The Future is Federal
While the CRPH-led Federal Charter is a positive first step, a future Federal Constitution must follow a step-by-step process, co-led by ethnic political and civil society actors, and be inclusive of all peoples of Myanmar at all steps of the process, including a provisional constitution, to be agreed upon by a convention with all relevant stakeholders, before forming a national government, in order to address the root causes of the conflict and military rule.
The idea of a federal future for Myanmar upon the success of the revolution is gaining more traction. Long advocated for by ethnic groups as a durable solution to the problems of the Myanmar nation-state and military rule, the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) has produced a federal charter and announced the abolishment of the military-drafted 2008 Constitution. Meanwhile, more ethnic armed organizations, general strike committees and civil society organizations are collaborating with the CRPH and offering their support to the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).
The problems with the 2008 Constitution are well documented and images of demonstrators burning copies on the streets after the CRPH announced its abolishment are most welcome. Drafted by the Myanmar military and promulgated after a sham referendum, it centralizes political power, ensures that the military holds three of the most important ministries – Border Affairs, Home Affairs, and Defense – and that serving military personnel are allocated 25% Parliamentary seats. The 25% designation in Parliament was an effective veto for constitutional change, which necessitated a vote of over 75% in Parliament. While the Daw Aung San Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy (NLD) party opted to work largely within the confines of this Constitution, ethnic groups, including ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) and civil society have consistently referred to the Constitution as a stumbling block for any meaningful reforms towards the establishment of a federal democracy.
With the announcement of a federal charter by the CRPH, which represents 76% of the MPs elected in the 2020 elections that the military is attempting to override with its February 1st coup, and the declaration that the 2008 Constitution is null and void, there is hope for a more inclusive future. Rather than a return to a status quo of Bamar elite-led politics, however, in which a merry dance between the NLD and the military waltzed the country through genocide, a failed peace process and marginalization of religious and ethnic minorities, there is momentum for new system of governance that is not only based on federalism and ethnic equality, but one that recognizes Rohingya as a part of a Myanmar nation, embraces inclusivity, and protects the rights of all peoples. While the CRPH-led Federal Charter is a positive first step, a future Federal Constitution must follow a step-by-step process, co-led by ethnic political and civil society actors, and be inclusive of all peoples of Myanmar at all steps of the process, including a provisional constitution, to be agreed upon by a convention with all relevant stakeholders, before forming a national government, in order to address the root causes of the conflict and military rule.
An alliance between the Nobel-Peace prize nominated CDM and ethnic groups will be key to the success of the revolution. In fact, one of the key actors of the resistance, the General Strike Committee – Nationalities has urged EAOs to protect unarmed civilians, while several EAOs, including the Karen National Union (KNU), the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the Three Brotherhood Alliance, which comprises the Arakan Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and the Peace Process Steering Team which includes signatories to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, have condemned the military regime and vowed to work against the junta. The military junta knows the dangers of a multi-ethnic alliance that also includes the CDM resistance currently on the streets of towns and cities across Myanmar, and has launched brutal military offensives in ethnic areas, aiming to stymie any efforts by EAOs to seize this moment while continuing its nationwide violent attack against civilians in urban and rural areas across the country. Last month it launched airstrikes against KIA positions, while in KNU areas, northern Karen State, airstrikes have been continuously launched since March 27, displacing 20,000 people internally and causing several thousand to attempt to cross the border with Thailand. Dozens of Karen villagers have died as a result, including children.
The KNU has always been one of the most politically important EAOs, and has been providing support and sanctuary for members of the CDM, political entities, civil society actors and activists, not hesitating to provide shelter and humanitarian aid. Not only should Thailand allow refugees to cross over from Karen territory, but also allow international humanitarian organizations and local service providers to work without restriction. International humanitarian organizations must provide aid to these groups, including the provision of cross-border aid which diminished in recent years amid the false promises of Myanmar’s ‘democratic’ transition. Local CBOs and political actors in ethnic areas already have their resources stretched as they resist the Myanmar military and help those displaced from the brutal airstrikes, as well as continue their support to existing IDP camps and populations in need due to decades of Myanmar military brutality. They cannot keep relying on individual donations, and as the international community remains paralyzed in terms of concerted action, cross-border humanitarian support is a concrete way to help the victims of the military junta’s awful violence.
