Street theatre at a March 6 rally against the coup in Myanmar highlighted the increasingly repressive response of the Myanmar military coup regime. Photo: Peter Boyle
Australia should cut all military and business ties with the Myanmar/Burma military coup regime, Dr Thein Moe Win, a spokesperson for Action Against Myanmar Military Coup (Australia) told
Green Left at a March 6 protest in Martin Place.
Protests were also held in cities around Australia that weekend as the community busily called government ministers and members of parliament to demand firmer action by the Australian government.
On March 7, a shameful 35 days after the February 1 coup, Australia’s foreign minister Marise Payne announced that “military cooperation” with Myanmar would be suspended. Aid would be channeled through non-government organisations, not the regime, and “re-directed to the immediate humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable and poor including the Rohingyas and other ethnic minorities
Spectre journal, spoke to
Geoffrey Aung, a postgraduate student at Columbia University, researching the politics of infrastructure in and around Myanmar’s economic zones and trade corridors. Chuang the week of the coup, Aung reflects upon likely implications of the coup, the class composition of the resistance, and how we should understand these developments in relation to the longer trajectory of capitalist transition in Myanmar.
Where are we now? What’s happened since the coup on February 1?
The new military government is now confronting mass resistance. From Myanmar’s major cities to towns across the country, we’re seeing large-scale work stoppages, street demonstrations, urban blockades and general unrest.
A Tatmadaw goodwill delegation led by Senior General (now coup leader) Min Aung Hlaing visits Adani Ports and Logistics in India in 2019. Photo: Min Aung Hlaing s website
As protests grow against the February 1 military coup in Myanmar/Burma, the country’s military elites try to protect their ill-gotten gains, and Australian mining companies carry on as if nothing happened.
Myanmar military’s economic interests
Since 1988, when the Tatmadaw (the official name of the Myanmar armed forces) brutally cracked down on student protests, and Aung San Suu Kyi returned from Britain, they have been setting up companies to serve the interests of current and former soldiers.
However, the military coup is clearly an attempt by Myanmar’s military leaders who have never really relinquished power to roll back the limited democratic space that had been won by a long and painful people s struggle.
Since the coup, mass demonstrations have swept Myanmar. In response, the military has restricted the operation of social media platforms and intermittently closed down all internet access. It has also been using increasing force against the unarmed protesters.
The Civil Disobedience Movement in Myanmar has called for international sanctions targeting the military coup leaders and their families. Socialist Alliance supports this call.
Australian companies, including mining companies, are operating in Myanmar in partnership with local companies with links to the military. All Australian business links to such companies should be cut.