Azad
Appearances
Behind the Bastards
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It really was a sign for everyone, like not only the bravery of the people that are willing to do something like that, but the willingness and the risk that these people are able to take and the seriousness of their opposition to the dictatorship that, look, this isn't just a protest anymore. Even we have only sticks and stones, we will dismantle this dictatorship.
Behind the Bastards
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So, yeah, that was a very inspiring early period. And I think even before the involvement of some of the bigger ethnic armed organizations, there were already local CDFs, which stands for Chin Land Defense Force, which is kind of just like PDF. It's a moniker that a lot of groups share. There were a lot of different PDFs and CDF popping up just in the days following the coup in Qinland.
Behind the Bastards
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So yeah, like from the very beginning, there was the precedent and the history of revolution there. Now, these towns that were the beginning of the revolution have now been seized. So Mindat, as of last month, was taken by the Qin Brotherhood Alliance, as well as, you know, CDF Mindat and alliance partners. So the progress has definitely been made.
Behind the Bastards
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And that was like the political big umbrella organization. And there was the CJDC, which is the military big umbrella organization. That stands for Chin Lin Joint Defense Council or Committee. Again, last C, always ambiguous.
Behind the Bastards
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So, yeah, for a long time, it was everyone, including one of the, you know, very old ethnic resistance organizations, the CNA, CNF, the Chin National Army, Chin National Front. was kind of involved in this one big umbrella organization and everywhere there was resistance against dictatorship and on some level cooperation both with Chin groups as well as with the NUG.
Behind the Bastards
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In 2023, political events occurred and As we can say politely, a disagreement in the political future of Qinlan separated into two groups with CNA, CNF withdrawing from the CJDC and forming their Qinlan Council. And the groups that kind of subscribed to that vision and subscribed to that path, they joined the new Qinlan Council. And all of the groups that remained in the CJDC and the ICNCC
Behind the Bastards
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continued to hold on to the ICNCC as a kind of platform and umbrella organization for the people in Chin State that didn't want to subscribe to this new path. And then Chin Brotherhood was formed as the new practical military alliance of those people who remained, we can say. Yeah. And since then, in only one year, I mean, both sides have had very incredible victories.
Behind the Bastards
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No, Chin Lin Council has been able to, in the north of Chin State, liberate Chekha and Tunzang town. And then, of course, in the south of Chin State, Chin Blue has been able to take Ma Tupi and Khan Perlet and Mindat. So definitely victories all around. But yeah, I'll stop myself before I comment too much more on that.
Behind the Bastards
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First, I'll say I'm reading a book right now about like the history of the Communist Party of Burma. And that history goes from like, you know, the 30s all the way to the 90s. And every single page has at least 10 different acronyms. And it's absolutely insane. Yeah. Yeah. About the AIF.
Behind the Bastards
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The Anti-Fascist Internationalist Front, which I'm hoping everyone just recognizes as AIF because it's kind of a mouthful. Our... perspective so far has been that especially as foreigners, I mean, especially as like foreign foreigners, you know, like Western foreigners. Yeah. We really want to avoid as much as possible the perception of we're coming here.
Behind the Bastards
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You know, we've got military experience or we've got this knowledge or we've got that knowledge. And now it's time. Now it's time for us to tell you what to do or now it's time for us to train or something like that. Yeah, I would say our perspective is much more closer to the perspective of the international structures in Rojava.
Behind the Bastards
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Our goal is recognizing that this enemy, the SAC dictatorship, the SAC Junta, is fundamentally a fascist anti-human enemy. That makes it also our struggle. And so not in some kind of presumptive way or not in some kind of imposing way, but in a very genuine and organic manner, we want to come here and implement ourselves into the revolution.
Behind the Bastards
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Now, we have some friends who are coming who maybe have previous experience with this or with that. And in their capacity, of course, they give training. Because the people here, the comrades, have been overwhelmingly receptive to training like this. You know, there's been no pride or no, like, oh, we don't need the help. Yeah, quite contrarily...
Behind the Bastards
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everyone at all stages, even the NUG is saying, I'm not talking about us, I'm just talking about publicly, you know, to everyone is saying, whatever help we can get, we appreciate it. But, you know, we're not just bringing people who are, you know, Rojava veterans or veterans of some conflict where they can come and give training.
