Alive
I just wanted to let people know that one year later, this blog is still alive and well. I've just been busy. It feels good to come back and revisit my thoughts at the time of writing.
Hotel Staycations
Due to the internet cuts and other things going on, many expats living in Yangon are taking the opportunity to stay in nice hotels, together with their families. Staying in hotels at this time has some benefits:
- Cooked meals provided
- Generators to avoid power outages
- FAST internet, as compared to what is offered at most residences
- Security
- Swimming pools, etc. (fun for the kids)
However, at this point, which is 5 April 2021, a lot of Yangon has actually calmed down. People are going to the market like usual, there is minimal police presence on the streets, parks are de-facto open again, restaurants are de-facto letting people dine in. It appears that things are returning to some kind of normal, despite all of the horrendous things that are continuing to happen outside of Yangon.
I took a staycation myself over the weekend. I got tired of rolling blackouts in my neighborhood, I never managed to install an airconditioner (and because my visa can't be renewed, I probably won't), and I wanted FAST internet. You know, internet that could be comparable to what we have in the U.S.
So, a friend recommended me a small place not too far from my house. The food was mediocre, it wasn't spotless clean, but I enjoyed actually having access to hot water, I enjoyed the 500 mbps WiFi, and having room service for affordable prices was nice, too. There was no pool or anything like that. It was a pretty basic hotel. But I got the best night's sleep that I had had in the past two weeks, so I knew that I had made a good decision, at least as far as my health was concerned.
There may be people who view this practice as a demonstration of privilege, because tons of expats are just chilling at hotels while everyone else is suffering. I would first like to remind everyone that many expats are somewhat stranded here. It is very difficult to access funds and with travel restrictions still in place by the government, the only flights out of the country are expensive. So, for some expats, they have no choice but to wait out the coup until banks are back to full capacity and flights are cheap. In the meantime, there is a lot of tension and stress in the air. So, spending a few nights at a hotel relieve them of a lot of stress. I should also point out that many Burmese people are also hanging out at these hotels, as well, no it's not exclusively a foreigner thing.
Tags: staycation, calm, normal, travel
Goodbye Ananda
As of April 1st evening, Ananda, Ooredoo, and other broadband internet networks that are 4G based have joined Sim2Fly in heaven. RIP.
Tags: censorship, internet, coup
An ode to Sim2Fly
Alas, my beloved Sim2Fly
Your days come to an end
I bought you for a handsome some
Second-hand from a not-close friend
The nights of information
And extra chatting time
The speediness of roaming data
Brought memories sublime
In an age of throttled packets
And blocked IP-addys
You let me close my VPN
To browse the web at ease
And when the nation's LTE
Was gagged and bound one day
You were always there beside me
To give another way
Another way to tell my folks
That I've survived the night
A way to douse myself in YouTube
When the loud booms gave me fright
But all good things must soon pass
And I knew this day might come
It started with a throttle
And ended with a mum
Indeed, I doubt it a hard task
To disable Ooredoo's tower
I was suprised we got this far
And took until this hour
So, now we're limited to broadband
And nothing in-between
It seems there's no workaround yet
At least, not one I've seen
But this is a minor setback
We'll figure something out
After all, we jumped on this bandwagon
For more than just pure clout
Indeed, we seek to find a channel
To broadcast our hurt voices
At this point all they can do
Is try to limit our choices
So, go on, brick my SIM
It's not stopped me before
But you'll have to do a lot more than that
To win this civil war.
-- Tyler Davis, 31 March 2021
Tags: censorship, internet, Gen-Z
How much longer until the escalation stops?
We're now getting to a point where the two main protagonists of this fight: the Tatmadaw and the protestors/demonstrators are trying to outdo eachother's tactics. We've seen this since the beginning.
- Coup happens
- People bang pots and pans
- Tighter restrictions enacted by junta
- People peacefully take to the streets
- Police start using tear gas
- Protestors begin to wear goggles, gas masks, other protective gear ... Throw back gas canisters at security forces
- Security forces use rubber bullets
- Protestors design make-shift shields
- Security forces use real bullets (deaths occur)
- Protestors make better shields and start to arm themselves with slingshots and molotov cocktails
- More and more deaths occur at the hands of the security forces
- Protestors learn to make their own grenades, canonons, RPGs, and other weapons à la Anarchist Cookbook.
Meanwhile, some ethnic armed groups (EAOs), particularly the KNU (Karen National Union) have decided to show their muscle against the Tatmadaw. The KNU captured at least 10 Burmese soldiers and plundered the base, taking a lot of weaponry and then proudly posting their loot on the internet for all to see. The Tatmadaw certainly saw it and launched an air-raid offensive which lasted throughout the weekend of 27-28 March.
