Millions of people continue to risk their life and livelihood by resisting the military coup. Fascist military forces have killed close to 1,400 people and arrested more than 8,300 protestors to this day. Despite these grave threats, the people such as workers, women, youth and students in Myanmar keep resisting on the streets, in cities, in rural areas, and in some cases have fled into the jungles. Help us to sustain the resistance, to restore workers’ rights and civil liberties.
REPRESSION AND RESISTANCE
On February 1st 2021, the Myanmar military junta staged a coup and forcefully took power from the elected government. Millions of people across the country have protested since the early days of the coup. Doctors and nurses who participated in the earliest stages of the civil disobedience movement were soon joined by the teachers, students, railway workers and civil servants from different sectors. Especially thousands of garment workers took to the streets to protest the coup.
Throughout February, people rallied in mass protests and demonstrations on the streets. In retaliation, raids and arrests of protest leaders began. Starting in March, police crackdown on protesters intensified as they used rubber and live bullets, often aiming at the head. The military junta also uses other strategies to suppress the movement. For example, they gather personal information of people and supporters who involved in the civil disobedience movement and protests through informants. After the tip-off, the arrest and raids followed and sometimes family members, including children, are held as hostages if their primary targets are not found. The arrest and murder of protesters has been pervasive, close to 1,400 civilians have been killed while more than 8,300 are arrested, charged or sentenced as of December 31st . (source: aappb.org)
Yet, despite these grave dangers, people in different parts of the country continue to show their dissent in various ways. Since large rallies have been heavily policed also by military or plain-clothed cops in civilian cars – including attempts to arrest by driving into crowds – protesters have turned to “flash mob street protests”. As the junta intensified its rampant violence, some young protesters, including men and women, were pushed to flee into the jungles and formed resistance groups to protect the unarmed civilians against the plunder by the military and to fight for the freedom and peoples’ democracy in Myanmar. For the continuation of the struggle against the fascist military regime, we kindly ask for your support!
WHERE WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT
All collected funds will go to friends and labour union activists connected to the grassroot Federation of General Workers Myanmar (FGWM). The anti-junta protesters, activists and resistance groups need constant help with the following:
- Rental fees for safe housing.
- Printing leaflets/stickers and the creation of banners.
- Logistical costs related to mobilization, organizing and staging flash-mob protests.
- Support for survival needs of resistance groups who need to stay underground.
Please make a donation here: https://www.firefund.net/unitedagainstthejunta
In case you have no credit card available, but still want to support this fundraising, you can also send contributions to:
Name: Unione Sindacale Italiana – CIT
Bank: Banca Popolare Etica
IBAN: IT54I0501802400000016796849
BIC/SWIFT: CCRTIT2T84A
!! Don’t forget to include the reference: Myanmar Fundraising !!
All contributions will be added to the funds collected directly through this page.
Share the news of this fundraiser on social media with the tag #UnitedAgainstTheJunta
Feel free to contact us with any questions or comments: asia@icl-cit.org.
Together with the FGWM several ICL sections have also been supporting the Blood Money Campaign for many months. The overview of reports includes many activities on the ground in Myanmar as well as internationally – united against the junta.
Federation of General Workers Myanmar (FGWM)
The FGWM, which is formerly known as Federation of Garment Workers, is a grassroots union. It is a fighting and democratic union with membership of about 10,000 rank-and-file workers. After Myanmar military staged the coup on February 1st 2021, thousands of workers of FGWM organized anti-junta campaigns at their respective factories. On February 6th 2021, more than 4,000 union leaders and rank-and-file members of FGWM, in alliance with students and youth political forces, staged the first largest protest against the coup in Yangon. Due to their anti-junta movement, union leaders and rank-and-file members have faced raids, arrests, and some had to flee from their homes to the jungle. Regardless of the repression, its members continue in the underground movement against the junta.
Facebook: www.fb.com/FGWM
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