Behind the Bastards
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Fundamentally, it's an anti-fascist conflict, which means even people without experience are able to come and not only participate in the revolution, but but in a less transactory way, not to say like, oh, I have something and I will give it to the revolution. And the most important way is to come and to learn from the revolution.
Behind the Bastards
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Exactly as you said, even a revolution like Rojava, which has decades and decades of history and tradition and culture and ideology and is steeped in this, yeah, I would say, you know, one of the most powerful, prominent revolutions of our time, is still able to say a revolution like this, of course we can learn from it. We need to learn from the struggles of our comrades there.
Behind the Bastards
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We need to learn from the developments happening in this revolution.
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Our perspective in AIF is very much the same, where, yeah, okay, maybe we have some limited material things we can contribute, but ultimately it's about organically participating in this revolution which is against fascism, and in our own ways, to take the lessons of this revolution, to take the fundamental meaning of this revolution, and be able to translate it for ourselves and for, of course, the future works which are ahead of us, shall we say.
Behind the Bastards
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Yeah, I mean, as much as some people, you know, like to say CIA or something like this is involved. Of course, the reality is that, you know, I've heard the term crowdfunded revolution. I think it's incredibly accurate. Because, no, in the AIF, we recently did a fundraiser for vehicles and equipment and things like this. But that's on our scale.
Behind the Bastards
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On the scale of these organizations, I mean, they are fundraising from the diaspora millions and millions of dollars to be able to wage this resistance. And of course, even like local people who themselves maybe don't have a lot are giving everything they can or are any way acting any way they can or doing anything they can to help the revolution.
Behind the Bastards
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So we can say overwhelmingly it is a popular resistance. Even I would go so far as to say it is fundamentally a people's resistance against the dictatorship that of course represents itself in a lot of different organizations. But these organizations enjoy the like 95% support of the people against the Junta, you know? Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
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So, yeah, in that regard, the challenge, of course, is always resources and always the strength of the enemy. No, we're still going up against jet fighters, helicopters, mortars, artillery. Yeah. You know, they have a lot of ammo, us not so much. So there's like lots of these practical problems.
Behind the Bastards
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I think the, how can we say, cynical kind of, as you mentioned earlier, Western outlook has been to paint this struggle kind of in, oh, it's a tribal struggle. There's all these different groups. They're all fighting for their own area. What's going to happen after they win? Now, I disagree with that assessment.
Behind the Bastards
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Obviously, I think, you know, yourself, as you're familiar with the conflict, I think it's much deeper than that. And even across these... Many different identities and cultures. There's very deep, very real coordination and cooperation where I don't think it's just like chaotic.
Behind the Bastards
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But on the other hand, that is, you know, not to give the cynics credit, that is a question which going forward will politically very much be on the agenda. Because, I mean, now as you're seeing, most of the country is no longer in the junta's control. And the parts that are in the Junta's control are contested.
Behind the Bastards
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And then you have the tiny sliver of land which they can say they somehow without any kind of, you know, contestation control. So very soon the onus will be on revolutionary forces to answer that question. Okay, how are we going to consolidate control? How are we going to transfer these wins on the battlefield into something that is more permanent and more lasting?
Behind the Bastards
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And I think, you know, already as you're seeing in Chin State that I can speak of and that people are seeing in elsewhere that I can't speak of because I don't know, there are definitely frictions. You know, I'm not going to say it's perfect. Everyone is smiling. Everyone is working together. And there's frictions that will have to be worked through.
Behind the Bastards
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But fundamentally, I think the trajectory as it currently is, is positive for the resistance, we can say.
Behind the Bastards
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Sure. Well, I think the first thing I'll say is maybe to contrast to other parts of Myanmar, we've been relatively lucky in Chin State in that even, you know, for some years already, the junta, due to the mountainous nature of Chin State, has anyway been reduced to the cities for years.
Behind the Bastards
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Like all of their checkpoints, all of their like external places, the last of those were cleared in 2023 and most of them anyway in 2022 were gone. So by landmass, even before these towns were seized, the Junta controlled, if you were to add up all of the area that they actually physically control in Chin State, maybe a couple square kilometers.
