(not to throw too much shade around, but this is a great example of how there are so many creative alternatives to storytelling/reporting that do not involve parachute journalism techniques😬)
thanks for writing this @sjmichaels! And please give our thanks to the cover artist who made that incredible feature image.
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“Everyone is so pushy”
“I wish journalists would treat us as experts in our own lived experiences.”
- Myanmar friends speaking about recent interactions with journalists. 1/
This thread is inspired by stories from friends who have had some negative experiences lately.
I want to stress, first off, that I have great respect for the profession of journalism. Good storytelling is honorable work. 2/
But I also have so much respect for my Myanmar friends who are fighting for freedom and working to share their experiences and thoughts with journalists. 3/
This is from @adidas website:
"Workers must have access to effective communication channels with their employers and managers... as a means of exercising their social and economic rights"
But 73 days into the #myanmarmilitarycoup, and @adidas has made no concerted effort to assure the public or their workers as to whether they are actually committed to making sure their workers are guaranteed this access they tout on their corporate website.
@adidas did not issue a statement after the bloody garment district crackdown Mar 14.
And they haven't troubled themselves to issue ANY statements in Burmese language for their customers or workers. Their Myanmar store's FB page has also been largely silent. #adidasforMyanmar
friends, please sign these petitions! This one is asking @adidas, and @Beyonce as their affiliate, to take concrete action for their 20,000 workers in Myanmar:
This one is asking the Biden admin to put sanctions on Myanmar Gas and Oil Enterprise (if this happened, it would result in @Chevron, @Petronas, Posco, @Total being forced to stop paying taxes to the junta):
I'm tired of reading perspectives implying that #Myanmar people don't know what they are risking.
It doesn't matter how politically/economically savvy the take:
It's rubbish if it isn't centered on a high regard for the agency, self-determination, and wisdom of Myanmar ppl, especially ethnic minorities.
They know they are fighting a lion--they know this better than we do.
**I write this as someone who is constantly trying to weed out this paternalistic orientation in myself. I've listened to the wrong voices at times; I've definitely retweeted the wrong things at times. I regret that, and I'm thankful for all the voices teaching me to do better.
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.