Two years ago, on February 1, 2021, the Myanmar army seized power in a coup d’état: it arrested all the main leaders of the majority party, including Aung San Suu Kyi, the democratically elected head of government, and established an extremely repressive regime. During these two years, thousands of people were arrested and killed and the large and participatory protests organized against the military regime were violently repressed.
On the occasion of the second anniversary of the coup, a general strike against the dictatorship was organized in Myanmar: at this moment most of the country’s streets are empty and shops closed and are expected to remain closed for the rest of the day. There have also been demonstrations abroad, many of them organized by political opponents who have fled the country in the last two years.
The state of emergency declared and repeatedly extended by the military regime should expire today. It is likely that the junta will decide to extend it further: on Tuesday, speaking of the activity of Burmese deputies and politicians opposed to the regime, the junta said that “an attempt was underway to seize state power in an insurrectionary and terrorist way”.
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The coup in Myanmar was led by the head of the Burmese armed forces, General Min Aung Hlaing, who proclaimed himself prime minister a few months later (a position he still holds today). It happened on the day when the parliament elected in the previous elections, held in November 2020, was supposed to meet for the first time. The elections were clearly won by the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, and lost by the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), backed by the military.
Il generale birmano Min Aung Hlaing (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File)
After the elections, the military had contested the results and accused the NLD of fraud: the climate had become increasingly tense, until the coup d’état of February 1, with which the military had cut off the telephone lines in the capital Naypyitaw and elsewhere and suspended state television broadcasts, as well as declaring a state of emergency that is still in effect.
Protests were organized in several cities right away. The regime had repressed them with extreme violence: in addition to the thousands of people arrested, it is estimated that nearly 3,000 civilians were killed and that clashes between the army and demonstrators have forced tens of thousands of people to leave their homes.
In the months following the coup, peaceful opposition to the regime had then transformed into armed resistance, making the risk of civil war increasingly concrete. After the repression of the protests, for example, the People’s Defense Forces were formed, an armed movement of democracy activists close to the so-called “national unity government” of Myanmar, the group of Burmese deputies and politicians opposed to the military dictatorship that junta accused of terrorism.
The People’s Defense Forces had begun carrying out several attacks and ambushes against the army, which had suffered heavy losses and responded with even more violent attacks. Among other things, the military had resorted to airstrikes, killing untold numbers of civilians in an attempt to target the rebels. One of the latest attacks occurred last September, when at least 13 people were killed in an attack on a school just outside Tabayin, about 100 kilometers northwest of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city: according to the army the building was used by rebels to plan armed attacks.
One of the main actions of the military junta had been the opening of a trial against Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. The trial had begun four months after the completion of the coup, in June 2021, on the basis of allegations considered politically motivated internationally. Suu Kyi, 77, was indicted on charges including bribery, violation of coronavirus safety rules and illegal importation and possession of walkie-talkies. The last conviction (in a long series) was pronounced last December: the total sentence is 33 years in prison.
Aung San Suu Kyi (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo, File)
Last July, the junta also announced that it had carried out the death sentences against four political opponents: they were the first in the country since 1988, when Myanmar was still governed by a military regime (it was from 1962 to 2011).
Over the past two years, the military junta has decided on some amnesties, for example by releasing political prisoners. But in fact the regime continued to implement a harsh and violent crackdown on dissent. For example, tens of thousands of teachers who protested against the dictatorship have been suspended and a law has been approved that will make it much more difficult for any new parties or candidates to stand in elections, which in theory should be held next August.
In response to the establishment of the military junta, several foreign governments decided to impose sanctions against the regime, further weakening Myanmar’s economy, which was considered one of the fastest growing southern countries before the coup. – East Asia. According to the World Bank, Myanmar’s economy will grow by about 3 percent this year: considering the growth before both the pandemic and the coup, it is very small growth, which is thought to be mainly due to sectors such as agriculture and the textile industry.
