Pro-democracy journals become latest lifeline for a movement under siege

Faced with growing restrictions on internet access, anti-coup protesters in Myanmar are increasingly turning to a medium favoured by an earlier generation of activists to continue their struggle against military rule.

With the flow of information steadily slowing across the country, printed political journals have found renewed relevance as a means of amplifying calls for democracy.

With titles like Towards, Molotov, The Voice of Spring, and The Milestone of Spring, these journals are also an expression of the radical hopefulness of a generation determined to reclaim the relative freedom of the past decade.

Published mainly by student activists, these journals began appearing in late March, during the darkest days so far of the junta’s ongoing efforts to crush pro-democracy protests.

“Internet access has become difficult and the media are restricted. In this situation, we have to follow the old-fashioned methods,” said a former member of the student union.

Molotov—which takes its name from the petrol bombs that have been used at some protests to repel heavily armed regime forces cracking down on peaceful rallies—emerged on April 1.

The young activists who publish the journal cited the same issues—the junta’s oppression and the mobile internet black-out it has imposed across the country—as reasons for bringing it into print.

They explained that their goal was to keep the general public informed and engaged, and to share resistance techniques.

The first issue was eight pages in length and featured, in addition to articles, poems, and cartoons, the messages of fallen protesters. The second, 12-page issue came out a week later and focused on practical tips for fighting the revolution.

While the return of journals is in many ways a throwback to the days of the 1988 uprising, before the advent of many modern telecommunications tools, the new generation of activists has not cut its ties to electronic media entirely.

The Voice of Spring, which started publication on April 5, provides daily news bulletins to its readers, both in print and via SMS services. Like the other journals, it also publishes on Facebook, the most popular social media platform in Myanmar.

But amid rumours that the regime, which has already banned mobile internet, public WiFi, and portable WiFi broadband, is planning to shut down what’s left of the internet in the country, print journals have become increasingly important.

Distributed on the streets and in markets by young activists, these publications have the added advantage of reaching members of the general public who are not necessarily fully engaged in the movement.

The publishers of Towards and Molotov say they distribute mainly in Yangon; in the case of Molotov, that includes even the townships that are currently under martial law.

The Voice of Spring, meanwhile, is available not only in Myanmar’s largest city, but also in rural areas, its publishers told Myanmar Now.