Soft Power and Hard Power in Monywa
In the wake of the coup, Bo Thanmani faced a profound existential crossroads. Each step of his journey until then — from the monastic silences that harbored meditative clarity to the non-violent marches that sang with the possibility of change — had been a testament to peace. Yet, as the military usurped power, the fabric of his country's tentative grasp on democracy tore apart, and with it, a piece of Bo Thanmani’s own spirit. His reaction was not a violent eruption but a somber reckoning with the harsh discordance between his inner tranquility and the outer turmoil of Burma. With the echoes of gunfire shattering the reflective sanctity of his life’s work, Bo Thanmani found himself disrobing — not in defeat but in transformation. This was a transition from the stillness of meditation to the motion of resistance, driven by a love for his people and the teachings of Buddha that bound his moral compass. In this crucible of conflict, Bo Thanmani's heart may have weighed heavy with sorrow, yet it was buoyed by an unyielding resolve.
“We realized that by protesting in the nonviolent way, it is impossible to change the country. We wanted to finish off this military regime; so, the young people, they started to do some weapons and started to fight. That’s the beginning of the fighting against the regime.”
The first day, I didn't recognize that there was coup because I was living in the countryside, in my village. Every morning when I wake up, I used to read the news. Suddenly, I could not use my Internet; there was no signal anymore. All of the Internet lines and phone lines were cut off by the regime on that day. I didn't know; I thought it was my telephone. ‘With my telephone there is something wrong,’ I thought. So, I was restarting it again and again and again, my telephone. I recognized that something was wrong later, around about nine o'clock.
I didn't know exactly. I didn't watch the news. I didn’t listen to radio; so, I didn't know. Then, I went to near the Monywa-Yar highway and there people told me about the coup. Everywhere people were very sad. Some people were very upset and very disappointed. I, myself, was also very disappointed. But in the evening I got back the telephone line. I could call. The first day was like, really the world is ending. It was like in the darkness in our country.
We didn't know what to do the first day, the second day, but one week later, on the seventh, people started to protest in Monywa, and I joined there. On the eighth, also I joined. On the ninth I could not go to Monywa, but I was gathering in the outside, because between Monywa and our township, there is a big river, the Chindwin river. I could not, we could not cross the bridge. So, we were protesting near the bridge for nearly a month. Soldiers and police, they were waiting there, but they didn't do anything. After one month, shooting started everywhere in Myanmar. And we were very disappointed.
On the 28th of March, no February, 28th of February, I went to Monywa and protested. And I came back. But on the eighth, I heard the bad news that my very good friend - she is a teacher - she was shot dead on the third of March. So, I was very upset. We tried many, many things to protest peacefully. And then, because of the shooting we realized that by protesting in the nonviolent way, it is impossible to change the country. We wanted to finish off this military regime; so, the young people, they started to do some weapons and started to fight. That's the beginning of the fighting against the regime.
They did not respond while we were protesting peacefully. If they would respond by peaceful means, by discussing together with the leaders of protesters, that would be the solution for the regime. So many people would not die and it would not happen like this chaotic situation. It is very difficult to stop. Many young people have already died. Many soldiers from the regime side have also died. In this situation, no big organizations around the world are getting involved, including the United Nations, not really actively involved to solve this problem. That is a very sad situation. So, that's why I feel fed up with the United Nations. Actually, I don't have any hope for the United Nations. The United Nations itself is also very weak. Weak leadership is the main problem of our world.
When we protested, some donors, they donated food for the protesters, but we also gave to the soldiers and we also gave to the police. And they were very happy; both sides were very happy because of our nonviolent engagement. We did like this to show our love to them. At the beginning, we had no problem; the soldiers also they were trying to handle peacefully our protests. Later, because of the order from the generals, their high official leaders, they could not deny to shoot at the people. Then everything changed. We can’t do anything; we could not do anything. And the soldiers started to shoot at the people. We were very, very sad. We could not do, we couldn't do anything at the time.
Still today, some places are protesting. I want to do that also, that for all the people to come together and protest again. What I believe is that armed power is like hardware. And peoples’ power, protesting, demonstrating, is like software. Soft power is in peoples’ power and hard power is like weapons. If we can use wisely these two powers, soft power and hard power, then I believe that sooner or later our revolution will be over.”