Everywhere you turn in Burma now, you see nothing but escalation of violence and advancement of tactics, "on all sides," to quote a(n) (in)famous U.S. President. The big question now is, "which side gives first" and "to what level will this situation (de)escalate?"
It appears to me that the demonstrators are not yet willing to back down and the military is certainly not in a position where they would back down. As one scholar remarked to me, the only situation where the military would back down, is if they were given a face-saving method of backing out of the situation. If the military simply backs out of their own volition, they may appear weak, from an Asian perspective. However, if someone else gives them a viable option of backing off, such as a lovely retirement package for all of the top brass, then no one has anything to be ashamed of.
The only certain thing is that many people are very skeptical of positive developments within the month of April and those who can are getting out of the city and even the country altogether. It's only a waiting game, at this point.
Tags: CDM, coup, violence, protestors, Gen-Z, EAO
So, what's the outcome of the silent protest?
Wednesday, March 24, 2021 was the day of the "silent protest" in Yangon. I was notified of its existence by a friend forwarding me a JPG that was forwarded to him by a friend, who probably received it from others, who received it from others, etc. The method was simple: On Wednesday, no one in Yangon was to leave their homes, go out to buy anything, go onto the street, and to make any noise, whatsoever. It read verbatim like this:
March 24 - Silence [sic] Strike
- No ppl on the street
- No car
- No shop
The tagline at the bottom read: "Silence will be our loudest cry."
Underneath that mess was a better-worded Burmese poster, but you get my drift. That was ... It. In the Burmese poster, there was a section entitled "Why?" I'll give a rough translation:
Why
- To give peaceful silence for our fallen heroes
- To regain our lost strength
- To counter the idea that we've become just like the terroristic military
Result
Okay, so what was the result? Well, according to the Irrawaddy, not only individuals chose to stay home, but many shopping chains, such as City Mart, were shut down. Around one hundred retail employees were detained and questioned overnight as to why they participated in the protests.
So, apparently, the silent protest did manage to ruffle the feathers of the administration. Indeed, I frequent City Mart at least once a week and, during these times of banks not being fully open, only the people with large reserves of cash tend to go there. Meaning, a lot of them are probably connected to the military. Thus, worried about an economic collapse, the SAC (State Administration Council) threatened retail workers to not participate anymore.
Again, it does appear that the Committe Representing Pyithu Hluttaw (CRPH) is hoping for an economic collapse, to put pressure on the regime that way. Will it happen and will it succeed? Only time will tell, I suppose.
Tags: silence, protest, CDM, coup
Let's talk about social punishment
I'm not entirely sure whether or not I agree with this notion of social punishment. It's not that I fear for my own reputation nor that I have something in particular worth hiding. I just don't know if retaliating against the preceived elite is overly beneficial. On the one hand, they are indeed benefitting in one way or another from their relatives' past dealings (often corrupt). But are they "sinful" as well in any of this?
Luckily, there seems to be a workflow. The individual is observed (usually through social media) and the court of public opinion determines whether the individual has said anything worthy enough of being "passed over" Deuteronomy style. Such as,
- Have they publicly supported CDM?
- Have the publicly denounced the misdeeds of their ancestors?
- Have they publicly denounced the military coup?
etc.
These private individuals, however, are between a rock and a hard place. Many, not wanting to dishonor their parents following the traditional ဘုရား တရား သံဃာ မိဘ ဆရာ (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, Parents, Teachers) teaching that one must always respect these five "gems," especially parents, since they gave you life. In their Buddhist mindset, this is almost an impossible thing to do.
We Westerners and some westernized Burmese people would denounce their family in a heartbeat if they disagreed with some atrocities. I doubt that these "crony kids" would easily be able to do the same.
Nonetheless, there are certain Facebook pages and websites, which I won't link here, that can lead a visitor to a wall of photos with names, known addresses, known affiliates, etc. of these targeted individuals. One thing I worry about is that the creators of such pages may be unmasked one day. Most Burmese people are using a freely available VPN app called "1.1.1.1," which is not private and not entirely secure, in terms of the user knowing exactly what happens to their data. If the data were intercepted, the creators of these pages could face lifetime in jail or perhaps even the death penalty. It goes to show, however, how the Burmese people will use whatever means they have to try to win this fight.
Tags: social-punishment, CDM, coup, internet, security
Midnight
It's midnight as I write this and I'm facing writers block for what I should be doing. I'm probably nervous about another power cut.
Tags: productivity, midnight, work