Insight Myanmar14 Jul 2022

Journey into Chin State

Episode #112: Simon traces the arc of his Chin homeland’s history and politics from the mists of history to the present-day conflict.

Chin State is the poorest part of Myanmar, which suffers from an lack of developed infrastructure. Due to the lack of available medical care, Simon decided the best way he could serve his community was by becoming a doctor.

He explains how perhaps Chin State’s root problem now is poor access to education. There are just a small number of woefully supplied schools several days of walking away for many villagers. And those fortunate enough to attend school often carry painful memories of the oppressive “Burmanization” of the curriculum, where Chin students were required to speak the Burmese language at school, and though largely Christian, were forced to memorize and recite Buddhist suttas.

Simon notes the enormous popular support for resisting the coup in Chin State after the military forcibly took power. Massive street protests erupted all over the province. Chin state also boasted the highest percentage of employees who joined CDM. The Tatmadaw responded with a swift and utter brutality that drove many Chin to ethnic camps to join the armed resistance. The Burmese military, in turn, responded with even more vicious ground attacks and airstrikes, which sent residents of entire towns fleeing on foot for their lives, many across the Indian border in Mizoram.

“If we can wipe out, from the face of Myanmar, this military in the future, then all the Myanmar people will be joyful, peaceful and prosperous.”

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(615)

The People’s Credentials

Episode #600: “I won’t be disappointing the people.” Before Kyaw Moe Tun took the UN General Assembly floor on February 26, 2021, that was as much as he had disclosed about the position he intended to...

3 Sep 2h 12min

The Cure Within

Episode #599: “I've been blessed to be on a spiritual journey for well over the last 50 years,” says psychiatrist Raman Khosla, reflecting on the lifelong search that eventually led him to S.N. Goenka...

1 Sep 1h 34min

Price of Raw Power

Episode #598: Rare earth mining has drawn Kachin State into a global struggle over minerals essential to electronics, green technologies, automobiles, and defense, while communities near the mines bea...

31 Aug 1h 35min

No Direction Home

Episode #597: Victor Chan’s life began not with a spiritual calling but with motion. Born in Hong Kong and trained in physics, he left without a fixed destination and spent the early 1970s moving acro...

28 Aug 1h 39min

Return to Sender

Episode #596: “I needed to find another way... through research, writing, education, mentoring, community work,” says CS Kyaw, a Myanmar-born doctor turned development researcher now based in Australi...

27 Aug 1h 59min

At The Checkpoint

Episode #595: Salai Vanni Bawi, a Chin researcher focused on migration, refugees, and transnational repression, speaks about how the country’s crisis extends beyond its borders into a system that cont...

25 Aug 1h 7min

A Course in Progress

Episode #594: “We fumble through life a little bit, and we end up doing different kind of things.” Arthur Nichols uses this modest explanation for a life that has now been shaped by Vipassana for fift...

24 Aug 1h 19min

Most Favored Regime

Episode #593: “Why are values included in international trade?” Arianna Bondi’s research begins with that question, but Myanmar turns it into a problem of limits. A PhD candidate at McGill University ...

21 Aug 1h 30min