The 8888 Uprising ( my, ၈၈၈၈ အရေးအခင်း), also known as the People Power Uprising
[Yawnghwe (1995), pp. 170] and the 1988 Uprising, was a series of nationwide protests, marches, and riots in Burma (present-day
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
) that peaked in August 1988. Key events occurred on 8 August 1988 and therefore it is commonly known as the "8888 Uprising". The protests began as a student movement and were organised largely by university students at the
Rangoon Arts and Sciences University and the
Rangoon Institute of Technology
Yangon Technological University (YTU) ( my, ရန်ကုန်နည်းပညာတက္ကသိုလ် ), located in BPI, Yangon, is the premier engineering university of Myanmar. Established as Department of Engineering under Rango ...
(RIT).
Since 1962, the
Burma Socialist Programme Party
The Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), ; abbreviated , was Burma's ruling party from 1962 to 1988 and sole legal party from 1964 to 1988. Party chairman Ne Win overthrew the country's democratically elected government in a coup d'ét ...
had ruled the country as a
totalitarian
Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regul ...
one-party state
A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...
, headed by General
Ne Win
Ne Win ( my, နေဝင်း ; 10 July 1910, or 14 or 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002) was a Burmese politician and military commander who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma ...
. Under the government agenda, called the
Burmese Way to Socialism
The Burmese Way to Socialism ( my, မြန်မာ့နည်းမြန်မာ့ဟန် ဆိုရှယ်လစ်စနစ်), also known as the Burmese Road to Socialism, was the state ideology of the Socialist Republic of the ...
, which involved
economic isolation and the
strengthening of the
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
, Burma became
one of the world's most impoverished countries.
[Burma Watcher (1989)][Woodsome, Kate. (7 October 2007)]
'Burmese Way to Socialism' Drives Country into Poverty
Voice of America
Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...
. Many firms in the formal sector of the economy were
nationalised
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
, and the government combined
Soviet-style central planning
A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, pa ...
with
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
and
traditional beliefs
A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays o ...
and
superstition
A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs and ...
.
The 8888 uprising was started by students in
Yangon
Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
(Rangoon) on 8 August 1988. Student protests spread throughout the country.
[Ferrara (2003), pp. 313] Hundreds of thousands of monks, children, university students, housewives, doctors and common people protested against the government.
The uprising ended on 18 September after
a bloody military coup by the
State Law and Order Restoration Council
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
(SLORC). Thousands of deaths have been attributed to the military during this uprising,
[Fogarty, Phillipa (7 August 2008)]
Was Burma's 1988 uprising worth it?
. BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
.[Wintle (2007)] while authorities in Burma put the figure at around 350 people killed.
During the crisis, Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from ...
emerged as a national icon. When the military junta
A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...
arranged an election in 1990, her party, the National League for Democracy
The National League for Democracy ( my, အမျိုးသား ဒီမိုကရေစီ အဖွဲ့ချုပ်, ; Abbreviation, abbr. NLD; Burmese abbr. ဒီချုပ်) is a liberal democratic political party in Myanm ...
, won 81% of the seats in the government (392 out of 492). However, the military junta refused to recognise the results and continued to rule the country as the State Law and Order Restoration Council
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
. Aung San Suu Kyi was also placed under house arrest
In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if all ...
. The State Law and Order Restoration Council would be a cosmetic change from the Burma Socialist Programme Party.[Steinberg (2002)] Suu Kyi's house arrest was lifted in 2010, when worldwide attention for her peaked again during the making of the biographical film
A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...
'' The Lady''. The Tatmadaw
Tatmadaw (, , ) is the official name of the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include th ...
again seized control of the country in the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, which began with the imprisonment of then State Councillor
A state councillor () is a high-ranking position within the State Council, the executive organ of the Chinese government (comparable to a cabinet). It ranks immediately below the Vice-Premiers and above the ministers of various departments. ...
Aung San Suu Kyi. The coup has led to numerous protests and demonstrations against the military-led government. Activists have compared the current coup resistance movement to the 8888 Uprising.
Background
Economic problems
Before the crisis, Burma had been ruled by the repressive and isolated regime of General Ne Win
Ne Win ( my, နေဝင်း ; 10 July 1910, or 14 or 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002) was a Burmese politician and military commander who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma ...
since 1962. The country had a national debt of $3.5 billion and currency reserves of between $20 million and $35 million, with debt service ratio In economics and government finance, a country’s debt service ratio is the ratio of its debt service payments (principal + interest) to its export earnings.Glossary of Statistical TermsDebt service ratio OECD, Sep 25, 2001. A country's internation ...
s standing at half of the national budget.
