This story was produced in partnership with Coda Story.
A month after Myanmar’s military seized power in a bloodless coup and declared a one-year state of emergency, daily protests continue to rock cities and towns across the country. Now, in addition to taking his anger to the streets, a clandestine movement of pro-democracy activists has launched a series of new digital tools in the armed forces and the police.
Myanmar’s powerful military has long maintained tight control over the country’s finances, investing in a number of profitable sectors, including mining, tobacco, clothing manufacturing and banks.
The February 1 takeover, which toppled the elected government of leader Aung San Suu Kyi, highlighted ties to a number of companies. International and local companies with links to the security forces are under increasing pressure from activists who say the companies are complicit in war crimes committed by the armed forces.
A recent investigation by Amnesty International found that shareholders of a secret business conglomerate called Myanma Economic Holdings Limited – which is linked to international businesses like Japanese beverage giant Kirin Holdings and INNO Group, a South Korean real estate developer – received payments up to $ 18 billion in 20 years.
Last week, Kirin Holdings announced that it would abandon its partnership with a brewery owned by military generals. In a statement, the company said it was “deeply concerned” about the military’s recent actions and “would take urgent action to put this termination into effect”.
The focus on business related to the military has spurred the launch of new mobile apps by activists in Myanmar who seek to weaken the income of the governing board. Last week, Yangon-based company Genxyz launched an app called Way Way Nay (Stay Away). It lists 250 companies, including financial institutions, retailers, construction companies, media and manufacturers of health and beauty products with ties to the military.
Way Way Nay, which is available on Google Play and the Apple App Store, has been downloaded 70,000 times since its launch.
In an interview, the app’s operations manager, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was considering adding another 450 companies to the list. “We wanted to be able to show ordinary people in Myanmar how the military is connected to all aspects of daily life. We think an app would be a good way to remind people what to boycott when they are buying products or services. “
Military efforts to crack down on the biggest pro-democracy protests in Myanmar in more than a decade have led to increasingly repressive repressions in the past month. According to human rights groups, more than 50 people have been killed and nearly 1,700 detained since the armed forces took control of the country.
On Wednesday, at least 38 people were killed when security forces fired on protesters in several cities and towns across the country. Video footage apparently taken by residents in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, appears to show security officers shooting a man at close range. In a separate incident, CCTV footage published by Radio Free Asia showed the police assaulting and detaining three ambulance workers.
The severity of the official response to the protests marks the hardening of the junta’s attitude towards the daily demonstrations that paralyzed the economy and much of the country. On Thursday, Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, asked Myanmar security forces to stop their “violent repression of peaceful demonstrators” and urged the military to release the hundreds of people believed to have illegally detained since February 1.
Blacklist Myanmar, launched on March 3 on Android, is a guide for buyers who want to avoid companies whose sales benefit the Myanmar armed forces. Myanmar’s blacklist also allows users to submit new boycott suggestions for companies via an in-app e-mail function.
The creator of Blacklist Myanmar, who asked to use the alias Red Warrior, explained that the app was designed to limit military access to different sources of revenue. “In the long run, the reason they have all the power and influence is because of these businesses and brands that they have been promoting,” he said.
“If people do not support these brands or services, our money will not go to the military regime. We can slowly reduce its monopolizing influence on the country. “
Myanmar’s digital activists have also created apps to alert ordinary citizens and protesters to the increased presence of police and troops on the streets. Launched on Android on February 11, Myanmar Live Map collects real-time data from users to highlight areas with a high concentration of security personnel. The application, which already has 40,000 users, also reveals the location of water cannons, road blocks and ambulances. All data is checked by the moderators before being uploaded.
One of the creators of Myanmar’s Live Map told me that the app’s designers followed the cue from a similar digital street map used by protesters during pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong in 2019. He added that his team members consulted a 70 – page document called Manual HK19, widely shared by protesters in Hong Kong and recently translated from English into Burmese.
Last month, digital activists in Myanmar had to overcome a series of military-enforced internet outages and disruptions to mobile networks. On Thursday evening, the UK-based organization Netblocks confirmed that national Internet connectivity had plummeted for the 19th consecutive night, at 13% of the levels before the coup.
Pro-democracy organizers in Southeast Asia say the internet outages in Myanmar are similar to those implemented by authoritarian governments elsewhere. Sunny Chou, a former Hong Kong protester and founder of the human rights group Umbrella Union, which applied for asylum in the UK earlier this year, said that the disruption of internet and data services in Myanmar was a strategy widely employed by security authorities. Hong Kong . “During the height of the movement in Hong Kong, there were times when our apps were disabled,” he said. “Telegram was also attacked a few times so that protesters could not communicate and properly organize their response.”
However, as Myanmar’s pro-democracy demonstrations intensified, the country’s digital insurgency has also sparked interest among online and offline activists in the region. In Thailand, Cambodia and Hong Kong, places that have been rocked by pro-democracy protests in recent years, an informal but vigilant alliance of like-minded activists used the internet to highlight the ongoing violence in Myanmar, while shedding light on their oppressive regimes themselves.
Sina Wittayawiroj is a visual designer and activist based in Bangkok who first became interested in her country’s pro-democracy movement in January 2019, when protesters took to the streets after the country’s ruling military junta signaled that the elections were long overdue. postponed, would be postponed to the fifth time in five years.
Activists like Wittayawiroj gathered on social media, spreading satirists memes and advice highlighting violence in Myanmar under the hashtag #MilkTeaAlliance, named after a popular sweet drink in the region. Many who follow the hashtag share a common fear about China’s dominance in the region – in Thailand, for example, support for Taiwan and Hong Kong has become a meeting place for ordinary citizens who believe their own government is undemocratic and narrowly aligned with Beijing.
Wittayawiroj, who works for a video production and streaming platform, said he learned of the current crisis in Myanmar through a Burmese co-worker. He has regularly posted illustrations with the hashtag #MilkTeaAlliance since Myanmar’s February 1 coup. “I talk to them a lot and I try to understand the situation that people are facing. I know there was an election, but the military took control. I felt that I had to design something to help them ”.
Regional experts say the #MilkTeaAlliance was spurred on by regional pro-democracy movements. “When we had the very popular pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong in 2014 and 2019, the world was watching,” said Debby Chan, a Hong Kong researcher who studies Sino-Myanmar relations. “Activists in Thailand and Myanmar also paid close attention to what happened in Hong Kong at that time.”
“When some of the people of Hong Kong witness Thai and Myanmar activists in their struggle, we see each other in their movements,” she added.
This story was produced in partnership with Coda Story.