Insight Myanmar

Episode #154: When Kory Goldberg was just nineteen, he spent a year studying in India. After the program ended, he traveled around and kept “seeking out whatever I was seeking out,” he recalls. He attended daily lectures given by the Dalai Lama, and later visited a socially engaged meditation center in the tradition of Lama Zopa. Then after some other explorations, he sat a vipassana course in the...

Episode #153: Rahel and Damon Lam founded A Cup of Color in 2014. It is an organization with the goal of “bringing art to places where there is brokenness.” They have created art in public spaces in many places in Asia, and recently they carried out a project in Zurich, where they live, about the suffering in Myanmar. Their involvement was precipitated by a request to them from Raise Three Fingers...

Episode #152: Kristina Simion’s book, Rule of Law Intermediaries , looks at the complex transition period of the 2010s in Myanmar, when dramatic changes were sweeping across the country. Simion notes how even though real substantive change actually didn’t take place, there remained a sense of optimism that finally there would be some pathway leading out from under the military’s half century...

Episode #151: Tomas Martin is a prison researcher who presently works with DIGNITY, the Danish Institute Against Torture. His interest in prison research was first piqued when he heard about ten-day vipassana meditation courses in the tradition of S.N. Goenka being conducted in Tihar Jail outside of New Delhi. He is now focusing on how imprisonment in Myanmar, and its ramifications, and not only t...

Episode #150: Joining the podcast over a year after her previous interview , Thiri returns to update listeners on her own personal story, as well as to discuss the state of the resistance and the democracy movement. Thiri describes living with debilitating stress and constant fear until finally she decided she had to flee the country. It was not an easy decision, and transitioning to life in a new...

Episode #149: Nandar Min Swe is a fundraiser for the government in exile. She helped sell NUG bonds, as well as facilitating the sale of subdivided plots of land owned by Min Aung Hlaing and other the military, which can be redeemed upon a successful end to the revolution. These days, she is working on facilitating a cryptocurrency which can circumvent the military regime’s control over the n...

Episode #148: Melody Mociulski’s first trip to Burma was in 1974, during a round-the-world backpacking trip on the so-called “hippie trail.” A fellow traveler at one point convinced her to see Burma. So with little money in her pocket, flew to see for herself. It was the height of the hot season and swarming with mosquitoes, but Melody nonetheless was profoundly impacted by her brief sta...

Episode #147: Many years ago, Jesse Phenow signed up to be a volunteer at a resettlement organizing, initially thinking he would be “the friend and ally and welcomer that that they've been needing.’” But he found something quite different! “This family didn't need me; in fact, in a lot of ways, I was the welcomed, not the welcomer. That family’s posture and sense of welcome was something that I de...

Episode #145: Calvin Khoe, the Co-Director of Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI), speaks with us about ASEAN’s and Indonesia’s in role in the Myanmar conflict. Khoe emphasizes the importance of allowing ASEAN to lead detailed, closed-door conversations with a wide range of actors within Myanmar, and that it shouldn’t be rushed by outside parties. He criticizes Westerners who he feels are...

Episode #145: Who am I?” Valerie remembers asking herself this question while sitting in a meditation hall at Aung Lan Monastery late one evening. “Why are we seeking and loving so much about having this attraction and attachments? What is going on? And so, that's how I started out.” Born in Myanmar to a Chinese Muslim family and a later convert to Buddhism, Valerie eventually relocated to Califor...

Episode #144: In October 2007, Bobo witnessed uniformed soldiers beating Buddhist monks on the streets of Yangon. That experience radically changed the trajectory of his life. Bobo realized that any success or security he could accrue on an individual level through education and a profession could be snatched away without warning as long as the corrupt and cruel military regime remained in charge....

Episode #143: The Burma Act ’s origins can be traced to before the coup, according to Michael Haack, a longtime advocate. Its goal was to provide support for civil society while limiting the power of the military. One of its major features was calling out the Rohingya genocide, but Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell feared it would reflect poorly on his close friend, Aung San Suu Kyi, who at...

