By JENNA CRAIG
The country of Myanmar faces a human rights crisis after the military enacted a coup to overthrow the democratic government on Feb. 1. But young people have taken to TikTok to spread awareness of Myanmar’s plight.
The overthrow has sparked protests across the nation that are frequently met with extreme violence from the military, and two protestors have since been killed, according to AP.
Khine Nunu, a junior at Ramapo College of New Jersey, was born in Myanmar but raised in the U.S. She has contacted some family members on and off via Instagram, Facebook messenger and a new app called Signal. Communication has been scarce due to frequent internet blackouts imposed by the military.
“Just by posting [an Instagram] story, it’s such a quick little thing that could catch people’s attention right away,” said Nunu. “Whether you’re Burmese or not, Asian or not, it’s worth the share. It’s worth the read
[AUDIO: Listen to Khine Nunu explain what she has learned about her family.]
Confirmed: Internet has been shut down in #Myanmar for a seventh consecutive night as of 1 am ?
The regime of shutdowns and filters has produced an information vacuum that now severely limits news coverage and reporting of human rights violations ?
? https://t.co/Jgc20OBk27 pic.twitter.com/mga0UrkrJT
— NetBlocks (@netblocks) February 20, 2021
According to a report from The New York Times, Myanmar was under unjust military rule from about 1952 until 2011 when they became a democracy. In their November 2020 election, the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, assumed an overwhelming majority in Parliament. After arguing claims of a fraudulent election to the country’s Supreme Court, the military threatened to take action and overthrew the government by detaining NLD officials. They have since declared a national state of emergency for one year.
Apart from large marches, cities all over Myanmar have been taking part in a nightly protest at 8 p.m. where citizens bang pots and pans in the streets and honk their horns. Listen to the ruckus for democracy here.
[AUDIO: Khine Nunu reacts to the act.]
Widespread international awareness comes not from the news, but from TikTok
Two Burmese TikTokers, Lilly Oo (@whoops.its.lilly) and Cindy Tkh (@cindytkh) have played an instrumental role in spreading awareness to younger audiences on social media, reaching over 4.6 million TikTok views combined.
Lilly Oo is a resident of Myanmar who is studying fashion at a school in the U.K., allowing her to safely discuss the police brutality, military armed robberies and other injustices Burmese people face daily.
“This is a fight between 54 million citizens and the military. Choose your side wisely,” Oo said in a YouTube video where she urges the international community to care about the people of Myanmar. The video is an extension of her TikTok account, where she shares news she receives from her friends back home. Her first video bringing attention to the coup gained 1.7 million views and over 680,000 likes:
@whoops.its.lillyplease don’t leave us in the dark. ?? ##savemyanmar ##WHATISHAPPENINGINMYANMAR? original sound – Lilly Oo
Despite civilians’ efforts to protest peacefully, violent military and police force has been used to disperse crowds Cindy Tkh’s most popular TikTok of nearly 400,000 views tells the heartbreaking story of a 16-year-old boy who was shot in the head while tending to an injured protestor:
@cindy.tkhReply to @caratsweetheart SAY HIS NAME, Mg WAI YAN TUN ##whatshappeninginmyanmar ##savemyanmar ##myanmar? original sound – <3
Both creators use #WhatsHappeingInMyanmar in all of their posts, one of the main hashtags used by anti-coup protestors. Their TikToks have been met with empathetic comments from people around the globe, including those who manipulate the comment section to boost the video in TikTok’s algorithm.
A tactic used for many activist efforts on TikTok, users will often comment random prompts to gain interaction, such as “Everyone reply telling my your zodiac sign.” The algorithm picks up on comments in all caps, so many will hit the middle suggestion button on their iPhones to generate random blurbs of text. These are small moves of support that TikTokers utilize to make sure important videos continue popping up in people’s feed.
[AUDIO: Nunu on social media’s impact.]
Another TikTok tactic used by the Burmese people is to post their protest footage under a specific audio: a mashup of “Demons” by Imagine Dragons and the “Jar of Hearts” cover by Christina Perri. When a user comes across a TikTok using that song, by clicking on the audio they will be exposed to a steady stream of videos from protestors in Myanmar.
@linaungkhit3##savemyanmar ##justiceformyanmar ##militarycoup? Demons running – Karina
Current international response from government officials
President Joe Biden gave a statement to the press on Feb. 10 siding with the protestors and announcing an executive order that will impose sanctions on the military officials who organized the coup.
On Feb. 26, the United Nations held an informal General Assembly meeting to address the coup, where Myanmar envoy Kyaw Moe Tun urged the UN and the international community “to use any means necessary to take action towards the Myanmar military” in support of the civilians.
Related stories:
Myanmar coup: How citizens are protesting through art
The nights of pots and pans are back, on Myanmar’s fearful streets
I think the way you spread out the multimedia assets, such as the audio clips and the curated posts, was very effective in terms of an online news story. I also thought providing a link to the TikTokers was an interesting and helpful touch. The story was creative and nuanced as a whole. From here, I think the story can cover the social media response to the TikTok coverage or perhaps the international response to the crisis.
This story did a great job with providing context and picking the right, appropriate voices to speak on the crisis. The audio clips are not limited, but rather add to the article and reporting, giving an account/reflection in a much more intimate sense. If the further could go further, I would suggest possibly talking about how news outlets are portraying the situation. If they aren’t, maybe this omission can be something to expand on. Can the news avoid talking about it forever? How could the situation shift if major news networks discuss the situation, if at all? I wonder if this can be elaborated on.
The audio you have came out really clear, and it was interesting to hear from the perspective of someone who has family experiencing this first hand, and it was nice that you gave context for each audio clip. The next direction to possibly go into is more specifics on how they are being silenced by the military which makes it more important for others to spread awareness.