A CHANCE TO REBUILD?

When the dam of people’s anger at the military coup of 1 February 2021 burst, one image – among the thousands taken of courageous protesters – electrified me.

Leading the marches in Yangon, the nation’s largest city, were two young women: Ei Thinzar Maung and Esther Ze Naw, both 26 and dressed in almost identical outfits. With a red cloth tied around their wrists, they raised their hands in the three-finger salute inspired by The Hunger Games that has become an emblem of resistance across Asia. They were wearing red-and-white cotton tops, synonymous with the Karen ethnic minority. Behind them stood a young man holding the Karen national flag.

To the outside world, this might simply illustrate a young generation rising up against injustice. But to me, born and raised in Yangon, it meant so much more. For one, Myanmar society is deeply conservative and male-dominated, with age automatically conferring respect. For another, ours is a nation long beset by ethnic and religious strife. Minority groups,