We in Sri Lanka are no stranger to ordering milk tea with our meals, but we are fortunate over 73 years of independence, we have not taken the bait to military rule, although at some time or other, we have come closer to this reality, with majoritarian government.
by Victor Cherubim
We need to be ready to take on a new way of thinking and working in government and to communicate these shifts of authoritarianism to the people we govern, or else our countries become classed as the “outcasts of society” and remain dumped into oblivion.
This is becoming evident now more than ever before in our lives.
We see many countries sinking further into authoritarianism and are having to face the backlash of a new coded language of the people.The military option is an easy way out of difficulty but serves only the purpose of outside alien interests and not our own.
The new“Three Fingers” salute in Myanmar by the youth is the new coded language today, whilst when I was young and in my prime, I saw the “Clenched Fist” of the Che Guevara movement, as the symbol of people power.
Generations change but the essence of youth is to rebel against the old and antiquated ideas in society. Aswe seem to move with the times and today it appears to be the “hashtag revolution” which has transcended across national borders, whilst the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives and made national self preservation, rather than increased globalisation, the hallmark of the early 21st century.But things may change?
Myanmar’s anti-coup uprising is the latest staging ground for anti-authoritarianism, referred in local Myanmar’s parlance, as the “Milk Tea Alliance”.
We in Sri Lanka are no stranger to ordering milk tea with our meals, but we are fortunate over 73 years of independence, we have not taken the bait to military rule, although at some time or other, we have come closer to this reality, with majoritarian government.
The message of youth
Over decades we have seen youth around the world taking to the street in protest. History is full of movements led by students. The Anti-war Peace movement in the US, Apartheid in South Africa, The Che Guevara struggle,The Chilean Revolution against General Pinochet, Women’s liberation, the Velvet Revolution of 1989 and the fall of the Berlin Wall, and recently Black Lives Matter are a few to mention.
Everywhere we see there are two types of liberation movements. They have been identified with and loyal to a population and its state, regardless of ethnic or racial composition of this population.
The word “liberation” means setting free, or release from colonialism, military rule, or oppression. Widespread grievances plus a pre-existing collective identity, or a sense of political empowerment and democracy has provided an important and ideological justification for uniting a people.
Despite the wide variation among liberation movements in terms of historical context, social base, strategies, and specific aims, a common feature uniting them all has been national building so central to the modern world or bringing back or seeking a form of political and social life and power into existence.
What are the symbols of this power?
In Myanmar today, (unlike in the despotic military regimes in South America of the past) the code symbol is the “Three Finger Salute” first used by the Thai’s during the 2014 Anti-Coup movement inspired by the movie trilogy “The Hunger Games”. This salute has become an iconic symbol of resistance against tyranny and dictatorship.
Other symbols of taking back the power of the people are seen around the world. They include the “Yellow Shirts,” the T Shirts, the use of social media, the Rubber Ducks and Oversized Umbrellas as protest symbols to protect the young protesters against water cannons used by Thai Police to disperse mobs of students.
The Three Finger Salute represents the three demands by young people of Myanmar and in Burmese, it is called:“SuYwayHlout”.
Itmeans, 1. “Su” release, “Dawaung San Suukyi” 2. “Yway”means accept, the result of the general election and 3. “Hlout,” means open Parliament to form a new Government.
To make it more convincing, the youth in the forefront of Asia’s new pro-democracy movement are calling for more freedoms by banging pots and pans nightly to oppose the Junta, as a barrage of solidarity by making noise in the right places.
Will the power of the people topple the people in power?
History has shown that similar outcries last from a few days to months, if not years, or decades. They normal may fade into the background noise of politics, if the autocratic regimes have their way, but one thing becomes clear, Liberation is only a matter of time.
Lives may be lost, the country is treated by the States of the World as an outcast, until the generals find a way to bring back normalcy and a semblance of democracy.
In the meantime, suppression reigns supreme.
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