Insight Myanmar23 Juni 2021

Courage in Chinland

Today we are joined by Mark, a Chin from the Zomi tribe. For Mark and his fellow Chin Christians, the military coup represents not only a loss of basic political freedoms, but also a loss of religious freedom. Before the recent democratic reforms, freedom of worship was by no means guaranteed; the Burmese military would routinely visit Chin communities to destroy crosses and churches. For the Chins, a return to military rule represents a return to days when their faith could not be practiced openly.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the first known act of armed resistance since the February 1st coup was launched by Chins in Kalay. Mark describes the Chins’ independent spirit: they fought with the Allies against the Japanese in World War II, and against the British before that during the Colonial period. As a result, they enjoyed an usual degree of autonomy during that period.

Even today, every Chin household has home-made flintlock “Tumee” rifle. That weapon was used to ward off the British and is also a mainstay for hunting. That same hunter spirit has motivated many Chin to resist the Burmese military, although Mark has his concerns: the tumee is only able to fire off a single bullet once every few minutes, rendering it ineffective against a Burmese force with military-grade automatic weapons.

The Tatmadaw has exerted particularly brutal pressure on the Chin people, most notably in Mindat, where their city-wide assault resulted in 90% of the residents fleeing into the jungle. Mark shares a call he received from a contact there who said, “I don't know who these soldiers are! They are like crazy, or high with something. They are not like humans, they are very cruel.”

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(596)

Never Break the Chain

Episode #581: Tin Tin Htar Myint, a medical epidemiologist based in France who has worked in vaccines for more than two decades, describes Myanmar’s immunization collapse as a problem of governance as...

31 Juli 1h 43min

The Missing Self

Episode #580: Professor P. L. Dhar, a longtime Vipassana teacher in the S.N. Goenka tradition, reflects on his life-long spiritual journey. A decade immersed in Vedanta and other Indian traditions, al...

30 Juli 2h 15min

Rangoon Calling

Episode #579: “I did not expect to be conversing in Urdu with someone in Yangon.” Bilal Hassan, a Pakistani creator and doctor, traveled to Burma after noticing how much of Karachi’s everyday culture ...

28 Juli 1h 42min

Past the Commentaries

Episode #578: Aye Myat Thwe is a Burmese lay Buddhist practitioner raised inside the Mahasi Vipassana world, where devotion, meditation, and study were braided into ordinary family life. Watching her ...

27 Juli 1h 54min

A Border Runs Through It

Episode #577: Thomas Shapwon, a Naga elder and former politician, recounts the long struggle of the Naga people for sovereignty and survival between India and Myanmar. He describes the Naga as an anci...

24 Juli 1h 51min

The Hidden Flock

Episode #576: “I have been attempted [at assassinations] twice when they shot me, but I escaped. My family, my brother, they are targeted, and armed groups are always behind us. They kill in a second....

23 Juli 1h 4min

Terms of Extraction

Episode #575: Lindsey Kennedy, an investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker focused on organized crime, corruption, and conflict, argues that the scam-compound economy across Cambodia, Myanma...

21 Juli 1h 26min

Unscripted Awakening

Episode #574: Diego Prieto, a Chilean filmmaker, embarked on a journey to explore the Buddha's legacy and its modern relevance. His documentary started as an effort to explain the core teachings of Bu...

20 Juli 1h 6min