‘Who wants to die? Just step outside!’
When speaking with the artist Bart Was Not Here, he referenced an image he painted of a real life event, a military truck that burst into flames on June 18th in Tamwe, killing six soldiers. He referenced this as being one of his works that local Burmese tended to understand in differently than many foreign observers. Following is the transcript of this part of the talk, along with the original image of the truck, and the artist’s rendition.
“If you didn’t go through it for decades, you will never understand! I think it just comes down to that.”
Host: I'm wondering if you can give an example of some kind of artwork that you did that, that was really designed more for a local audience, and if you can help to unpack that for the foreign listeners here.
Bart Was Not Here: I think it's a little cultural thing where only Burmese people would get the exploding military truck. It happened in Tamwe. I think it was two days after I arrived in Paris.
And it felt so good.
Like, they did so many unspeakable things to us. They didn't let us sleep. They didn't let us live in the day. They didn't let us live in the night. There were so many missions before that particular incident, but that truck explosion was really symbolic. Especially Yangon where you cannot come outside anymore, with all these military people and soldiers. But now, they cannot come outside anymore.
The streets are ours. If you step foot on it, it's your choice. You're dead meat out here. And it communicated this so well, the imagery is so perfect. And I think it's more for the Yangon audience who really remembers the video footage and the story that surrounds the incident.
Host: And what was the what reception or reaction did you get from that local audience?
Bart Was Not Here: People loved it! They were so exuberant, it's almost like a battle call. We exploded their truck, and now we're hitting back. There's this one phrase that no one is going to forget. A bunch of soldiers shouted back ‘Who wants to die? Just step outside!’ to the unarmed protesters. And people will never forget it. And people to this day are calling back that statement whenever we kill one of them.
Host: I think this is so powerful. It's unpacking layers and layers of the torture and terror and oppression that you have faced growing up there. And that this is a moment where the bully gets punched in the face. And that feeling is impossible to describe. And yet for an outsider, there has been this kind of sickening international response of not helping, not supporting and just issuing statements. And then here's the people trying to fight for these Western values that we espouse all the time. And yet, we're just leaving them alone. And then there's finally this point where Burmese realize that they're finally truly alone and have no one but themselves to defend and with nothing but what they can find on the street and what's in their heads. And when they do that, the international community then starts heaping criticism on them and starts accusing some of these groups and activists that have formed as being the ones actually inciting and worsening the violence! So I think this particular image can really highlight that divide between those Burmese perhaps feeling that the bully who had tormented them, their parents and their grandparents and now they finally got punched in the face! Whereas someone that doesn't have that emotional tie, or that that context can feel like, ‘Oh, this is loss of life, how can they be celebrating? Isn't this a terrible thing? Now things are going to start to devolve and get worse, because they they're now doing the same thing the military is.’ And so there could be this kind of this confused, divergent opinion based on people not really understanding the context and that extent.
Bart Was Not Here: Yeah, exactly. I think it's just a matter of, if you didn't really go through it for decades and decades, you will never understand! I think it just comes down to that. We always talk about fighting back, and we always preach about how we shouldn't just sit down and take it. You shouldn't just shut up and take it! And they were essentially asking us to take it, to shut up. Like just keep asking for help and keep asking for awareness while you die slowly. And I don't think that's the way they would react if anything was forced upon them.
