98 THE CARAVANEditor’s Pick
on 18 august 1988 , a Burmese demonstrator ad-
dresses a large crowd of pro-democracy protesters
gathered outside the general hospital at Rangoon.
Twenty-six years of one-party military rule, under
the Burma Socialist Programme Party, had left the
economy in tatters, fanning discontent among stu-
dents, Buddhist monks, activists and disaffected
soldiers. The protests forced General Ne Win, who
had taken power in a 1962 coup d’état, to resign as
chairperson of the BSPP on 23 July 1988. Even as
he promised elections and handed over the reins
of the state to his successor, Sein Liwn, Ne Win
warned opponents of the regime: “When the army
shoots, it shoots to kill.”
Ne Win’s resignation spurred attempts to estab-
lish multi-party democracy and civil oversight of
the military. Large sections of the populace, even
in rural areas, united under the fighting peacock
insignia of the All-Burma Federation of Student
Unions. A general strike and mass demonstrations
were planned for 8 August 1988, because of whichthe protests are known as the 8888 Uprising. The
National League for Democracy, under Aung San
Suu Kyi, rose to prominence by organising some of
the largest political rallies.
However, Ne Win’s warning soon came to pass.
The military responded by shooting unarmed
demonstrators. Estimates of the death toll range
between three thousand and ten thousand. On 18
September, the military top brass was reconstitut-
ed as the State Law and Order Restoration Com-
mittee. The junta allowed multi-party elections in
1990, but ignored the result after the NLD won by
a landslide.
Suu Kyi eventually led the NLD to form a gov-
ernment after a legislative election in 2015. How-
ever, she has kept in place a number of the junta’s
repressive laws, and her government is seen to be
appeasing the military and Buddhist nationalists.
She also faces international condemnation over
her failure to prevent—or even condemn—the on-
going genocidal campaign against the Rohingya.afp / getty images