Episode #142: “What must a government do to be worthy of recognition?”  This is a question that Philipp Annawitt poses in a recent The Diplomat article, and discusses with Insight Myanmar Podcast vis-à-vis the NUG and its allies. The concept of “legitimacy” has evolved in the past couple of centuries century. Considering the various strands of “legitimacy” standards in present-day Myanmar, An...

Episode #141: Jon rejoins us one year following his interview last year, and straight away expresses how his original hopes for a nonviolent solution were somewhat naïve. In the past year, he has come to realize that he either must submit passively to military rule or fight back aggressively. So Jon has personally been involved in both non-violent and guerilla activities. The midst of all this, he...

Episode #140: Better Burma, in partnership with One Light Global, was proud to host "Myanmar's Voices for Freedom,” a panel discussion that bought together five, dynamic, Burmese nationals, each resisting the military regime in Myanmar in their own unique way. This full panel discussion has been modified into podcast format, and can be listened to here. The discussion explored a wide variety...

Episode #139: After Bhikkhuni Vimala (they/their) learned about military coup in Myanmar, they wanted to find a way to express their feelings against it. They ultimately landed on the idea of encouraging their monastic friends abroad to take a picture with their alms bowl overturned, since Burmese monastics would likely face arrest and torture for making such a statement. “Even just a simple actio...

Episode #138: “Almost everything was propaganda,” Paing comments, reflecting on his childhood growing up in Yangon. His release came in the form of artistic expression through music, largely influenced by Western bands and singers. He describes his songs as being gloomy and melancholic, which also characterizes his feelings about the recent, turbulent events in his country.  Recently, however...

Episode #137: A lifelong Czech diplomat and currently Ambassador to Austria, Jiří Šitler talks about his career and the interesting ties between his country and Myanmar. He first official task was to negotiate terms for German compensation of Czech citizens who had been victims of forced labor and Nazi war crimes. After this, he was given the Ambassadorship to Thailand. This led to further ambassa...

Episode #136: “I usually do what I want,” Nyein admits openly. Somewhat unusual for a woman in traditional Burmese culture, it is an attitude Nyein cultivated during the democratic transition period of the 2010s. Since the coup, she has become quite possibly the country’s only female photojournalist, one who has captured some of the most violent examples of military oppression. However, she h...

Episode #135: “We just felt like we knew Myanmar, and it didn't seem like a foreign place to us.” So says Tamara Edwards, currently the Center Teacher at Dhamma Pabha, a vipassana meditation center in the tradition of S.N. Goenka. A chance encounter led Tamara to her first course in 1990. The teachings stuck, and she became dedicated to the practice. Together she and her Dhamma partner, Jamie, sat...

Episode #134: Liv Gaborit, a Danish social scientist with a background in psychology, conducted a groundbreaking study about intensive vipassana meditation retreats offered in the tradition of S. N. Goenka in notorious, overcrowded, Insein prison. Gaborit was told a story about a high-level military figure who regretted his bloody actions in suppressing the 1988 democratic uprising. Seeking spirit...

Episode #133: Zach Abuza, a professor at the National War College who shared his analysis of the Burmese military in our previous discussion, now turns his attention to the resistance movement. While initially the concern about the Peoples’ Defense Force [PDFs] was that they were well -intentioned yet poorly trained individuals going up against a ruthless and brutal military, much has changed sinc...

Episode #132: Zach Abuza, a columnist at Radio Free Asia and a professor at the National War College in Washington, DC, provides his analysis of the tactical and strategic situation facing the Tatmadaw nearly two years into their attempted coup. He debunks several theories regarding the Burmese military. One is the size of the Burmese military, which he believes is much smaller than is often assum...

Episode #131: Mike Davis is CEO of Global Witness, an international NGO that seeks “justice for those disproportionately affected by the climate crisis: people in the global south, indigenous communities and communities of colour, women and younger generations.” It published two groundbreaking reports on Myanmar’s mining industry. One is Jade and Conflict , which shines a light on the dangers, cor...

Episode #130: Igor Blaževič experienced the chaos, violence and fear of the Bosnian War at a young age. Once the war ended, Igor wanted to support others who were suffering from the lack of freedom he had only just escaped from. With this in mind, Igor traveled to such hotspots as Kosovo, Chechnya, Cuba, Belarus, and eventually to Myanmar. This work led to a close friendship with Czech P...