CSEAS hosts symposium on activism and resistance to the Myanmar coup

March 2, 2021

CSEAS hosted the online symposium Scholar-Activism and the Myanmar Resistance on March 9. During this event, scholar-activists analyzed and strategized for resistance to Myanmar’s military coup. The event included two panels [online] and a virtual exhibit [posted to the CSEAS YouTube channel].

Panel 1: Insights from Comparative Contexts

The first panel was a roundtable discussion with scholars and activists working in Thailand, Hong Kong and India. The panelists situated Myanmar’s Civil Disobedience Movement within regional struggles for democracy.

Panelists: Tyrell Haberkorn (Professor of Southeast Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison); Joey Siu (Associate, Hong Kong Watch; Advisor, Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China); Jasnea Sarma (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore)

Panel 2: Analysis from Myanmar Scholar-Activists

The second panel featured presentations on the historical roots, current situation, and possible leverage points for key issues in anti-coup mobilization.

Speakers: Tharaphi Than (Associate Professor of World Languages and Cultures, Northern Illinois University); Ingrid Jordt (Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee); Kevin Woods (Adjunct Associate Professor of Geography and Environment, University of Hawaii-Manoa; Senior Policy Advisor, Forest Trends); Myat The Thitsar (Parliamentary Research and Support Program Director and Strategic Advisor, Enlightened Myanmar Research Foundation /EMReF; Ph.D. candidate in Global Studies, University of Massachusetts-Lowell)

The symposium panels were co-sponsored by the Institute of East Asian Studies, the Institute of South Asia Studies, and the Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley.