Campaigning Journalist of the Year: Runner-up

Thousands of people protest against the military coup in Myanmar, chanting “let the military dictatorship fall” and raising their hands in the three-finger resistance salute. They don’t have democracy, but they do have a voice.

On 1 February 2021, Myanmar’s military overthrew the newly elected government in a coup, halting Myanmar’s transition to democracy and reintroducing harsh military rule. This was following an election in November 2020, in which the National League for Democracy won by a landslide; the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party won just 76 seats, 46 less than in 2015. The military wrote the 2008 constitution and gave themselves a quarter of legislative seats and they thought no opposition party could ever rule on its own, however they were shocked by the results of the 2020 election – their power was under threat. 

The coup was announced on military-owned Myawaddy TV station, where the news presenter cited the 2008 constitution allowing the military to declare a national emergency. Seizing control of Myanmar, the military suspended TV broadcasts, cancelled flights and took over infrastructure. What followed was not what anyone expected. People in Myanmar took to the streets and protested against the regime that threatened them and their country. However, weeks of relatively peaceful pro-democracy protests quickly turned deadly on 20 February 2021, when two unarmed protesters were killed by security forces. In the second month of pro-democracy demonstrations, the military began an even more violent response. On 5^th March 2022, a farmer was left distraught after losing all of his family to a junta raid. One year on from the coup, over 1,700 civilians have been killed and 13,00 arrested. 

Numbers can dehumanise, they can distance you from the events. But each person has their own story. A woman led protests so that her one-year-old daughter can have a brighter future. A medical officer helped doctors flee arrest. A filmmaker filmed days of protests to show how the movement evolved. News has become too much about selling newspapers, shocking the reader with drastic headlines until people become immune to reading about suffering. What is lost is genuine humanity. 

World leaders condemned the coup – it was an overthrowing of democracy, a destruction of one the most basic yet pivotal concepts of the West and the developed world. Yet clearly, the condemnation has not been enough. The Myanmar coup has gone on for over a year and the situation in Myanmar will only get worse. 

Leaders can call out gross human rights abuses, but nothing will change unless real action is taken. Real action means a global arms embargo on Myanmar, humanitarian aid to the millions displaced by the coup, sanctions. Governments should press for the release of political prisoners and a return to democracy. I’m part of a youth activist organisation, Burst the Bubble. We are calling for ‘protected status’ visas for Myanmar Nationals living in UK who cannot renew their visas as the London embassy is controlled by the military. Taking this action could prevent thousands of Myanmar Nationals from being forced to return to an unsafe country. 

There are many actions that can be taken that could play a huge role in ending the oppressive coup in Myanmar. Now governments must put these solutions into action, for the good of Myanmar and democracy.