Wake Up For Myanmar

If you don’t know what is happening in Myanmar you should read some news and come back to this article. Also, you should get some empathy.

In Myanmar, the current generation is, unfortunately, witnessing the same thing that many of the previous generations had also suffered. They are watching their country being broken down into pieces and that too by the people who are supposed to safeguard it. With me so far?

On 1 February 2021, the army of Myanmar under the leadership of General Min Aung Hlaing staged a coup d’état against the sitting government. Under the guise of armored vehicles and several gunned personnel, a country long stricken with poverty and bloodshed was held by its throat and forced to relive her 10-year-old nightmare. The elected leaders of the government including Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi and her entire cabinet of ministers were taken, hostage. Along with it the democracy of Myanmar was taken captive too. The leaders who the people had entrusted to monitor and safeguard their nation against external threats fell to internal ones.

The dust settled, nooses tightened and everything became silent.

For some time, anyway.

What happened then? The nation rose with an uproar. The same people who had voted for their leaders now poured onto the streets to protect them. United against the enemy that they had beaten ten years ago in assembly elections, the public defended the one fundamental right that mattered to them: the right to choose their leader. Their left hands were clasped together and their right hands joined to make the infamous Mockingjay salute. And why not? After all, what’s happening in Myanmar is nothing short of a brutal fight to the death just like “The Hunger Games”.

And how did the organizers of the coup respond?

They walked in front of the public while brandishing their firepower and started shooting without remorse. The army used their weapons and shot at every protester so they could suppress them into surrendering peacefully. Children shot at point-blank, women dragged and raped across the streets, and kids waiting to pass out from college beaten to death with bobby sticks.

The Myanmar military released a statement on 26th March warning protestors that whoever opposes the regime should be wary of getting “Shot In The Head”. The army chief and main organizer of the coup Min Aung Hlaing also released a nationwide statement urging the public to accept the peaceful transition and stop inciting violence towards the police and army.

So, this is what is happening in Myanmar.

What is the rest of the world doing about it, you ask?

Major world leaders including US President Joe Biden and UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson have strictly condemned the actions of the military and the killing of innocent civilians. The world press has mourned the bloodshed and presented various cover stories about the coup. However, the constant barrage of condolences and the absence of actual reprimands have done little to help the people of Myanmar.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is yet to give a statement because he is too busy in the elections of West Bengal as he rightly should be. After all the borders of Bengal are far more important than dying children in a country that’s a stone’s throw from our easternmost border. Actually, I might have got that backward.

I guess the only way the dying people of Myanmar can incite a reaction from the Indian public is if they dance and frolic on Instagram while they die. After all, the Indian audience can’t be bothered to look at anything other than mind-numbing daily soaps or the brainless movies Salman Khan has created for them.

While you try to digest this article another set of children in Myanmar have become orphans and a child of the age of your youngest child has been shot point-blank by a couple of people. So yeah, if you don’t know what is going on in Myanmar please get a life and get a napkin while you’re at it. You might need it to hide your face next time you go in public.