Transcript: Episode #87: Revisiting the Burma Spring
Following is the full transcript for the interview with Jeanne Hallacy, which appeared on January 26, 2022. This transcript was made possible by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and has not been checked by any human reader. Because of this, many of the words may not be accurate in this text. This is particularly true of speakers who have a stronger accent, as AI will make more mistakes interpreting and transcribing their words. For that reason, this transcript should not be cited in any article or document without checking the timestamp to confirm the exact words that the guest has really said.
00:56
to move. As a young girl spring, what's my favorite season, the examiner to tension Water Festival, even in prayers at the temple, and the beautiful yellow of the Vidal flowers stirred into bloom. Not one single flower, but a group of buds joined together, they bloom filling the air with a fresh, fully perfume that smells like hope. These protests change changed me a lot. I feel like I became a doubt, I can think really openly and freely. I was scared, but I want along with my friends, to fit in the street, joins the growing crowds. The first time ever raises my boys against the military. Prototyping a lot about jazz and opened my eyes I have met so many human rights activist and young leaders who teach me a lot and the shared knowledge and observation about new law in the true route people.
Host 03:51
Hi there and thanks for listening. If you're enjoying our podcast and have a recommendation about someone you think we should have on to share their voice and journey with the world. By all means, let us know. It could be an aid worker, monastic author, journalist, scholar resistance leader, really anyone with some Thai or another to the ongoing situation in Myanmar. To offer up a name go to our website insight myanmar.org And let us know. But for now just sit back and take a listen to today's episode. We're happy to bring you the following interview with a guest who's connected to an exciting upcoming event the Burma spring benefit Film Festival. It will run from February 1 to the 13th and feature a wide range of films documentaries, shorts, animations and panel discussions. Nowhere else can one find so many diverse forms of media connected to Myanmar that are ready to be streamed in the privacy of one's home. While there's no charge to log in and watch these features to your heart's content, the film organizers kindly request that viewers consider contributing in a donation of any out, all the proceeds will be going towards humanitarian missions in Myanmar. In their own words, the events organizers, right. These provide humanitarian assistance in chin kitchen, Corinne cranny and Shan state's poor ethnic areas most severely impacted by food insecurity and emergency shelter needs. Support. We'll also go to freelance media and non violent human rights activist forced into Thailand. Know that your contributions will make a difference in Myanmar through enabling dedicated local organizations to courageously carry on grassroots work in a time of darkness. So if you're encouraged by what you hear from today's guest, we encourage you to take advantage of this special opportunity and take in a variety of Film Festival events. You can search for Burma spring benefit Film Festival to learn more, or follow the links on our website. For now, let's get into today's interview.
05:59
Our movement groups stronger three fingers held Hi. This civil disobedience mumo is growing. Everyone joined grammars banks, the port, the whole country came together in protest. Everyone feels this time, we can change history. That was
Host 06:24
a clip that we just listened to from the documentarian Jean housie, who is here with us today. This is from her film paddock, which I encourage all listeners to check out it's really quite a feature. And we're going to be talking about this film as well as her other advocacy and activism. So Jean, thank you so much for taking the chance to join us here on insight Myanmar podcast.
Jeanne Hallacy 06:52
It's my pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Host 06:54
So I want to begin first by talking about this film, because I was just really blown away by it myself. To start off, can you just tell us as far as it's safe, given the dangers that we're on the ground? Through this process? How was your team managed to do the technical work of actually filming
Jeanne Hallacy 07:14
all of our films are made with collaboration with a team that we have on the ground in Myanmar. So there's a we are a small nonprofit called corona productions, based in San Francisco, California. But our productions are all done in collaboration with Myanmar camera persons and field producers. So in addition, one of our team members who are skills on who's the co director of the film happen to still be in Yangon, where he was living at the time. And so we quickly got in touch with him and set up a secure portal over signal through which we could direct him on a daily basis, his time. But our biggest concern, of course, was for our Myanmar team, because the repercussions for them would be greater than they would be Ferraris. So what we did is we had a routine time where we would meet a daily for our direction, meetings to be able to assess, first of all the security on the ground for all of them, and then to understand what was going on in terms of the main characters that we followed, and what the possibilities would be for the sequences to continue to build the story. So it was, it was quite interesting for me because it was the first time ever that I actually directed something remotely without being on the ground. But the camera work was done by router skills on and our very courageous Burmese colleagues, our cameraman saija Chi.
