Meet Honey. Honey Nway Oo was formerly the beauty queen of her university. She also established the women’s soccer team.
Holding a bachelor’s degree in German from Yangon University of Foreign Languages and enjoying a thriving modeling and acting career, Honey made her film debut in “Yangon in Love,” a lighthearted romance where she played a leading role.
Article by Rory Finnegan and Micheal John
Myanmar women fight Tatmadaw military dictatorship
But Honey Nway Oo, like many young persons, had her world destroyed on the morning of 1 February 2021, when democratically elected Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of National League for Democracy were imprisoned by a sick military dictatorship; life for the people of Myanmar was radically changed.
Honey Nway Oo
Honey Nway Oo and other Myanmar women fight Tatmadaw military dictatorship Photo credit: Facebook photo modified. Art, cropping, enhancement: Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective-Magazine
Some background reading:
It quickly became clear there was no democratic route for protesters who had taken to the streets, Honey Nway Oo among them.
The activists rallied against the ugly and illegal rule of General Min Aung Hlaing who was and is commander-in-chief of the Tatmadaw, military. General Hlaing and his junta took charge of Burma after ousting the elected, civilian government.
The activists concomitantly formed the Civil Disobedience Movement with many young students in its ranks. Images of peaceful protesters holding up the “three finger salute” from the popular film and book series The Hunger Games briefly captured the West’s attention. While the fictional tale of The Hunger Games and Katniss Everdeen fighting against an oppressive regime is widely known to Westerners.
“The Hunger Games,” published in 2008 by Suzanne Collins, unveiled the dystopian world of Panem, a future version of America.
While widely recognized as a young adult dystopian series, The Hunger Games also serves as a complex political critique of American politics.
Suzanne Collins clarified in an interview with the U.S. Schools Libraries Journal, “I don’t write about adolescents. I write about war for adolescents.”
The struggle of the Myanmar adolescents against the harsh dictatorship of General Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of the Tatmadaw, receives scant attention from Western media. The citizens are left to contend for their fundamental human rights in isolation within the jungles of Myanmar.
Her first major film. Honey Nway Oo was selected to make it through the audition phase out of over 4,000 people. Photo credit: Facebook photo modified. Art, cropping, enhancement: Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective-Magazine
Following the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and the vicious crackdown on Civil Disobedience Movement protesters and their families, it was obvious that the country was headed for Civil War.
Honey Nway Oo and many other students left the capital to join the popular front that was forming against the now ruling Tatmadaw military dictatorship. They were forced to flee as the regime cracked down on their family’s homes and threatened their lives. Rather than face the horrific conditions of Myanmar prison or execution they chose to take up arms and fight the regime.
The People’s Defence Force is made up of many rebel factions who are fighting to overthrow the dictatorship and establish a new democratic government that would bring an end to the country’s long history of ethnic conflicts since the days of British Imperialism. One of these groups is the Student Armed Force who administer medical aid and defend villages as best they can from the Tatmadaw’s brutal scorched earth tactics.
Flag of Student Armed Force. Honey Nway Oo is reportedly an officer in the Student Armed Force and won an award for her marksmanship. The Student Armed Force (SAF) emerged as a Burmese militia group following the 2021 Burmese (Myanmar) coup d’état. It consists mainly of student activists who oppose the Tatmadaw junta by engaging in armed resistance. The SAF, closely affiliated with the Arakan Army, has been conducting guerrilla warfare in Burma’s Dry Zone (Northwest Myanmar) since its establishment in April 2021.
“In response to the 2021 Myanmar coup d’état, members of Yangon-based University Student Unions learned basic military training in the liberated area of the Arakan Army, and with the support of the Arakan Army formed the Student Armed Force on 27 April 2021, with 22 leaders.” —Wikipedia
As members of the People’s Defence Force, activists are constantly threatened. The Civil War has entered its third year, with human rights violations widespread across the nation under the brutal Tatmadaw regime. Crimes such as rape, murder, and the burning of villages are being committed. Following the 2021 military coup, seven countries were identified as suppliers of military aid to the Tatmadaw: Russia, Ukraine, China, India, the Philippines, Israel, and North Korea. In subsequent years, Belarus and Iran in 2023 have also provided military aid and sought to normalize diplomatic relations with the junta.
Tatmadaw Criminality has frosted relations with China
Cybercrime that funds the Tatmadaw has strained relations with China recently, as well as some of the battles which are threatening to cross China’s tightly guarded border. Many victims imprisoned in these Cybercrime headquarters are frequently women who are kidnapped and forced to run a variety of scams. Often, they are raped and forced to sell pornographic content.
