Photo credit: IUF Asia-Pacific
Streets in towns and cities throughout Myanmar were empty on February 1 as citizens protested the illegitimacy and brutal repression of the military junta. The people of Myanmar demonstrated that the military only clings to power because of the collusion of international investors and the weak response of governments and intergovernmental agencies.
While the international community largely missed the significance of the ‘silent strike,’ the military junta has extended the state of emergency and escalated its brutal crackdown on pro-democracy activists and human rights defenders.
As a new wave of arrests, repression and state violence begins, the IUF calls on the international community to:
- Unreservedly condemn the military junta, its severe violation of human rights, the illegal arrests, and widespread violence and repression by the military and its hired thugs
- Condemn the fraudulent elections called for August 2023 which will be organized and run by the military junta and widely boycotted by the citizens of Myanmar
- Resist the propaganda that such elections are a ‘gradual return to democracy’ that warrants an easing of sanctions and a return of normal economic and trade relations
- Provide full recognition of the National Unity Government (NUG) as the legitimate government of the Myanmar people
IUF Asia-Pacific Regional Secretary Dr. Muhammed Hidayat Greenfield stated, “Any attempt by any part of a foreign government or any of its trade and investment bodies to present the August elections as a precursor to “business as usual” is complicity in crimes against humanity. In their silent strike on February 1, 2023, the people of Myanmar have spoken. We must pay attention, be outraged, and take action.”
