Myanmar: 900 Days of the Spring Revolution. With Ma Thida

Myanmar seemed to be on a well-paved road to democracy, after
political reforms had been initiated in 2011 and the first free
elections had been held after 25 years in 2015. The military coup
in 2021 ended it abruptly. Ever since, a civil war has been
simmering, in which thousands have been arrested and killed.
Among those arrested was the democratically elected leader of the
country, Aung San Suu Kyi. She started out as one of the
revolutionary icons in the democratic protests in 1988, known as
the 8888 protests. In 1991, she was awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize, but was later on heavily criticized for her stance on the
Rohingya genocide in 2017.


Our guest, Ma Thida – surgeon, author, and human rights activist
– joined the prodemocratic movement behind Suu Kyi. In 1993, she
was arrested and sentenced to 20 years in prison for her
political engagement and support of Suu Kyis party. After six
years, she was released due to her health conditions and
international pressure. In this episode of ‘Die
Kulturmittler:innen’, Ma Thida talks about the role of icons in
revolutions and literature as a tool for freedom and protest
while giving us an insight on recent developments in her country.


All previous episodes of ‘Die Kulturmittler:innen’, e.g. on
Taiwan as a democratic role model, can be found here:
https://www.ifa.de/ifa-podcast/


Do you have topic requests or feedback? Feel free to send them to
podcast@ifa.de.


More information on ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen at
https://www.ifa.de.