Indigenous Media (Burma/Myanmar)

Indigenous Groups, Violence, and the Burmese Democracy Movement

More than 100 different languages and dialects have been identified in Burma, though reliable comprehensive data do not exist. The 1974 constitution recognized seven ethnic states—Chin, Kachin, Karen, Kayah (Karenni), Mon, Rakhine (Arakan), and Shan. There are other large minority groups in the country as well, including the Lahu, Naga, Pa-O, and Wa, and Burma is also home to populations of Chinese, Tamils, Bengalis, and others of South Asian origin. Estimates, albeit contentious, suggest that ethnic majority Burmans comprise approximately 69% of the population.

When the British colonized Burma, they divided it into Ministerial Burma in the central regions and the Frontier Areas, in which Indigenous peoples remained semiautonomous. The British used Indigenous minority soldiers to police the Burman majority who were agitating for independence, which sharpened tensions after Burma's 1948 independence. In 1962, a coup brought the military to power under the leadership of General Ne Win, who led the country into isolation while the military waged war against the country's ethnic minority populations.

After decades of mismanagement led the United Nations to accord Burma Least Developed Country (LDC) status in 1987, massive student-led street demonstrations broke out in 1988. Even conservative estimates claim the regime slaughtered thousands in response. Many students and other dissident leaders fled to the country's border areas, where they met the Indigenous peoples, who had long been struggling against the military regime. Initial mistrust, caused by decades of regime propaganda that had stereotyped the ethnic minorities as ruthless and disloyal, eventually gave way to cooperation built upon the recognition of a similar goal: an end to military rule. This led to the birth of Burma's contemporary multiethnic democracy movement.

However, the Indigenous groups realized that despite their common enemy, their interests also differed. The Burman groups, struggling primarily for democracy, were not especially concerned with the non-Burmans' desire to protect their right to self-determination. Some Burmans even perceived this agenda as a distraction from pressing issues of political change.

It is not surprising, then, that a key motivating factor in the development of Indigenous media was to provide Indigenous peoples with a means to express themselves freely regarding concerns they faced as minority groups. For some, it provided an opportunity for their people to break the cycle of fear that prevented them from speaking openly.

...