Dear International students/Burmese students:
On February 1st, 2021, Myanmar (also known as Burma) located next to Thailand was seized by a military coup. We -- Myanmar citizens, Burmese international students living overseas -- woke up in the darkness feeling like it was the 8888 Uprising all over again. For those who may be unfamiliar; the 8888 Uprising was a pro-democracy movement led mostly by students in the former capital of Yangon back in 1988 but ended with a bloody military coup that took countless innocent lives. We never expected something like this to happen again after we fought so hard to gain peace and work toward a democratic transition.
That morning of February 1st, 2021 citizens' freedom and human rights were taken away. Our votes disappeared in the air and the National League Democracy (NLD), our elected government that the majority of the country voted for, was accused of voter fraud. The NLD leaders including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1991) were detained by the military and have not been released until today.
As Burmese citizens, we reject this military coup and are loudly protesting on the streets, but it feels like we are helpless and our voices are not being heard. As days went by, more citizens got involved and the protest started to become violent and citizens were illegally attacked. The dictator (Min Aung Hlaing) and other upper military officials creates crimes by ordering to poisoned drinking water, arresting state counselors and elected government officials, releasing false news, using live ammunition against demonstrators, conducting midnight arrest without warrants, deploying arsonists, using excessive force to intimidate, using convicts and thugs to cause violence, cutting off internet and communications, and illegally shooting peaceful protestors, and continuously adding more crimes each day. Citizens are looking for peace but the military has pointed guns and turned them into violence; the military have also been living off of blood money from attacking ethnic groups. Before this military coup, the military massacred people in Rakhine, murdered people in Karen, attacked people in Kachin, and killed people in Mandalay.
Citizens fought against military coups peacefully and without violence by starting the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), labor strikes, a military boycott campaign, a pot-banging movement, a red ribbon campaign, public protests, plus a formal recognition of the election results by the elected government. Although it is a peaceful protest, the innocent citizens get brutalized, detained, killed, and harshly beat up. The military detained citizens; beat them to death and forcefully/ brutally rape both sexes. Days go on, more people get brutalized, and the rate of dead bodies increases.
We strongly reject this military coup. We want our elected government NLD and Democracy. We must end this dictatorship in our generation. We must have a future and a dream. We want justice from this inhumanity. We need help from International by helping this awareness spread and need R2P actions as soon as possible to stop this injustice. This type of brutality and action is unacceptable not just in Myanmar but anywhere. We need your support. Please help Myanmar, Burma get justice.
I am a Burmese student living in the United States. I must care about my country and raise my voice while I have the privilege to.
#SaveMyanmar
#RejectMilitaryCoup
#DemocracyForMyanmar