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Patterns of Protest in Burma

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Patterns of Protest in Burma Patterns of Protest in Burma Word Count: 16,193 © Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust UK University of East London AIM 403: Dissertation (Social Sciences) MSc NGO and Development Management Student number: 0818211 Date: 24.09.09 1 Contents 1. Introduction 5 - Social Movement Theory 5 - Democracy 6 - Research Method 7 - Burma or Myanmar? 8 2. Contextual issues 10 - Historical Background 11 3. The opposition 15 - Lack of Trust and Cooperation within the Burmese Opposition 16 - Efforts at Dialogue and Cooperation 18 - Structural Strains as Catalyst for Opposition 20 - The Ethnic Opposition 20 - Demands for autonomy 21 - Struggle against Burmanisation 22 - The Democratic Opposition 22 - The 1988 Student Uprising 23 - The Saffron Revolution 24 2 4. Opportunities and Constraints posed by the Military junta 25 - Force 26 - Use of force against the opposition 27 - Human Right abuses in the civilian population 28 - Co-optation 29 5. Opposition within and outside the Junta’s Control 33 - The Roadmap towards Democracy 33 - The Roadmap as a Co-optation Mechanism 35 - The Ethnic Opposition 37 - The Ceasefire Agreements 37 - Ethnic groups’ Participation in the National Convention 40 - Lack of Political Progress within the Legal Fold 41 - The Democratic Opposition 42 - The Democratic Voice of Burma 46 - The Burmese Democratic Movement Association 48 6. Framing and Construction of “Truth” 50 - The Military Regime’s Rhetoric and Truth 51 - The Ethnic Opposition 55 - The Democratic Opposition 57 - Legitimacy from the 1990 Election Results 57 3 - Aung San Suu Kyi 58 7. Conclusion 61 References 64 4 1. Introduction Burma has a long history of military dictatorship. Since the military staged a coup in1962 the country has been ruled by successive authoritarian governments (Charney, 2009: 108). The years of military rule have been marked by severe repression of the people in Burma. The Burma Campaign UK (BCUK) calls the regime one of “the world’s worst violators of human rights” (BCUK, 2009a). The military junta has set strict limits on political participation from its people and opposition against the government is severely repressed. The dictatorships have enforced limits on freedom of speech, organisation and press and use brutal force to repress its critics (Charney, 2009). This paper is about how the opposition in Burma is manoeuvring within and outside these limits and their strategies to achieve democracy and political participation within this repressive regime. It is about the relations between the state and its opponents. It argues that the regime uses instruments of repression and co-optation to maintain power. These strategies have stimulated strains and contradictions within the regime’s approach, which are exploited by the opposition. Social movement theory To assist in the understanding of the dynamics between the military regime and its opposition I believe it is useful to mobilise aspects from Social Movement Theory (SMT). SMT is the study of social protest, collective action and social movements. Questions like how social movements emerge, how social mobilisation happens, what shapes the movements and how and under which conditions the movements bring about change are the centre of research within SMT (Meyer, 2002). I will use the concept “structural strains” from SMT to understand the background and the reasons for the rise of the anti-regime groups in Burma 5 (Wiktorowicz, 2004: 6). Further I will use the concepts “opportunities” and “constraints” to show how the military junta tries to restrict its opposition and sets the parameters for their opportunities (Wiktorowicz, 2004: 13). In relation to this I will show how the government rules through force and co-optation. I will further investigate how the opposition is responding to these constraints and how the opposition manoeuvres within this terrain, or finds alternative opportunities for opposition outside the regimes realm of control. I will also use the concept “framing” to show how the government presents a certain reality through propaganda and self representation and how the opposition movement is contesting this discourse in different ways and with the aid of different resources (Wiktorowicz, 2004: 15). Democracy The underlying basis for this essay is a concern for democracy. In this paper I refer to a broader definition of democracy than merely the right to vote. I agree with Welzel and Ingleharts’ understanding of democracy as “governance by the people” (Welzel and Inglehart, 2008: 126). They argue that democracy is more than electing a government and letting elected officials control the political scene. People should also be able to influence politicians’ decisions and actions. They argue that the essence of democracy is that it empowers ordinary citizens. Human empowerment means that the people themselves get resources which enable them to influence and place real