But the most permanent form of protest is, perhaps, the tattoo.
From big cities like Yangon and Mandalay, to the state of Shan Nyaung Shwe, a small town near the popular tourist spot on Lake Inle, protesters are being tattooed by democracy.
1/9
A protester gets a tattoo of the three-finger salute, a popular “Hunger Games” gesture seen during the Myanmar protests. Scroll through the gallery for more information. Credit: Robert Bociaga for CNN
“Tattoos are a lasting memory for a lifetime and a way of expressing our dreams. They cannot be removed and, therefore, shows our solidarity. It unites us, protesters,” said Htun Htun, a resident of Nyaung Shwe, originally from Yangon.
Htun Htun was one of about 70 people who attended a tattoo protest event in Nyaung Shwe on Friday.
The event, organized by a local group of young people from the Intha ethnic minority, invited residents to get a protest tattoo to raise funds for the civil disobedience movement, or CDM. The movement saw thousands of white and blue collar workers, from doctors, bankers and lawyers to teachers, engineers and factory workers, quit their jobs as a form of resistance to the February 1 military coup.
Demonstrators in Nyaung Shwe on March 5, 2021, demonstrating their support for the civil disobedience movement. Credit: Robert Bociaga for CNN
Eight tattoo artists registered dozens of participants, each of whom was asked for a minimum donation of $ 2. Each tattoo took about 20 minutes to complete and, to speed it up, participants were able to choose from four styles: the face of destitute leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the words “spring revolution”, the phrase “Kabar Ma Kyay Bu” (which references a protest song and means “we will not forget until the end of the world”) and the ubiquitous “three-finger salute” from the “Hunger Games” films, which has become a symbol of resistance in protests in Myanmar and neighboring Thailand.
The most popular design? An outline of Suu Kyi’s face.
A protester shows off his new tattoos. Credit: Robert Bociaga for CNN
“I got a tattoo because I love Aung San Suu Kyi and I admire people who get up and suffer under a dictatorship. Getting a tattoo is painful, but it is nothing compared to the pain in our hearts (caused by the blow). freedom back, “said Moh Moh, a 26-year-old participant who declined to give her full name for security reasons.
“The tattoo campaign was our idea – it is a group of tattoo artists who are using the event to support the CDM. What is happening now with the protests is more worrying than Covid,” said organizer Nyi Nyi Lwin.
He said the event was marked by recent deadly crackdowns on peaceful protesters by Myanmar security forces, with some people fearing the rumor that the police would arrive to arrest the participants.
Conflicts in progress
Nearly 2,000 people have been arrested, charged or convicted by the military junta since it took power, according to the watchdog group Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners (AAPP). Many of them are people evacuated from their homes in nightly raids by police and military personnel, with relatives often unaware of where they are being held.
“The protests continue, despite innocent people dying at the hands of the military,” said a tattoo artist, who raised the three-finger salute, but declined to be identified for security reasons. “This situation must stop. We have demonstrated to free Aung San Suu Kyi and restore democracy.”
As in the “Hunger Games” films, the greeting has become a symbol of resistance among a loose group of activists from across Asia who call themselves the Milk Tea Alliance due to the popularity of the drink in places shaken by protests. The movement, which started as a hashtag to protest online harassment by Chinese nationalists, has grown to include members from Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Myanmar and even India.
The members support each other’s struggle for democracy and have adopted similar iconography in protests in each country, including slogans, protest signs, the now familiar uniforms of helmets and goggles, protest tactics and the three-finger salute.
A demonstration at Nyaung Shwe on March 5, 2021. Credit: Robert Bociaga for CNN
The popularity of the symbol in Nyaung Shwe’s tattoo protest is indicative of how far and wide the movement has spread – and how visual dissent is seeping through smaller, more remote parts of Myanmar.
Troubled past
Not far from Nyaung Shwe, nestled in the Shan hills, is the tourist spot of Lake Inle. In recent weeks, thousands of people have made a unique form of protest on the lake: meeting in traditional wooden dinghies and fishing ships, holding their oars and signs expressing opposition to the military regime.
Protesters wearing traditional Shan clothes hold oars and posters while participating in a demonstration against Myanmar’s military coup on Lake Inle on February 11, 2021. Credit: Calito / AFP / Getty Images
Protests also broke out near other iconic Burmese landmarks, including Bagan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, famous for its thousands of ancient pagodas and temples.
From Yangon to the capital Naypyidaw, and even among Burmese migrants in Thailand, people tattoo Suu Kyi’s 75-year-old face on his chest and arms. Nobel Peace Prize winner and former political prisoner, Suu Kyi led Myanmar as the first civilian leader since the end of the military regime in 2011.
Protesters participate in a demonstration on February 11, 2021 against Myanmar’s military coup in Bagan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Credit: STR / AFP / Getty Images
In 1988, Aung Soe, 49, participated in popular pro-democracy protests known as Levante 8888, which were violently suppressed by the army and ended in a military coup.
At that time, “all the protesters of the time got tattoos on their upper arms to show unity, but they are different from today’s designs”, he said. “Mine shows circles forming a clenched fist.”
Aung Soe said that during the 1988 crackdown, in which at least 3,000 people are believed to have died, he had to move frequently to escape from the authorities. During the recent protests, many protesters, activists and journalists also went into hiding, fearing being arrested by security forces.
“Generation Z is much more emotional than before,” he said. “They are very concerned with freedom. The situation today, compared to 1988, is different because we now have the elected government … and the world knows what is happening now in Myanmar. In the past, we could not disclose any information, whether at home or abroad. The international community did not care about us. “
Tattoo culture
Myanmar has a long and rich history of tattooing, especially among the country’s diverse ethnic groups. In the northern states of Shan and downtown Karen, men tattooed their thighs to symbolize masculinity and bravery. Others believed that traditional tattoos possessed magical powers. In the remote, mountainous Chin state in western Myanmar, local women were known to tattoo their faces.
But tattooing was banned in Myanmar – then known as Burma – under British colonial rule. And the practice of Chin women tattooing their faces was banned by the Burmese military’s socialist government in the 1960s.
Since the country began to open up and embark on a series of renovations beginning in 2011, tattoos have become more popular, especially among the younger generation.
Htun Htun said that all his friends in Nyaung Shwe are getting a protest tattoo, “but in Yangon it is no longer possible due to the repression,” he said. “We all hope for democracy and to see the release of our leaders.”
The power of small protests, he said, was “to bring people together in one movement”.
“The escalation of violence terrifies me, we are defenseless”, he added. “Weapons are not a solution to the problem.”