Behind the Bastards
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Yeah, sure. Getting right into it. First, I'd like to give a little bit of a spiel about the context of the AIF, maybe for people who aren't so familiar. In Burma, already for decades, there have been some kind of established precedent of, we can say, foreign volunteers of some kind, or ex-military personnel, or somebody who is somehow drawn to the conflict.
Behind the Bastards
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You know, just the area of their bases and something like that. So because of the nature of Chin State, they never had the... Of course, they did these atrocities and massacres and things like this. But on the kind of like, you know, fascist dictatorship level of oppression, since after the revolution, they had not really had the opportunity to impose themselves too much.
Behind the Bastards
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They were the ones kind of cowering in their corner. But I think especially after these towns are being seized now, you know, take Rikadar, which is the border town on India, or take Mindadam or Tupi, these towns that have just been recently seized. These are towns which people are wanting to live their lives. I mean, Chin State has always been autonomous, even in British rule, in colonial rule.
Behind the Bastards
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It was just labeled as unadministered, you know? And there was a very rich democratic tradition, or how can we say? Maybe not democratic in the traditional sense, but tradition of self-rule and autonomy in Chin State. And the removal of the junta from these areas is allowing those relationships to much more naturally flourish. And I think the...
Behind the Bastards
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aspiration of a lot of people both abroad as well as internally displaced from chin state is to return to those places where there's been fighting and to continue their lives as normal which i think finally now that not just in chin state but all over the country we're slowly seeing these alternative systems of you know let's not call them like communist or revolutionary or anything but fundamentally they are alternative to the state administration system yeah and i think i
Behind the Bastards
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Not to give any specifics, so I'll just make a very broad term to exaggerate the fact. You can say that I have met somebody from almost every single group in Myanmar, in Chin State. Now, that's just to say, that's not to, like, you know, be shocking or something. That's just to highlight the level of interconnectedness, logistically, materially, militarily.
Behind the Bastards
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You know, even if it's just someone sending someone to say hi from somewhere, you know? Yeah. Yeah, it's not like, oh, everyone's in their corners fighting. I mean, I promise you there are soldiers here which are giving their lives for the towns in Chin State, which maybe they never even thought about Chin State before this revolution. You know, they're coming from opposite sides of the country.
Behind the Bastards
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Yeah, absolutely. It's fundamentally a fight against the dictatorship. It's not the fight to liberate Chin Land or to liberate Kareni or something like this.
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There has already been the precedent for some decades of people coming in a very limited capacity and helping with this group or that group, but it mostly has been participation of two big characteristics.
Behind the Bastards
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I will say just on a very base level without getting into any kind of like, you know, pondering or something like that. I've spoken with a few journalists and, you know, before anything, before we even talk about politics or something, there is just the material calculation that these outlets are making. From what I understand, from what I have heard, people don't care.
Behind the Bastards
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Now, that's really unfortunate. But like these like big networks, you know, CNN, whatever. Yeah. I have to make the calculation of the people they send and the risks to send them and the actual exposure that these news articles will get.
Behind the Bastards
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From what I understand, from conversations that I've had with some people that are, you know, involved in these networks, right now there is not, on like the executive board level, there's just not a lot of push to cover Myanmar. And that's, you know, that's really unfortunate. And I think...
Behind the Bastards
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One really bad side effect of that is whenever there's a tragedy, the media is there, you know, like whenever there's some massacre or whenever there's some, you know, intertribal conflict or whenever there's something bad to report about, or maybe, you know, on a good day, the really big, like a win, like in Lazio that we saw, you know.
Behind the Bastards
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Okay, yeah, for these big things, the Western media will be there. But I think even from recording these very clickbaity, eye-catching things, it seems like they're not getting the exposure that they want to get out of this content, which is putting them off of covering the, in our opinion, much more meaningful wall-to-wall content that exists every day in Myanmar. Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
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The first characteristic is that, of course, it's been an individual basis, like whoever individual had this idea, they organized it themselves, they handled it themselves, with the exception of the Freebama Rangers, but I wouldn't classify them as foreign fighters or anything. They do very good work. Yeah, slightly different role. Yeah, yeah.