The Myanmar military is only scaling up its violence in order to take complete control of the whole country, fearing the unprecedented unity of opposition to military rule. The violent dispersal of protests, the continuation of arbitrary arrests and the use of lethal force, demonstrates that the military has no intention of backing down, while the latest internet restrictions are further blocking information coming out of the country, (the self-serving, egotistical CNN trip aside). Cooperation between ethnic actors, the CDM and the General Strike Committees, supported by the efforts of campaigners and advocates from outside Myanmar and around the world, including efforts to impose targeted sanctions, will bring down the military regime. It will force them to fight on multiple fronts, all the while delegitimize them. This cooperation also provides an opportunity to rewrite Myanmar’s history, and constitute a nation that is organized around equality, justice and accountability, devolved power, and inclusive of the country’s myriad ethnic and religious groups. A federal future awaits.
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[1] One year following the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, the former military junta changed the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar overnight. Progressive Voice uses the term ‘Myanmar’ in acknowledgement that most people of the country use this term. However, the deception of inclusiveness and the historical process of coercion by the former State Peace and Development Council military regime into usage of ‘Myanmar’ rather than ‘Burma’ without the consent of the people is recognized and not forgotten. Thus, under certain circumstances, ‘Burma’ is used.
Resources from the past week
Statements and Press Releases
By 41 INGOs working in Myanmar
By 56 Thai Organizations
By ALTSEAN-Burma
By Asia Pacific Network of Refugees
UN Security Council Barriers are no Excuse for International Inaction on Myanmar
By Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီပဋိညာဥ် ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာခြင်း
By Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
ဖွဲ့စည်းပုံအခြေခံဥပဒေ (၂၀၀၈ ခုနှစ်) ကို အပြီးသတ် ဖျက်သိမ်းကြောင်း ကြေညာခြင်း။
By Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
ညီနောင်မဟာမိတ် (၃)ဖွဲ့၏ ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေငြာချက်ကို CRPH ကြိုဆို
By Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
Call for Comprehensive Economic Sanctions including MOGE
By Federation of General Workers Myanmar
By Free Burma Rangers
International pressure grows as Myanmar’s generals commit crimes against humanity
By Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Myanmar: Hundreds Forcibly Disappeared
By Human Rights Watch
By International Child Rights Center
By International Federation of Red Cross
By Justice For Myanmar
By Justice For Myanmar
Port of Complicity: Adani in Myanmar
By Justice For Myanmar
By Karen Human Rights Group
By Karen National Union
Amid deadly crackdowns on urban protests, regime’s troops commit fresh war crimes in northern Burma
By Kachin Women’s Association Thailand
CRPH က ထုတ်ပြန်ရန်ရှိသော ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီပဋိညာဥ်အပေါ် သုံးသပ်ချက်စာတမ်း
By Legal Aid Network
LI Bureau calls for end to violence in Myanmar; Urges ASEAN to act
By Liberal International
By Salween Peace Park and Karen Peace Support Network
Salween Peace Park Press Release
By Salween Peace Park
By Salween Peace Park
Myanmar: 43 children killed by armed forces in just two months since the coup began
By Save the Children
6,000 IDPs on southern Shan State-Thai border under grave threat of Burma Army attack
By Shan State Refugee Committee (Thai Border)
Statement on the ongoing internal conflicts in Myanmar after the military coup
By Three Brotherhood Alliance
UK announces further sanctions on Myanmar military-linked companies
By United Kingdom (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office)
News comment: UNHCR calls on Myanmar’s neighbours to protect people fleeing violence
By UNHCR
NEWS RELEASE – UN Human Rights Office urges suspension of returns to Myanmar
By UN Human Rights Office for South-East Asia
N Security Council press statements on Myanmar
By UN Security Council
USTR Suspends Trade Engagement with Burma following Military Coup and Violence against Civilians
By United States Trade Representative
Progressive Voice is a participatory, rights-based policy research and advocacy organization that was born out of Burma Partnership. Burma Partnership officially ended its work on October 10, 2016 transitioning to a rights-based policy research and advocacy organization called Progressive Voice. For further information, please see our press release “Burma Partnership Celebrates Continuing Regional Solidarity for Burma and Embraces the Work Ahead for Progressive Voice.”