1985 and 1987 demonetisation crises
In the years leading up to the crisis, General Ne Win had imposed two instances of sudden currency demonetisation that declared certain circulated denominations of currency invalid. These instances led to instantaneous loss of savings for many Burmese citizens and economic instability. On 3 November 1985, the Burmese government declared notes of 20, 50, and 100 kyats invalid, without prior warning to the public. Prior to this, circulated denominations were of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 kyats. The stated reason for the demonetisation was to combat black market
A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the se ...
activity. The public was given only a short period of time to exchange their 20, 50, and 100 kyat bills, and only 25% of the value of surrendered bills were reimbursed. On 10 November 1985, a week after the initial announcement of demonetisation, new denominations of 25, 35, and 75 kyat bills were announced, with the 75 kyat denomination chosen to commemorate Ne Win's 75th birthday. In November 1985, students gathered and boycott
A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...
ed the government's decision to withdraw Burmese local currency notes. Economic problems coupled with counter-insurgency
Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionar ...
required continuous involvement in the international market.[Boudreau (2004), pp. 192]
On 5 September 1987, Ne Win announced the demonetisation of the 25, 35, and 75 kyat notes, leaving only the 1, 5, and 10 kyat bills valid. This announcement was also with no prior warning, and this time no exchange for valid tender was allowed. Roughly 60–80% of circulated legal tender was declared invalid without warning, and millions of Burmese citizens had their savings eliminated by this action. On 22 September 1987, the Burmese government introduced new denominations of 45 and 90 kyat notes. The 45 and 90 kyat denominations were chosen because the two numbers are divisible by 9, which was considered lucky by Ne Win.[Tucker (2001), pp. 228]
Students in particular were angry at the 1987 demonetisation as savings for tuition fees were wiped out instantly. Students from the Rangoon Institute of Technology
Yangon Technological University (YTU) ( my, ရန်ကုန်နည်းပညာတက္ကသိုလ် ), located in BPI, Yangon, is the premier engineering university of Myanmar. Established as Department of Engineering under Rango ...
(RIT) rioted throughout Rangoon
Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
, smashing windows and traffic lights down Insein Road
Insein Road ( my, အင်းစိန်လမ်း) is a major thoroughfare of Yangon, Burma. It connects the centre to the northern part of the city and passes Insein Township
Insein Township ( my, အင်းစိန်မြို့ ...
, and universities in Rangoon temporarily closed. The government later allowed for reimbursement of up to 100 kyat so that students could return home instead of rioting in the cities. With the re-opening of schools in late October 1987, underground groups in Rangoon and Mandalay produced dissident
A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...
leaflets which culminated in bombs exploding in November.[ Police later received threatening letters from underground groups, who organised small protests around the university campus. Meanwhile, larger protests in ]Mandalay
Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).
Mandalay was fo ...
involved monks and workers, with some burning government buildings and state businesses.[Boudreau (2004), pp. 193] Burmese state media reported little on the protests, but information quickly spread through the students.[
]
Early democracy protests
After receiving Least Developed Country status from the United Nations Economic and Social Council
The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC; french: links=no, Conseil économique et social des Nations unies, ) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields ...
in December 1987, government policy requiring farmers to sell produce below market rates to create greater revenue for the government sparked several, violent rural protests. The protests were fanned by public letters to Ne Win by former second in command General Brigadier Aung Gyi
Brigadier General Aung Gyi ( my, အောင်ကြီး ; 16 February 1919 – 25 October 2012) was a Burmese military officer and politician. He was a cofounder of the National League for Democracy and served as president of the party.
E ...
from July 1987, reminding him of the 1967 riots 1967 riots may refer to:
* Long, hot summer of 1967, marked by race riots and civil disorder throughout the United States
** Avondale riots of 1967, June 12–18, Cincinnati, Ohio
** Buffalo riot of 1967, June 27–July 1, Buffalo, New York
** 1 ...
and condemning lack of economic reform, describing Burma as "almost a joke" compared to other Southeast Asian nations. He was later arrested.[Yawnghwe (1995), pp. 171]
On 12 March 1988, students from the RIT were arguing with out-of-school youths inside the ''Sanda Win'' tea shop about music playing on a sound system.[ A drunken youth would not return a tape that the RIT students favoured.][Fong (2008), pp. 147] A brawl followed in which one youth, who was the son of a BSPP official, was arrested and later released for injuring a student.[ Students protested at a local police department where 500 riot police were mobilised and in the ensuing clash, one student, Phone Maw, was shot and killed.][ The incident angered pro-democracy groups and the next day more students rallied at the RIT and spread to other campuses. The students, who had never protested before, increasingly saw themselves as ]activists
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...
.[ There was growing resentment towards military rule and there were no channels to address grievances, further exacerbated by ]police brutality
Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, but is not limited to, ...
