8888 Uprising

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The popular uprising 8888 Uprising was a peaceful popular uprising for democracy that started on August 8, 1988 in what was then the Burmese capital of Rangoon .

The uprising ended on September 18, 1988 with its bloody crackdown by the military under Saw Maung and the ousting of civilian President Maung Maung, who had been in office for a month . Thousands, mostly monks and civilians (mostly students), were killed by the Burmese army ( Tatmadaw ).

course

Since 1962, Burma has been led autocratically by the regime of the general and former independence fighter Ne Win , who had put a coup against his democratically active companion U Nu . In November 1987, students boycotted a government decision to withdraw Burma's domestic currency. The trigger for the unrest was that Ne Win issued new banknotes of 45 and 90 kyat on September 5, 1987 and had the common values ​​of 25, 35 and 75 kyat devalued without compensation, which suddenly rendered a large part of the population's wealth worthless.

Students from the Rangoon Institute of Technology (now Yangon Technological University, YTU) protested inside the campus in Rangoon. In the course of this, the student Phone Maw was killed by the Burmese military in front of the main building of the YTU on March 13, 1988 , which sparked further protests. After Ne Win's resignation from the chairmanship of the Burma Socialist Program Party (BSPP) on July 27, 1988 - he had not officially been president since 1981 - Sein Lwin took over the party chairmanship and became president.

The Burmese people, civil servants, Buddhist monks, soldiers, teachers and hospital staff quickly sided with the students. The quietly led demonstrations in the streets of Rangoon spread to other cities in the country.

On August 8, 1988 - known as 8-8-88 - hundreds of thousands took part in protests across the country calling for democracy. Ne Win warned that the military would shoot the demonstrators. On August 19, 1988, the civilian Maung Maung Sein Lwin followed, who resigned after a few weeks after brutal fighting against the insurgents, in the office of state president and as party chairman. On August 26th, Aung San Suu Kyi , daughter of the popular hero Aung San , who had helped Ne Win to receive military training, gave her first speech in front of the Shwedagon Pagoda, in which she advocated “democratic development in Burma” to become a national icon. The student leaders issued a set of ten demands to restore a democratic government in Burma.

The military overthrew Maung Maung's government on September 18, 1988, and declared martial law, which gave General Saw Maung unlimited force to suppress the demonstrations. The democracy movement was violently suppressed by the military on the same day. According to human rights groups, 3,000 demonstrators were killed and many abducted, while the military government said a few dozen were dead.

aftermath

The new military regime under Saw Maung established itself under the name of the State Council for the Restoration of Law and Order , banned all gatherings of more than four people and brutally cracked down on violators. Nevertheless, Aung San Suu Kyi founded the opposition party National League for Democracy (NLD) on September 27, 1988, together with the former military personnel Tin Oo , Kyi Maung and Aung Gyi , which she took over as General Secretary, while Aung Gyi, in the early phase No. 2 in the state under the dictatorship, became the first chairman, but resigned in 1988 in protest against the increasingly communist orientation in his view. In 1990 her party won the elections, but the result was not recognized by the military. Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest. On July 10, 1995, after about six years, the house arrest was lifted. When Saw Maung resigned on April 23, 1992 as a result of a palace revolt for "health reasons", Than Shwe succeeded as chairman of the junta . He became head of government, defense minister and commander in chief of the armed forces.

A number of other demonstrations took place after the 1988 uprising, all of which were suppressed by the military junta . The largest demonstrations took place in August and September 2007 (see Demonstrations in Myanmar 2007 ).

Others

The 1988 uprising was the backdrop for the film Rangoon .

Web links