pressure on the government in its decisions and actions. Elections must be followed by deliberation where the people are able to influence decisions made in the government, so that these can be the result of the will of the people. The authorities must be responsive to the orientation of the population and respect the political and civil rights in the country. For this to happen, important prerequisites must be in place, such as channels for participation and forums where deliberations can take place. It is also essential 6 that the people themselves see democracy as an important value worth maintaining (Welzel and Inglehart, 2008). Not all formal democracies operate according to this definition of democracy, and it can in many instances be more of an ideal than an actual description. Nonetheless, certain basic requirements must be present in democracies, for example free and fair elections and freedom of speech, organisation and press. None of these are present in Burma. This paper is motivated from an interest in a people who demand these democratic rights and in how they struggle to achieve democracy in their country. Research method The background information for this paper comes from an extensive literature review. The sources are mainly from the library at the School of Oriental and African Studies. The background information is also from interviews with seven informants 1. These are all involved in the struggle for democracy in Burma in various ways. • Khin Maung Win is the Deputy Chief Director of Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), a media institution based in Oslo which provides a forum for the Burmese people in which they can voice their opinion. He was also active in the 1988 student protest. • Thant Zin Oo works at the London-based Burmese Democratic Movement Association (BDMA) which works for democracy in Burma and supports the democracy movement. He was a leader in the democratic student movement in 1988 and worked in the All Burmese Student Democratic Front (ABSDF) on the Thailand- Burma border for 11 years. 1 Six of the interviews were executed in London and Oslo during August and September 2009. The interviews were recorded with permission from the informants. The interview with the NCGUB official was performed via email. 7 • Sasa is a Burmese doctor who is currently setting up a hospital at the India- Burma border. • Ben Rogers is South Asia Advocacy Officer in Christian Solidarity Worldwide in London. He is the author of the book “A land without evil. Stopping the genocide of Burma’s Karen people” about the atrocities of the government and the struggles of the Karen people of Burma (Rogers, 2004). He is also currently working on a book about the Burmese military general Than Shwe. Through his work he has travelled extensively in both the ethnic and urban areas of Burma. • Aase Sand is working in the Norwegian Burma Committee (NBC) which supports the Burmese opposition inside and outside Burma. NBC is based in Oslo. • Hilde Salvesen is a Special Advisor in charge of the human rights programme at the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights which is promoting democracy and human rights in Burma. • I also interviewed an official from the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) who prefers to be anonymous. NCGUB has been created by exiled members of the government elected in 1990 and is sometimes described as the government in exile (Williams, 2009). It is based in Washington. Burma or Myanmar? In 1989 the military junta changed the name of Burma to Myanmar. Some countries, like France and Japan as well as the UN use the new name Myanmar. Others like the British government and the government of the USA do not recognize the legitimacy of the military junta and therefore do not see it as their right to change the country’s name. The opposition movement also uses Burma (BBC, 2007). Based on the way it came to power and its human 8 rights records I agree that the junta should not be recognised as a legitimate government and will in this paper use the name Burma. 9 2. Contextual issues Burma has an ethnically diverse population of 55, 4 million people consisting of approximately 135 ethnic groups (UNFPA, 2004). The largest ethnic group is the Burmans who control the political, economic and military scene (Bowers, 2004: 19). Other larger groups are Mon, Shan, Kachin, Karen, Chin, Karenni and Arakan (Gravers, 2007: 4). The majority of Burmans live in the central areas of Burma, while the ethnic minorities live mainly in the more densely populated and less accessible border areas (South, 2003: 7- 8). Reliable data on the various ethnic groups are hard to find. While the Burman military government claims that approximately 70% of the population is Burman, non- Burman groups claim that 70% of the population is of non- Burman ethnicity and only 30% are Burman. Most statistics lie somewhere between these two extremes (HRW, 2002: 15). The ethnic groups controlled large amounts of territories for decades.
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