Behind the Bastards
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It seems like this Western eye is only interested in the suffering, we can say. Which is really unfortunate. But, you know, even if the media is not paying attention, we can say, for better or worse, the governments are paying attention. Absolutely. I mean, almost like hawks, you can say, there are...
Behind the Bastards
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Every single regional government, as well as foreign governments, of course, keeping a very close eye on the situation, circling, looking at developments. I mean, China especially, you know, being very involved in the process.
Behind the Bastards
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So yeah, while unfortunately the kind of liberal media eye is not so much, you know, giving Myanmar the coverage that it deserves as a popular revolution, the powers that be are definitely watching its progression, we can say.
Behind the Bastards
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Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Only us military guys are weird about calling things snipers. Yeah. They're snipers.
Behind the Bastards
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changing because of the revolution well listen absolutely now of course you know as as leftists involved or interested in this revolution studying it whether you're socialist whether you're anarchist whether you're communist whether you're oppoist you know however you like to describe yourself whatever flavor you are you know without uh pontificating too much i think fundamentally this revolution is uh
Behind the Bastards
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a symbol of hope that it can be done. No, like I'll give an example from the conversations that I've had with the comrades that have been involved in this revolution since it was just a protest movement in the streets.
Behind the Bastards
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One thing that I've heard a lot is that at the beginning of the revolution, when it switched, you know, when the police were firing bullets into the crowds and when people made this decision that, okay, now we, we have no choice but armed resistance. We have no choice but to fight the dictatorship. Um,
Behind the Bastards
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The people who did this kind of stuff were mostly coming as individuals, you know, kind of on their own prerogative. And secondly, they were overwhelmingly, we can say, nonpolitical or, you know, ex-military guys from Western nations or, you know, from neighboring countries who... were somehow drawn to the conflict and wanted to use their skills in that kind of light.
Behind the Bastards
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When that calculus was made, when that decision was made, it was not made based on the analysis of the situation that they could even win. It was not even like, okay, we're going to do this, and we have this strategy of guerrilla war, and then we'll do this, this, and this, and then we'll achieve the victory. The calculation that was made was a moral calculation.
Behind the Bastards
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It was saying, we have the choice, we can go back to our life, we can accept this oppression, we can give up this struggle for democracy that we've been waging in one form or another, or we can make the decision to fight even if we won't win. It's the moral imperative to resist dictatorship.
Behind the Bastards
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And I think what this revolution is showing, not just for the people who themselves were surprised at their capability and were themselves surprised at what they could accomplish when they actually stepped up and fought and sacrificed for revolution. Fundamentally, it's a message to everyone.
Behind the Bastards
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It says, look, these people at the beginning were going at checkpoints with like double barrels and air rifles. And at the end, now they are like threatening to overthrow what was previously assumed to be one of the most powerful militaries in Southeastern Asia.
Behind the Bastards
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I mean, now, like, everyone jokes on the top of the dog because they're obviously garbage now, but, like, at the time, that wasn't the analysis, you know? It would be the same as saying, like, oh, you know, we're going to overthrow the USA or something like that. It was fundamentally, people didn't even envision the victory But on the moral principle to resist, they resisted.
Behind the Bastards
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And from that moral position, they were able to materialize the victory that they had previously not even imagined. So, you know, for me, that's what I take away. There's no books, there's no ideological books here that you can study and understand the underpinnings of the revolution.
Behind the Bastards
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You know, there's no classes that you can go to that the PDF teaches you about what their revolutionary paradigm is. Fundamentally, it's a fight of the people against oppression and against dictatorship.
Behind the Bastards
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And while, of course, there's some strengths and some weaknesses that we face in the revolution, ultimately, in the same way as Rojava, in the same place as other places in the world, it's a beacon of hope for democratic people who envision themselves fighting on the side of freedom and the symbol that actually, yeah, you can win.
