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Thread on Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar diaspora politics and how the pro-democracy movement can move forward from NLD-led politics. (1/?)
Over the past couple of months, I have spoken to many younger and older activists on what is the best path towards a post-Tatmadaw Myanmar.
Over the past couple of months, I have spoken to many younger and older activists on what is the best path towards a post-Tatmadaw Myanmar.
Unsurprisingly, Aung San Suu Kyi's name appeared often over the course of these conversations: where she is, her health, the new bogus charges brought against her, #freeourleaders and her preeminent place in Myanmar politics. (2/?)
My formerly pristine opinion of her is bitterly tinged by her inexcusable defense of the Tatmadaw over the 2017 genocidal campaign against our Rohingya brothers and sisters. She used to be a former hero of mine, I now view her as someone to replace.
I'm not the only one who feels this way. Those who used to idolise her were left with a bitter taste, betrayed by her politically convenient style that betrayed moral ideals that she set for herself and others during her house arrest. Her fall from grace, absolute and tragic.
However, others in the Myanmar diaspora view her, still, as the unwavering, steadfast, pure, innocent, all-knowing, pristine symbol for democracy. Her position as Myanmar's mother (somehow uncomplicated by the fact that her father is also Myanmar's father) was supreme.
I have been called "divisive, scheming, suspicious" for my criticism of DASSK. In the beginning, I dug in my heels and continued to wage a "corrective campaign" to convert my brothers and sisters to my position: that the NLD and DASSK are the past, not the future of MM politics.
However, in more and more conversations with MM activists, I gained a different understanding of DASSK that I somehow forgot myself: to many in the diaspora and at home, her symbolic power is more potent than any practical politics, any concrete failing.
To many who still support her: her sacrifice, her commitment to Myanmar, her commitment to democracy and her ability to represent the Bamar-feminine ideal of poise, humility, wit, politeness and beauty trump her actual political failings from 2016-2021.
When others like me, the detractor, the divisive kill-joy, criticise the symbolically-loaded "Lady", what we are doing is weakening the symbol from which these communities draw power, inspiration and meaning from.
"She gives me the strength to continue this fight."
"She gives me the strength to continue this fight."
Where does this leave us? This understanding does not mean that I will stop criticising the #NLD, DASSK and Bamar-supremacy. There are actual political questions and disagreements between the #NUG and their critics that deserve proper time and debate.
I.E. Why did #NUG appoint ministers like @WinMyatAye, who previously claimed that Rohingya burnt their own villages, while not including any Rohingya in the formation of NUG?
These are legitimate concerns that need to be addressed. We need to be able to ask them in actual political discussions without being dismissed as being divisive? When calls for unity are used to silence critics, where does a pro-democracy movement begin and end?
