The non-violent hope
As conflict continues to rage on in Myanmar, it’s heartbreaking to take in the lack of support available for those groups who are risking everything while pursuing nonviolent strategies. Foremost among these activists are Su Thit and her husband, who defected from the Tatmadaw soon after the coup was launched. They knew they were putting their lives at risk in order to be on the right side of history, and to this day must survive while in deep hiding.
But more than just surviving, Su Thit has set up a group called “Spouses of People’s Soldiers” which encourages defections by influencing the woman of the household, which she described during a recent interview. From her own personal experience, she recounts how unhappy most military families are, how much suffering they are also undergoing, and yet how they are held hostage by the terror campaigns within. Su Thit does not have enough resources to properly operate her group’s activities as she would like, yet she is confident that if she could, far greater numbers of soldiers would lay down their weapons, potentially bring forth a way out of their collective nightmare.
Yet as the world continues to stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, Myanmar continues to be forgotten. The smallest ounce of goodwill and support for people like Su Thit would allow them to do so much more, yet it is all this humble platform can do to simply remind people that the conflict in Myanmar is still raging. Please do what you can to help others in seeing this post, and consider a financial contribution earmarked towards Su Thit’s group.
“If we can guarantee them food, shelter, health care, and a decent livelihood, many soldiers and their families would defect rather than living like prisoners of the military generals.”
Host: What can you say about the general opinion of the soldiers concerning the coup who your husband was associated with?
Su Thit: Most of the soldiers do not like the military generals for launching the coup. Our country has been under military dictatorship for so long, and it only made our country very poor. Most of the soldiers know that. And that is why many are against the coup.
Of course, there will always calculative and opportunistic people that think military coup will be beneficial for them. But they are a minority.
The majority are those that do oppose the coup. And that is why we need to help them raise their voices. We need to remove the barriers that exist to stop them from being able to oppose the generals.
Host: What are the main reasons that soldiers choose not to defect?
Su Thit: I’m only the wife of a soldier, so I cannot tell you in general. But one of the most important reason is the safety and livelihood of the family after defection. The soldier is concerned about where the family would live. About whether they would have enough to eat. About whether they would be safe. In short, it is the things that happen after defection. If we can guarantee them food, shelter, health care, and a decent livelihood, many soldiers and their families would defect rather than living like prisoners of the military generals.
Host: What are the biggest risks to soldiers, and their families, who choose to defect?
Su Thit: As the world has seen, the military shows no mercy. It executes people on the streets. It beats up young women mercilessly. It has killed many children. These risks are there also for the soldiers and their families. Even the soldier is not killed, the soldier will surely face life imprisonment or the death penalty because the military generals will accuse them of being traitors. The family members could be tortured, and sent to prison as well. The risks involved in opposing the generals are all the same for us soldiers and civilians. But despite these risks, we must do what we must.
Host: As far as it is safe to share, and generally is also ok, can you tell me about the work being done to encourage military defections?
Su Thit: I can tell you. Our work is separated into two parts: advocacy and support. For our advocacy efforts, we promote defections via our content strategy that we post on our social media pages. We also have live-streamed discussions with other spouses, and esteemed guests every Friday night. These discussions are streamed so that the wives inside the military can tune in and listen to our messages. We hope they will be encouraged to defect with their husbands.
Our second area of work is to support the children and wives of defected soldiers. We provide necessities for their children, some of who are infants. We also provide health care to the family members. And to make sure that the families can build a sustainable career after the revolution, we are currently providing vocational training in language, sewing, and cooking.