Insight Myanmar

Episode #111: Emerging from under decades of harsh censorship, local journalism and investigative reporting made great strides in Myanmar during the democratic transition in the 2010s. But all that was wiped out in a single blow when the military grabbed power. They began revoking licenses, arresting journalists, and torturing and even killing some in prison, posing a real risk to anyone trying to...

Episode #110: Ariya Baumann’s spiritual journey began far away from the tropical surroundings of the Golden Land. She grew in a small town in Switzerland, among the snowy Alps. Raised in a Christian home, she began to ask herself existential questions about God. As she began to investigate possible answers, she came across some writings on Buddhism, and was immediately intrigued by the promise of...

Stephen Campbell has spent the last twelve years studying labor movements in Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries. Going back and forth across the history of the country’s labor movement, he describes something of a convoluted legacy of the role of labor in Myanmar, leading through the transition period and into the coup. 1988 was a watershed year for labor in Myanmar, according to Campbell...

“You can you hear from how I speak that these days, I am very distracted and distressed by the development of the entire thing,” Han Htoo Khant Paing admits during this urgent and emotional interview. Han Htoo is the author of a recent The Diplomat article describing the four state executions that the Tatmadaw has ordered. In the context of the military’s terrible brutality and atrocities—abductin...

Soeya Min first got his start in the travel industry, then switched to the entertainment field. When the pandemic struck, with a lot of free time on his hands, he started learning about psychology. All these endeavors led him to podcasts, and he started up his own program, called Thoughts and Opinions , in which he talks with guests from a wide range of backgrounds. More than just looking to boost...

Like many of his Bamar colleagues, Khun Be Du and his Karenni community first attempted to resist the military coup through non-violent means. When that could no longer be sustained, he banded together with friends to form a local defense force. Today, he is playing a leading role in the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF), while also serving as Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Env...

The days turned dark in March 2020 when the Burmese military began attacking and killing nonviolent protesters. Soon after the crackdown, activists still courageous enough to take to the streets began holding signs that read: “We Need R2P.”  R2P, or the Responsibility to Protect, is an international norm that the UN unanimously adopted in 2005, which purports to protect populations around the...

The Myanmar military’s violent response to the democracy movement has caused angst among many devout Burmese Buddhists about how to defend themselves and their fundamental freedoms, while remaining true to their religion. Many are faced with that line where the cold edge of sila (ethics) melts along the warm edge of lived experience. Is sila black-and-white, or might there be more shades...

Kenton Clymer joins the podcast to speak about his book, " A Delicate Relationship: The United States and Burma/Myanmar since 1945." In the waning days of World War II, Americans were primarily concerned with stopping the spread of Communism, especially after Mao’s revolution, which thrust neighboring Burma into an important geopolitical position. Initially, the US thought that U Nu, Burma’s first...

Ma Thida’s book, Prisoner of Conscience , details her remarkable and inspiring life journey. She was attending medical school when, in 1988, the military violently suppressed peaceful protesters. Soon, she found herself volunteering at local NLD offices that had formed in the wake of the unrest. In 1993 Ma Thida was arrested on a trumped up charge and given 20 years. Adjustment to prison life was...

While our recent episodes have focused on the reality in Myanmar, this show explores the condition of allies outside the country who support the democracy movement. Although free from physical harm and living in basic safety, many find that they shoulder a heavy emotional burden by immersing themselves so deeply in the struggles and trauma experienced every day by the people of Myanmar, even if fr...

The past ten years of Myanmar’s history have certainly not been boring, and journalist Mratt Kyaw Thu has been there to chronicle a lot of it. Hailing from Rakhine state, Mratt made his way to Yangon in 2005, graduating from Dagon University and going into journalism soon after. He worked for Mizzima, where he ended up on the crime beat, and also began covering stories about the military’s snatchi...

On February 1st, 2021, General Min Aung Hlaing orchestrated a military coup in Myanmar. On February 24th, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized missiles and airstrikes as the first blow in his invasion of Ukraine. On today’s show, two very experienced and highly credentialed international relations experts compare and contrast these two crises: Hunter Marston, who speaks to the si...