Host 08:47
Right, yeah, that's, that's great to hear. And one of the things that I found quite interesting and unique about the documentary was that you follow the narratives and the lives in these particular months of several Burmese activists that you choose. And what stood out to me was up to this point, I had just been hearing more about this protest over here, or this crackdown over there, or this event that that happened or was about to happen. And this was the first time that I was really able to follow the actual stories of the people where the context was in the background. Usually, it's the other way around. I found living vicariously and learning about the protest movement from afar is that I'm learning about the the events first and then I might learn something about who was there what happened, but they're just snapshots. Whereas you're putting that in the center, you're putting the lives and experiences feelings, emotions, motivations of several protagonists, and you're having them narrate their experience and also having video footage of what they're actually doing while they're there. Which to me was very compelling and very, very informed. To be able to follow people people's lives through these events, rather than just the focus on the events themselves. So can you share a bit about what led you to the creative decision to focus on the story of these protagonists and how you settled on which protagonist to follow?
Jeanne Hallacy 10:19
All of our productions use this framework of what we call in depth personal storytelling. So it's always complex to present to a viewer, particularly somebody who's not aware of Myanmar or even perhaps Southeast Asia, what the situation is on the ground. And we find that the most effective way to convey that is to really go in depth inside the hearts of people who, as you pointed out, are living through these experiences and hopefully, through their eyes develop a compassion that the audience will be able to empathize and understand on a human level. What this actually means for lives on the ground for the characters that we developed. This evolved during our production meetings, Hmong. Sokar, was somebody who I knew he is one of the three characters portrayed. He is an award winning poet, as well as an activist in Myanmar, as an was a former political prisoner. He was actually detained for his activism to promote the right to free speech and digital media freedoms that were curtailed under the National League for Democracy government period during the transition, and as well as the internet blackouts that were experienced intermittently in places like Western Rakhine State, which is where the Rohingya were living. And he had long been an activist during the so called transition years. And in those years actually was a lone wolf, in many ways, was portrayed by some of the other countrymen as kind of raining on the parade, if you like, of this newfound democratic transition, but in fact, what he was pointing out was that the transition was superfluous. And the pre existing conditions of the historical roots of the conflict, which of course have come to the fore now still had to be addressed, namely, the inequities of the ethnic or ethnic nationalities, including the Rohingya, the kitchen, the Shan, the Corinne, and the fact that military abuses were continuing in these areas, moreover, that there were still people being detained for their activism. And of course, needless to say, that the crimes against humanity that were so well documented in against the Rohingya in Rakhine State, were grounds for people to be awakened to realize that there was still much to be done. So he was someone who was known to me before the making of this film, and I had a lot of regard for him. And when he came to the fore as one of the leaders, it was an organic choice to follow him, both for his activism, but also he has a very pure passion that comes through his poetry. And I felt that that would really give people a sense of the the urgency and the creative prism through which many of the activists carry out their work. The other two protagonists that we focused on, came about during the coverage of the protests themselves. So xOP was the one of the leaders of the drum revolution. And he was somebody that really captured our imagination when we saw him leading these, these ad hoc concerts, kind of a mixture of Burmese hip hop, and rap, and fusion music, using drums as the background. And he just was this really vibrant, incredibly energetic character that really caught our eye. And so I asked our team on the ground to seek him out and ask his consultation to participate in the film, which he then became one of the really compelling characters, and we still stay in touch with him now. And then the third character emerged during our teams coverage of one of the main intersections in Yangon, which was the Yangon is the major urban center of Myanmar was formerly the capital before the Myanmar military moved. The national capital to Naypyidaw, but Yangon remains the largest urban center in the country. And one of the large neighbourhood intersections there is called se Don this intersection has a political branding history as well because of its proximity to the University of Rangoon, which is one of the big universities there that has always been a hotbed of action. activism throughout Myanmar's history. And that intersection has been known over the many decades of resistance to be a flashpoint where people gather to protest. And so the third character is a woman. She is an ethnic Shang. Her name is Yin Yang, and she was really interesting to us.
