The Economist: America’s better future: February 20th-26th 2021
On February 17th in Yangon, busy intersections across the capital were jammed as cars were parked in the middle of the streets, leaving the city paraslyzed. When police interfered, residents came out of their homes to stop them. Activists were protesting against the military coup and were attempting to prevent troups and civil servants from entering the city.
For almost two weeks, tens and hundreds of thousands took to the streets to protest against the coup. Thousands of public-sector workers are currently on strike. Government offices and classrooms have been deserted, as well as many public hospitals that in effect, have been shut.
Most branches of banks have been closed resulting in most administrative work having stopped. Mr. Ko Ko (cover name), a manager at the branch of AYA bank stated, “A dysfunctional financial sector would definitely hurt the regime.” Him and almost all of his colleagues have been on strike. With may tax collectors being on strike, the coup leaders could end up not having the money or infrastructure to pay its staff.
State newspapers have warned that those who encourage, “dutiful civil servants” to go on strike will be, “seriously punished legally”. Security services have responded by trying to intimidate workers to return to their posts. Mr. Ko Ko says, “We aren’t afraid of losing our jobs, we want our freedom back.”
As the civil servants take the streets and go on strike, the government of Myanmar is grinding to a halt. The people of Myanmar have decided to take things into their own hands as they stand up for their freedom and demand the release of the rightfully elected democratic leader. As the coup hopes that protests will disperse by the end of the month, those such as Mr. Ko Ko make that seem more and more unlikely. As the international community watches from afar, nations will be anxious to see Min Aung Hlaing’s response if strikes continue. Will the military coup back down and democracy will be restored? Or will civil war break between the regime and the citizens of Myanmar?
In the upcoming weeks, western nations will have to choose whether or not to get involved in the crisis. Will President Biden take the path of liberal internationalism and promote democracy within the region, or will the U.S and other western countries leave the people on their own? These are the upcoming questions the international community must asks themselves when dealing with the crisis in Myanmar.