Episode #98: Linn Thant never expected to see another military coup in Myanmar. In 1988, he was arrested, locked away, tortured for years and eventually sentenced to death. So Linn Thant did not expect to live much longer.  Linn Thant spent a total of twenty years in prison, eight of those on Death Row. He was beaten so badly that both his leg and collarbone were broken, and every tooth was k...

From deep meditative absorption with Pa Auk Sayadaw, to sitting in caves in southern Spain in the company of drug addicts and criminals, Beth Upton has led a most amazing spiritual life!   In 2008, Beth went to Pa Auk Monastery in Myanmar to take a deeper plunge into the spiritual life, and she remained there for five years. She cultivated deep states of jhāna under his tutelage, an...

Some listeners may recall Chit Tun’s first interview with Insight Myanmar , just weeks after the coup was launched. At that time, he was leading nonviolent protests throughout Yangon. He was hiding out at a monastery, his voice hoarse from the speeches he’d been giving, and the internet being cut in the middle of the talk. Shortly after that interview, Chit Tun escaped a manhunt by going on the ru...

Nelson Mandela famously said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Conversely, one of the best ways to prevent change within a society is to limit access, censure what is taught and stifle creative thought. And the military leadership in Myanmar have been doing just this for generations. Saw Tar fills in as guest host in this episode about the role of educ...

Pyae Phyo Kyaw, a gay doctor, is simultaneously helping his countrymen while taking a sledgehammer to the barriers that have long defined Burmese society. Pyae Phyo Kyaw was aware of his sexual orientation from a young age, and the lack of acceptance grew heavy. He attempted suicide several times, until he finally found a way to let go of his inner shame. He was determined to come out, which he di...

In the aftermath of student strikes in 1968, Alan left Columbia University and moved to Berkeley, California. There, he found himself amid a whirlwind of social unrest: the counter-culture movement, anti-war protests, experimentation with mind-altering chemicals, and increasingly violent crackdowns by the police. Eventually Alan came across Philip Kapleau’s book, The Three Pillars of Zen , and was...

Most people would not regard a violent military coup as the best time to start an organization, but that's exactly what Katie Craig and her partners did!  Katie has worked with minority language communities around Myanmar for years, which gives her unique insight into the historical, cultural, and political challenges that such communities face. Given the Burmanization policies of the governm...

“I think Tatmadaw is a place where soldiers and their families have lost their human rights,” Su Thit asserts. Her bold criticism of Myanmar's military is somewhat unusual because her husband was one of the several hundred thousand soldiers employed by the Tatmadaw.   The couple had enjoyed beginning their adult lives in a transitioning democracy. In a free society, the military would have it...

Like so many other spiritual seekers from the West, Kim Shelton and her husband were attracted to Myanmar by the opportunities that the country presents for developing a deeper Buddhist practice. Kim’s experience there inspired her to create a feature-length documentary, One Thousand Mothers , which examines life in a Buddhist nunnery in the Sagaing Hills. Kim learned that many girls became nuns d...

When films examine a subject in detail, it’s sometimes described as a “meditation on…” that particular theme. Golden Kingdom, a 2015 film by Brian Perkins, fits this expression in more ways than one. Brian himself is a dedicated meditator, which affected the artistic choices he made as director. For example, Brian and his crew slept in the monastery for the duration of the shoot, and he spent...

Kenneth Wong, a Burmese language instructor at UC Berkeley, has spent a lifetime studying the history of Burmese films, and is one of the organizers of the Burma Spring Benefit Film Festival. He grew up in Yangon half a century ago and remembers the formulaic, romantic comedies that the Burmese movie industry churned out each year, escapist films that rarely touched on relevant social issues....

For her first post-coup documentary, Padauk: Myanmar Spring, Jeanne Hallacy’s team employed a technique called “in-depth personal storytelling,” and the results were simply stunning.  It allows the viewer a much more intimate look into how the movement—and the ensuing crackdown—developed. Padauk is one of many films featured in the Burma Spring Benefit Film Festival, a virtual streaming event...