Episode #265: Reading the Tea Leaves
“Working hard is not enough. You have to build power with those around you who have the same experience, and really hold the government to account with those structures and policies that keep us down, without access to what should be a right for all.”
Growing up in the eastern Philippines, Marc Batac experienced political dysfunction, poverty, and armed conflict, which planted the seeds an emerging political consciousness. This led to his critical involvement in the development of the Milk Tea Alliance (MTA), which, in turn, connected him with Myanmar’s resistance movement against the military regime following the 2021 coup.
During his college years at a university in Manila, Marc was enmeshed in a vibrant community of activists, scholars, and human rights defenders. His budding activism there was expressed through a passion for political art. “I was surrounded by political patronage, political dynasties, corruption, and all that. I found politics figuring in my art, and that spurred the interest… for me to pursue it in university,” he says. “That’s when I wanted to understand more in-depth analysis.” Political science became his chosen field so he could better understand the dysfunctional political system he had grown up under.
A watershed moment occurred when the university administration announced they were going to close his dormitory, ostensibly for renovations, but without a backup plan for housing the students that would be displaced. Subsidized by the university, the dormitory housed students from provincial and working-class backgrounds (like Marc), so the administration’s decision felt like a direct attack on students with fewer resources. “These things were so just theoretical, conceptual to me; I just studied that,” he says. “I felt it was unfair, and it needed collective action, so I joined the protests of my dormitory mates. That also made me realize my working-class background, my coming from the province, and the lack of privilege that we had. These are things that I'd just been reading up in university; but now experiencing it, and within my own experience, it made me realize that I could not escape from this.” Significantly, this was Marc’s first real-life experience with collective action.
Marc admits that he had initially been hesitant to join the protest movement out of familial pressure. “My parents said that I need to focus on classes. Being an activist is frowned upon as well, because there was this thinking that if you get recruited, then you become a rebel, and I was afraid of that.” This combined with more general, social pressures within his community to perform well at school as a means of escaping the cycle of poverty that plagued it—indeed, Marc was the first person in his hometown to attend the University of Philippines in Manila! So while all these factors played a role in Marc’s initial hesitation, he still realized that he found his path.
After university, Marc joined a national coalition working on issues like the colonial debt and neoliberal policies that strip away social services from marginalized communities. This work reinforced his belief in the power of collective action and the need to hold governments accountable. Then events in Asia broadened Marc’s horizons even further: the early 2010s were marked by significant regional movements, such as the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong and the Sunflower Movement in Taiwan. Those protests, coupled with local actions against corruption in the Philippines, signaled a broader awakening among Filipino millennials.
In 2017, Marc and a group of young activists from a number of other Asian countries decided to convene to share their experiences and strategies. While most of them had connected online via platforms like Facebook and Twitter (now X), few had actually ever met in person. That fateful gathering laid the groundwork for what would become the Milk Tea Alliance, a decentralized movement uniting young activists against authoritarianism. Initially, their attempts to formalize the network faced challenges. “It did not fly as we wanted,” he acknowledges. “But again, these are all experiments, and in my analysis, it was because we were mimicking how [other organizations] do things, but it just does not fit with the ways of working of social movements that we already belong to. Some of us were partly with NGOs and think tanks, and some of us were students and still active in social movements… [W]e kept in touch, and the relationships were nurtured out of that.” An important characteristic of the Alliance was how it was able to leverage digital tools as a means of fostering cross-border solidarity. In this way, MTA is building on the work of other 21st century revolutions that connect local revolutions to a broad, international audience of activists.
Interestingly, MTA is also very much rooted in contemporary digital culture. Pop references such ‘Boy’s Love’ dramas and symbols from “The Hunger Games” create a shared language among the diverse, young activists. This cultural resonance fosters a sense of solidarity, making the movement more than just a political alliance; it has become a community bonded by shared experiences and symbols. “I would always insist that The Milk Tea Alliance started as a queer movement,” he adds, “and we will always be a queer movement. For me, I hope that it's not forgotten.”
Marc emphasizes the importance of regional activists learning from each other and exchanging ideas for tactics and support to oppose their respective tyrannical regimes—who, at the same time, are also sharing tactics and mimicking each others’ oppressive policies. MTA is thus harnessing collective knowledge and efforts in order to enable them to respond more effectively to the global rise of authoritarianism.
As the Alliance has grown—with now more than 150 affiliated activists across Asia—Marc underscores the importance of maintaining and nurturing those networks that sustain the movement, and so MTA’s work continues even during quieter periods, when activists prepare for future opportunities for change. This commitment ensures that when the moment arises, the movement is ready to act decisively. And though the power of modern technology, they are able to respond in record time. In particular, the hashtag #MilkTeaAlliance has become a rallying cry, uniting activists across borders and issues.
With the MTA, Marc and his allies set about creating a decentralized, non-hierarchical structure, one that is a departure from traditional NGOs and reflects a new way of organizing that suits the dynamic landscape of modern social movements. This approach, while sometimes chaotic, allows for greater flexibility and responsiveness, and the incorporation of local perspectives. “Our analysis is based on our ongoing material analysis of what's happening in where we come from. It’s not something that was imposed by Western media, or by Western based NGOs,” he says. Indeed, Marc affirms that regional expressions of democracy must be rooted in local contexts, rather than imposed from external models. “We do not want to be the puppets to these imperial powers, and that's why when it comes to issues, we will take positions not based on those two camps, because our camp is the liberation of our peoples here and the solidarity and linking of our struggles here in the region,” he says. Marc further points out that while MTA has spoken out against China's oppressive actions, such as the treatment of Uyghurs, the situation in Tibet, and territorial disputes in the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea; they have also not been shy to call out the Western powers when they believe their approach to be hypocritical. “We’ve had internal discussions as well, using our experience, our lenses, like, ‘How does this issues relate to us?’” he asks.
