Nicola Smith, The Telegraph
Myanmar’s Generation Z came of age as the Southeast Asian nation tentatively embraced democratic reforms after half a century of crippling international isolation under an oppressive military junta.
Now the younger generation – aged 24 and below, and who have grown up with more freedom, prosperity and access to technology – are driving the mass protests against last week’s coup to prevent the military from crushing the country’s newfound liberties and drawing it back to its dark past.
“We need to fight against the coup to get justice back. I would like to tell the military not to underestimate our Gen-Z and not to mess up with us,” Nyi Htut Zin, a 17-year-old student told The Telegraph.
“If we don’t fight for our rights and justice, our lives will be dead under military dictatorship.”
Young people are shaping today’s pro-democracy movement with irreverent humour and memes that mark a break from more traditional protest slogans in earlier uprisings against military rule in 1988 and 2007, when the internet was heavily restricted.
“I don’t want dictatorship. I just want boyfriend,” and “my ex is bad but Myanmar military is worse” have been spotted on banners popular with young female protesters joining the tens of thousands who have taken to the streets since Saturday.
Other more strongly worded posters, that read: “You f**ked with the wrong generation,” betray the anger and raw disappointment of first-time voters that their democratic choices have been sidelined by aging autocratic generals who were trounced in last November’s poll.
Although Aung San Suu Kyi, the civilian leader, and her ruling National League for Democracy party, won an overwhelming 83 per cent of the vote, the military has used unproven claims of fraud to justify its decision to seize power.
“They should respect our vote. We did not vote for the military. So, we will fight and reject military government. I will only accept the people elected government,” said Wai Wai Tun, 20, a university student protesting in Yangon.
The generals, insulated from the population in their purpose-built capital of Naypyitaw, and who have been able to cloak past crackdowns through internet blackouts, may not have reckoned with the determination and social media influence of the tech-savvy Gen Z.
Young people in Myanmar are linking up online with activists who took on Beijing’s rule in Hong Kong and who challenged the military’s domination over politics in neighbouring Thailand, forming bonds through hashtags like the popular #MilkTeaAlliance, that signals united opposition to autocracies.
They have flooded Facebook and Twitter and bypassed severe state-imposed curbs on Myanmar’s internet access in recent days to livestream protest actions to the world.
A youthful Myanmar diaspora has also joined forces with protesters, using popular apps like TikTok to spread their pro-democracy message through short video clips.
“Social media is our only voice,” said Thandar Kyaw Htet, 19, who is studying in the US, and whose most popular video on the Myanmar protests has over 580,400 views.
“These kinds of protests are not new in our country – most of our parents and grandparents have lived long enough to remember those – but back then there wasn’t social media. We were isolated from the whole world, from each other,” she said.
“This is a Gen Z wired, angry, yet infused with humour, innovation and principle,” said Dave Mathieson, a Myanmar analyst.
“From a broad cross-section of young people, some of whom deeply admire Aung San Suu Kyi, those who deplore older political leaders and Myanmar’s often crushing social norms and conservatism, this movement essentially modernises the spirit of the 1988 Uprising and anti-military sentiment.”
Nothing frightened the military more than being ridiculed, he said. But while the digital literacy of younger soldiers could win some sympathy for the protest movement among their ranks, the generals’ reaction remained unpredictable, he warned.
“The top military leadership are still the unrestrained murderous thugs they have always been deep down, regardless of what some in the West thought they were capable of positive change.”