Host 15:20
And can you tell us a bit about what has happened to these protagonists you follow since filming if you know where they've ended up?
Jeanne Hallacy 15:28
The three protagonists that we followed for the Dalke have remained in contact with us. The primary point of contact is Nan. Nan is the young woman through whose eyes we tell the story of Palau and she is in routine contact with zawe and monks aka. However of late she has lost contact with the union, the the woman, the Shang, ethnic Shan woman activist, we understood that she had certainly received warnings of her imminent arrest, and went to ground to find a secure safe house where she could be in hiding to avoid arrest. I believe that she's probably back in Shan State, but she has lost the point of contact with us and we do hope that she remains safe. The other two protagonists Hmong suka, the poet and activists and czar, who led the drum revolution former teacher who was one of the leading activists among the youth of Gen Z that were out in the streets have both joined the armed resistance following the military coup and its brutal crackdown that led to the killing of over 12 1300 people on the streets as well as the arrest of over 1000 people. There was a mounting sense of frustration and desperation is what I would describe it among the activists in Myanmar, to the non responsiveness of the international community in understanding the urgency of their situation, and the need for stronger policy measures by both the United Nations as well as leading democratic governments such as the United States or the EU as an entity. And this led to the government in exile, which is called the National Unity government or n ug by its acronym, to take a decision to create an armed wing of their political movement. The end ug is comprised of elected parliamentarians who would have taken their seats had the election results been honored, which they were not and it was those election results, that the the annihilation of those results that led to the military seizing power in February of 2021. And they formed this government and they also appointed various ministers, including ethnic leaders to positions in the portfolio of that government. And they are looking for recognition from the international community to see them as the legal government entity of Myanmar. When the efforts toward that end, we're continuing to be slow, and the violence was continuing on the ground. There was a decision taken by the N ug the national unity government to to announce that they would moving forward have an armed resistance that was the people's Defence Force or PDF. And the PDF is an organization that came out of the February coup response. And they have now fled to primarily borderland areas. So Myanmar has a very long border that it's shared with Thailand that's over 1500 kilometers long. It also shares a northern border with China. It shares a western border with both Bangladesh and India. And these PDF forces are mostly made up of young people like Hmong, Sokar, like czar, young people who grew up in the cities and have never lived in the jungle, or perhaps never even visited an ethnic area in the jungle where the ethnic armies have been based for 70 years, fighting what they would call a defense of war against the Myanmar military in an armed resistance. And they have gone to these areas controlled by the ethnic armies for military training. The military training includes tactical warfare, it includes survival tactics in the jungle, and it has also included strategies regarding how to look at bringing the conflict to urban areas in an urban guerrilla warfare style that has been here to for an unprecedented in Myanmar. So both Both Zara and Matsuoka have decided to take up arms against the military as their only recourse for trying to fight for democracy for their country.
Host 20:11
Thank you for that. And I think another thing that really struck me when I was watching it that struck me through my tears and trying to get through it. And I should mention that my sound engineer also has a copy of it. And he's is relayed to me, he's working through his tears as well as working through the pieces because it just so vividly brings to life, the feeling and the vibe and the the actuality of what it's like to be on those streets. And the feeling of it is so powerful and vivid and the way it comes through. I think for me, when you're tracing these personalities as protagonists, it's, these are kind of every man, every woman to put it another way, they appeared to me almost as Burmese archetypes in the sense that when these characters came out, even though I never heard of them or know anything about them, I immediately had this sense of like, oh, this is like so and so Oh, she's like, you know, whoever, and they, they really reminded me fully fleshed out of these figures that I know very well in my life that have been my friends. And I've watched their trajectories through this. And there's this, this copy this brother, sister of them on the screen, acting and speaking in very similar ways. So it was very heartfelt to see that that portrayed. And I think what it's also, what you're also attempting to do in the film, as well as in how you described it here is to try to alert the Western world, the world outside of Myanmar, that these are ordinary people, these are people coming from extremely normal and usual backgrounds that have been thrown into something the likes of which none of us can really imagine how they got there. And I think that's been one of the hardest things to portray to the outside world about this conflict is how sudden it's been for part of the population obviously not for the the total number of inhabitants in the country because the ethnics have been waging this defensive war for so many years. But for especially the urban the Bomar this is something they've been thrown into after a much more conventional normal life and to try to convey what that jump in transition has been is exceedingly difficult. And through the trajectory you show of them, they're they're leading up until the point where they make that fateful decision of what they're really going to do to invest themselves in trying to win the country's freedom. And with that, let's just take one more moment and hear another clip from the film. That that also speaks to some of this transition that the characters are going
