When Myanmar’s military announced on 1 February that they had taken control of the country, civilians of all ages began to coordinate their resistance. Within a remarkably short amount of time, a new social movement was born, and people were soon pooling resources online under hashtags such as #civildisobediencemovement, #hearthevoicesofMyanmar and #rejectmilitarycoup.
This would have been unimaginable even a few years ago. Myanmar has had one of the fastest-growing telecom markets worldwide, which went from virtually nothing in the 2000s to a penetration rate of about 125% in 2020. While there was only one local operator in the beginning, with pricey SIM cards sold through a lottery system, several domestic and international companies now offer products. Within only five years, mobile phone signals have come to reach 90% of the country’s territory.
A younger generation has grown up taking the connectivity enabled by mobile phones and the internet for granted, in stark contrast to older people, who have lived most of their lives under a military dictatorship. Now, both groups are cooperating and learning from one another: combining digital skills with knowledge of how to resist the military. Both turned out to be necessary when the new regime shut down Facebook on 4 February.
