Burma Coup - 2

February 6: Whatever happens, this is history. Will it be good history, or bad? This is the third uprising. Don't let it fail!

February 7: I'm sure a lot of people have mixed feelings about seeing the images of Suu Kyi in the protests. I do too. The protests are wonderful. Anything that attacks the military dictatorship is great. A lot of the people still don't recognize though that since becoming an MP in 2012, nine years ago!, Suu Kyi has been very pro-dictatorship. She has NOT tried to bring the dictatorship down, just share power with it. Members of Burma's ethnic nationalities, who have been the principal dictatorship targets (and their supporters, like me), have soured on her. We have come to understand her true nature, that she is an elitist Bamar racist supremacist, just like the generals. And, she was also a main actor in the Rohingya genocide, and should be prosecuted for it. So, an uprising that ignores this is disturbing. And the possibility that the coup might be reversed, and that she would be reinstated and revert to her bullshit policy and practices, is also disturbing. It is unacceptable. That's why it is essential that we not let that happen.

Ethnic nationality people need to support the protests, and where possible participate in them. But they also need to raise their voices, and continue to question and reject her. There can be no going back to the status quo, substituting dictatorship by the Bamar generals with dictatorship by Bamar Suu Kyi. People need to plan for that possibility, and be prepared. Personally, I think, and as I have written many times over the years, and as many ethnic nationality leaders said first - one remembers General Bo Mya here very well, that the ethnic nationalities have to keep their options open. There needs to be a broader discussion about the idea of declaring independence.

Some difficult truths are very hard to accept. One of these is that Burma is a failed state. It was never a functioning country before the British took over, and it has never been a functioning country since they left. It is hard to see how this is ever going to change, with the Bamar supremacist attitude being so prevalent, and with so many Bamar people moving into the ethnic nationality homelands. The Yugoslavia solution needs to be considered. Yugoslavia was a multi-ethnic country, under the control of the largest group, the Serbs, and who also engaged in genocide of the smaller groups. The country broke up. After a series of short wars, the other groups achieved independence and established their own countries, leaving the Serbs only with their own real homeland. This worked out great! These countries are now all at peace, and have been since the break-up, thirty years ago. And they are developing and working to meet the needs of their people.

Why can't the ethnic nationalities of Burma get this, too? The last thing you need is to be dominated by Suu Kyi again. Maybe she will let you have the State Chief Minister jobs, maybe not. Screw her! Aim higher. Go your own way.

February 7: So the thread today is unbelievable. And there is so much more going on. What is happening in Burma is unprecedented. When taken together, these may be the largest national protests ever.

That still leaves the endgame, how to get the dictatorship to surrender. It is not good enough for them to let Suu Kyi out and to reopen Parliament. Indeed, the demos aren't about Suu Kyi. They are about freedom, from the Tatmadaw! But how do you get them to leave.

There is word that a national strike is building. That's the way. If it spreads country-wide, if Burma STOPS, that should break the generals. Something - almost certainly very bad for them - will happen. But even if a national strike isn't enough, then you take over the government - the government buildings. And then you march on the Army bases. Motivate, by popular pressure, the soldiers to lay down their guns. And then, if they are still around, you arrest the generals.

February 7: I hope this doesn't end badly, and I don't mean with violence. Min Aung Hlaing is running out of options. He may try to strike a deal with Suu Kyi:

"I'll let you out and Parliament can reopen. We'll say we are going to amend the Constitution, and restart the peace process. Of course this will take some time, but you will be the hero - the savior, again. I will retire, but the other generals will stay in charge of the Tatmadaw."

She could easily accept this type of deal. The dictatorship helps her. In a real democracy, she is going to examined and questioned mercilessly. And both she and the generals are under investigation for the genocide. They need each other.

If such an announcement comes, if she appears and says that it is over, we will have to fight back, against her - and her blind-faith supporters. There can be no stopping this until there is real freedom and real democracy.

February 8: What did you say, Min Aung Hlaing, only 5 people? We thought you said 500,000! Sorry.

February 9: There are protests all over Burma again. For the third day in a row. The people were not intimidated by your violence yesterday. Give up dictators! Min Aung Hlaing, you will lose this fight! You know you can't start slaughtering people, and they will not yield. You are a dinosaur. You are history. Get the fuck out!