Febuary, 10, 2021
Guest view: Why Montanans should care about what's happening in Myanmar
By Deena Mansour and Chris Hyslop
Article originally published: https://mtstandard.com/opinion/columnists/guest-view-why-montanans-should-care-about-whats-happening-in-myanmar/article_61676709-63a5-58e0-93ee-f5967a665f1c.html
Thousands of miles away in Myanmar, hundreds of thousands of people are standing up for their newborn democracy. Following their November vote — an electoral sweep by Nobel Laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy — members of the Myanmar military launched a coup, arresting Suu Kyi and over 100 of her party’s officials.
Alleging election fraud, the military has assumed power while proclaiming a one-year state of emergency, insisting that their actions are critical to “preserve democracy,” though the nonpartisan Myanmar Election Commission and international observers have rejected these allegations. In the balance are Myanmar’s nascent democracy, borne out of years of oppression; its citizenry, which has flooded the streets in peaceful protest; and a fragile geopolitical dynamic in China’s backyard.
Despite attempts by coup leaders to shut down the flow of information, images of evening protests, where people have taken to the Myanmar village tradition of banging pots and pans, have ignited global attention.
This is not the first uprising: Others in 1962, 1988 and 2007 saw people take to the streets only to be brutally crushed by the military. However, it is the first to be in part planned and live streamed on social media. Following the 2016 election, which put Ms. Suu Kyi in power, an uneasy truce has existed between her civilian leadership and the powerful military. The 2017 violent military offensive against the Muslim Rohingya people, killing thousands and driving half a million to neighboring Bangladesh, is a reminder of what could happen next.
Why should Montanans care about a place so far away, with conditions seemingly so foreign from our own? Because supporting emerging democracies serves more than just our national ethos: global order has an impact on our national and economic security. Myanmar matters, as democracy fosters a citizenry less desperate to immigrate or engage in terrorism; more likely to prosper and to engage in global trade. (Myanmar is part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the tenth largest goods export market for the U.S. in 2019.)
Supporting global democracy is a bipartisan issue. President Reagan was instrumental in supporting democratic institutions worldwide, including the founding of the National Endowment for Democracy and its Center for International Private Enterprise, the International Republican Institute, and the National Democratic Institute. A 2016 poll by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs found that 64 percent of Americans feel the U.S. should take an active role in international affairs. At the same time, most Americans overestimate the amount of funds spent on foreign assistance, which is actually less than one percent of the federal budget.
Montanans have taken an active role to support this democracy, as dozens of Myanmar citizens have traveled to Montana since 2015 on Mansfield Center programs funded by the U.S. Department of State to support economic growth, sustainable development, education, and civic engagement. These fellows have returned home to implement Montana lessons learned to publish children’s books for civic education, train female parliamentarians, and bolster a free press.
On a 2014 visit to Myanmar, President Obama reminded us that democracy requires vigilance, noting, “Securing the gains of freedom and democracy requires good faith and strength of will…and it requires vigilance from all citizens. The American people know well that rights and freedoms are not given; they have to be won through struggle and through discipline, and persistence and faith.”
Montanans are in an unparalleled era of global engagement, where our ability to understand and shape our world will determine collective futures. We support the people of Myanmar in defending their elections and the restoration of their democracy.