At the IEU’s August Council meeting, Macquarie University economist Professor Sean Turnell and activist Tasneem Roc from the Myanmar Campaign Network provided an update on the dire situation in Myanmar.
Detained on 6 February 2021, less than a week after the military junta staged a coup, Turnell spent 650 days in some of Myanmar’s most notorious prisons.
In overthrowing the democratically elected government, the coup sparked widespread protests and civil disobedience movements across Myanmar. These were met with a violent military crackdown, leading to numerous casualties and arrests.
The power of books
Professor Turnell shared his personal experience of relying on reading to cope with the challenges of being imprisoned. “Books saved my life,” Professor Turnell said. “I had a very eclectic range of books over the whole time I was there. I got 127 books sent to me from all around the world, and I left them there so that they’re now part of the prison library.”
On returning to Australia, Professor Turnell has published two books: An Unlikely Prisoner and Best Laid Plans.
Boycotting the regime
Tasneem Roc talked about how health workers were the first to openly defy the military junta by boycotting state-run hospitals and participating in strikes. Their role in the civil disobedience movement was pivotal. “Over 400,000 government employees from the education system joined the civil disobedience movement, as well as engineers, bank workers, railway workers and many other civil servants with nearly 10 million students boycotting the regime’s education system,” Roc said.
The situation in Myanmar remains dire. More than 5350 civilians have been killed, including 678 children. There are more than 3 million internally displaced persons living within Myanmar and over 1.3 million refugees have fled to neighbouring countries.
Half of the population is now living in poverty, primarily due to the escalation of violence since the military coup.
A motion from the union
After Professor Turnell and Tasneem Roc spoke, the IEUA NSW/ACT Branch endorsed a motion in support of the work of the Myanmar Campaign Network:
The Council of the IEUA NSW/ACT Branch acknowledges and congratulates Professor Sean Turnell, Tasneem Roc and the Myanmar Campaign Network for their unrelenting efforts in supporting the people of Myanmar in their struggle for workers’ rights and democracy.
Council calls on the Australian Government to support the Myanmar Campaign Network in its efforts to bring further pressure on Myanmar’s military junta to end systemic human rights abuses and to bring about the restoration of democracy.
For more information, visit: myanmarcampaignnetwork.org