, economic mismanagement and corruption within the government.[
By mid-March, several protests had occurred and there was open dissent in the army. Various demonstrations were broken up by using ]tear gas
Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ...
canisters to disperse crowds.[ On 16 March, students demanding an end to one party rule marched towards soldiers at ]Inya Lake
Inya Lake ( my, အင်းလျားကန်, ''ʔīnyā kǎn'' ; formerly, Lake Victoria) is the largest lake in Yangon, Burma (Myanmar), a popular recreational area for Yangonites, and a famous location for romance in popular culture. Locat ...
when riot police stormed from the rear, clubbing several students to death and raping
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or a ...
others. Several students recalled the police shouting, "Don't let them escape" and "Kill them!".
Ne Win resigns
Following the latest protests, authorities announced the closure of universities for several months.[Fong (2008), pp. 148] By June 1988, large demonstrations of students and sympathisers were a daily sight.[ Many students, sympathisers and riot police died throughout the month as the protests spread throughout Burma from Rangoon. Large scale protests were reported in ]Pegu
Bago (formerly spelt Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon.
Etymology
The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon lang ...
, Mandalay
Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).
Mandalay was fo ...
, Tavoy
Dawei (, ; mnw, ဓဝဲါ, ; th, ทวาย, RTGS: ''Thawai'', ; formerly known as Tavoy) is a city in south-eastern Myanmar and is the capital of the Tanintharyi Region, formerly known as the Tenasserim Division, on the northern bank of ...
, Toungoo
Taungoo (, ''Tauñngu myoú''; ; also spelled Toungoo) is a district-level city in the Bago Region of Myanmar, 220 km from Yangon, towards the north-eastern end of the division, with mountain ranges to the east and west. The main industry ...
, Sittwe
Sittwe (; ; formerly Akyab) is the capital of Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). Sittwe, pronounced ''sait-tway'' in the Rakhine language, is located on an estuarial island created at the confluence of the Kaladan, Mayu, and Lay Mro rivers emptyi ...
, Pakokku, Mergui
Myeik (, or ; mnw, ဗိက်, ; th, มะริด, , ; formerly Mergui, ) is a rural city in Tanintharyi Region in Myanmar (Burma), located in the extreme south of the country on the coast off an island on the Andaman Sea. , the estimat ...
, Minbu
Minbu ( my, မင်းဘူးမြို့) is a city in Magwe Division, Myanmar. , the city has an urban population of 22,962. The area consists of low plain-land towards the Ayeyarwady River, and of undulating country inland rising high ...
and Myitkyina
Myitkyina (, ; (Eng; ''mitchinar'') Jinghpaw: ''Myitkyina'', ) is the capital city of Kachin State in Myanmar (Burma), located from Yangon, and from Mandalay. In Burmese it means "near the big river", and Myitkyina is on the west bank of t ...
.[Smith (1999)] Demonstrators in larger numbers demanded multi-party
In political science, a multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in c ...
democracy, which marked Ne Win's resignation on 23 July 1988.[ In a valedictory address given that day, Ne Win affirmed that "When the army shoots, it shoots to kill."][ He also promised a ]multi-party system
In political science, a multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in coal ...
, but he had appointed the largely disliked Sein Lwin
Sein Lwin ( my, စိန်လွင်, ; 27 January 1924 – 9 April 2004) was a Burmese politician and retired military general in the Myanmar Army. He was served as the sixth president of Burma for 17 days in 1988, following the resignation ...
, known as the "Butcher of Rangoon" to head a new government.[
]
Main protests
1–7 August
Protests reached their peak in August 1988. Students planned for a nationwide demonstration on 8 August 1988, an auspicious date based on numerological significance.[Fong (2008), pp. 149] News of the protest reached rural areas and four days prior to the national protest, students across the country were denouncing Sein Lwin's regime and Tatmadaw troops were being mobilised.[ Pamphlets and posters appeared on the streets of Rangoon bearing the fighting ]peacock
Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...
insignia of the All-Burma Students Union.[Boudreau (2004), pp. 202] Neighbourhood and strike committees were openly formed on the advice of underground activists, many of which were influenced by similar underground movements by workers and monks in the 1980s.[ Between 2 and 10 August, co-ordinated protests were occurring in most Burmese towns.
In the first few days of the Rangoon protests, activists contacted lawyers and monks in Mandalay to encourage them to take part in the protests.][Boudreau (2004), pp. 203] The students were quickly joined by Burmese citizens from all walks of life, including government workers, Buddhist monks
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedicat ...
