Amara Thiha and Marte Nilsen The political implications of ultra-nationalist Buddhist monks and ideologies in Myanmar received much attention in the years before the 2021 military takeover. As Myanmar has turned more violent since the coup, ultra-nationalist monks have been radicalised further. What role are these monks playing in the political landscape of Myanmar today?… Read More Monks and militias in Myanmar
Myanmar is a “failing state” and the crisis is getting exponentially worse, a UN special rapporteur for the country has warned, urging countries to adopt the same unified resolve that followed the invasion of Ukraine. “The same types of weapons that are killing Ukrainians are killing people in Myanmar,” Tom Andrews, special rapporteur on the… Read More Myanmar is a failing state, led by a junta fuelled by Russian arms, says UN rights envoy
It was early evening, and people had gathered at a local pandal in Moe Dar Lay village, in Myanmar’s Sagaing Region, to prepare for a Buddhist novice ordination ceremony the following day. Just as they began to cook, fighter jets appeared in the sky. Then the sound of explosions boomed through the air. “The jets… Read More Myanmar junta increases airstrikes on civilians
Production of opium has flourished in Myanmar since the military’s seizure of power, with the cultivation of poppies up by a third in the past year, according to a UN report. In 2022, in the first full growing season since the military wrested control from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in… Read More Myanmar opium production surges since coup, UN finds
Bharat Bhushan For a few hours it seemed the government had had a change of heart towards Rohingya migrants with Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Puri’s announcement that 1100 Rohingya migrants living in Delhi would be given government housing. Within seven hours, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) overuled the initiative. It clarified… Read More PR botch-up: Detention Centre presented as EWS housing for Rohingyas
There are already signs that the coup has prompted an increase in illegal mining and logging, and regime economic policies are set to compound the environmental destruction at a time when activists and communities are unable to push back. Within months of the February 2021 coup, there were already signs that military rule could have… Read More Myanmar- ‘Quick profits’: Activists fear for environment under military rule
A bold new exhibition by a young Myanmar artist challenges people not to turn away from dead babies and brutalised women in conflict zones overlooked by the world’s media. The London show, ‘Please Enjoy Our Tragedies’, is by Sai, a multimedia artist who blocks out his last name for security reasons. Some of Sai’s work will… Read More Under Myanmar’s junta, art has become an act of resistance
The Myanmar military kidnapped civilians and forced them to work as human shields, attacked homes, churches and carried out massacres, according to a report that warns recent atrocities in eastern Myanmar may amount to war crimes. The report, by the Myanmar-founded human rights group Fortify Rights, documents abuses by the country’s military in Karenni state, also known as… Read More Myanmar military atrocities may amount to war crimes, says rights group
The noise of the exploding artillery shell startled me awake in the middle of a July night. Dazed, I stumbled out of bed and tried to check on the other journalists with whom I share a dormitory. As we ran outside, another shell flew overhead. It was five months after the military takeover in Myanmar and three… Read More ‘We’ll keep reporting, whatever the risk from the junta,’ say Myanmar’s journalists
Streets were deserted and shops abandoned across many of Myanmar’s towns and cities on Monday, as the public defied threats by the military junta and stayed at home in a “silent strike” on the first anniversary of the country’s coup. Images posted on social media showed usually congested roads with no traffic and stores shuttered.… Read More Silent strike empties streets in Myanmar on anniversary of coup
After the truth-shower 