The Inconvenient Truth about the Military Coup
Insight Myanmar5 Mai 2023

The Inconvenient Truth about the Military Coup

Episode #163: Jack Jenkins Hill, a PhD student at the University College London, joins the show to discuss the state of capitalism and the deteriorating environment in Myanmar. Hill has spent the last decade studying such issues as deforestation, mining, and natural resource governance, as well as how indigenous communities have been impacted in Myanmar.

Since the colonial era, Burma has had a sorry history of exploitation of its natural resources. The British engaged in massive logging, while in the last decade, deforestation has largely come in the guise of agribusiness, such as palm oil and rubber plantations. There are also smaller, illegal logging operations whose lumber is smuggled across the border. The widespread clear-cutting—both legal and illegal—has led mass displacement of communities.


Gold, silver, tin and jade mining operations are also rampant, and more recently rare earth metals have been mined, all with no regard for the environment. The toxic processes used poison the surrounding area, displacing many communities.


Greed and lawlessness in post-coup Myanmar exacerbates the problems now being faced by those in the country, but may even give rise to more far-reaching implications, since this destructive cycle in Myanmar impacts worldwide climate change. For example, Myanmar is home to some of the largest contiguous rain forests in Southeast Asia, so their destruction would have a domino effect for both climate change, and also species extinctions.


Hill describes his outlook on the future as bleak. “I don't know when a breaking point or a critical point will come… But unless something changes quickly, I'm sure we'll reach it, probably sooner than we expect.”

Episoder(518)

Resisting Until Victory

Resisting Until Victory

Episode #191: Myra Dahgaypaw was born in a camp for internally displaced persons in Karen State. Yet there was no safety there. From infancy, she had to flee with her family to escape violence, facing...

26 Sep 20231h 11min

Grahame White, Part 1

Grahame White, Part 1

Episode #190: A carefree Australian surfer, Grahame White’s life changed dramatically on a chance encounter with Hermann Hesse’s, Siddhartha. After reading it, he decided to practice breathing based o...

19 Sep 20231h 57min

The French Connection

The French Connection

Episode #189: Nan Su Mon Aung took on a significant role to support her country and government by agreeing to become the NUG Representative in France. Despite acknowledging the challenges and responsi...

15 Sep 20231h 9min

Picturing a Revolution

Picturing a Revolution

Episode #188: Min Ma Naing, a photojournalist and narrative visual artist, stumbled onto her path accidentally. While studying in Hong Kong, she often went to a park to take a break from the strain, w...

12 Sep 20231h 56min

A Light at the End of the Tunnel

A Light at the End of the Tunnel

Episode #187: Guillaume de Langre, a former adviser to the Myanmar Ministry of Electricity and Energy, paints a bleak picture of the country’s multiple, overlapping, energy crises. He describes how th...

5 Sep 20231h 34min

A Double Minority

A Double Minority

Episode #186: “The term ‘double minority’ simply means a ‘minority within minority,’” Christopher Win explains. “Rakhine is an ethnic minority group in Myanmar, and Maramagyi is an even smaller group ...

1 Sep 20231h 12min

From Reconciliation to Resistance

From Reconciliation to Resistance

Episode #185: Alan Clements returns to the podcast, this time to talk about his recent book, Burma’s Voices of Freedom in Conversation with Alan Clements: An Ongoing Struggle for Democracy, a four-vol...

29 Aug 20232h 21min

Rising Above Borders

Rising Above Borders

Episode #184: One of six siblings, Tu Lor Eh Paw grew up in a bamboo hut in a tiny village in Karen state. Her mother was a local Karen Christian missionary, and Tu Lor grew up celebrating Christian h...

25 Aug 202351min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
forklart
i-retten
popradet
stopp-verden
aftenpodden-usa
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
rss-gukild-johaug
det-store-bildet
fotballpodden-2
dine-penger-pengeradet
nokon-ma-ga
rss-ness
hanna-de-heldige
aftenbla-bla
frokostshowet-pa-p5
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
e24-podden
rss-utenrikskomiteen-med-bogen-og-grasvik