, air force and navy personnel, customs officers, teachers and hospital staff. The demonstrations in the streets of Rangoon became a focal point for other demonstrations, which spread to other states' capitals.[Ghosh (2001)] Upwards of 10,000 protesters demonstrated outside the Sule Pagoda
The Sule Pagoda ( my, ဆူးလေဘုရား; ) is a Burmese Buddhist stupa located in the heart of downtown Yangon, occupying the centre of the city and an important space in contemporary Burmese politics, ideology and geography. Accord ...
in Rangoon
Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
, where demonstrators burned and buried effigies
An effigy is an often life-size sculptural representation of a specific person, or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certai ...
of Ne Win and Sein Lwin in coffins decorated with demonetised bank notes.[ Further protests took place around the country at stadiums and hospitals.][Mydans, Seth. (12 August 1988)]
Uprising in Burma: The Old Regime Under Siege
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. Monks
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedicat ...
at the Sule Pagoda reported that the Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...
's image had changed shape, with an image in the sky standing on its head.[ On 3 August, the authorities imposed ]martial law
Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory.
Use
Marti ...
from 8 pm to 4 am and a ban on gatherings of more than five people.[
]
8–12 August
A general strike, as planned, began on 8 August 1988. Mass demonstrations were held across Burma as ethnic minorities, Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
s, Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
, Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
, students
A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution.
In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementary ...
, workers
The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic reg ...
and the young and old all demonstrated.[ The first procession circled Rangoon, stopping for people to speak. A stage was also erected.][ Demonstrators from the Rangoon neighbourhoods converged in downtown Rangoon. Only one casualty was reported at this point as a frightened traffic policeman fired into the crowd and fled.][ (Such marches would occur daily until 19 September.)][ Protesters kissed the shoes of soldiers, in an attempt to persuade them to join the civilian protest, whilst some encircled military officers to protect them from the crowd and earlier violence][Boudreau (2004), pp. 205] Over the next four days these demonstrations continued; the government was surprised by the scale of the protests and stated that it promised to heed the demands of the protesters "insofar as possible".[ Lwin had brought in more soldiers from insurgent areas to deal with the protesters.
In ]Mandalay Division
Mandalay Region ( my, မန္တလေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Mandalay Division) is an administrative division of Myanmar. It is located in the center of the country, bordering Sagaing Region and Magway Region to ...
, a more organised strike committee was headed by lawyers and discussion focused on multi-party democracy and human rights. Many participants in the protests arrived from nearby towns and villages.[Boudreau (2004), pp. 204] Farmers who were particularly angry with the government's economic policies joined the protests in Rangoon. In one village, 2,000 of the 5,000 people also went on strike.[
A short while later, the authorities opened fire on the protesters.][ Ne Win ordered that "guns were not to shoot upwards," meaning that he was ordering the military to shoot directly at the demonstrators.] Protesters responded by throwing Molotov cocktail
A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with flamma ...
s, swords, knives, rocks, poisoned darts and bicycle spokes.[ In one incident, protesters burned a police station and tore apart four fleeing officers.][ On 10 August, soldiers fired into Rangoon General Hospital, killing nurses and doctors tending to the wounded.][Burma Watcher (1989), pp. 179.] State-run Radio Rangoon reported that 1,451 " looters and disturbance makers" had been arrested.[
Estimates of the number of casualties surrounding the 8-8-88 demonstrations range from hundreds to 10,000;][ military authorities put the figures at about 95 people killed and 240 wounded.
]
13–31 August
Lwin's sudden and unexplained resignation on 12 August left many protestors confused and jubilant. Security forces exercised greater caution with demonstrators, particularly in neighbourhoods that were entirely controlled by demonstrators and committees.[ On 19 August, under pressure to form a civilian government, Ne Win's biographer, Dr. ]Maung Maung
Maung Maung ( my, မောင်မောင် ; 11 January 1925 – 2 July 1994) was the seventh president of Burma, and a well-known writer.
Early life and career
Maung Maung was born on 11 January 1925 in Mandalay, Upper Burma, British ...
, was appointed as head of government. Maung was a legal scholar and the only non-military individual to serve in the Burma Socialist Programme Party
The Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), ; abbreviated , was Burma's ruling party from 1962 to 1988 and sole legal party from 1964 to 1988. Party chairman Ne Win overthrew the country's democratically elected government in a coup d'ét ...
.[ The appointment of Maung briefly resulted in a subsidence of the shooting and protests.
Nationwide demonstrations resumed on 22 August 1988. In Mandalay, 100,000 people protested, including Buddhist monks and 50,000 demonstrated in ]Sittwe
Sittwe (; ; formerly Akyab) is the capital of Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). Sittwe, pronounced ''sait-tway'' in the Rakhine language, is located on an estuarial island created at the confluence of the Kaladan, Mayu, and Lay Mro rivers emptyi ...
