Dave Leduc Cannot be Bought
It is not hyperbole to say that Dave Leduc is one of the most beloved foreigners to grace the Golden Land in the last 10 years. Strange that this French Canadian would win over the hearts of so many Burmese, but that’s exactly what happened when his fame was catapulted by becoming the first ever foreign Lethwei champion in the martial art’s thousands-year old history. Dave’s wedding was filmed live and quite literally a national event, and he is recognized everywhere he goes while in country. Although he is currently abroad, he continues to proudly represent Burma wherever he goes, whether it is rites-of-passage Lethwei tattoos all over his body, the flag which is hung in every office and training room he enters, or the longyi he sports no matter where he is.
In the following excerpt, Dave quite candidly describes what he and his family and team went through when the coup hit. As a fighter who traditionally didn’t so much engage with political matters, he chose to take a stand and side very publicly with the people, disregarding the effects that would have on his business, livelihood, and brand. Later in the interview, Dave indicated that his social media accounts are followed by countless police and soldiers, and he expressed interest in lending his voice to the defection movement and using his platform to encourage them to disobey orders and put the people first.
“They’re saying that they’re about to live what their parents lived, and what their grandparents lived, and I’m just like, ‘This cannot be real!’”
“Well, I was actually in the plane on our way to Turkey when I first heard the news [of the coup]. It was crushing. I couldn't believe it. I had thought ‘Okay, Aung San Suu Kyi was reelected. But it's not like it was a given, like life is not perfect in Myanmar. It's still a lot of struggle ahead. But still, okay, we're going there…’
But yeah, I didn’t know what to say, I just was speechless. I couldn't believe it, and then all the news starting unfolding fully, actually Min Aung Hlaing's son is an athlete in Myanmar, for those who don't know. Anyway, we took a few days to just assess what's happening.
You know, I'm a promoter of their national sport. I'm not completely aware of all the politics there. So I just tried to understand what was happening. And as the news started to come out, now it’s a full-on military coup, and all my friends are messaging me, like they've helped me before and it was just… I felt so powerless.
They’re saying that they're about to live what their parents lived, and what their grandparents lived, and I’m just like, ‘This cannot be real!’
And as it started to unfold, my friends were saying, ‘Oh, the internet is getting cut.’ Like what is happening?! And then I saw the only thing I could do was… I couldn't stay silent.
I will never be able to go back to Myanmar while the military still runs the country because of position I took, and I don't want to actually, while the military rules the country I'm not interested! I don't want to support them.
I think a lot of people in life, and in politics, are buyable. You can buy people with money, right? Well, I could have been bought many times, like it could have been very easy. And probably some celebrities did that in Myanmar as well, saying ‘Let's support this atrocious situation!’ So I could be supported by the military like, ‘Dave is our spokesperson!’ I go there, I try to calm everybody down saying that everything's okay. Basically like communism, back in the day. My wife lived in Soviet Union, right? So I could very easily do this and become a symbol and just pretend like everything's okay.
But I'm not interested in this! I hear the cries of help from my people. I saw the military is poising wells and burning houses. It's just insane, and I have shared so many videos. At one point I probably lost some followers. I don't care, and I gained a lot of respect from my people that I shared as many videos as I could every day, every day sharing what I've seen. I said, ‘Send me videos, I'll post it!’
I have a big platform but like, selling DVDs or selling seminars, it's fuck-all compared to shedding a light on what's happening! I tried to call out the UN on this, but it didn't do much. And yeah, so my position initially was to raise awareness.”