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25-05-2024
NAYPYIDAW: In Myanmar’s eastern Karenni State, the sleepy jungle town of Demoso has come alive with revolutionary fervor. In the burnt-red soil along the sides of the town’s main road, a transformation is under way. Newly made bamboo-and-wood-built shops and cafes have sprung up, and the talk in all of them is of one thing: resistance.
For decades, ethnic groups here have fought the military leadership that has ruled the South East Asian nation. A transition to democracy was cut short by a military coup three years ago, and since then, the town has become a magnet for young fighters and activists. Robbed of their first taste of democratic freedom, they took to the streets and joined in acts of civil disobedience. They were met with violence and arrests. Many left Yangon and other major cities for this remote jungle outpost to join the insurgency that is sweeping across the countryside.
In one new bar Yangon Vibes, a long-haired rapper Novem Thu, 33, is on his second cocktail. Their specialty here is an electric blue margherita but Novem Thu favors something darker. Around him the air buzzes with talk of the insurgents’ successes.
“There is only Plan A, destroying the military. There is no Plan B,” Novem tells me. He isn’t a soldier but spends most of his time with the resistance on the front line. “My job is to motivate them,” he says. His music is blood-curdling, and he brandishes a weapon in his videos, a toy gun from his brother, he tells me.
After sunset, Yangon Vibes pulls down blackout blinds over the bar’s bright lights, to avoid the military’s drones and war planes. This area has been bombed regularly. A revolutionary radio station, Federal FM, broadcasts from outside the town using a mobile transmitter to avoid being targeted by airstrikes.
Most of Karenni is without electricity and the mobile network barely works – the military junta has cut off both. But the bar offers free internet, and so do cafes all along the main road, courtesy of the satellite service Starlink.
This is a generation that likes to stay connected and one that is mounting a nimble and effective war of resistance all from the cover of the jungle. Their insurgency is the greatest threat to military rule in Myanmar in years.
This is an under-reported conflict. The military restricts press freedom and has jailed hundreds of journalists. There is no way to hear the resistance side of this story through government-approved visits.
We travelled into Myanmar and spent a month living alongside resistance groups fighting across Karenni State.
On a dirt road outside Demoso we visit a hideout, a sanctuary for those fleeing the cities. Waiting in the small bamboo encampment is a group of eight young people, aged between 15 and 23, who have recently arrived. Many have travelled from far-away Yangon, along country roads at night.
An “underground railroad” has been established from Myanmar’s main cities, for those rebelling against the military’s new conscription law. It spirits them along clandestine routes, through safe houses and handlers, to Karenni and other resistance-held areas.
Some came by car, others by motorbike or boat, spending the night outdoors to try to avoid military checkpoints. At one, all the young people were told to get out of the car by the soldiers who then checked their papers and went through their phones. The young people had anticipated this and cleared their phones of anything incriminating. They were allowed to pass. They almost look out of place in this wilderness. They are dressed in fashionable gear as they sit checking their phones, again thanks to Starlink, while cicadas buzz in the forest around them. One says he disguised himself as a villager, hiding his city clothes to avoid detection at a checkpoint. (BBC)
