Views from Myanmar: Burmese students share their Spring Revolution experiences

Su Lei Waddy, a student in Myanmar taking a full-time course load, used to attend her classes synchronously from Myanmar. Every day, she would log into Zoom at around 1:30 to 8:30 a.m. Rangoon time. 

“I would participate in all class discussions live, and I was getting good at [being nocturnal],” said Waddy, a junior majoring in accounting and business administration.

Then the coup escalated.

On Feb. 1, Myanmar’s government was overtaken by the Burmese military, or the Tatmadaw, which claimed a fraudulent election against the National League for Democracy in Nov. 2020. The day before the newly elected officials were sworn in, Burmese armed forces detained President of Myanmar Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as ministers, deputies and members of Parliament. Since then, thousands of people have taken to the streets in massive riots against the illegitimate government.

More than 38 people died Wednesday during violent riots in what the United Nations called “the bloodiest day” since the start of the coup. Riot police opened fire without warning on large crowds. In the streets of Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, footage shows police beating medical staff and civilians. Kidnappings and shootings have been regularly reported by the BBC, Yahoo! News, Reuters and other international news media since the riots began.

For Waddy, the coup has posed challenges in all aspects of her life, including academics. 

Since Feb. 13, every night from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m., the military government turns off Wi-Fi access across the nation. It began with limited access to certain sites and spotty connectivity, but now, even accessing basic searches is illegal and power outages are frequent, according to Waddy. 

“We can’t even log on to Blackboard without a VPN anymore,” Waddy said. 

Every night before 1 a.m., Waddy logs onto Blackboard and downloads any work that she could do offline. Since the nightly Wi-Fi shutoffs cut into class time, she has no choice but to asynchronously complete coursework during the day. 

“These days, I have like two brain cells left because of this whole thing and I use all two of my brain cells to fight this coup, basically,” Waddy said. 

When connectivity returns in the morning, Waddy said she is met by headlines about refugee camps getting burned down and protesters being shot by riot police.

“It’s definitely not normal,” she said.

Waddy said she has trouble concentrating on her schoolwork because “when you’re in a coup, the coup is all you think about, all the time.” However, Waddy said her professors have been understanding and supportive of her situation, allowing her to watch lectures and submit assignments at her own pace; they even asked to continue to be informed of her situation. 

Waddy said it makes her feel “a little bit better” to know that at least her professors support her, but that it doesn’t mean she isn’t affected by what is happening anymore. 

As USC Burmese Student Association president, Waddy has consistently voiced her concerns on social media and has gone to several protests.

However, after over a month of tireless activism, Waddy said she is not standing down, and neither is Karl Aung Zin, a member of BURSA. Zin, a junior majoring in economics and business administration, is currently attending class in Myanmar with a reduced course load. Like Waddy, he has not ceased in his efforts to increase awareness about the situation by protesting, fundraising, posting on social media and taking on interviews with international news sources.

From the moment Zin wakes up at 9 a.m., he spends the day reading news stories, watching livestreams of protests and checking on new legislation on freedom of speech and freedom of privacy passed by the military government. 

“I can’t get out of bed because I need to follow all of this news. I need to know if it’s safe to go out today, if the roads [are] blocked,” Zin said. 

This has been the cycle for the past month — from the moment he wakes up to the moment before Wi-Fi shutoffs, Zin said. Right before shutoffs, he sends his friends in Myanmar messages to be safe tonight and to call him if anything happens to them.

“It seems like the world has stopped for us, and it has,” Zin said. “People are not going to work, both in the public and private sector. Things are not open except for grocery stores.” 

“Our rights are being taken away every day,” he said, mentioning the Feb. 13 order signed by military ruler General Min Aung Hlaing. The order suspended three sections of privacy laws that stripped the need for a court order to detain prisoners for over 24 hours or to enter, search and make arrests on private property, according to Reuters.

Regarding USC, Zin said the University has not done enough to show solidarity with its Burmese students during this time.

“The personal support we’ve gotten has been great … but USC as an institution has been extremely frustrating [in] dealing with the situation,” Zin said. 

Thirty-two days after emailing President Carol Folt and Provost Charles Zukoski, the University sent a “Message of Concern and Support” Thursday to the Burmese students from Vice President of Student Affairs Winston B. Crisp. The letter extended resources from the offices mentioned above and informed the students that USC stands with them. It also encouraged students to keep in contact with Campus Support and Intervention.

“On behalf of the senior administration and myself, I want to thank you for your continued advocacy for the Bumese student community and know that your voices are heard,” Crisp said in the message.

On Friday, Burmese students met with Vice President of Student Affairs Winston Crisp and Vice Provost of Academic Programs Andrew Stott. During the meeting, the students expressed their concerns about the delayed action of the University as well as how USC could increase academic, financial and personal resources for them.

