Roundtable on Social Media and Social Movements within Myanmar and its Diasporas

This Roundtable will examine religious dynamics in social movements and social media of Myanmar and its diasporas in the twenty-first century. After the 2021 coup d'état, a group of ousted parliamentary members who had won seats in the 2020 election joined with anti-military activists and ethnic minority resistance movements to form the National Unity Government (abbreviated as NUG). Four of the largest ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) — the Chin National Front, Kachin Independence Organization, Karen National Union and Karenni Progressive Party — aligned with this opposition government, which aims to redress past injustices against various groups across Myanmar, and to establish its legitimacy domestically and abroad. The opposition government conducts its operations remotely and from hiding within Myanmar. It includes representatives of the National League for Democracy (the deposed party of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi), insurgents from ethnic minority communities, and other minor parties. 13 of the 26 members of the NUG cabinet are from ethnic minority groups, including the acting president and prime minister. The ruling military junta declared the National Unity Government an illegal “terrorist organization” in May 2021, while NUG designated the Burmese military (Tatmadaw) and its affiliated organizations as terrorist organizations and created a "People’s Defense Force" (PDF) to protect civilians from military abuses. In addition to regional militias and EAOs, other PDFs not directly affiliated with the NUG have also been formed by ad hoc armed resistance groups to actively resist military rule. Although there are many ethnic-based organizations resisting military rule within and at the borderlands of Myanmar, NUG has strong popular support across Myanmar’s ethnic groups as an alternative political representation for the country and a government-in-hiding. The European Parliament recognizes the NUG as the legitimate government of Myanmar. On the other hand, the US has committed to “deepening engagement” with pro-democracy stakeholders and ethnic groups, announced sanctions against the Myanmar military, and provided “non-lethal support,” but has stopped short of official recognition of NUG or substantial funding support. China maintains ties with the ruling junta while also backing ethnic armies in the borderlands. Although ASEAN countries have shunned the junta at diplomatic gatherings, Myanmar’s neighbors have vacillated between indifference and maintaining ties with the junta and are reluctant to engage directly with the NUG. Because of the 2021 coup and ones preceding it (e.g., 1962, 1988), many born in Burma/Myanmar have been displaced, exiled, or forced to migrate: some are stateless, some have lived in refugee camps for decades, and others have gained citizenship or asylum in countries of refuge. Approximately 2.6 million people have been driven from their homes, 660,000 since October 2023; 1.5 million people remained internally displaced at the end of 2022; and more than 95,000 refugees have fled into neighboring countries. 230,000 Burmese are estimated to live in the US. Burmese who are outside of Myanmar are committed stakeholders in the country’s political processes, and the Myanmar diaspora have a significant role in the country’s future. Many hope that NUG can rebuild Myanmar as a peaceful, multiethnic nation-state that functions through a federal democracy as NUG faces the challenge of building dialogue and trust among various stakeholders. News reports state that Myanmar’s diaspora is the “single most important source of funding” for the resistance movement and is at the “forefront of activism in response to the coup.” Given how much work of nation-building has been occurring within and outside the borders of Myanmar in the twenty-first century, this Roundtable reflects on social movements and social media of Myanmar from multiple religious, ethnic, and disciplinary perspectives. Two speakers from Myanmar, who are an ethnic minority public theologian and a cultural anthropologist, will discuss social media, interpersonal dynamics of online moral surveillance, and interreligious solidarity in Myanmar and in the diaspora. The first speaker is an academic, advocate, and activist who will examine the limitations of overly academic political theology and share how lived political theology of religions is more relevant to Myanmar’s democracy movement. He will share his firsthand experience of Buddhist nationalism, decentralized resistance movement among grassroots protesters, interreligious solidarity, the political witness of the church against the coup, and his insights into different forms of public and hidden resistance in the context of the coup. As a writer, community organizer, and a cultural anthropologist, the second speaker will focus on the circulation and (re)mediation of semiotic culture in contemporary Myanmar. She is a Bamar anthropologist currently residing in the US. Her dissertation research examines the new wave of Myanmar social media activism in the aftermath of the coup and looks at how ordinary people's political engagement is fueled by intense circulation of certain public feelings within online fora. A political scientist from Myanmar and her student will analyze the role of social media in resisting the military’s highjacking of Myanmar’s democracy. They will also examine the prevalence of computational propaganda and other ways the military seeks to extinguish the resistance (e.g. through internet shutdowns, social media surveillance, etc). They will focus on activists both inside and outside of Myanmar, and show the outsized importance of the online diaspora in helping fight the war inside Myanmar. A Norwegian scholar of religion whose expertise includes the role of religion in war and peace, terrorism, and interreligious dialogue will discuss religion and revolution in Myanmar and its diasporas. A fourth scholar from Myanmar who works in transnational gender and sexuality studies and Asian American religions will discuss the role of spirit-worship (a.k.a. nat-worship) in the anti-coup movement. She will also share perspectives about Myanmar’s ethnic and religious diversity and related political affiliations among Burmese Americans and resettled refugees and immigrants from Myanmar who reside in the United States. This roundtable offers a rare overview of Myanmar as a multiethnic nation-state and will examine contemporary politics, social movements, social media, and religions. It would also be the second time in the history of AAR that a discussion fully focuses on the often-overlooked Southeast Asian country of Myanmar.