Battles began in the town of Lay Kay Kaw in Karen State’s Myawaddy Township in mid-December after the military raided the area and arrested some 30 people—including an MP from the ousted National League for Democracy party—who were sheltering there to flee junta arrests in urban areas following the February 1 military coup.
The military has been carrying out offensives in Lay Kay Kaw and the surrounding areas along the Thai-Myanmar border—territory controlled by the ethnic armed organisation the Karen National Union (KNU)—using heavy weapons and carrying out airstrikes. At least two civilians were killed by the junta’s shelling and several thousand locals living in Lay Kay Kaw and nearby villages were forced to flee. As many as 4,000 crossed the Moei River to Thailand, seeking refuge.
Myanmar Now interviewed KNU spokesperson Padoh Saw Taw Nee on Monday about the recent military attacks situated within the long history of the Karen revolution, and the continued contributions of Myanmar’s youth to the anti-coup struggle.
Myanmar Now: The military has been focusing their attacks on Lay Kay Kaw. We were told that they were carrying out airstrikes on the afternoon of December 27. What would you like to say about this situation?
Saw Taw Nee: There has been a great deal of military pressure. We could hear them firing artillery shells even at 4am [on December 27]. I’ve heard that battles are taking place in four different places. There have been several casualties but we don’t have the exact details yet.
MN: Could you comment on the military employing the air force during these battles, considering that they started doing so after the KNU asked for the international community to declare the region a no-fly zone?
STN: There haven’t been many changes in the military’s attitude. How do I put it? They’ve always been this way. They regard the people of the country as their enemies.
The fact that they’re using heavy weapons and airstrikes shows that they’re not operating based on military targets but on civilian targets. Civilians continue to die everyday, so we can assume that they haven’t changed at all. They’ve always done things like this.
Also, as we all know, the international community can’t take any immediate action no matter how much we request that they do so. We knew this. There are procedures to follow, such as meetings and negotiations that have to be done.
We have planned to get through this on our own. There’s not much in particular that I can talk about but it’s obvious that the military continues to do what they have always done.
MN: What does the KNU think about this military pressure?
STN: This is a defensive war, which means it could end in a short period of time or it could take a long time. For example, our Karen revolution started in 1949 and it’s been ongoing ever since. Some elders said that it was going to end in three months. But it didn’t even after 30 years, or 60 years. It’s been over 70 years now. It started in the age of our grandparents and now we, their grandchildren, have taken over the revolution.
This shows that we, the Karen people, didn’t surrender and we continue to revolt against injustice. So we will do what we have to do. We can’t say for certain when this resistance war will end. But we have demonstrated loud and clear that we won’t surrender and submit to injustice.
MN: Can we assume that the military carried out airstrikes because they were losing on the ground?
STN: Of course we can. They had nowhere left to stand. Their troops are also starting to lose their spirit as they have to face death and destruction everywhere they go. So, they started shelling and carrying out airstrikes on villages.
To shoot our troops, they don’t know where our troops are so they’re just randomly shooting point blank, so many innocent civilians get shot, thereby making more people hate them. If you look at this carefully, you can already see how this revolution is going to end.
When they hurt people, all of us are upset and we can understand people’s frustration. We run for safety not because we are scared but because we need to stay alive to fight back. That’s basically what guerrilla warfare is.
MN: What does the KNU think about the Spring Revolution, which was brought about by the military coup?
STN: Because of previous military coups in our history, the Bamar majority generally are disgusted by the dictatorship and do not accept it. What is particularly different this time is that the Bamar majority has now come to understand that the KNU and the Karen revolution is a justified fight.
Many of our Karen people have lived with a lot of Bamar people in their lives. And I have many childhood friends who are Bamar and I know this well; those who live alongside us have changed their mindsets [towards Karen people]. It is not like before… It is completely different now. It is really unique and a real strength [for our country’s revolution.]
Another thing I would like to address is the diplomatic success during this revolution. Back in 1988-era, there was the NCGUB (National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma) that also tried very hard for legitimacy at the United Nations, like the credentials challenge that we recently had [between the junta and the National Unity Government (NUG), in which the junta was not recognised as Myanmar’s UN representative]. They fought for it too but didn’t succeed.
But today, all the people who are working together for the anti-dictatorship movement have shown the world how much we have succeeded in the credentials challenge. The military council has not gotten a legitimate role anywhere.
The third thing to address is the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). As far as I know, many government employees are not collaborating with the military anymore. This is very special too.
Another factor is the force of youth. They’re nothing like the youth of our generation. Back in our days during the 1988 era, we could only learn about what was going on when we would tune in to BBC radio at night. Now, no matter how much they [the military] try to lie, the youth always find out the truth. This is the strength of the Generation Z on our side.
The emergence of the People’s Defence Force (PDF) groups was something that the coup regime did not expect at all. People from across the country are revolting against them with whatever weapons they can find, in regions like Sagaing, Magway, and Chin. That didn’t happen in our 1988 era, either. Battles have been taking place on a daily basis, which is something the military did not calculate at all and even underestimated when it happened. This is a very different situation. They have been unable to crush them.
The more they treat the people as enemies, the more clashes they will face and the more enemies they will have. Truth be told, they could try but they would never be able to kill the entire population of the country. People are going to continue to revolt against them in any way that they can. Even if the revolution has not been that systematic lately, it is going to be in the near future because we are not going to stop.
What I would like to tell our Bamar comrades is that the military couldn’t even knock out our Karen people. Now, the whole Bamar population is standing with Karen people—how could they defeat us? The battle is going to be great. That’s it.
MN: Many people are criticising the NUG for not being able to provide enough weapons for the resistance forces. What would you like to say to the NUG and to the youth?
STN: We know that people are frustrated with the NUG for not being supportive enough in terms of arms support to the resistance forces. It’s not wrong. I could relate to them as the youth are always very eager to end injustice. I was at their age too. We’ve been there before. The youth are always going to feel frustrated with older people. However, I would like to say that we are doing the best we can at the time being. We can imagine what we want to do. But not all things are doable in the way we imagine. We need to be practical about how we can overcome difficulties and emerge from all those struggles. This is the reality.
The main thing that the youth are not happy about is the inadequacy of weapons. We can buy weapons all we want after we get recognised as a legitimate government by the international community. Now we can’t do that. They should understand such a situation but it’s hard to explain this to people who have no experience with armed struggle. However, there are things we need to do better.
However, I would like to encourage the youth and say that there will always be certain barriers and difficulties. I would like to let them know that we are trying our best to overcome those barriers.
