{"id":96246,"date":"2021-03-19T10:54:33","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T05:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=96246"},"modified":"2021-03-19T11:45:41","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T06:15:41","slug":"use-of-non-violence-in-myanmar-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/use-of-non-violence-in-myanmar-protests\/","title":{"rendered":"Use of Non Violence in Myanmar Protests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><b>Synopsis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The February 2021 coup in Myanmar\u00a0 Protests removed the democratically elected government. Since then people have adopted the non-violent approach of Gandhi for pressuring the military junta.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Background:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The democratically elected leaders in Myanmar&#8217;s protects were removed by the military on 1st February 2021 on allegations of election fraud.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Subsequently, the military came to power and the main leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi got house arrest. This induced the masses to start non-violent protests in Myanmar.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>About Non-Violence and its usage<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It means positive action and not a state of passiveness.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It involves working towards one\u2019s goal using non-violent means.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mahatma Gandhi used a spinning wheel as a symbol for his idea of non-violence. The spinning wheel presented two messages:<\/span>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An instrument to protest against India\u2019s growing industrialism.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A symbol to show resistance to the British-made clothes that had replaced Indian handmade clothes.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Martin Luther King turned to the symbol of the \u201cAmerican Dream\u201d to portray his version of non-violence. The objective was to obtain social justice and equity for every member of American society.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Myanmar and tool of Non-Violence:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The method was used in 1990 by Suu Kyi against the atrocities of the military government. Her efforts earned her a Nobel Peace Prize<\/span><b>\u00a0in 1991.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Buddhist Spirituality<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> gave the moral strength that automatically took her <\/span><b>towards Gandhian Non Violence<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Later on, the masses were also attracted towards the noble method.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>masses understood the Buddhist teachings<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> under which each individual has the potential to change his circumstances. This was different from Despotic belief under which an individual is considered as faceless and helpless who can be manipulated at will.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The same enthusiasm is now being witnessed in the current protests wherein masses are adopting new symbols of non-violence. This includes the <\/span><b>3 finger salute<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> adopted by activists in Thailand against the totalitarian regime.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h5><b>Significance of Non-Violent Protests:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a laudable method to display the <strong>collective strength of the masses<\/strong> i.e. the power of the powerless.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It displays a <strong>belief in the method of non-violence<\/strong> that might not deliver immediate results but is <strong>definitely the ethical path<\/strong>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Likewise, it is a <strong>peaceful way of questioning<\/strong> the legitimacy of the military government and demanding democracy.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It further places a question on the democratic nature of countries that are criticizing the struggle for democracy in Myanmar.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h5><b>Way Ahead<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A greater number of people in Myanmar protects should <\/span><b>engage in politics with ethical conduct.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This would be in line with the Gandhian philosophy of associating politics with ethics that helps in delivering optimum outcomes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The future of Myanmar is not up to the military, it is up to those who follow the example of Gandhi in the streets of Yangon and Mandalay.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/Home\/ShareArticle?OrgId=G2U8CSU3F.1&amp;imageview=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Hindu <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Synopsis: The February 2021 coup in Myanmar\u00a0 Protests removed the democratically elected government. Since then people have adopted the non-violent approach of Gandhi for pressuring the military junta. Background: The democratically elected leaders in Myanmar&#8217;s protects were removed by the military on 1st February 2021 on allegations of election fraud. Subsequently, the military came to&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/use-of-non-violence-in-myanmar-protests\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Use of Non Violence in Myanmar Protests<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10322,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[1652,1457],"class_list":["post-96246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-ethics_0","tag-ir_02","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1701057931},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96246\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}