.[ Large marches took places from ]Taunggyi
Taunggyi ( ; Shan: ; Pa'O: ) is the capital and largest city of Shan State, Myanmar (Burma) and lies on the Thazi-Kyaingtong road at an elevation of , just north of Shwenyaung and Inle Lake within the Myelat region. Taunggyi is the fifth lar ...
and Moulmein
Mawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , ; th, เมาะลำเลิง ; mnw, မတ်မလီု, ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' south east of Yangon and south of Thaton, at th ...
to distant ethnic states (particularly where military campaigns had previously taken place), where red, the symbolic colour for democracy was displayed on banners.[ Two days later, doctors, monks, musicians, actors, lawyers, army veterans and government office workers joined the protests.][Fong (2008), pp. 150] It became difficult for committees to control the protests. During this time, demonstrators became increasingly wary of "suspicious looking" people and police and army officers. On one occasion, a local committee mistakenly beheaded a couple thought to have been carrying a bomb.[Boudreau (2004), pp. 208] Incidents like these were not as common in Mandalay, where protests were more peaceful as they were organised by monks and lawyers.[
On 26 August, ]Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from ...
, who had watched the demonstrations from her mother's bedside, entered the political arena by addressing half a million people at Shwedagon Pagoda
The Shwedagon Pagoda (, ); mnw, ကျာ်ဒဂုၚ်; officially named ''Shwedagon Zedi Daw'' ( my, ရွှေတိဂုံစေတီတော်, , ) and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda is a gilded stupa ...
.[ It was at this point that she became a symbol for the struggle in Burma, particularly in the eyes of the Western world. Kyi, as the daughter of ]Aung San
Aung San (, ; 13 February 191519 July 1947) was a Burmese politician, independence activist and revolutionary. He was instrumental in Myanmar's struggle for independence from British rule, but he was assassinated just six months before his go ...
, who led the independence movement, appeared ready to lead the movement for democracy.[Silverstein (1996)] Kyi urged the crowd not to turn on the army but find peace through non-violent
Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
means. At this point in time for many in Burma, the uprising was seen as similar to that of the People Power Revolution
The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, was a series of popular Demonstration (people), demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a ...
in the Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
in 1986.[
Around this time, former Prime Minister ]U Nu
Nu ( my, ဦးနု; ; 25 May 1907 – 14 February 1995), commonly known as U Nu also known by the honorific name Thakin Nu, was a leading Burmese statesman and nationalist politician. He was the first Prime Minister of Burma under the pr ...
and retired Brigadier General Aung Gyi also re-emerged onto the political scene in what was described as a "democracy summer" when many former democracy leaders returned. Despite the gains made by the democracy movement, Ne Win remained in the background.
September
During the September congress of 1988, 90% of party delegates (968 out of 1080) voted for a multi-party system of government.[ The BSPP announced they would be organising an election, but the opposition parties called for their immediate resignation from government, allowing an interim government to organise elections. After the BSPP rejected both demands, protesters again took to the streets on 12 September 1988.][ Nu promised elections within a month, proclaiming a provisional government. Meanwhile, the police and army began fraternising with the protesters.][Tucker (2001), pp. 229.] The movement had reached an impasse relying on three hopes: daily demonstrations to force the regime to respond to their demands, encouraging soldiers to defect and appealing to an international audience in the hope that United Nations or United States troops would arrive. Some Tatmadaw did defect, but only in limited numbers, mostly from the Navy. Stephen Solarz who had experienced the recent democracy protests in the Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
and South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
arrived in Burma in September encouraging the regime to reform, which echoed the policy of the United States government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...
towards Burma.
By mid-September, the protests grew more violent and lawless, with soldiers deliberately leading protesters into skirmishes that the army easily won.[Boudreau (2004), pp. 210.] Protesters demanded more immediate change, and distrusted steps for incremental reform.
SLORC coup and crackdown
On 18 September 1988, the military retook power in the country. General Saw Maung
Saw Maung ( my, စောမောင်, ; 5 December 1928 – 24 July 1997) was a Burmese army general and statesman who served as Chairman of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) in Myanmar and Prime Minister of Burma from 19 ...
repealed the 1974 constitution and established the State Law and Order Restoration Council
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
(SLORC), "imposing more Draconian measures than Ne Win had imposed." After Maung had imposed martial law, the protests were violently broken up. The government announced on the state-run radio that the military had assumed power in the people's interest, "in order to bring a timely halt to the deteriorating conditions on all sides all over the country." Tatmadaw
Tatmadaw (, , ) is the official name of the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include th ...
