The Inconvenient Truth about the Military Coup
Insight Myanmar5 Maj 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.”

Avsnitt(515)

Schooling the System

Schooling the System

Episode #366: Sallo Polak, founder of the Philanthropy Connections Foundation (PCF), has spent decades building a grassroots approach to humanitarian aid in Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia. Motivated ...

20 Juli 202557min

Awakenings and Uprisings

Awakenings and Uprisings

Episode #365: “The Buddha lives and teaches for the welfare of the world, for the happiness of the world,” says Bhikkhu Bodhi. “He does live for the welfare and happiness of human beings. And so now, ...

18 Juli 20251h 49min

The Ripple Effect

The Ripple Effect

Episode #364: Ben’s simple words resonate strongly: “If I could do something small for one person, why would I not?” This episode brings together Ben and a Burmese student who goes by the moniker Litt...

15 Juli 20251h 1min

Bonus Episode: A Talk at New Bloom

Bonus Episode: A Talk at New Bloom

New Bloom is an online magazine and community space covering activism and youth politics in Taiwan and the Asia Pacific, founded in Taiwan in 2014 in the wake of the Sunflower Movement. They welcomed ...

13 Juli 20251h 17min

Crypto in the Time of Tyranny

Crypto in the Time of Tyranny

Episode #363: In post-coup Myanmar, where conventional aid channels with humanitarian intentions risk getting diverted and empowering the military junta, Blockchain technology presents a nuanced alter...

11 Juli 20251h 21min

The Invisible Enemy

The Invisible Enemy

Episode #362: Myanmar has recorded the world’s worst casualties from landmines and explosive ordnance for the first time, with over 1,000 casualties in 2024 alone, 29% of whom are children. The inaugu...

8 Juli 20251h 39min

No Self, No Junta

No Self, No Junta

Episode #361: “I am Burmese. I feel like it is my duty and responsibility to speak about it.” With these words, Myet opens a conversation that explores Myanmar’s past and present, weaving together per...

6 Juli 20251h 9min

Crime and Disbursement

Crime and Disbursement

Episode #360: “To have my daughter summarily decide that I was complicit in genocide, I really had to think through again my logic for taking the position that we should stay. It sent me on a lot of s...

4 Juli 20252h

Populärt inom Politik & nyheter

svenska-fall
aftonbladet-krim
p3-krim
rss-krimstad
fordomspodden
flashback-forever
rss-expressen-dok
motiv
aftonbladet-daily
spar
blenda-2
rss-sanning-konsekvens
svd-ledarredaktionen
rss-vad-fan-hande
olyckan-inifran
rss-krimreportrarna
dagens-eko
rss-frandfors-horna
kungligt
svd-nyhetsartiklar