Category politics
‘They want division’: on patrol with Myanmar’s civilian night watch
Guardian, 15 February 2021 Since the coup, people in Yangon have been patrolling the streets to protect neighbours from overnight military raids and criminals by Lorcan Lovett Sitting next to a makeshift barricade of bamboo and recycled metal, Aung Than, 30, a tour operator, says he is ready to die for his street. “A life on […]
‘I did what I thought was right’: a Myanmar protester voices her fears for the future
Guardian, 12 February 2021 In previous years on Union Day – the Myanmar public holiday marking the agreement between ethnic leaders on 12 February 1947 to forge a unified country – Khin* had worn her traditional htamein, a snug maxiskirt. But since it would prevent her from running away if the police opened fire, this year she opted […]
‘We all know what we’re facing’: divided Myanmar unites against coup
Guardian, 10 February 2021 The Myanmar military took power last week on the promise of “restoring eternal peace” to a country riven by seven decades of ethnic conflict. Since the takeover it has made remarkable progress in uniting the deeply divided country against a common enemy: itself. In Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, strangers greet each other with […]
The nights of pots and pans are back, on Myanmar’s fearful streets
Guardian, 2 February 2021 In Myanmar, if you want to drive evil from your home, you bang pots and pans. Yangon’s streets were filled with the din of clashing metal in 2007, when monks called for an end to military rule, and before that, in 1988 when the former president Sein Lwin, or the “butcher of Rangoon”, […]
No sex education please, we’re Burmese: new school textbook exposes ignorance
The Sunday Times, May 2020 Burma is historically familiar with ethnic strife. But now the land of maroon-robed monks is confronting discord of a different kind, as politicians, doctors and spiritual leaders turn on each other in a ferocious row about sex. The trouble erupted over a plan to update sex education in schools, a […]
Lorcan Lovett 
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