Paint It Black
Insight Myanmar16 Des 2022

Paint It Black

Episode #138: “Almost everything was propaganda,” Paing comments, reflecting on his childhood growing up in Yangon. His release came in the form of artistic expression through music, largely influenced by Western bands and singers. He describes his songs as being gloomy and melancholic, which also characterizes his feelings about the recent, turbulent events in his country.

Recently, however, Paing has been unable to write new music, nor even play his old tracks, because he is still recovering from the trauma of what he witnessed soon after the coup broke in Hlaing Thayar, his hometown. March 15, 2021, Paing watched from his rooftop balcony, as the military brutally assault protesters. Powerless, he saw people falling from injuries and others being killed outright, a memory which he feels has scarred him for life.

Paing has been disappointed by both the lackluster international support as well as the leadership of the NUG. With diplomacy failing, he hopes that resistance fighters having better access to weapons can also help. However, as someone who still believes in the principles of non-violence, he is conflicted on this issue, especially as he realizes that a post-Tatmadaw world must include those former soldiers. “You can’t kill everyone that opposes any new idea,” he notes. “You have to see things on a human level, instead of just using guns.”


Paing knows the way forward will not be easy. “Again, I'm a pessimist,” he says, laughing. “So I think everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. But the worst thing that could happen is the military winning.”

Episoder(511)

Apocalypse Now Redux

Apocalypse Now Redux

Episode #402: “In stable times, sustainability may be seen as a long term aspiration,” says Tin Shine Aung, a Burmese scholar and sustainability expert whose work bridges research, policy, and on-the-...

25 Sep 20252h

From Ashes to Sunshine

From Ashes to Sunshine

Episode #401: “Look at my eye. Trust me! You can do this!” With steady assurance, Nay Chi Linn describes her work at the Sunshine Care Center (SCC), a border-based facility she founded to care for Mya...

23 Sep 20252h 6min

Between Guns and Ghosts

Between Guns and Ghosts

Episode #400: James Rodehaver, head of the UN Human Rights Office on Myanmar, offers a sobering account of the country’s accelerating crisis and the limits of the international community’s response. D...

22 Sep 20251h 13min

Protected by the Dhamma

Protected by the Dhamma

Episode #399: Insight Myanmar was very fortunate to conduct a series of interviews with Friedgard Lottermoser between 2023 and 2024, amounting to more than forty hours before she sadly passed away las...

19 Sep 20251h 51min

Blood on the Wires

Blood on the Wires

Episode #398: The Telenor scandal has emerged as one of the most serious blows to Norway’s reputation as a champion of peace and human rights. Nicolai Prydz, author and long-time observer of Myanmar, ...

18 Sep 20251h 19min

Songs of Fire and Silence

Songs of Fire and Silence

Episode #397: In this episode of the Insight Myanmar Podcast, two compelling voices—Thinzar Shunlei Yi and Wongpun Amarinthewa—illuminate the stakes of Myanmar’s political crisis from the frontlines o...

16 Sep 202558min

This Land Is My Land

This Land Is My Land

Episode #396: “There is no other issue in Thailand that has this long of a history of civil society engagement like Myanmar.” With these words, Thai humanitarian worker and activist, Mic Chawaratt, di...

15 Sep 20251h 51min

The Lives of Others

The Lives of Others

Episode #395: Laetitia van den Assum, a Dutch diplomat and former ambassador to Thailand, was one of nine members of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, a group set up in 2016 at Aung San Suu Ky...

12 Sep 20252h 12min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
forklart
popradet
stopp-verden
det-store-bildet
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
rss-gukild-johaug
fotballpodden-2
dine-penger-pengeradet
nokon-ma-ga
rss-ness
i-retten
hanna-de-heldige
aftenbla-bla
frokostshowet-pa-p5
rss-dannet-uten-piano
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-utenrikskomiteen-med-bogen-og-grasvik