troops went through cities throughout Burma, indiscriminately firing on protestors.[
Although an exact body count has not been determined as bodies were often cremated, it is estimated that within the first week of securing power, 1,000 students, monks, and schoolchildren were killed, and another 500 were killed whilst protesting outside the United States embassy] – footage caught by a cameraman nearby who distributed the footage to the world's media.[Fong (2008), pp. 151] Maung described the dead as "looters".[ Protestors were also pursued into the jungle and some students took up training on the country's borders with Thailand.][
By the end of September, there were around 3,000 estimated deaths and unknown number of injured,][ with 1,000 deaths in Rangoon alone.][Ferrara (2003), pp. 314.] At this point in time, Aung San Suu Kyi appealed for help.[ On 21 September, the government had regained control of the country,][ with the movement effectively collapsing in October.][ By the end of 1988, it was estimated that 10,000 people, including protesters and soldiers, had been killed.][
]
Aftermath
Many in Burma believed that the regime would have collapsed if the United Nations and neighbouring countries had refused to recognise the legitimacy of the coup. Western governments and Japan cut aid to the country.[ Among Burma's neighbours, ]India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
was most critical; condemning the suppression, closing borders and setting up refugee camps along its border with Burma. By 1989, 6,000 NLD supporters had been detained and those who fled to the ethnic border areas, such as Kawthoolei
Kawthoolei ( ksw, ကီၢ်သူလ့ၤ, ; my, ကော့သူးလေ) is the endonym for a proposed state that the Karen have sought to establish in Myanmar since the beginning of the Karen conflict in the late 1940s.
Kawthoolei rou ...
, formed groups with those who sought greater self-determination
The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...
. It was estimated 10,000 had fled to mountains which were controlled by ethnic insurgents such as the Karen National Liberation Army
The Karen National Liberation Army ( ksw, ကညီဒီကလုာ် တၢ်ထူၣ်ဖျဲး သုးမုၢ်ဒိၣ်, my, ကရင်အမျိုးသား လွတ်မြောက်ရေး တပ်မတ ...
, and many of them later trained to become soldiers.
After the uprising, the SLORC waged a "clumsy propaganda" campaign against those who had organised the protests.[Boudreau (2004), pp. 190] Intelligence Chief Khin Nyunt
General Khin Nyunt (; ; born 23 October 1939) is a Burmese military officer and politician. He held the office of Chief of Intelligence and was Prime Minister of Myanmar from 25 August 2003 until 18 October 2004.
Early life and education
Kh ...
, held English-language press conferences which were aimed at giving foreign diplomats and the media a favourable account of the SLORC's response to the protests.[Lintner (1990), pp. 52] During this period, more restrictions were imposed upon the Burmese media
The print, broadcast and online mass media in Burma (also known as Myanmar) has undergone strict censorship and regulation since the 1962 Burmese coup d'état. The constitution provides for freedom of speech and the press; however, the governme ...
, denying it the relative freedom to report news which it had been able to exercise at the peak of the protests. In the conferences, he detailed a conspiracy in which the right was plotting to overthrow the regime with the assistance of "subversive foreigners" and a conspiracy in which the left was plotting to overthrow the State.[ Despite the conferences, few believed the government's version of events.][ While these conferences were going on, the SLORC was secretly negotiating with ]mutineers
Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among memb ...
.[
Between 1988 and 2000, the Burmese government established 20 museums which detailed the military's central role throughout Burma's history and the size of the military increased from 180,000 to 400,000.][ The Burmese government also kept schools and universities closed in order to prevent future uprisings.][ Initially, ]Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from ...
, U Tin Oo and Aung Gyi
Brigadier General Aung Gyi ( my, အောင်ကြီး ; 16 February 1919 – 25 October 2012) was a Burmese military officer and politician. He was a cofounder of the National League for Democracy and served as president of the party.
E ...
publicly rejected the SLORC's offer to hold elections the following year, claiming that they could not be freely held while Burma was under military rule.
Significance
Today, the uprising is commemorated by Burmese expatriate
An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...
s and citizens. In Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, students also commemorate the uprising every 8 August. On the 20th anniversary of the uprising, 48 activists were arrested for commemorating the event in Burma. The event garnered much support for the Burmese people internationally
Poems
were written by students who participated in the protests. The 1995 film ''Beyond Rangoon
''Beyond Rangoon'' is a 1995 Drama (film and television), drama film directed by John Boorman about Laura Bowman (played by Patricia Arquette), an United States, American tourist who vacations in the country of Myanmar, Burma (now known as Myanmar ...
'' is a fictionalized drama which is based on the events that took place during the uprising.
