forces of the military council could still be counted by name, but soon after reaching hundreds, they could no longer speak by name, but only by numbers and figures. Strike committees and strike forces have been transformed into armed defense forces.
From July and August 2021, the People’s Defense Forces, under various names relevant to township, village, and region names (commonly known as the People’s Defense Forces), have emerged throughout Myanmar. As for NUG, defense forces led by former members of the NLD party directly under its control emerged, and conducted armed resistance attacks in various regions.
Looking back more than 2 years, at that time, the armed forces had only manpower and no weapons, and they had to work hard to buy and transport automatic rifles. Now, even though there is not enough ammunition, automatic rifles have reached many areas, and it is a situation where they can purchase and install other weapons such as grenades, grenade launchers, drone bombs etc., in addition to rifles. At a time that has lasted for more than two years, I see that the time has come to review what are the needs of the armed revolution, in other words, the armed path, what progress has been made and what has not yet been achieved, what is the expected period of military success, what political mobilization is needed for that, what is needed to reach a common agreement between armed organizations to fight the common enemy, and what are the different interests, etc.
Although the military council is a common enemy to other armed forces, there may be conflicting interests, territorial issues, and political equal rights issues among the armed groups at the same time. It will be necessary for armed groups to always keep in mind the concept that armed forces must be used as a means to reach a political goal. If not, there is a danger that the armed forces may become like a group of warlords.
If politics is weak, there is a situation where warlordism may infiltrate and dominate. I want to say that every armed group needs to have political control. In democratic countries, the armed forces have to accept the guidance of the government, which is the political force in other words. In a period of armed revolution like Myanmar, I would like to say that the fact that the armed forces must be controlled with a political concept, in other words, with political leadership, is an important point.