Document Notes

Resistance against government that’s hard-earned, hard-won, and forever ongoing.

Highlights

id797952755

Democratic forces in Myanmar have been fighting for more than three years against a brutal military junta supported by China and Russia. Trade unions are a crucial part of the resistance movement, and labor activists have faced severe retaliation.

🔗 View Highlight

id797952917

For more than three years, the military has waged an open war against the people of Myanmar, and the world has started to notice. Yet the oppression by successive military regimes has been ongoing for decades

🔗 View Highlight

id797952936

In February 2021, the Confederation of Trade Unions Myanmar [CTUM] issued a statement condemning the coup and leaving the National Tripartite Forum. We organized our members and the opposition on all fronts. Members and leaders of CTUM took to the streets and helped bring hundreds of thousands out in protest. The military issued arrest warrants against all the CTUM central committee members, including myself. All our passports were declared void, and we all have court cases against us for state treason. The CTUM headquarters office was ransacked, and everything was taken. Our family members are under constant threat — forcing many to leave the country. Many were tortured to death or forced into hiding.

✏️ What I would expect dictatorial governments would do, when faced with opposition. They wield their power like a hammer, trying to crush every bit of it. And the world doesn’t have to do anything about it. If anything, some find ways to take advantage (as we see later in article). 🔗 View Highlight

id797953047

Our organization has experience fighting against the military regime, having done so since 1988. We can confidently say that today’s regime is much weaker than the one twenty years ago, and the democratic forces are much stronger. The military has lost more than half of the country’s territory because of the coordinated attacks by democratic armed forces. We can win, and we will win.

✏️ This is wild and brave and impressive. To say that you’ve been fighting regimes for almost forty years.. and to say that you’re winning because the military are successively getting weaker? Just amazing. 🔗 View Highlight

id797953406

The military denies workers all human rights and creates conditions where garment workers make $1.50 US dollars per day without any chance to improve their conditions through organizing. Meanwhile, fake unions are sprouting up under the Made in Myanmar project funded by the European Union. Made in Myanmar is a stain on the EU and must be stopped immediately. It is nothing but a cover-up for global brands that want to benefit from the cheap labor in Myanmar under the guise of “providing jobs.” What they provide is slave work.

✏️ Horrible conditions that companies seek to exploit and blanket with terrible propaganda. 🔗 View Highlight

id797953512

It is a convenient lie for multinational fashion brands to argue that they generously stay in Myanmar to provide jobs for otherwise unemployed workers. In reality, they make use of cheap labor.

🔗 View Highlight

id797953548

Brands even contribute to these violations by paying taxes and factory “protection fees” to the military. They are funding the regime. No more excuses: global brands must responsibly exit Myanmar.

🔗 View Highlight