Episode #230: “Unfortunately, in 2020, after the NLD won a landslide election, there was a military coup. And [then] the PDF resistance started. I took part in the resistance as I had years before, but there is a difference this time, too,” explains Nway.
Inspired by his mother, an active participant in politics since Ne Win's 1962 coup, Nway's involvement in the resistance included clandestine communication with Aung San Suu Kyi during her detention and risky efforts to deliver messages to imprisoned allies, among many other important tasks.
Despite the supposed democratic transition post-2010, Nway criticizes this period as superficial, with the 2008 Constitution maintaining military dominance. He rebuked international pressure for elections as a facade of democracy, emphasizing the need for genuine systemic change. The most recent coup escalated his activism, compelling his support for armed resistance and relocation to Mae Sot for safety. Nway also highlights the intricate relationship between Buddhism and politics in Myanmar, acknowledging the tension between nationalistic and progressive monks within the context of the country's struggle for democracy and the military's manipulation of religion to maintain power.
“If we win the revolution, the international community will see a very civilized society in Burma, which will be very active in promoting peace for the whole world,” Nway says in closing. “But if the junta wins, you will have a society which believes in the stone age. So, I would like to request of you, please understand the feeling of people of Burma! We left our country, we want to be like you, we want our kids to be like your kids, to go to school and also we want to sleep with our family like you want to sleep with your family. That is why we are trying to get rid of the military in our political system. This is not only for a party sake, not only for an ethnicity sake, it is for all the people of Burma and also the people of the world.”
A Jaded Hellscape (Bonus Short)
Igor Blaževič on the Spring Revolution
The Pit and the Pendulum
Chinland’s Forgotten War
Helping to Cushion the Blow
Fiction and Fun in Burma
Keeping the Burmese Language Alive
Power to the People
A Failure of Diplomacy
A Conversation with Gil Fronsdal
A Vipassanā Journey (Bonus Shorts)
Htein Lin: Pursuing Art and Liberation
Wading Through a Burmese Haze
Progressing Towards Victory
Attack on a Meditation Center
Have Pity on the Working Man (Bonus short)
A Reign of Terror
Supporting Myanmar through Engaged Buddhism
Spring is Coming
Journey into Chin State
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Tucker Carlson Show
The Matt Walsh Show
Mark Levin Podcast
The Glenn Beck Program
The Michael Knowles Show