So, what's the outcome of the silent protest?

Tyler Davis
Fri, 26 Mar 2021 06:55:25 +0700

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.