22:54
to teach me a lot about jazz, and opened my eyes. I have met so many human rights activist and young leaders. He teach me a lot and the shared knowledge and observation about yoga, and the truth about people in the war,
Host 23:26
so that was another clip from the documentary put out. And you reference how a couple of these protagonists in the film have since gone on to join the armed resistance. This is not shown in the film because the film ends before this decision was made. This question about the armed resistance is something that's quite controversial and perhaps even a little misunderstood in foreign circles that I have expressed concerns about seeing this armed resistance as perhaps contributing to a greater instability or civil war or violence. And yet in the country, this is seen as something of a last stand to be able to eradicate this this evil of what military rule has done for so many years. someone like yourself, who has been so involved in Myanmar for so many decades and following the tales of these particular youth that you detail in the documentary, what are your thoughts on the rise of the armed resistance and the PDF groups?
Jeanne Hallacy 24:28
I am somebody who very much supports non violence and it is an ethos, the centerpiece of our work at Corona productions. We try to share these stories to promote a sense of humanity and compassion and understanding about the common grounds that we share as human beings and I don't embrace non violence or embrace violence or see it as, as a solution. Having said that, I am not in any position to pass a judgment upon those who have seen this as no other choice. And that's simply what it has come down to. So imagine for your listeners, if in the United States, we held congressional elections, as well as the presidential election at the same time, and the results of those elections were announced. And just before the Congress, people and the President were sworn into their offices, the United States armed forces would announce, well, guess what, people of the United States, we're not going to allow these people to take their seats in Congress, or take their seat in the Oval Office as the president, it would be an astonishing an unacceptable situation. And then imagine that Americans who thought this was unacceptable, went out in the streets to say we're not going to tolerate this and went out in the streets in nonviolent protest manner, and then were killed, were killed were gunned down, were hunted, those that were detained were tortured. And this is what has led to the situation that we are seeing now. And it is something that is extremely heartbreaking for me as a as a longtime Burma observer, somebody who has been honored to to know many people in this remarkable country. And the reason that I think many people like myself are drawn to Burma, the formerly formerly called country of Burma changed its name to Myanmar. It's showing my it's DD me to show my age of how long I've been working there is that the people are so extraordinary. They are people that to me have always shown this really remarkable resilience and determination to continue to do whatever it takes to make change to have a peaceful and secure country that is based on democratic principles, no matter what the risk or what the cost, which has been extremely high, not just now during the military coup. For decades, it has been high. The long standing conflict armed conflict between the Myanmar military and its different ASIC nations, as it changes its name over the decades and the ethnic nationalities is one of the longest running civil wars in the world. This is a place that has been in conflict for 70 years, since the post world war two period. This is a place where people have been imprisoned for, you know, 1217 21 years for non violent resistance to military rule. This is a place where people have been tortured in the most brutal fashion, all well documented by organizations like the Assistance Association for political prisoners. So in this case, this is a country that has seen this level of suffering. This level of being put down on the boots of these military for this long, and finally had this window of light through this political transition period that took place from 2015 When the National League for Democracy or NLD leader Aung San Su Qi, was released from her 15 years of house arrest was allowed to run in the country with her party, they won an overwhelming landslide not to the surprise of Burma watchers, and then began what was called the transition period, during which time some things lightened up. So previously in Myanmar, to buy a mobile phone was about $2,000. To buy a SIM card with close to $1,000. There was no Wi Fi, there was no internet. There was a an activist that I knew. In fact, he was someone very close to, to da su. She called him uncle Leo, this was back in the mid 90s When she was under house arrest. And she saw him as something of a godfather if you like. And he actually supplied her with a fax machine. This was back in the mid 90s. In order for her to receive communications from United States government and the European Union and other other organizations during her house arrest for delivering that fax machine. He was imprisoned. And Uncle Leo was an elderly person at the time of his detention, and he died in prison. But this is to give you the sense of what it was like prior to this transition. It was a completely closed off controlled country under absolute military rule. The only other country that I would liken it to with that level of control would be North Korea. So then suddenly, the pressure loosens up. There's a sense of press freedom, right? The Exiled media that had been reporting so bravely on their country from outside the country such as in places such as in Thailand or in Norway, including the democratic voice of Burma, the Irrawaddy, what we now know as as quite well known