Waddy said that USC’s response has been “one of the best” compared to other universities because of the accommodations and resources provided by professors and various departments in the University. 

Nonetheless, the students are pushing for a Universitywide public statement condemning the coup and support for Burmese students. Zin attributes the administration’s delayed action to the low number of Burmese students — just 13 students attend the University. 

“We feel that because we’re a small group, we’re a minority, our voices are not important enough for the administration to respond to us,” Zin said in regard to the lack of response from the University during the first month of the coup. “We just want USC as an institution to take our side and to recognize our struggles and our fight.”

Zin said the email would not only be a symbolic act of solidarity, but a practical help for Burmese students. While Zin’s professor knows about his situation, most of his clubs and extracurriculars are unaware. 

Banks remain inoperable in Myanmar as professionals such as medical workers and bankers partake in the Civil Disobedience Movement. For this reason, Burmese students are also asking for financial support for students through an emergency fund, tuition forgiveness and extended payment deadlines.

Waddy and Zin both said resources such as Campus Support and Intervention, the Office of International Students and Counseling and Mental Health Services have been extremely supportive by offering personal, academic and professional services to all Burmese students. 

However, Zin said the Undergraduate Student Government was extremely slow in putting out a statement. The statement went out almost two weeks after the start of the coup, on Feb. 13, and USG had email issues with distributing the statement across the student body, according to Waddy.

Despite this, Waddy said USG senators and BURSA were able to collaborate on USG’s statement, stating the specific demands of the Burmese students regarding finances, counseling services and a University-issued statement.

The Daily Trojan reached out to USG for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.

In a statement to the Daily Trojan on Feb. 24, USC said they have reached out to support the 13 international students from Myanmar, including those in the local area. This support has been extended by departments such as the Office of International Services, Campus Support and Intervention, Counseling and Mental Health Services and Student Basic Needs, according to the statement. 

The statement also asserted that USC is offering counseling, providing access to the Student Basic Needs emergency fund and working with faculty to guarantee students are allowed flexibility on attendance and deadlines. 

“Counseling and Mental Health Services and Campus Support and Intervention also have met with leaders of the USC Burmese Student Association and maintain open communications with them,” the statement read. “We will continue to support our students throughout the semester as they navigate through this challenging time.”

Both Zin and Waddy said they feel that the protests are a turning point in Myanmar’s history because of the mobilization of millions through social media activism that has taken place in the past year. 

“This is the first time in our country’s history where we’re even allowed, we’re given a platform like this to speak about this,” Zin said. 

Much of Myanmar’s history has been one of military rule after it gained independence from Britain in 1948. Since the 1960s, Myanmar has faced challenges in gaining stability in its military government, facing violent repression from the government, isolationist economic policies and civil war with ethnic minorities in the nation. 

For decades, past generations of Burmese people have attempted to revolt, which has resulted in bloodshed. But starting in 2011, the nation was edging its way closer to a full democracy under the framework of the military’s 2008 constitution. 

“Our grandparents have already suffered enough and our parents have already suffered enough,” Waddy said. “Being there on the streets, it is empowering in a sense, because you know that it’s not just you, but hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people feel the same way, and that they are not being silenced … They are trying to do something to make a difference.”

The Burmese people continue to stand in solidarity. While public healthcare workers are on strike against the government, private hospitals are offering free health care to protesters. In Mandalay, a city in Myanmar, protesters mourned the life of teenager Kyal Sin, known as Angel, who was killed in the riots Wednesday. They sang anti-coup chants and walked her funeral route hand in hand.

“You are willing to give away your life, because you know that this fight is something that is much, much bigger, for your entire country and for future generations,” Waddy said.

The coup, and the opposition and protests, or “Spring Revolution,” against it, have captured worldwide attention, but Zin calls on the USC community to raise awareness of the issue. This includes signing a petition for the International Criminal Court to charge Hlaing for his crimes and sharing the petition to mobilize around this cause.

Most of all, both Zin and Waddy recognize how being vocal on social media can extend the reach of this issue. 

“If non-Burmese people see our cries for help [and] our social media posts, I just want them to know that [reposting them] is not performative activism, and if they just help us share some posts, [it] won’t be considered performative activism because it’s different from social issues in America,” Zin said. “Sharing just one Instagram slide means a lot more to us to get that message out there.”

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated a Universitywide email as being a symbolic act of solitude, instead of solidarity. It also misstated that the coup is now being called the Spring Revolution. Instead, the opposition and protests against the coup is now being called the Spring Revolution. It also misstated the National League for Democracy as the National League of Democracy. The Daily Trojan regrets this error.