Defy the military junta and defeat its fascist rule! Stand with the Burmese peoples!

Myanmar: The People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) salutes the continuing defiance of tens of thousands of Burmese peoples against the military coup that ransacked their democracy.

Three weeks after the Myanmar military seized control of the government, the Civil Disobedience Movement has only grown in strength and numbers – a momentous feat for the peoples’ movement of the country in recent history. Despite the state of emergency put in place that banned gatherings of more than four people and imposed a strict curfew, this present-day multisectoral demonstration is the largest since the 2007 “Saffron Revolution” and is now taking place in 325 out of 330 townships of Burma.

PCFS extends its all-out support to the “Five Twos/Spring Revolution” or the nationwide general strike launched on Monday, 22 February 2021. We commend the militance of the Burmese people, which has not only sustained but also heightened in the face of intensifying repression by the military dictatorship.

The Coalition strongly condemns the military’s violent crackdown, which has killed four protesters,  injured hundreds, arrested about 700 since the coup began. We call out the open lethal threat it issued last Sunday, which we expect to result in more bloody dispersals following the Mandalay clash that happened the day before. State forces have been resorting to open fire on protesters – using slingshots, rubber bullets, and even live rounds – to quell the protests.

We slam the military junta for these flagrant and widespread human rights violations, which it can also exploit to reinforce neoliberal policies like the 2012 Vacant, Fallow, and Virgin (VFV) Lands Management Law that will facilitate large-scale landgrabs and exacerbate conflicts with ethnic groups.

PCFS also expresses its concern that the military government will strike down civil society-led policy efforts such as the crafting of a National Land Law in Myanmar – a process where the PCFS is involved through our “Online Knowledge Sharing on Land Reform, Land Laws, and Farmers Rights in the Context of Myanmar and other Asian Countries.” The coup is a direct threat to these policy and democratic spaces which Burmese peoples have fought tooth and nail for.

State fascism is worsening, but more so is the rise of the people’s resistance to defend their rights to land and life. Let us show our solidarity with the Burmese peoples and to the people’s movements in India, Thailand, the Philippines, and the rest of the world who are struggling head-to-head with their fascist regimes even with the global health crisis.