media entities returned back to operate legally in their country. And then more media opened up, Myanmar, you know, Myanmar now and frontier and all these magazines and as well as radio stations that were able to operate throughout the ethnic areas that would never have been permitted, prior to the transition. So the Gen Z's who were in their 20s, you know, basically grew up from their teens with this idea that they can go on Facebook, they can tweet, they can go to a nice shopping mall and meet their friends for a coffee, they can have their lives, you know, things were looking up, investment was coming in the country. It was a hard, a hard road ahead. It was a bumpy road. But there was some momentum of a progress toward democratic nation with Aung San su cheese party in the parliament and her role as the state councilor. But that was short lived. And what we now see is the complete decimation of any form of progress that was made during that transition, to go back to the Stone Age of military control. And that is why people are now saying this has to be the last revolution. This has to be the last time that we tell this military, we do not want them to govern us, go back to your barracks, and operate as a military as in any other democratic country for the sole purpose of the defense of the nation, but not to govern us. And this is it. This is the last time that the people are coming out to say we've had enough. We want freedom. And they will do whatever it takes. At this point, they will sacrifice what ever is required blackouts, lack of electricity, lack of food, poverty, detention, fleeing to border land areas, taking up arms, they will do whatever it takes, if they think this time change will come.
Host 32:29
You reference your number of years in the country as an advocate and an ally. You've seen history take place before you many years before this. How do you find this time different than what you've experienced before.
Jeanne Hallacy 32:42
There's an unprecedented political awakening across Myanmar, about awareness of the ethnic nationalities and their long standing plight, the the marginalization of the ethnic nationally now of the ethnic nationalities, the the dire poverty, that they have been subjected to the lack of development, but also the severe human rights abuses they have continued to endure even during this political transition period. So it's important for people to understand that even whilst this new age of transition was taking place, there was still conflict. In ethnic areas such as kitchen state, there were still people being displaced what we call IDPs internally displaced persons, that means they are refugees in their own land. They have not fled across the border, but they are displaced from fighting in their own state. There are 10s of 1000s of IDPs that were living in Kachin state, there were there were IDPs. In Kern state, there were IDPs in Shan state. So whilst it was true that there were some improvements happening, that was not the case for the ethnic nationalities, separately, and equally, if not, more importantly, was the issue of the Rohingya. We have seen the largest refugee camp in the world, over 1 million people displaced from what was certainly crimes against humanity, and is now being described by many experts as a campaign of genocide to eliminate the Rohingya from the most heinous unimaginable crimes that took place across their communities. That led to the purge of 1 million people fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh, to conditions of squalor where they now remain. And following that campaign of violence. The military manipulated social media and manipulated their propaganda tools that were very sharpened from years of control to embed in the minds of non ethnic people, non Rohingya people. So the majority race by Ma, to think that the Rohingya were exaggerating the situation, that they were illegal Bengalis that they were they had no claim to even say that they were part of Myanmar. And this led to a very vicious and very disgraceful and volatile hate campaign against the Rohingya that many young people, including Gen Z, who are now against the military and took part in the protests participated in. So that was part of the key message of our film Padauk was to show through the eyes of this young woman who is in every woman, she's a young woman who grew up in the city, who basically thought the ethnic nationalities were troublemakers, right. They were, you know, perhaps terrorists. They were people that were trying to rock the boat and disrupt the the newfound democracy that the rest of the country was enjoying, who believed that the Rohingya were illegal, and probably had racist sentiments against them. And these this, this very successful campaign of vitriol and hate speech against the Rohingya was fueled by Facebook, so much so that Facebook has actually been taken to task for its culpability, in the violence that resulted from the use of its portal to target the Rohingya. So now we're at a point where people like Nat, the storyteller of our film, has her eyes wide open, and is saying, Oh, my gosh, my heart is so full, my heart is brimming over because I realize that I was wrong, that I was duped. That I was hypnotized by the heat filled propaganda of this military to see my sisters and brothers in the Rohingya community in the kitchen, the Shan, the chin, the Mon, the Corinne communities, the Karani communities, these are my sisters and brothers. And that is what is different now. For the first time ever, I see a much heightened awareness among the urban sectors of young people. And not just young people, middle aged people, civil servants, right, and among the Burma, so Burma is comprised of over 135 Different ethnic nationalities of which there are 15 major ethnic nationalities, and one of the ethnic nationalities are the Burma, who we call Berman's Burmese. And they have been awakened. And they are now willing to take the hands of their ethnic sisters and brothers of the Rohingya sisters and brothers and say, We Are One, we are united we are together, and we will end this military rule together. That's what's different.