Behind the Bastards
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The AIF, on the other hand, is absolutely by no means like the foreign fighter organization in Myanmar, or it's not like the foreign battalion, or that's also not what the goal and the mission is. It specifically came about after 2023, 2024, there were slowly more internationals in the country, internationalists, we can say. Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
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Yeah, me personally, my information platform is mostly on Instagram, where I post updates about, you know, either insights about what's going on or news updates or something like that. And that's Azad underscore AFA on Instagram. Spell out Azad for the non-Kurdish speakers. Yeah, A-Z-A-D, A-Z-A-D, if you will. Yeah, thank you. underscore AFA on Instagram.
Behind the Bastards
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The AIF also has Instagram for like official posts. It's AIF Myanmar. In general, about the AIF, especially at this early stages, right now we're involved in some front lines in Western Myanmar. And so because of that...
Behind the Bastards
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We don't really have a lot of information presence out right now, but in the coming weeks, in the coming months, definitely when things get published, when more things like that come out, they will come out from kind of the existing distribution circles that have been going around, like Libcom. There has been like statements going out as well as Instagram and PR, things like that.
Behind the Bastards
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Yeah, and recently we just completed a fundraiser. Our goal was $10,000 for the vehicles and the equipment that we needed to get started. For listeners who don't know, maybe they're not aware, this only started in October of last year. So we're still in the stages of consolidating and getting our equipment. We set the goal for $10,000 and we exceeded it. We raised over $13,000 for that.
Behind the Bastards
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So yeah, we're very happy to say that. But in the future, of course, there will always be more opportunities. As you know, revolution is very expensive. Yeah. So yeah, on all fundraising platforms, we have PayPal, Cash App, and Venmo. And all of those are AIF Myanmar.
Behind the Bastards
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And yeah, in the future, hopefully we will have more news, both about what's happening in Myanmar, both how we specifically are involved, as well as just very exciting footage, we can say. We hope to share soon.
Behind the Bastards
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who were here on a much more, yeah, albeit at the beginning individual, it was the same where people were organizing their own ways, organizing their own routes and connections, but with a much more different perspective of this kind of more intentional anti-fascist internationalist perspective, which bled over into the name.
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So kind of as a result of discussions between me and some other people who were here and also some other people outside the country, The idea to set up a formation or an organization like this was floated.
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And of course, after talking with local partners and local comrades who anyway were involved with On the Ground, there was a lot of enthusiasm on both sides, both from people outside the country, both from people inside the country.
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So kind of within that context, the idea to take a step forward in a more organized, explicitly consistent, yeah, to use a polite word, consistent perspective for internationalism in Myanmar, that was kind of the goal.
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Yeah, I mean, of course, the history of, let's just use a big term, the history of conflict in Burma is, of course, very deep and very complex and has a thousand different ethnic and political branches that you can go down. But if we're really focusing in on this post-coup situation...
Behind the Bastards
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which even though it has its roots and its context in, of course, the pre-coup with, you know, the existing ethnic resistance organizations and the democracy movement, if we're really looking at the conflict post-2021 coup, fundamentally, it is not any one nation's struggle. It is not anyone's people's struggle. It is not even like a national struggle of Burma, we can say.
Behind the Bastards
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It is fundamentally a fight against fascism. It is an anti-fascist people's revolution where after, of course, the coup and after these initial stages of protest and uprising, the people were faced by a choice of do we accept dictatorship? Do we go back and do we live like normal? Do we accept fascism? Do we live under fascism? Or do we prepare to sacrifice everything to fight against fascism?
Behind the Bastards
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And that was the fundamental calculation in that. So insofar as it's a fight against fascism, that makes it an internationalist struggle in itself. I mean, without even, you know, going on too much about how anyways, the so-called nation of Burma is dozens and dozens and dozens of different ethnicities and religions and cultures, which...
Behind the Bastards
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I mean, if you aren't thinking in the traditional nation state sense of internationalism and more thinking in the kind of brotherhood of cultures and traditions, then yeah, of course, without the flashy, you know, foreigners coming, it's already an internationalist struggle against fascism.
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But I think, you know, on a more intentional level, the dictatorship represents fundamentally the same fascism that exists all over the world, fundamentally state oppression. So yeah, in that regard, it's very much an internationalist struggle.
