Revolution Rising: Myanmar’s Defiance
Despite the junta’s escalating brutality, the people of Myanmar remain resolute in their fight for freedom and justice, building a new Myanmar from the ground up, establishing a strong and inclusive foundation of governance that guarantees self-determination, justice, and a peaceful society while simultaneously ridding the country of military tyranny.
The people of Myanmar are entering 2025 more determined than ever, showing the world their unbreakable defiance against the murderous military junta. In contrast, the junta limps into its deadly year desperate and demoralized, with its days clearly numbered as it rapidly loses control of territory, faces a collapse of command, and struggles with internal fragility.
The federal democracy long sought by the people, yet never truly realized, is now being forged by them, built by the diversity of Myanmar society, including women, ethnic groups, and the LGBTQIA+ community. Despite the junta’s escalating brutality, the people of Myanmar remain resolute in their fight for freedom and justice, building a new Myanmar from the ground up, establishing a strong and inclusive foundation of governance that guarantees self-determination, justice, and a peaceful society while simultaneously ridding the country of military tyranny. The role of the international community is to act as a force that stands with the people of Myanmar and provides robust support.
Myanmar stands at a crossroads, nearly four years after the military junta’s attempted coup plunged the nation into a deepening humanitarian and human rights crisis. The junta has displaced millions of people, starving entire communities, and driving the country into economic turmoil, while continuing to rain down relentless airstrikes and arson attacks on civilians daily. On New Year’s Eve and the immediate following days, the junta attacked with airstrikes and drones at least five regions and states, killing at least 20 people. One of these tragic events occurred in Karenni State, where the junta launched airstrikes on New Year’s Eve on an Internally Displaced Persons camp, killing three people, including a 3-year-old child. On 30 December 2024, the junta dropped bombs when people were celebrating Karen New Year in a village in the Mutraw (Papun) District.
Far from destruction comes the unwavering resistance, resilience, and strength to build a fresh start filled with hope. According to the National Unity Government’s Ministry of Defense, 44% of the country’s townships are under the control of revolutionary forces, Ethnic Resistance Organizations and People’s Defense Forces, 24% are active conflict zones, and 32% remain under the junta’s control. Most importantly, revolutionary forces control key routes of communication, transportation, and trading posts including border towns with Bangladesh, China, India, and Thailand.
Recent significant examples show that the Arakan Army has gained control of 14 out of 17 townships in Rakhine State and has complete control of the border in western Myanmar. It has captured the junta’s strategic Western Command headquarters in Ann Township. In Karen State, the Karen National Liberation Army and its allies have captured a total of 138 junta camps across seven districts. A significant recent victory was the recapture of Manerplaw, the former headquarters of the Karen National Union.
Another indication of the junta’s failure is the botched sham census, which not only demonstrates its loss of territorial control but also puts on full display its charade of preparations for an illegal election. The junta admitted itself, the census—conducted under coercion, with people held at gunpoint and limited to areas under its control while falsely claiming nationwide coverage—was incomplete, counting only 145 out of 330 townships in Myanmar, an already rigged renumbering to add more township number in areas under its control.
It is deeply disappointing to see certain countries continue to back the criminal military junta while blatantly ignoring the voices of the Myanmar people. Such short-sighted interventions only cause greater harm, trapping the country in the military’s vicious cycle of violence. Before the year’s end, on 19–20 December, Thailand hosted ‘informal consultation[s],’ which produced no concrete outcomes, merely perpetuating the dead-on-arrival ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus. This approach has brought no benefit—only more harm—to the people of Myanmar, while disgracefully allowing junta representatives to propagate its sham election plan.
If ASEAN has any respect for the Myanmar people, it must not ignore their collective calls. 290 civil society organizations provided clear, unified recommendations to ASEAN and its member states in a civil society position paper. The paper highlighted that a ‘Myanmar-Owned and -Led’ approach must be backed by genuine political will that aligns with and supports the collective aspirations of the people of Myanmar.
To reflect such aspiration, the international community must take heed of two key points: dialogue with the murderous and criminal junta is unacceptable; and the junta’s doomed-to-fail sham election is not a solution to Myanmar’s crisis. The people already have the answer: an inclusive federal democracy that they’re already building from the ground up.
There are numerous meaningful actions the international community could and should take. Some countries have already set a precedent for supporting Myanmar’s fight for justice and accountability. In 2023, seven countries—The Maldives, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom—joined the Gambia’s genocide case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice. In 2024, four additional countries—Slovenia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Belgium, and Ireland—have filed intervention requests. In addition to these remarkable actions, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court applied for an arrest warrant for junta leader Min Aung Hlaing for crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya.
In 2025, the international community must accept the undeniable truth: the Myanmar military junta is a criminal outfit and the root cause of the ongoing humanitarian and human rights crisis afflicting the country. It has no place in Myanmar’s future. Time and again, the junta has demonstrated its violations of international law and committed international crimes with carte blanche impunity. A unified and firm action from the international community can hold the Myanmar military accountable and help halt the junta’s further vicious violence.
The momentum of the Spring Revolution must be sustained and supported as it moves towards systemic change and the establishment of an inclusive federal democracy. The international community must rally behind the Myanmar people through all available avenues: increasing cross-border humanitarian aid; imposing a global embargo on arms, aviation fuel, and dual-use goods to the Myanmar military; and ramping up coordinated and well-enforced sanctions. Last but not least, all engagements with the military junta must cease immediately, and the junta’s sham census and illegal elections must be unequivocally denounced and stopped.
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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
Rohingyas Call For Justice, Equality, Peaceful Coexistence And Inclusive Governance In Arakan
By 28 Rohingya Organizations
UN Secretary General: Act Now To Prevent Famine in Rakhine State
By Burma Campaign UK
Statement on the Condemnation of Air Strikes against Karen New Year Celebrations
By Karen National Union
By Karen National Union
ASEAN must support Myanmar federal democracy building and justice seeking
By Myanmar National Organizing Committee for ACSC/APF
By Myanmar National Organizing Committee for ACSC/APF
အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရက (၇၇)နှစ်မြောက် လွတ်လပ်ရေးနေ့အခမ်းအနားသို့ ပေးပို့သည့်သဝဏ်လွှာ
By National Unity Government
By Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
By United League of Arakan
WFP Statement on Humanitarian Assistance in Northern Rakhine State
By World Food Programme
Reports
By 260 Civil Society Organizations
Civil Society Position Paper: Addressing ASEAN’s Goal of a “Myanmar-Owned and -Led Solution”
By 260 Civil Society Organizations
By Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
Myanmar Health Cluster Bulletin – December 2024 (31 December 2024)
By Health Cluster Myanmar , World Health Organization
Myanmar Humanitarian Update No. 43 | Reflecting on 2024 and preparing for 2025
By United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
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.”
