On the 8th of august in 1988, a general strike began in Myanmar (Burma) as part of the 8888 Uprising, with mass anti-government demonstrations throughout the country demanding multi-party democracy from the ruling one-party state. Over the following days, the mass demonstrations devolved into violent riots as the military fired into crowds of protesters.
The 8888 Uprising, also known as the People Power Uprising, took place in the context of an economic crisis in the country, governed as a one-party state by the Burma Socialist Programme Party, led by General Ne Win. Students and farmers had been engaging in protest and campaigns of rebellion against various state economic policies since 1985.
On August 8th, 1988 (thus the uprising’s name) mass anti-government demonstrations took place throughout the country. Participants came from a wide variety of demographics - Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, students, workers, young and old participated.
The protests began relatively peacefully, with only one casualty reported on the first day, the result of a frightened traffic cop who fired into the crowd and fled. Over the next few days, the protests devolved into violent riots as the military and police fired on the protesters, at one point even shooting doctors and nurses tending to the wounded.
Protesters responded by throwing Molotov cocktails, swords, knives, rocks, poisoned darts and bicycle spokes. In one incident, rioters burned a police station and killed four fleeing police officers.
On August 26th, Aung San Suu Kyi (eventual leader of the country and complicit in the rohingya genocide), the daughter of anti-imperialist revolutionary Aung San, addressed half a million people at Shwedagon Pagoda, becoming an international figure in the uprising, supported by the West. Her party would later go on to win elections in 1990, however these results were ignored by the military government and she was arrested.
On September 18th, the military retook power in the country, with General Saw Maung repealing the 1974 constitution and imposing martial law. The demonstrations were violently suppressed and, by the end of September, at least 3,000 people were killed, however estimates of casualties vary widely.
Eventually after another mass protests in the saffron revolution and the 2010-2015 reforms Aung San party the NLD would take power in 2015 and be overthrown by a coup in 2021 and banned 2 years later.
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twitter is so entirely back to brunch that they’re manifesting as
(D) if you even say “I think she should have been less crass with the people protesting a genocide” and 25% of these people have some form of “pro-Palestine emote combo” in their handles
you motherfuckers were never against genocide, you just thought Biden had bad vibes
it is entirely moral cowardice that two months ago these people were essentially Refaat Alareer-posting and now that kamala is brat they’re yelling at Arab-American Michiganders for daring to slight their coconut tree queen. no principles, no morals, social fascists in every sense of the word
I just can’t imagine feeling anything more positive for Kamala than resigned embarassment. Even if you liked her, even if you did believe in electoralism.
it’s wild to me how effective and quick this astro turf consent manufacturing has been, like jesus christ
also wild how much of it is directed towards “tim walz is good, be happy, left” shit but nobody is going “well wait why is he the VP then…” despite, you know, all that propaganda supporting him ostensibly giving people something to vote for, rather than Harris offering… nothing because she’s empty air in a pantsuit