Still, one cannot embark on this activist journey without recognizing the personal sacrifices and even dangers it will entail, and Marc speaks candidly about it. “I remember that in my first years in university, there were two students who were doing their thesis who were ‘disappeared,’ because they were doing thesis research on issues that is touchy to the community, and that's touchy for the government,” he says. “Suddenly, they were ‘disappeared!’ They were activists, but also doing their research, and up until now, they haven't been found. That scared me a lot.” This ever-present danger continues to inform his work. “Just a few months ago, two activists were organizing from Northern Luzon, in the Cordillera, and they also got ‘disappeared.’ And so this could continue.”
Also, in the Philippines, as in other neighboring countries, it’s not just the state apparatus that opposes political activism: its propaganda impacts the opinions of regular citizens, who engage as individuals or in groups in what is called “red-tagging”: that is, both online trolling and in the streets, they attack Marc and his colleagues as communists. “Saying that there's something wrong when you're a human rights activist or when you believe in some form of socialism or communism, or you are acting on injustice done to communities, [that] means that you're violent, you're a terrorist.” Marc is angered by this tactic and sees blood on the hands of those who engage in it, as quite often it results in extrajudicial killings and public harassment campaigns. Some activists have their names published in lists asserting that they are supporters or members of rebel militias, “or they get text messages of harassment or they get funeral flowers [delivered], or a direct warning that, ‘You should stop this!’” But he stresses that the most serious danger still comes from the State.“For the most part, those that do these enforced ‘disappearances’ and summary killings have been documented to have links from the security forces.”
In the immediate aftermath of the coup in Myanmar, Marc experienced a moment of hesitation as to how to respond, because the scale and urgency of the situation were daunting. So when his Myanmar friends reached out asking for help in connecting with the MTA, he immediately recognized the complexity of the task since MTA isn’t a singular, easily mobilizable entity, it’s a decentralized and fluid organization without clear, central leadership. Marc was keenly aware that a hasty response might well serve neither the long-term goals of the Alliance, nor the immediate needs of the resistance movement in Myanmar. So he needed to carefully consider how best to shape MTA’s response both to ensure its effectiveness, and that it would be aligned with MTA’s principles. Eventually, Marc hit upon a solution: he proposed creating a new platform to act as a meeting point where MTA- affiliated activists could regularly gather to provide immediate support to those in Myanmar; a relationship that continues to this day. This strategic approach allowed Marc and his peers to help craft specific responses that were thoughtful, coordinated, and deeply rooted in the collective power of the movement.
Marc explains that MTA’s strength lies in these reciprocal, trans-local relationships. “Today it's Myanmar, but tomorrow or the next day will be another country. It keeps on happening,” he says, adding that their current work is not about solidarity just with Myanmar, but the systemic issues that affect all of Southeast Asia. “There is something broken with the international system, with the UN, with ASEAN, with the markets. The institutions promised to prevent and respond to this; instead they’re being used to justify the harms against us. And so we need to be able to do more.”
Another initiative they have taken on is supporting the Blood Money Campaign, which aims to cut off financial support to the Myanmar military by pressuring companies and governments to impose sanctions on the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE). “Now that [the junta is] losing the ground war, they are shifting to aerial bombings in their tactics,” he says. “So it’s a question of how do we now restrict the ability of the military to arrange this kind of war, and key to that is the fuel.” This campaign is a critical part of the broader strategy to undermine the military's capacity to sustain its operations and to isolate it economically and diplomatically. Aside from online campaigns, they have also organized the distribution of SIM cards and facilitated top-ups to ensure that activists and citizens could stay connected—an effort was crucial at a time when the junta was attempting to isolate the country by cutting off internet access and communication channels. And on several occasions when Burmese activists found themselves in imminent danger, the MTA activists stepped in to provide safe houses in their respective countries, coordinating with local organizations to provide shelter.
Marc also discusses the Alliance's involvement in supporting military defection campaigns. Recognizing the importance of weakening the military from within, they are helping build a sustainable support system for defectors from the Myanmar military and police forces. To maximize the program’s effectiveness, these ends, they are facilitating exchanges with organizations in South Korea and Israel, in order “to learn more about conscientious objections, because that is a big issue, how to build a support system for those who defected and the families of those who defected,” he says.
Engagement with the National Unity Government (NUG) is another crucial aspect of the MTA’s work. Marc notes, however, that while the Alliance supports the NUG and the broader Spring Revolution, it has been insistent that its advocacy is predicated on an agreement to implement a system in post-junta Myanmar that is fair and equitable for all, especially those historically marginalized communities. “We’ve been upfront with them as well that ... you could win the war, but it’s also important to win the peace. That means building a truly inclusive federal democratic society,” he emphasizes.
Through all these initiatives and projects, Marc remains committed to the principles that have guided him from the beginning: a belief in the power of collective action, a commitment to holding power accountable, and a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of local and global struggles. His story is a reminder that the fight for justice is ongoing and that every generation brings new energy and perspectives to the struggle.
“If we are not in intentional in defining what the Milk Tea Alliance stands for, then other forces will define it for us. They are already doing that, in the early days and up until now,” he says. “We are simply nodes in our movements. The hashtag in this name and the symbolisms will be gone and will be forgotten at some point. But what will remain would be the relationships that have deepened, that are anchored in an analysis of the concrete link between our material experiences, our pain, and our struggles, and our our aspirations as well, that have existed before the hashtag, and therefore will continue to exist after the hashtag.”