Host 37:49
So you've been not only visiting and advocating for Myanmar for so many years and decades, but you've also formed your own media company, and you tell stories about from different angles, different perspectives, other documentaries that you've made to get the message out about different parts of Burmese society in history and culture, etc. So as you've seen this coup in the last year develop, and you've seen how international media is reporting on it, and more significantly, not reporting on it. From your perspective, as someone who spent so much time in the country as an advocate. And as someone so involved in media yourself, what would you say are some of the most serious things that international media is missing or not understanding or misinterpreting from their coverage of the post coup in the last year?
Jeanne Hallacy 38:39
Well, I'd like to first respond to that job by I was a former journalist for many years. And I'm actually on a listserv that is cultivated by a very long time Burma expert who, who creates a media lists serve she calls media worldwide daily, and sends us the best of the stories. And every day in my inbox. There are at least 30 stories by international media about Myanmar. So I actually don't agree that it's not being covered, it is being covered. The Wire agencies are covering it, Reuters and Associated Press and Agence France Presse are certainly covering it, as well as other media, the Washington Post The New York Times, you know, for organizations that your listeners would, would would recognize. There will be a piece coming out shortly on PBS NewsHour, for example, which has also had some very good reports on the situation there. And whilst it's true that there are many different crises in the world, that dictate the news cycle, and Myanmar is no longer at the top of that news cycle. There is certainly reporting going on not withstanding the incredible, incredible reporting that is going on by Myanmar media who remain inside the country or at the border land areas, providing really crucial information to the outside world. But it is no longer a headline lead story that's true. The situation now has devolved to what I would describe as a full blown humanitarian crisis. We are now looking at over 300,000 internally displaced persons who are fleeing from the continuing violence and conflict throughout Myanmar. Most of those people are extremely vulnerable. Villagers, women, children, the elderly, people who are sick and ailing are running for their lives from their villages, their towns, and now even cities to the Borderlands areas to escape the military attacks across the country. We are also now seeing for the first time the deployment of heavy airstrikes by the Myanmar military. One analyst recently told me that was partly due to the fact that because the people's Defence Force, the PDF is carrying out attacks themselves against the military. In so many parts of the country that the Myanmar military troops are stretched thin on the ground, to the traditional ground troops that would be responding to conflict in those areas are no longer able to cover all of the areas where the conflict is happening. So they're using airstrikes. So just last week, another hospital was hit by an airstrike in Kern state, this completely contravenes international law contravenes the Geneva Convention, but this is the level of brutality that is being faced by people, both the ethnics on the Borderlands areas as well as all of those young people, middle aged people, doctors, professionals, activists who have joined the ethnic people in the borderlands areas. So it is a crisis of disproportionate scale that I haven't seen before. And it is devolved into a civil war scenario. I think it is extremely urgent to develop a established humanitarian corridor to deliver urgently needed humanitarian assistance to these displaced persons who are living along the border in very difficult circumstances. That would include the delivery of humanitarian aid that would be not just food, but also medicines that are needed. So it is, it is quite a serious crisis. Right now. I've never seen it. This this bad.
Host 42:37
In referencing the media, you credit some of the local media agencies and undercover reporters for what they've done to get the story out, can you share a bit more what you know about that work happening behind the scenes.
