Unsung Heroes: Stories of Detainment

The Spring Revolution has brought people together from across the country, with diverse backgrounds and life experiences, to fight against military oppression: community leaders, CDM protesters, religious leaders, ex-political prisoners, poets, parents, children, pregnant women, farmers, lawyers, nurses, activists, CDM workers, students and ordinary civilians. People in the pro-democracy movement across Burma have worked tirelessly for their beliefs. The military is waging a war on the people of Burma.

Through its brutal human rights violations, including arrests, enforced disappearances, property seizures, and censorship, the military junta aims to wipe out the memory of the pro-democracy movement. They have committed countless abuses, arbitrarily arresting people as political prisoners and abusing them in jail. But the prisons are simply a reflection of the society in which they are situated. Throughout society, the military are also committing brutal acts of violence and oppression to those that have never set foot in a prison cell. Multiple human rights abuses are carried out indiscriminately to civilians across the country, from small villages near the frontlines of war, to the major urban centres of Yangon and Mandalay.

Yet, the military have failed in their quest to wipe out the memory of the Spring Revolution. Many organisations, including AAPP, continue to preserve the memory of political prisoners and fallen heroes, to honour their sacrifices, and to hold the military accountable for their actions. Due to this tireless work, everybody knows about the brutality of the military. Despite their cruel violence, the struggle for democracy continues.

“We could not fill these pages with the stories of all of the heroes of the Spring Revolution. However, we hope that by telling the stories of heroes as well as perhaps lesser-known ordinary people, from across the country, from different walks of life, we can preserve a snapshot of the Spring Revolution and the memories of people’s impact and resilience in the face of evil, so that in the future we can look back and remember more than just their names.”

              Around the heart,

             Planted like iron,

             We need memories.

             Without memories,

             When the dead visit,

             What shall we offer?

             – Poem by Aung Khin Myint

Original File Download Here; unsung hero.aapp