Dreams of Democracy: A Rebel's Quest Through the Looking-Glass
Jesua Lynn is passionate about peace and conflict studies and working for education programs for youth nationwide while pursuing his master's degree in the UK. His story was collected on July 3, 2023.
“The change I would like to see is more freedom for the people of Myanmar, where they can express themselves more freely, enjoy their lives more freely, and enjoy their fundamental human rights.”
"I was in my hometown in the Ayeyarwady Region when the coup happened. At that time, I was working for the youth-led peace organization I founded. We were supposed to meet with donors on February 1 to approve our grants for another project. But on February 1 we could no longer access the internet or mobile network. I felt nervous. When we turned on the television, there was news about the coup. I was shocked and had intensely mixed feelings. A couple of days later, my friends and I started to get involved in the protests.
It took me one and half years after the coup to get into a scholarship program because I still needed to finish my bachelor's degree. I was in the middle of my final year when the coup happened, so I couldn’t apply for a master's program. At the same time, I did not want to continue attending university under the military regime's rule.
In 2021, I could not think about my education. All I thought about was how to move forward from this terrible situation. So I participated in local strike groups and fundraising activities for a few months. Since I have my own organization, we decided to contribute. We started a research program for students who need to continue their education. We received some grants from our partner organization to do so.
Later in 2021, young scholars and intellectuals, including in the diaspora, came together and started an interim education platform. At that time, I was busy with my organization and did not join it. Then in June they said they would establish a school of federalism and peace, which is my area of interest and expertise.
I always wanted to be an educator who teaches and shares my knowledge about federalism and peace studies, especially peace and conflict studies. Even though I hadn’t finished my bachelor's yet, I believed there was a chance I could start a master's degree program. So, I contacted a couple of programs, including the Lincoln Scholarship, Fulbright, and the Asian Peacebuilding Program, but not having the diploma needed remained an issue. I had one inch of hope with the Chevening Scholarship as they suggested I talk to some universities and agreed to accept me if I gained admission.
When I reached out, universities expressed their solidarity, empathy, and sympathy with me. They said they would consider my admission if I could show my motivation and ability through the interviews. I sat the interviews with the authorities from three prestigious universities in peace and conflict sectors. They were impressed with my motivation and accepted me for admission. Although it sounds easy now, it was not. The university authorities had to discuss a lot amongst themselves, and I had to wait more than a year to get this opportunity.
I am currently living in England studying for a master’s degree with the Chevening Scholarship. I have been here for over a year. I’m leaving soon since my studies are about to finish. The education here is outstanding, and I plan to pursue a PhD, but I’ll wait a year first. I plan to return to Southeast Asia and work for some local organizations related to Myanmar, maybe along the border. After a year, I will come back to do a PhD—maybe in the UK or another western country.
My day-to-day involves checking emails and having a couple of meetings with the organizations working with interim education service I work for. I am also involved in one of the education programs as a volunteer mentor, which has an online education program for students in Myanmar. Then I go to the gym, shower, go to the library, study, walk around campus, and sleep! There are more than 30 Myanmar students at my university. But I’m just close with four or five graduate students because I feel more connected to the graduates than undergraduates.
Although I do not need to worry about anything here, I would like to return to the country. But I need to assess the situation well beforehand. So, I will go to Thailand first, and I am very excited to work with the people there.
The relationship with my family is very good. They are very proud of me. They are in the Ayeyarwady Region now. And I call my friends at least four or five times a week. We talk about work, and sometimes we talk about life here in UK and their lives in Thailand and Myanmar. We always keep in touch.
I have mixed feelings, and I feel frustrated, sad, demotivated, and depressed when I see the situation in the country. When I notice all these feelings, I talk with my friends, and we share our feelings. So, my coping strategy is talking with my friends. Talk talk talk! My coping strategy before and after the coup has remained the same because I am talkative and love chitchatting.
To build a future nation, I am involved as a leader of the program focusing on Federalism and Peace Studies at the interim education program. The program trains practitioners and young people to become federal-friendly, peace-friendly leaders and practitioners in future nation- and state-building. We offer awareness raising, advocacy, policy consultations, and other things targeted for future nation-building and continuous structural change. When I was a university student, I used to work for the students' union, and my colleagues at that current interim education program are former colleagues from the students’ unions too.
I hope to find a great platform to work where I can be involved in Thailand physically in a year. I hope I’ll be able to get financial support to do my PhD because I believe that in terms of peace and conflict in Myanmar, there are only a handful of experts in peace processes and conflict resolution. I want to be trained to become a great practitioner in peace and conflict. I hope we can find a solution to solve the problems happening inside the country. We need a comprehensive approach to solve this conflict between the oppressed regime and the resistance groups. I want a complete solution covering transitional justice, arrangement body, disarmament, demobilization, and disintegration.
If I return to Thailand, I’ll still be outside the country. What I suffer and what the people living inside Myanmar experience is quite different. All I want is for them to have peace and justice. When I talk to people still there, they only want to end this situation. We might have different approaches to ending the chaos. Without justice, ending conflicts is not possible. I hope to find out how to bring justice in a few years, and to restore democracy and build the country we all want.
Only a few people in the UK know Myanmar. When I introduce myself, their first impression is that I am Chinese. I have to explain that I am from Myanmar. Asian students from India, China, Malaysia, and Indonesia do not even know what is happening in Myanmar. It might be because we no longer have media coverage and attention from the world. I don't blame them for not knowing our situation because our problem needs to be solved by ourselves.
My supervisor is supportive of everything I want to do for my country. For example, she supported me as my co-author when I said I needed to write an academic journal. I am writing two articles. The first article is about diaspora politics and how the diaspora can influence domestic politics in Myanmar. The second one is about the role of China in Myanmar's peace-making process.
First of all, I am not a revolutionary person: since I was young, I have never been a person who enjoyed confrontation. I do like debating and arguing, but I'm not too fond of any form of violence. When we started the People Defence Force in May 2021, I strongly supported the armed resistance groups because I understood the need to finish this coup as soon as possible, and the first step would be an armed revolution, and we would see the outcome immediately. Already we can see the immediate result of guerrilla warfare: some areas have been conquered or taken by revolutionary forces. So I understand why people support armed revolution movements. But armed resistance alone cannot achieve the overarching goal. Therefore, I am more interested in advocacy, such as supporting civil disobedience movements, providing free education access, and supporting nation-building processes through awareness-raising and advocacy work. I still have connections with my friends who chose the armed resistance, and I respect whoever opposes or resists the authoritarian regime by any means. I hope they understand me as I understand them. I still need to interview them to raise their voices during advocacy work. We have a good relationship, I just chose to get involved in advocacy and technical support, because this is what I believe in.
The change I would like to see is more freedom for the people of Myanmar, where they can express themselves more freely, enjoy their lives more freely, and enjoy their fundamental human rights. I really would like to be a part of the movement. I am interested in humanitarian assistance as well. The immediate change I would like to see is that the military junta allows humanitarian aid to the people of Myanmar without distracting and arresting the humanitarian workers. I also want to see lots of changes in terms of nation-building and education provision."
These stories are collected by the Real Stories Not Tales team. Real Stories Not Tales is a dedicated team in and out of Myanmar that aims to bring awareness to the reality of people's lives since the Myanmar military staged a coup on February 1st, 2021. Stories are collected through interviews with each protagonist by the team, either in Burmese or in English. Each character is drawn by a professional illustrator. RSNT is an anonymous name that is used by the group to guarantee security to all parties involved in the collection of the stories.