The uprising led to the death and imprisonment of thousands of individuals. Many of the deaths occurred inside the prisons, where prisoners of conscience were subjected to inhumane torture and deprived of basic provisions, such as food, water, medicine, and sanitation. From 1988 to 2012, the military and the police illegally detained and imprisoned tens of thousands of leaders of the Burmese pro-democracy movement, as well as intellectuals, artists, students, and human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
activists. Pyone Cho
Pyone Cho (Burmese: ပြုံးချို); born Htay Win Aung; born 2 April 1966) is a Burmese politician and former political prisoner, currently serving as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Representatives for Dawbon Township ...
, one of the leaders of the uprising, spent 20 years of his adult life in prison. Ko Ko Gyi
Ko Ko Gyi ( my, ကိုကိုကြီး, born 18 December 1961) is a Burmese politician and leading democracy activist. For his protests against the military government, he spent over 17 years in prison on multiple occasions between 1989 ...
, another leader of the uprising, spent 18 years of his life in prison. Min Ko Naing
Paw Oo Tun ( my, ပေါ်ဦးထွန်း ); better known by his alias Min Ko Naing, ( , lit. "conqueror of kings") is a leading democracy activist and dissident from Myanmar. He has spent most of the years since 1988 imprisoned by the ...
was placed in solitary confinement for nine years for his role as a leader of the uprising. Because the uprising began as a student movement, many of the individuals who were arrested, imprisoned, tortured, and killed by the police and the military were high school and university students.
Many of the student leaders of the uprising became lifelong human rights activists and leaders of the Burmese pro-democracy movement. Nineteen years later, many of these same activists also played a role in the 2007 Saffron Revolution. The 88 Generation Students Group
The 88 Generation Students ( my, ၈၈ မျိုးဆက် ကျောင်းသားများ) is a Burma, Burmese pro-democracy movement known for their activism against the country's State Peace and Development Council, military ...
, which is named after the events of 8 August 1988, organised one of the first protests which eventually culminated in the Saffron Revolution. But prior to the outbreak of large-scale demonstrations, its members were arrested and given lengthy prison sentences of up to 65 years. The activists who were arrested included prominent individuals such as Min Ko Naing
Paw Oo Tun ( my, ပေါ်ဦးထွန်း ); better known by his alias Min Ko Naing, ( , lit. "conqueror of kings") is a leading democracy activist and dissident from Myanmar. He has spent most of the years since 1988 imprisoned by the ...
, Mya Aye, Htay Kywe Htay Kywe may refer to:
* Htay Kywe (activist)
Htay Kywe ( my, ဌေးကြွယ်, ) is a repeatedly-imprisoned Burmese pro-democracy activist who was considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. BBC News describes him ...
, Mie Mie
Thin Thin Aye ( my, သင်းသင်းအေး, ; 1970 – 13 August 2018), better known as Mie Mie ( ), was a Burmese democracy activist who organized and led numerous anti-government protests. She was imprisoned three times between 1988 ...
, Ko Ko Gyi
Ko Ko Gyi ( my, ကိုကိုကြီး, born 18 December 1961) is a Burmese politician and leading democracy activist. For his protests against the military government, he spent over 17 years in prison on multiple occasions between 1989 ...
, Pyone Cho, Min Zeyar, Ant Bwe Kyaw, and Nilar Thein. Though not an 88 Generation Students Group member, a solo protester Ohn Than
Ohn Than ( my, အုန်းသန်း, ; commonly written U Ohn Than, following Burmese honorific conventions; born 1946) is a Burmese democracy activist who received international attention for his "stoic one-man protests". He spent the m ...
also joined the demonstration. All of them were released in a general amnesty
Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offic ...
in 2012. They continue to work as politicians and human rights activists in Myanmar. They also campaigned for the National League for Democracy
The National League for Democracy ( my, အမျိုးသား ဒီမိုကရေစီ အဖွဲ့ချုပ်, ; Abbreviation, abbr. NLD; Burmese abbr. ဒီချုပ်) is a liberal democratic political party in Myanm ...
in the 2015 general election. Pyone Cho, one of the main leaders of the 88 Generation, was elected to the House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
in the 2015 Election.
Gallery
See also
*
* Depayin massacre
References
Bibliography
Books and journals
* Boudreau, Vincent. (2004). ''Resisting Dictatorship: Repression and Protest in Southeast Asia.'' Cambridge University Press. .
* Burma Watcher. (1989). ''Burma in 1988: There Came a Whirlwind.'' Asian Survey, 29(2). A Survey of Asia in 1988: Part II pp. 174–180.
* Callahan, Mary. (1999). ''Civil-military relations in Burma: Soldiers as state-builders in the postcolonial era.'' Preparation for the State and the Soldier in Asia Conference.
* Callahan, Mary. (2001). ''Burma: Soldiers as State Builders.'' ch. 17. cited in Alagappa, Muthiah. (2001). ''Coercion and Governance: The Declining Political Role of the Military in Asia.'' Stanford University Press.
