Thread by @randallbreanna

Some reflections on #myanmar op-eds by Myanmar outsiders these days. A thread:

I understand why Myanmar folks, some of whom are in exile, might write op-eds that sound resigned in regard to the viability of the #myanmar protest movement. They have their reasons.

But I really wish non-Myanmar outsiders would stop writing this sort of stuff. Pieces that say “protest movements alone never succeed” sound neo-colonial, for one thing.

But for another, these pieces are players in the movement in a real way, and in a detrimental way.

In protest and civil disobedience movements, people are fighting with words to create the world they want to see, a world they believe is possible.


Their faith and hope, and holding onto it despite the odds, is necessary in order for the movement to succeed.

So for outsiders to witness that fight and then to address a outside audience and insinuate that the movement doesn’t have much hope is a disservice to the people of #Myanmar.

The story hasn’t been finished yet. Stop writing op-eds as if you know the ending. Giving the international community the notion that the coup will succeed is, in a sense, a betrayal of the movement.

We who want to support this movement need to believe in it as much as the Myanmar people who are putting everything on the line. And that starts with how we write to the international community. These op-eds are an act of participation in global politics; they are not neutral.

This piece from 2019 is really interesting, and this line in particular gets at this topic:

"Each must figure out what others will do, which is why expectations – mutual beliefs about what comes next – drive behavior."

bigthink.com/politics-curre…

(to clarify, I really appreciate the op-eds that describe helpful ways for the international community to support for a better outcome. But the op-eds that simply predict a dismal outcome feel to me like something out of white supremacy playbook.)