Doctors healing patients from hiding, teachers giving up their classrooms and bankers losing their savings are among the stubborn holdouts still on strike to protest Myanmar's military coup six months ago.

Thousands of civil servants joined a mass walkout in the days after the February ouster of Aung San Suu Kyi's government in an effort to deny the junta legitimacy, manpower and resources.

It is difficult to know how many are still participating in the campaign, with many sacked for joining protests and a severe coronavirus outbreak likely keeping others away from their desks.

The strikes have left the junta deprived of staff to manage utilities, issue bills and collect taxes.

It has appealed for medical workers, engineers and IT specialists to come forward to help its coronavirus response -- and dangled the promise of vaccines for those who do.

A state-backed power company in the commercial capital Yangon warned customers this month that a running boycott on bill payments was bleeding it of cash and affecting electricity supply.

AFP spoke to a doctor, a teacher and a banker about how they were resisting the junta regime. All asked to use pseudonyms for safety reasons.

- 'I will choose to die' -

Shwe Ya Min worked for Myanmar's central bank for 17 years but she and her husband both went on strike soon after the coup, joining colleagues in a walkout that paralysed the banking system.

Businesses have since struggled to pay employees and buy supplies, the World Bank said this week in a report forecasting the country's economy would contract by 18 percent in 2021.

Shwe Ya Min and her husband were both fired in May for not coming back to work, a dismissal she said was a "relief" -- even though it came with a demand they return their back pay.

"We loathe (the junta) very much," she says. "They are wicked."

She and her family are not paying any government bills and have stopped sending their daughter to school in the commercial capital Yangon, but money is tight.

"We have been eating with what we saved, which will last only until next month," she says.

Some of her colleagues "are selling eggs and betel nut to pay the rent", she adds.

But she says has no regrets about the decision.

"I will choose to die from starvation instead of going back to work."

- 'We won't turn back' -

Doctor Yin Maung, 33, left his job to work in a clinic providing free treatment for wounded protesters in Mandalay, Myanmar's cultural capital.

He was one of nearly 500 doctors studying for advanced degrees in the city to be expelled from the programme after defying repeated calls to come back to work.

He now practices medicine underground with other doctors, giving online and phone consultations to Covid-19 patients who still boycott junta-run hospitals.

He lives in fear of being arrested -- or worse.

"I fear they will kill me from behind while I am treating the patient," he tells AFP.

Remote medicine is hard: "Doctors are happy only when they are in contact with patients," he says.

"The goals I lived with my whole life are now hopeless."

"But, it also gives a stronger determination that we won't turn back."

- 'All of us are depressed' -

Khin Lin, her mother and her sister all worked as teachers until they joined the civil disobedience movement, giving up salaries they used to support their relatives.

Her mother was just eight months shy of retirement and a pension when the coup hit, but ignored requests from her extended family to keep working.

Many fellow teachers have also stayed away -- the beginning of the academic year in June saw shuttered schools and empty lecture halls across the country.

Khin Lin now goes from house to house to teach, work she finds "exhausting", but she needs the money.

The 28-year-old says she is dismayed that some colleagues would "betray and return to work, instead of fighting together."

The strike is taking a toll on her family life, with the added stress of spending more time at home together as Myanmar battles its latest coronavirus surge.

"All of us are depressed," she says.

But she says that no matter what difficulties lie ahead, she will continue to participate in the civil disobedience campaign.

"I am naturally stubborn and determined... I continue what I have to do," she adds.

"They don't treat us like human beings."

Myanmar coup: six months of turmoil
Yangon (AFP) July 30, 2021 - Myanmar's military seized power on February 1, ousting the civilian government and arresting its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

More than 900 people have since been killed and thousands of others arrested after the violent suppression of mass protests against junta rule.

Here is a look back at the six months since the military brought Myanmar's nascent democracy to a sudden end:

- Dawn raids -

Soldiers detain Suu Kyi and her top allies during pre-dawn raids on February 1, in a coup that ends Myanmar's decade-long experiment with democracy after half a century of military rule.

The generals claim fraud in the previous November's elections, which Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party won by a landslide.

But their actions spark global condemnation, from Pope Francis to US President Joe Biden.

- Internet blocked -

Resistance to the coup begins with people banging pots and pans -- a practice traditionally associated with driving out evil spirits.

The junta tries to block social media platforms including Facebook, which is hugely popular in Myanmar. Nightly internet blackouts are later imposed.

- Bold defiance -

Popular dissent surges over the weekend of February 6 and 7, with huge crowds gathering on the streets calling for the release of Suu Kyi.

In the following weeks these protests swell to hundreds of thousands of people in cities and villages around the country.

Workers begin a nationwide strike on February 8.

A 19-year-old woman is shot in the head after police fire on crowds in the capital Naypyidaw the next day.

- International sanctions -

Washington soon announces sanctions against several military officials, including junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

More sanctions follow from Britain and the European Union.

- Growing crackdown -

Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing, the woman shot 10 days earlier, dies on February 19 after becoming a national symbol of opposition to the junta.

Violent crackdowns on street protests escalate and by March 11, Amnesty International says it has documented atrocities by the junta including the use of battlefield weapons on unarmed protesters.

A day later a UN rights expert on Myanmar accuses the military of crimes against humanity.

- Deadliest day -

More than 100 civilians are killed in protest crackdowns on March 27 during Armed Forces Day, the military's annual show of strength. It marks the deadliest single day since the coup.

The next month, ousted civilian lawmakers forced into hiding announce the formation of a shadow "National Unity Government".

- Suu Kyi's trial begins -

More than four months after she was detained, Aung San Suu Kyi goes on trial in a junta court.

She faces an eclectic mix of charges, including illegally importing walkie talkies and flouting coronavirus restrictions during elections in 2020.

- American journalist detained -

Danny Fenster, an editor at local outlet Frontier Myanmar, is detained at Yangon's airport as he attempts to leave the country on May 24.

He appears in court on June 17 and is charged under a law that criminalises dissent against the military.

Fellow US citizen and journalist Nathan Maung is released by the junta after months in detention, later telling AFP that he was beaten and denied food and water during interrogation.

- Covid wave -

Coronavirus infections surge across Myanmar from late June, with many pro-democracy medical staff on strike and the public avoiding military-run hospitals.

People defy military curfews to queue for oxygen cylinders for their loved ones and volunteers take up the grim task of bringing out the dead for cremation.

- Economic catastrophe -

The World Bank forecasts on July 26 that Myanmar's economy will contract by 18 percent this year as a result of the coup and the coronavirus outbreak, with the poverty rate to double from 2019 levels by next year.

- 2020 election results cancelled -

In late July the junta cancels the results of 2020 polls, claiming more than 11 million instances of voter fraud.

It makes no mention of holding a fresh vote.

Related Links
Democracy in the 21st century at TerraDaily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Hong Kong's civil society 'withers' under national security purge
Hong Kong (AFP) July 28, 2021
Hundreds of elected community leaders in Hong Kong have resigned and dozens of civil society groups have disbanded as China remoulds the finance hub in its own image. Just days before Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the city last year, student Wong Yat-chin founded a new group called Student Politicism. He had just finished his exams and wanted to keep opposition voices alive in a city supposedly still guaranteed free speech by setting up small street booths to discuss issues ... read more