* Clements, Ann. (1992). ''Burma: The Next Killing Fields?'' Odonian Press.
* Delang, Claudio. (2000). ''Suffering in Silence, the Human Rights Nightmare of the Karen People of Burma.'' Parkland: Universal Press.
* Europa Publications Staff. (2002). ''The Far East and Australasia 2003.'' Routledge
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
. .
* Ferrara, Federico. (2003). ''Why Regimes Create Disorder: Hobbes's Dilemma during a Rangoon Summer.'' The Journal of Conflict Resolution, 47(3), pp. 302–325.
* Fink, Christina. (2001). ''Living Silence: Burma Under Military Rule.'' Zed Books.
* Fong, Jack. (2008). ''Revolution as Development: The Karen Self-determination Struggle Against Ethnocracy (1949–2004).'' Boca Raton, FL:BrownWalker Press.
* Ghosh, Amitav. (2001). ''The Kenyon Review, New Series.'' Cultures of Creativity: The Centennial Celebration of the Nobel Prizes. 23(2), pp. 158–165.
* Hlaing, Kyaw Yin. (1996). ''Skirting the regime's rules.''
* Lintner, Bertil. (1989). ''Outrage: Burma's Struggle for Democracy.'' Hong Kong: Review Publishing Co.
* Lintner, Bertil. (1990). ''The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB).'' SEAP Publications. .
* Lwin, Nyi Nyi. (1992). ''Refugee Student Interviews''. A Burma-India Situation Report.
* Maung, Maung. (1999). ''The 1988 Uprising in Burma.'' Yale University Southeast Asia Studies.
* Silverstein, Josef. (1996). ''The Idea of Freedom in Burma and the Political Thought of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.'' Pacific Affairs, 69(2), pp. 211–228.
* Smith, Martin. (1999). ''Burma – Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity.'' Zed Books.
* Steinberg, David. (2002). ''Burma: State of Myanmar.'' Georgetown University Press.
* Tucker, Shelby. (2001). ''Burma: The Curse of Independence.'' Pluto Press.
* Wintle, Justin. (2007). ''Perfect Hostage: a life of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s prisoner of conscience.'' New York: Skyhorse Publishing.
* Yawnghwe, Chao-Tzang. ''Burma: Depoliticization of the Political.'' cited in Alagappa, Muthiah. (1995). ''Political Legitimacy in Southeast Asia: The Quest for Moral Authority.'' Stanford University Press.
* Yitri, Moksha. (1989). ''The Crisis in Burma: Back from the Heart of Darkness?'' University of California Press.
Further reading
* AP. (1988)
Burma Imposes Martial Law In the Capital After a Protest
''The New York Times'', 4 August 1988.
* AP. (1988)
''The New York Times'', 11 September 1988.
* Cumming-Bruce, Nick. (1988)
Burma's new leader imposes martial law
''The Guardian'', 4 August 1988.
* Faulder, Dominic. (2008)
Memories of 8 August 1988
''The Irrawaddy
''The Irrawaddy'' () is a news website by the Irrawaddy Publishing Group (IPG), founded in 1990 by Burmese exiles living in Thailand. From its inception, ''The Irrawaddy'' has taken an independent stance on Burmese politics. As a publication pr ...
'', August 2008.
* Kamm, Henry. (1988)
Tension Reported High In Burma After Clashes
''The New York Times'', 2 July 1988.
* Mydans, Seth. (1988)
''The New York Times'', 12 September 1988.
* Mydans, Seth. (1988)
''The New York Times'', 10 September 1988.
* Mydans, Seth. (1988)
''The New York Times'', 13 September 1988.
* Richburg, Keith. (1988). Youths, Monks Fight Troops in Burma; Post-Coup Deaths Reported in Hundreds. ''Washington Post'', 20 September 1988.
* Stewart, William. (1988)
''TIME'', 26 September 1988.
Protests mark Burma anniversary
''BBC News'', 8 August 2003.
Burma's 1988 Protests
''BBC News'', 25 September 2007.
Partial list of 8888 Uprising victims
''The Irrawaddy'', 1 January 2003.
External links
''Soros''.
Video – 8888s anniversary activity in London Burmese' Embassy and Downing street, and Ms Suu Kyi's Birthday, calling for democratic reform in Burma
''Burmese American Democratic Alliance''.
{{Burma topics
Revolutions of 1989
Internal conflict in Myanmar
Conflicts in 1988
1988 protests
Burmese democracy movements
History of Myanmar (1948–present)
Massacres in Myanmar
Politics of Myanmar
Political repression
Rebellions in Asia
1988 in Burma
Protests in Myanmar
20th-century rebellions
Aung San Suu Kyi
Military coups in Myanmar