From rubber to bullets in Myanmar
It has been 6 weeks since the Burmese army regained control of the country in yet another coup in their history. Hundreds of thousands of resistance fighters have since demonstrated in the streets against this seizure of power and the imprisonment of their president. de facto.
Large numbers of government officials, teachers, bus drivers and bank workers are also boycotting their jobs to put pressure on them. Unfortunately, under the orders of the generals, the rubber bullets have just turned into real projectiles, killing at least 60 people in the last few days.
A third of these are adolescents. One of them, 19, posted her blood type on Facebook before going to a demonstration in Mandalay, a pretty town in the north of the country that I had the chance to visit in the fall of 2016. Despite her sweater saying "I'm going to be fine", a sniper shot her in the head, killing her with one blow.
In the last decade, the country had finally started to open up to the rest of the world thanks to a more democratic government. It's in this short grace period that I had the great chance to walk there freely by bike and to meet a people who charmed me with their welcome and kindness. Even more incredible generosity considering that Myanmar (or Burma) has not in fact known a single year of peace since the Japanese dropped bombs on the capital in 1941. Then followed a war of independence, an uprising communist, the longest civil war in the world, and ethnic conflicts forcing the displacement of millions of Rohingya to the north.
During that time, just because I was lucky enough to be born here, I have fun on fatbikes and skiing ...
It has been 6 weeks since the Burmese army regained control of the country in yet another coup in their history.