Jeanne Hallacy 42:50
In addition to the well known Burmese media that I've mentioned previously, there are a host of ethnic media organizations. So again, for your listeners, as I as I referenced there are different ethnic nationalities and each of those ethnic nationalities have their own language and their own cultural history. So they report in their ethnic language. So for example, most recently, I was able to visit along the Thailand Myanmar border, right at the border area, I was able to visit one of the ethnic media organizations that is known as kg Thai, its content Awadhi Thai. They are from the eastern Karani or chaos state, which has been most severely impacted by this ongoing conflict. Chaos state now has 1/3 of their entire population has been displaced from the fighting, and the airstrikes in their capital city known as loikaw have been very severe loikaw is now had major infrastructure damage from the continuing airstrikes. And just days ago, an additional airstrike sent over 50,000 people fleeing towards the Thailand Myanmar border, and one of their media entities Kaitai, which was something that started during a political transition had to flee. Because of their security, their offices were raided. They told they described to me how soldiers came into their offices, seized all of the computers, rip things out of the wall, smashed equipment in front of them, and told them they were no longer able to report. And following that the people that were in their editorial offices that witnessed that alerted their colleagues, and many of them ran and they are now operating on Thai soil at the border area, in a very, very simple structure, but continuing to report about the war in their state. And this is an example of the kind of really remarkable and courageous reporting that I'm seeing done. They have colleagues who remain inside chaos state At tremendous risk, and are using various communication modes, to be able to get the information from the ground out to their colleagues who are now on the border, in order to inform not just their own population, but the international community about the severity of the conflict. They also have a radio station set up, very simple, but very effective. In this makeshift editorial office, if you'd like to call it, it's, I would put office in quotes, but they managed to create a makeshift studio and have broadcast equipment where they can also do radio programming on a daily basis. And this is one of the many different organizations that are doing really important work to to cover the story in their country.
Host 45:48
Thanks for that. So you reference all the great local work that's going on and the great risk and sacrifice being done to that as well as where it's being covered internationally. And the listserv that you're on, that you're able to stay up to date with as, as someone who has been involved in Myanmar for so long on the ground among many different groups, in reading the way that it's covered internationally. Do you find that it's fairly accurate and are capturing the nuance and the details? Are you finding that there are parts of the conflict and what's going on that are not quite being understood or reported, quite the way you see it or according to locals or local news agencies that you talked to?
Jeanne Hallacy 46:34
I think overall, it's been reported very well within the framework of what is possible. So I think it's important to distinguish between national Myanmar media and foreign media. The National Myanmar media, I think, are continuing to do an outstanding job, again at great risk, to report about the situation as well as share information to foreign media which or repurpose that information for foreign media. For the foreign media, you must understand that there is a cadre of foreign correspondents here in Thailand, in Bangkok, where I'm based, that have been covering Myanmar for quite a long time, there are several really outstanding foreign correspondents who have a wealth of experience in covering the country for for a protracted period and a real understanding of the of the complexity of the current situation. But clearly, they cannot go to Myanmar now to report. So they're only able to report from the long Thailand Myanmar border that I talked about earlier. And even there, it is constructed, because of the Thai policy regarding access to these internally displaced persons that have fled, they are not giving access to the media to visit those areas. So it is in a constructed environment that they are doing their level best to report but they are making an effort to do that Al Jazeera, BBC, ITV and Channel Four, for example, among others, as well as the wire agencies that I talked about. They are all continuing to report and I know that many of them are working on longer format packages that will go to air or to print at the marking commemorating the one year anniversary of the coup, which is coming up on February 1. So within the confines of what is possible, they are doing a good job.
Host 48:29
Right, you reference being in Thailand and partly the Thai government's response overall, looking at the course of the past year, how would you characterize what the Thai government or Thai organizations are doing to support the people vulnerable groups that are being most impacted?
