An interview with Ma Christine, Spokesperson of the Revolutionary Youth Conference, about the matters related to the conference.
For the fight against the military government, military group and military bureaucracy, more than 80 young revolutionaries participating in 67 organizations from 13 different backgrounds, such as armed revolutionary organizations, CDM (Civil Disobedience Movement) groups, ethnic youth organizations, student unions and women’s organizations, held a three-day conference on the revolutionary youth from 27 to 29 December.
After the conference, an open letter was sent to the organizations leading policy and decisions in the revolution, namely the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), National Unity Government (NUG), Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), federal councils and ethnic revolutionary forces.
The Shanni Voice interviewed Ma Christine, the spokesperson of the Revolutionary Youth Conference, about the issues such as requests and recommendations to the revolutionary leadership groups, including the NUG, and the difficulties currently faced by the youth participating in the revolution. They also sent an 11-point request and recommendation letter.
Q: The three-day conference of the revolutionary youth was held. So please explain the purpose of this conference first.
A: With the intensification of the revolution, especially the political tide needs to be in balance with the military tide. I believe that only then will we be able to handle not only the current situation, but also the revolutionary problems that may arise in the future. For this reason, the purpose of this event was to meet and discuss with the young revolutionaries participating in the revolution (especially the young people who are active in various sectors of the revolution).
Another reason is that young people don’t want to talk too much. They only want to do what needs to be done in practical work places by avoiding the places where there are many problems and they have to talk too much. However, it is also a fundamental task to exchange their views, thoughts and experiences on the current situations and shifts. Therefore, young people will gather and exchange their views and ideas at this event. It is trying to integrate the differences by bringing out the common agreements among the different perspectives.
Q: The results obtained from the discussion were sent to the NUCC, the NUG and the ethnic resistance forces in an open letter. Please tell me what are the main points included in the open letter.
A: At the conference, different topics were discussed. Sub-sections encompassed the overall crisis faced during the revolution, challenges and difficulties in military, political, employment, health and education sectors faced by young people, the strategy and tactics that will continue to be used during the rising revolution, participation and recognition of young people in this revolution and the situation in which young people’s thoughts and ideas are taken into account. In the open letter, our demands were excerpted from these sectors.
Q: The open letter sent to the groups leading the revolution mainly makes demands for youth. As a participant in the current revolution, how do you see the role of the youth in the revolution?
A: Since the coup on 1 February 2021, the young people have been taking on the responsibility of their respective roles. Here, they are participating in this journey with a single belief that “we can’t tolerate being treated unfairly.” Here, I would definitely like to say that it is a completely different matter from those who walk through it by creating a place and situation with the help of pre-existing positions. However, the revolution takes a certain period of time. As people and things get mixed up, the types of people I mentioned earlier think that these young people do what they want.
I consider this to be a really deviant move in this revolution. The desire of young people is to end this revolution swiftly. They want to do what they have to do by making firm agreements as much as they can negotiate mutually solvable problems. It seems that it is not so simple among those who lead the initiative and deal with the philosophy and problems that we see as so simple. There are grasps. It doesn’t seem to have taken account of the discussions and questions by the youth forces. However, our young people will continue to do what we have to do. We will keep pushing to take account of our questions and ideas.
Q: Among the difficulties and challenges faced by young people are female comrades and those with different sexual orientations, it is reported that there is no physical and mental security, lack of clear action against sexual assaults and lack of protection. Currently, what are the most common situations faced by female comrades and people of different sexual orientations? Does the lack of clear action against the victims mean that the perpetrators are free? What kinds of people are the perpetrators most likely to be?
A: This is an issue that we are facing especially on the ground right now. Not only women and people of different sexual orientations, but also male soldiers face various forms of sexual assault. Here the actions taken and subsequent punishments go against the rules set. Responsible persons turn a blind eye to the offenses committed by the criminals citing the close relation and a lack of human resources. Only by dealing with this carefully will they become more powerful comrades.
Q: There is also a demand for the right people in the right place and financial transparency in the functioning of NUG’s administrative mechanism. What kind of form do you see now? and what do the revolutionary youth demand?
A: We discussed the need for more transparency and systematic management. We also discussed some situations that need to be controlled on the ground. The right person in the right place is to appoint qualified people for key jobs. It is because those from one group are leading the participation, including the appointment of close persons and own people.
There is also the matter of the right person in the right place to accelerate the revolution and deal with some of the problems that need to be solved in a more workable manner.
Q: The revolutionary youth held a three-day conference. So please tell me about the biggest challenge facing the youth in the current revolution?
A: If you say one word about the difficulties faced by young people, it is “social security”. Even if youth put aside second-class status like education and health, they struggle for daily survival. This is a common difficulty faced by all. Faced with these, they are walking on the path of faith. However, it doesn’t mean that the management of those who are in charge of the government should work less and less as long as they can (somehow) ignore it because it is convenient to stay like this.
We urged the NUG to carry out systematic management for the current and future problems and carefully work more than now although there are things that the NUG is not fully processing. During this revolution, young people are facing various situations including the exploitation of labor and wages by so-called revolutionary organizations. They have to overcome the situation, with the conditions and the words that some voices are silenced because they are making a revolution. If those really take a leading role and those consider themselves to be leaders, then these issues cannot be ignored and these must be included in the issues that must be dealt with consistently.
Another thing we have requested is to set aside emergency funds for health. Health care is especially needed for the young people who have been in liberated areas and forests and moved across the border. During this revolution, our forces often use the big terms like federal education and federal health. In reality, we still have a long way to go to reach a level that matches these terms.
It is still weak in preparing for even the sector to maintain and apply the existing academic qualifications of CDM students and pursue their education within the controlled areas. We also discussed these matters. If we don’t deal with the situations we are facing now as important events, in the post-revolutionary period, our human resources and qualified future youths will become flawed human beings and will have to struggle again for a long period of time in building a future country.
Q: The open letter was sent to the organizations leading the revolution. Do you believe there will be changes for the revolutionary youth through this?
A: Our people have to take a little time. Even though they knew in advance that there would be a coup, they were not the ones who could have made preparations. We don’t expect people to immediately know and accept that this is something we’re going to do together to make it really good by just showing that there is a problem. Even now, some of us are making comments about the situation online, saying that we are bandied about the fact that our revolution has achieved success. We have accepted it as reality. However, we believe that rather than not saying, pointing out is the beginning of thinking. Through this, we can push to make better moves. I definitely believe that it will work. We need to take time.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to add about the revolutionary youth?
A: This revolutionary youth conference is the first step. From this event, we agreed to meet every “6” months to discuss and find solutions to the problems. We will hold discussions with the forces while sending the open letters and the closed letters again. What I want to add here is that we believe in the revolution. We hate the dictator. We are determined to root out the dictator. These people’s statements about which organization they want to disturb are very wrong comments. All the problems caused during the revolution need solving during this time. Doing these is for our future.
Sent by Shanni Voice.