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Coup, Conflict, and the Covid-19 Pandemic: Burmese Peoples Moving in Times of Isolation
[journal article]
Abstract This paper focuses on the political crises shaping Burmese' peoples' im-mobilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. As governments around the world urged people to stay at home to be protected from infection and transmission, throughout 2021 many Burmese people protested the military coup of 1 February... view more
This paper focuses on the political crises shaping Burmese' peoples' im-mobilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. As governments around the world urged people to stay at home to be protected from infection and transmission, throughout 2021 many Burmese people protested the military coup of 1 February and fled Myanmar for safety. I problematize these movements of the Burmese peoples through the complex interplay between the triple C of (ethnic) conflict, COVID-19, and coup. I contend that, in Myanmar, adhering to COVID-19 measures emphasizing (self-)isolation and immobility was impossible as they served the military to suppress peoples’ critique and protests regarding the government's coup and its mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, Burmese peoples' physical movements and political mobilisation were necessitated to fight against an ensuing political disempowerment of the people. In other words, the unfolding of the COVID-19 pandemic in correlation with long-standing 'ethnic' conflicts and a military coup required the Burmese peoples to carefully contest an internationally propagated so-called 'new norm' of self-isolation at home and other social distancing measures, which bore the risk of suppression and of renewing political isolation experienced since the country’s first military government.... view less
Keywords
conflict; military; coup d'etat; political movement; Myanmar; ethnic conflict; epidemic; oppression; social isolation
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Political System, Constitution, Government
Free Keywords
COVID-19; Military Coup; Movement; Political Protest
Document language
English
Publication Year
2023
Page/Pages
p. 63-78
Journal
Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 16 (2023) 1
Issue topic
The COVID-19 Pandemic, (Im)Mobilities, and Migration in Southeast Asia
ISSN
2791-531X
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0