These funds are then used to finance terrorism and the ongoing civil war. Deals between these evil crime syndicates and the Tatmadaw are common. According to a report by the English language, Myanmar news site The Irrawady the largest crime hub is in Shwe Kokko. Once a tech centre filled with innovation it has devolved into a hive of trafficking, abductions and internet scams.
The illegal Karen Buddhist Army fracturing Myanmar
A Karen-led militia under the control of Colonel Saw Chit Thu called “Democratic Karen Buddhist Army” saw a new opportunity during the new Civil War. He brokered a ceasefire with the Tatmadaw and turned his forces into the Karen State Border Guard Force and turned Shwe Kokko into a “Special Criminal Zone”.
Chinese criminals such as She Zhijiang known as Tang Kriang Kai who is a fugitive of the PRC were invited in to run elaborate online gambling rings, among other schemes. This person has numerous aliases including She Lunkai, and Dylan She. He is a Chinese Cambodian businessman, chairing the Yatai International Holdings Group, which has gambling investments in Myanmar, Cambodia, and previously in the Philippines until the Marcos regime began tossing these offshore gaming operations.
Once known as Kayin State, the now Kayin State territory is primarily populated by the Karen people, a broad mix of ethnicities that includes groups such as the Sgaw, Pwo and Pao, many having indigenous cultures and mutually unintelligible languages.
Located in southeastern Myanmar, Kayin State is bordered by Mandalay Region and Shan State to the north, Kayah State to the northeast, Mon State and Bago Region to the West, and Thailand to the East.
Thailand had previously shut off power to the Kayin State region, as it had become so well known for its underground operations.
In 2021 the Tatmadaw reestablished connection to the region and collects an unknown amount in tax, although it has been estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars from these illegal operations.
These crime hubs pose a huge risk not just to the people of Myanmar but all over the world as people are promised high paying jobs in Thailand only to be trafficked over the border into slavery and terrifying abuse for these state sponsored crime syndicates.
Saw Chit Thu has been described by analysts as “in the top five defendants at any eventual Karen State War Crimes Trial.”
If democracy and freedom still mean anything, they are kept alive, given air to breathe, by women such as Honey Nway Oo and Aung San Suu Kyi.
As for Honey Nway Oo and the Student Armed Force, hopefully they can return to somewhat regular lives after showing the world what solidarity and heroism means. It is of the utmost importance to global peace that the People’s Defence Force is successful in their revolution. If democracy and freedom still mean anything, it is being kept alive by women such as Honey Nway Oo and Aung San Suu Kyi.
There are millions of revolutionaries prepared to face imprisonment and death for peace and justice. While Justin Trudeau may think of himself as the greatest representative for democracy since his father, he has done nothing to support people genuinely fighting for freedom and democracy. Across the world these revolutionary struggles are either ignored or actively demonized by our mainstream media.
Instead, our government supports Israeli genocide of Palestinians. Our government has no interest in helping democracy or women’s rights, those are blatant lies. Foreign policy is based on what is helpful for American profit, not morality.
Honey Nway Oo’s decision to abandon her career as an actress and fight the regime that trampled on the will of the people.
Western support often ends once violence becomes necessary. The world has been trained to love non-violent protesters and fear anyone who would pick up an AK-47 for any reason.
It is important to understand why Honey Nway Oo had to become a “terrorist”. Though legally that is what the ruling government has declared her, she is clearly a freedom fighter concerned for the future of her country and forced to take up armed struggle. People from positions of safety and security are quick to judge those in circumstances that are radically different.
Showing solidarity and support for revolutions against regimes that engage in ethnic cleansing, rape, torture, human and drug trafficking should be easy as a moral stance. These rebels fighting the military dictatorship and criminal organizations need the support..
Following the revolution foreign interest will attempt to exploit the war-torn country. We cannot allow corporations to exploit the people of Myanmar and extend their misery. They are fighting for freedom, not to have new slave masters. The people of Myanmar need assurances that their safety and security will be respected. British war and occupation of Myanmar lasted over 100 years, the first Anglo-Burmese war happened in 1824, Britain annexed Myanmar by 1886. Previously Portugal and France had colonial interests in the region as well.
Following independence from Britain in 1948 the country found itself drawn into the Cold War with the Americans funding Kuomintang forces in Northern Burma.
Initially the democratically elected government was successful in bringing ceasefires to the many ethnic conflicts that had begun and moved the country towards economic stability.
However, by 1962, the various crises and insurgencies became too much for the newly independent government and a Tatmadaw-backed “socialist” government was able to seize power. This “Burmese Way to Socialism” can be described as a kind of syncretic ideology between National Bolshevism and Buddhism.
