It has been 2 years since the coup. At the beginning of the coup, public participation was strong, but now there are very few people deeply involved in the revolution, and the revolution is not as strong as before. Since we are revolutionizing, we need to be organized similarly. We need to go in a “fight while building, build while fighting” style.
I really want the NUG to first prepare for Sagaing Region and Upper Magway Region, where their Pa-Ka-Pha (People’s Defense Force – PDF) and Pa-Ah-Pha (People’s Administration) mechanism mainly operates. Therefore, the northwest region should be prioritized for investment. For that, we need to make a policy first. If we can establish a good alliance with the ethnic organizations bordering these regions and fight together, we will be likely to control these regions militarily this year. There is no region as good for military operations as the Yaw region. Even this could not be made into a military control area. If we can develop a sniper unit and a heavy artillery unit for the flat land, we will have a military advantage.
If the NUG really wants to establish a federal state, it needs to be able to meet and form a coalition with ethnic groups like DAB (Democratic Alliance Burma), which was founded in 1988, with a strong policy. It is possible to modify and reuse the principle of Manerplaw. Or they can define how many points to present to each group at the meeting and discuss it. In this way, the revolution will be over quickly.
Most of the senior officers currently in charge of the NUG are not making headway well in the revolutionary journey because they are not familiar with the positions they have taken before because they are not from those fields. They made Poet Minister of Defense and as for Khun Bedu, he is appointed to Natural Resources without being in the military. There are many such mistakes. There are many doctors who joined CDM. Most of the CDM doctors are stationed in liberated areas because they could not use the doctors in right place. Just like when the railway CDMs used to be used. The military’s food and soldiers’ transfer route to the central region is the railway, which can be controlled. Now, most of the railway CDMs are starving and some are ending their lives. It seems like a waste of human resources.
The hierarchical relationship in NUG is very weak. Mutual respect, mutual recognition, and consultation are weak. Being isolated from the ground is also a problem. On the ground, the territorial confusion, the problems between the local groups and the PDFs, and Pa-Ah-Pha (People’s Administration), most of them do not have a good connection with the bottom, and most of the leaders are away from the bottom. Most of the leaders are far away, so they are not sure about things. They can only hear what those who are connected with them are saying. There is no chain that can detect the truth and error. A battalion is struggling with only about five guard weapons on the ground. There are many battalions that have not been equipped. There are even many battalions that have not been equipped with one gun. If you buy it from someone else, you have to pay 20,000,000 (20 million MMK) for one gun. You have to pay 10,000 MMK for one bullet.
It is becoming difficult for the public to provide support as before due to economic difficulties. In the current situation, the rural community is more affected by the war and it is more difficult. Despite the difficulties, the rural community is still deeply involved in the revolution and is still strong. They have to dig one shovel for their livelihood. They have to dig one shovel for their livelihood, for the SAC (as long as we can’t beat the SAC at the moment). They have to dig one shovel to support the revolutionaries. They still willingly support the revolutionaries. Not because of compulsion, but because of revolutionary consciousness. I feel hesitant to bother with the basic people who dig those three shovels every day.
The NUG needs to instruct the PDF and Pa-Ah-Pha (People’s Administration) on the ground to ensure that they do not interfere in military affairs and to ensure that they do administrative work, public welfare work, and education. On our ground, the situation is different from online. There are many groups scattered, disobedience to orders, and a lack of military training. A lot needs to be fixed.
In the current situation, the plains are easy ground for the fascist military. With about a battalion, they can take what they want and burn villages around. If they are on the offensive with just one brigade like on the Rakhine side, we would have been defeated a long time ago. I see that the NUCC is not working because there are too many leaders. They are too struggling to make just a decision.
When it comes to schooling, which is happening repercussion these days, we are actually doing a revolution, not competing with sacrifices. Just being in school can’t be considered an enemy. In the current situation, you can’t say that you are doing a revolution just by not going to school. There are a lot of tiny wealthy people who go to external schools, stay at home, go to bars, go to clubs, and online are the mothers and fathers of the revolution. If you add up the expenses they drink and spend on the revolution, we can fight at least five battles a month.
In the revolution, we have to make more friends and fewer enemies. We have to draw the masses to participate in the revolution in various ways. To break the line between enemy and friend is to think carefully and it needs to break the line. (Note – It was funny that the right-wings used that word in the past). In Sagaing, we tried to open basic schools despite the difficulties such as military raids, the burning of villages, and attacks on schools by aircraft. So, no one attends schools opened by the SAC. It’s like we can’t do anything for the education, and I don’t want to be considered an enemy just by going to the SAC’s schools. Just for us, we are fighting. We should not talk with emotion just for them that they are going to school. We just walked by what we believed in. We should keep thinking and talking about how to fight, what form to build, and what to do next. We talk about democracy repeatedly with our mouths, but we are wrong in what we are doing. In this way, as Khin Nyunt said, we couldn’t have a democracy like the United States, but we would have to have a democracy worthy of ours.
During this period, I feel afraid for CDMs really. We asked them to join CDM and we couldn’t do anything for them. Many CDMs are unemployed and struggling. I don’t want to consider non-CDMs as enemies. There are also people who can’t join CDM due to various circumstances and reasons, such as their livelihood. Even Auntie Suu Kyi is still facing trial without boycotting the judiciary of the SAC. If the non-CDMs together with the SAC are the thorn snag for the revolution, it’s about one kind of.
The revolution will be successful only if the armed and political paths are balanced and public participation continues to be strong. As long as the revolution is going on, it will be necessary to engage the public in alike organizing. Now, with the economic crisis, the disaffection of the majority of the urban population, and the revolution, it is already as usual. In most of the local pdf that is currently fighting on the ground, it is not easy to be donated to the armed path.
Our country is not a rich country. Therefore, rather than demolishing the whole mechanism, we must break only the cogs in the mechanism. Otherwise, it will be very difficult the rehabilitation. It would be good if we could ensure medical training in cooperation with CDM doctors and develop medical troops. It is really necessary for the revolutionary soldiers and the public at a time when we are seriously fighting.
As of now, the revolution won’t end until 2025, just let alone 2023. When will the spring revolution end? It will only end in autumn. The spring is just beginning. There is still a whole rainy season left in between. We will have to go through the rain and wind, and finally, winter will begin. During those times, we will have to sacrifice a lot of human resources.
An old politician from the ethnic region once said, “Your spring revolution takes a long because there are many leaders.”
Comrade Linn Nway