Jeanne Hallacy 48:47
Currently, Thailand is also under a military government. And they have also seen a rise of protests in the last few years here, both to look for reform to the Constitution, reform to the digital media laws that restrict reporting and sharing of information under the Freedom of expression that is widely accepted as a human right internationally, and also to the continued control of the monarchy here. And those protests have also been crushed. And many activists here in Thailand have also been arrested, or have gone to ground to continue their activities in a more clandestine way. So we're already in a situation that is not operating as a democratic country at this time. And that has expressed its close ties and support for the Myanmar military. So in that prison, you can see there's not going to be a lot of leeway to enable media or other international NGOs or aid organizations to have access free and fair access to those that are displaced along the borders. So that's the ground on which we're, we're seeing this conflict right now. On the personal civilian level, I've recently come back from the border and I was really moved to see the tremendous support by Thai communities to those that have been displaced from Myanmar, these were spontaneously organized community based humanitarian efforts to donate food, water, sleeping mats, blankets, mosquito nets to those that had been displaced. And it was very moving to see these tie. This there's sort of a civic, civic organization that organizes the distribution of this relief that comes from individuals, just people with and while I was at one area, as I was there, throughout the entire time, I was there cars and motorcycles were rocking up and pickup trucks with just people coming to drop things off. There's also a group of women in Mesa that had been waking up early morning hours, at, you know, at pre Dawn hours to cook humungous vats of rice and curry and dishing it up into, you know, packs that can be distributed as cooked food to the refugees that they can reach every day. So in that sense, it has been really, really amazing to see the people to people support. And I think the Thai communities that are doing that should really be recognized and applauded for that.
Host 51:33
So thanks so much for joining us. There's quite a few more questions I have. But I understand you are running off to your next operation that you're doing there in the border. So I'm really glad that we were able to get at least this bit of time and wishing you to be safe in what you're doing. And thanks so much for joining us here for an interview on the podcast.
Jeanne Hallacy 51:53
Thank you, Joe. And I think that the platform of insight Myanmar is really a vital vital portal for people to inform themselves. And I hope that people will be able to continue to listen to this really excellent podcast. And I hope too, that people will be able to join the Burma spring benefit Film Festival. It's a wonderful offering of over 40 films from Myanmar and about Myanmar, including films created by Myanmar directors. And we urge people to go online watch some of the films they include documentaries, feature films, animation, and any proceeds that will be donated at your hearts will will go directly for humanitarian assistance to community based organizations.
52:46
We've heard drums people were singing and chanting that the military wards against the people, not with the people. I saw a bandana on his head, leading the drum revolution, filling the air with determination in courage, and I followed them.
Host 53:23
One of the most tragic aspects of the current crisis in Myanmar is how isolated Burmese protesters feel. And in fact our thankfully, through a nonprofit organization better Burma, we're able to ensure that all your donations successfully reach their intended target on the ground. So if you found yourself moved by today's discussion and want to do what you can to help, please consider giving to our donation Fund, which is 100% directed towards supporting the democracy movement. If you would like to join in our mission to support those in Myanmar who are being impacted by the military coup, we welcome your contribution, any form of currency or transfer method. Your donation will go to support a wide range of humanitarian missions, aiding those local communities who need it most. Donations are directed to such causes as the Civil Disobedience movement CDM families of deceased victims, internally displaced person IDP camps, food for impoverished communities, military defection campaigns, undercover journalists monasteries and nunneries education initiatives, the purchasing of protective equipment and medical supplies COVID relief and much more. We also make sure that our donation Fund supports a diverse range of religious and ethnic groups across the country. We invite you to visit our website to learn more about past projects as well as upcoming needs. You can give a general donation or earmark your contribution for a specific activity or project you would like to support. Perhaps even something you heard about in this very episode. All of this humanitarian aid work is carried out by our nonprofit mission that or Burma. Any donation you give on our insight Myanmar website is directed towards this fund. Alternatively, you can also visit the better Burma website better burma.org That's BETTRBUR ma.org and donate directly there. In either case, your donation goes to the same cause, and both websites accept credit cards. You can also give via PayPal by going to paypal.me/better Burma. Additionally, we take donations through Patreon Venmo, GoFundMe and Cash App. Simply search better Burma on each platform and you'll find our account. You can also visit either the Insight Myanmar better Burma websites for specific links to those respective accounts or email us at info at better burma.org If you'd like to give it another way, please contact us. Thank you so much for your kind consideration and support totally. Boy,