This military dictatorship lasted from 1962-1988 when the 8888 Uprising began.
Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi arrives to give speech to the supporters during 2012 by-election campaign at her constituency Kawhmu township, Myanmar on 22 March 2012. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in 2015, but she was prevented from becoming president herself by rules excluding those with foreign national children from holding that office. She was widely regarded as the de facto ruler of the country. Photo credit: Htoo Tay Zar, CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo is cropped to format. Art, cropping, enhancement: Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective-Magazine
The uprising marked the start of the current situation, with Aung San Suu Kyi playing a key role from the beginning, notably winning the 1990 election. However, the Tatmadaw did not acknowledge these results, and she was repeatedly detained without trial, with her longest imprisonment lasting from 1989 to 2010.
Aung San Suu Kyi assumed the role of de facto leader after her party, the National League for Democracy, triumphed in the 2015 general elections. Despite the 2008 constitution, drafted by the Tatmadaw, preventing her from becoming president, she wielded significant influence as State Counselor in the nascent government.
Her time in office was challenged by a complex political environment and escalating ethnic conflicts, culminating in the Rohingya Genocide.
In response, Canada and various western countries held Aung San Suu Kyi accountable, stripping her of numerous accolades and honors.
After centuries of interference by foreign superpowers, internal ethnic and religious conflicts, and Aung San Suu Kyi’s personal struggles to advocate for her democratically elected government, it is questionable what the West expected her to accomplish during her brief tenure in power.
The Aung San Suu Kyi administration lacked genuine control over the military, police, or security forces. Nations that once celebrated her as a hero swiftly reversed their stance, overlooking the untenable position she faced. Inevitably, on February 1, 2021, she was detained once again.
When Aung San Suu Kyi failed to rectify the issues stemming from a century of British colonization within a mere two years, the Western media was quick to vilify her.
However, Benjamin Netanyahu who has direct control of the forces committing genocide against Palestinians is frequently given the benefit of the doubt by the West.
Netanyahu’s situation is “complex” and rooted in a history “we cannot understand”.
Latest News
Myanmar junta’s internet Virtual Private Network ban expose citizens to more cyber threats.
This week, an artillery and drone attack in the western state of Rakhine, Myanmar, reportedly resulted in the deaths of at least 150 civilians from the Muslim Rohingya minority. Survivors claim that a prominent resistance force against military rule carried out the attack. The Arakan Army, the military faction of the Rakhine ethnic group, has refuted allegations of their involvement in the assault that occurred last Monday on Rohingya individuals attempting to escape the intense conflict in Maungdaw town by crossing the Naf River into Bangladesh. Source: At least 150 Rohingya people slaughtered in drone attack in Myanmar | Morning Star (morningstaronline.co.uk)
Analysis
More needs to be done to stop the Tatmadaw’s terrorist and mafia state. The people of Myanmar most brutalized have been the ethnic minorities, women and children. Aid has been limited as the conflict is so widespread and the Tatmadaw still has a strong grip on the largest cities. The People’s Defence Force, however, has made great strides to retake the country over the last three nightmare years.
They will need support to end the control of the various crime syndicates that have prospered during the war and free the many hostages forced to work in hubs such as Shwe Kokko. When the Tatmadaw falls, the criminals will attempt to slip away and avoid justice. It is up to the world to insure those responsible for these heinous crimes in Myanmar are captured and punished accordingly.
Aung San Suu Kyi faced blame for not preventing a genocide conducted by militias beyond her control, a situation steeped in a double standard that stems from sexism and racism.
The West could have done more to assist Aung San Suu Kyi in establishing a stable government capable of ending the genocide and various ethnic/religious conflicts. Instead, the mainstream media chose to tarnish her reputation and redirect blame. The harsh colonial policies of the British Empire are often cited as the root of this crisis.
The West seemingly anticipated that Aung San Suu Kyi would resolve the issues and, after a 25-year struggle against a military dictatorship, transform Myanmar into a liberal utopia. When this did not occur, she was quickly deprived of all commendations, honours, and support. Subsequently, she was recaptured, and the West permitted Myanmar to fall back into turmoil.
The Tatmadaw’s control over Myanmar must be broken. The sovereignty of Myanmar and the citizens’ right to elect their government should be upheld. No magic wand exists that can reverse the issues stemming from colonization, Cold War maneuvers, Islamophobia fueled by “the War on Terror,” and the tangible threat of Jihadist insurgency.
The aftermath of the revolution is crucial. Rebuilding from the remnants of Tatmadaw’s rule will require time and substantial support, which must be provided without any exploitation. The West can contribute by aiding the people of Myanmar in overcoming the Tatmadaw and its numerous criminal affiliates.