Insight Myanmar27 Jan 2023

A Generational Change

Episode #144: In October 2007, Bobo witnessed uniformed soldiers beating Buddhist monks on the streets of Yangon. That experience radically changed the trajectory of his life.

Bobo realized that any success or security he could accrue on an individual level through education and a profession could be snatched away without warning as long as the corrupt and cruel military regime remained in charge. He soon joined Generation Wave, an underground collective formed following the uprising in 2007. The work was dangerous and has put Bobo in the crosshairs since he was a teenager.

Following the military coup in 2021, Bobo began working to help mobilize the populace into action with massive nonviolent protests and strikes in key sectors. As the nonviolent protests continued, the military began using live munitions. Being an organization committed to nonviolent resistance, Generation Wave has had to be creative in their approach.

Yet while Generation Wave, itself, has been steadfastly committed to peaceful forms of opposition, there is an understanding that each part of the movement is equally needed in order to counter the Tatmadaw: nonviolent action, armed resistance, the Civil Disobedience Movement, sanctions from the West, recognition of the NUG, etc.

For the foreseeable future, Bobo is doing all he can at a personal level to play this role himself, pushing aside any thought of the toll it’s taking. “I don't want to be there,” he admits wearily. “I want to live very peacefully, and to have fun with friends and with my family. I want a normal life like other people, of course. But now all my energy and all my commitment are for the revolution and for the movement.”

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