Behind the Bastards
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Well, first, you know, not to overstate things. Well, of course, Rojava is a big inspiration, I think, not just for the people here in Myanmar, but truly like a beacon of hope in general. Yeah. You know, a little biased, having spent time in Rojava, as you also have. I think, how can we say? I'll give a bit of context. In 2023, I think this message went out from the KMDF to the forces in Rojava.
Behind the Bastards
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Okay. Anyways, so yeah, when this came out, like some friends sent this to me and was like, hey, can you translate this? And I like not only me when I saw it, but also all the friends in the leadership and, you know, all of the comrades there were like very one surprised, but also very excited and very happy to kind of see a message like this.
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And I think also when the message was returned, you know, some of the friends from the leadership you know, recorded this video message and sent it back. It was very much like a very pleasant, happy surprise for everyone involved.
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And it really showed the degree to which fundamentally we are fighting the same struggles, even though, you know, maybe, you know, materially, we're not talking about like guns going from one place to the other. Fundamentally, we're comrades on the same very, very long frontline.
Behind the Bastards
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Now, I think what that looks like locally, especially I'm happy that you mentioned like specifically the women's situation. Mm-hmm. You know, I myself sometimes when I'm giving training here, I like to show videos from certain parts of Kurdistan where they're very effective, we can say.
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And of course, that naturally includes like the very, very heavy participation of the women's guerrilla units as well as the men's guerrilla units. And specifically here in Myanmar, we see a very difficult situation in the revolution in regards to, like, the position of women. Yeah. Where, because of, I mean, it's a very new revolution.
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Lots of these people are, you know, a couple years ago, they were just in, we can say, liberal society. They weren't in any kind of, you know, maybe at best activist context, but it's not like these people had... a strong revolutionary platform, and then they said, okay, let's launch a revolution against the dictatorship, it was a natural evolution from protest to resistance to revolution, no?
Behind the Bastards
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So because of that, the same social structures that existed in liberal society were in a large part transplanted into resistance organizations, which means that, yeah, of course, thousands and thousands of women from all over the country have traveled to these camps, you know, have prepared and have readied themselves to fight against the dictatorship.
Behind the Bastards
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But in a lot of ways, they're still facing off against, you know, the patriarchy that is inherent in all of our modern society. Yeah. So I think Rojava in so much is like, I think anybody can take Rojava as an inspiration.
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If there is anybody who more so than anybody else can take as an inspiration, it is women and youth, as that is, of course, like the revolutionary focus of the entire paradigm of the Rojava revolution.
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So I won't say that it's like, you know, like the leading inspiration for the people of Myanmar or something, but definitely the people who have interacted with it or interfaced with it in some capacity, be it official or unofficial, of course, have gotten a lot of inspiration from that.
Behind the Bastards
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And us as internationalists, both me as well as some other people here, you know, having had that in-person experience with their job of revolution, of course, for us is eternal inspiration.
Behind the Bastards
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Yeah, absolutely. And I think, I mean, not to make the podcast, you know, a democratic confederalism ideology lesson or something, but yeah, I think insofar as the revolution in Rojava considers itself a force on the side of democratic modernity, I think it's important to understand that they really mean it.
Behind the Bastards
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They really do see the conflicts that we're facing today against the capitalist system, against capitalist modernity. They really do see it in this all-encompassing light that even though something is happening all the way over here in Myanmar and that maybe you could only tangentially connect to what's happening over there,
Behind the Bastards
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They really do believe it when they say we are comrades in this same struggle. And that's why the solidarity is so beautiful to see, because it's that real solidarity. It's not just like, you know, pandering to some internationalist kind of sentiment.
Behind the Bastards
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Yeah, so, as you know, the political situation, at least between the groups, is somewhat complicated. So I'll try my best to, like, most fairly, but also somehow accurately describe. Yeah. I'll start from the history, we can say.
Behind the Bastards
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As you described, in and around Mindat, at the time of these protests, this was kind of like the catalyst and one of the first places that actual armed resistance to this dictatorship started. Right. And that wasn't armed resistance like with guns or something.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 168
That was armed resistance like with the shotguns, like double-barrel shotguns from India, muzzle-loading traditional hunting rifles and air guns and things like this. And with that kind of weaponry, they were going and attacking police stations and checkpoints. So...