{"id":33182,"date":"2024-04-23T04:24:55","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T04:24:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/23\/a-gen-z-resistance-cut-off-from-data-plans\/"},"modified":"2024-04-23T04:24:56","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T04:24:56","slug":"a-gen-z-resistance-cut-off-from-data-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/23\/a-gen-z-resistance-cut-off-from-data-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"A Gen Z Resistance, Cut Off From Data Plans"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/11\/multimedia\/00myanmar-dispatch-01-gqvj\/00myanmar-dispatch-01-gqvj-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,549&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"A Gen Z Resistance, Cut Off From Data Plans\" title=\"A Gen Z Resistance, Cut Off From Data Plans\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the night, the mountain air not quite chill enough to still the insects, young people gathered around a glow. The light attracting them was not a phone screen, that electric lure for people almost everywhere, but a bonfire.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">From around the blaze, music radiated. Fingers strummed a guitar. Voices layered lyrics about love, democracy and, most of all, revolution. Moths courted the flame, sparking when they veered too close, then swooning to their deaths.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For months now, these hills of Karenni State in eastern Myanmar have been severed from modern communications. The military junta that <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/04\/12\/world\/asia\/myanmar-coup-autocracy-democracy.html\" title=\"\">seized power in a coup<\/a> three years ago, plunging the country into civil war, has cut off the populations most opposed to its brutal rule. In these resistance strongholds, where people from around the nation have congregated, there is almost no internet, cell service or even electricity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The return to a pre-modern age carries awful consequences for people\u2019s lives. When a baby\u2019s fever spikes, there is no way to call a doctor. Rebel fighters, who <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/20\/world\/asia\/myanmar-war-rebels.html\" title=\"\">have overrun dozens of Myanmar military bases<\/a> in recent offensives, cannot contact battle commanders from frontline outposts. Students cannot attend online classes, which in some places in Myanmar are the only educational option.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">News \u2014 who survived an airstrike, whose village was burned, whose daughter has fled the country for work abroad \u2014 travels at a pedestrian\u2019s pace or, if expensive fuel can be found, by motorcycles bumping along jungle paths.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Yet the communications blackout has brought one unexpected benefit. Without the distraction of hand-held devices, people talk to each other, in person, with eye contact. They joke. They sing. They dance. They play the guitar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Only a war, it seems, can break the engrossing command of a tiny screen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In what people in Karenni call the B.C. years \u2014 that\u2019s Before Coup \u2014 nearly everyone was on Facebook. Then, in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 1, 2021, the junta pulled the plug on telecommunications. That was the first sign of trouble. By the morning, most of the nation\u2019s elected leadership had been arrested. They <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/12\/29\/world\/asia\/myanmar-aung-san-suu-kyi-trial.html\" title=\"\">remain imprisoned<\/a> today.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since the coup, internet and cell services have been restored in most other parts of the country, but Facebook and other social media are banned. In regions where militias have repelled the junta\u2019s forces \u2014 like parts of Karenni State (also known as Kayah State) in the east, Rakhine State in the west, and the Sagaing Region and Chin State in the northwest \u2014 entire townships are still in the dark.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Without online games to play or videos to stream on phones, the shadowed space at night is filled most often by homegrown music.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On the front lines, when the thud of artillery recedes for the day, or the hour, resistance soldiers trade AK rifles for guitars. A rebel army commander slaps a beat on a caj\u00f3n, the Afro-Peruvian instrument. At a hospital, emergency supplies are lined up against a wall made of leaves: bandages, rubber gloves, rubbing alcohol \u2014 and a ukulele.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After serving rebel soldiers a meal of spicy noodles with foraged herbs, Emily Oo picked up a guitar resting on the dirt floor of a security outpost captured last year by opposition forces. A few years ago, she was a middle school student in Loikaw, the state capital of Karenni, studying English and TikTok dance moves.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Last year, she and her family fled home as fighting between resistance soldiers and the junta\u2019s forces engulfed her neighborhood. Most people in Karenni are now displaced, living with a few bundles of their most valuable possessions, including, surprisingly often, a guitar.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHistory is written with our blood,\u201d she sang. \u201cThe heroes who lost their lives in the battle for democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The lyrics, part of a well-known revolutionary anthem, were written by candlelight in 1988 when Myanmar was consumed by another national uprising against an earlier military dictatorship. After that protest movement was violently crushed, Myanmar seemed to slip further back in time, while most of Asia urbanized and prospered.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A dozen years ago, the junta then ruling Myanmar priced SIM cards at roughly four times the country\u2019s average annual income, preventing all but the richest from connecting with the world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">So most people\u2019s source of news \u2014 or an amalgamation of fact, rumor and rhetorical flourish \u2014 was the local tea shop, as it had been for decades. People sat on plastic stools around plastic tables, leaning in close to avoid military intelligence spies who might be listening in. The tea, either milky sweet or bracingly bitter, grew cold. The gossip was hot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As political reforms brought in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/09\/14\/world\/asia\/myanmar-aung-san-suu-kyi-sanctions.html\" title=\"\">a quasi-civilian administration in 2016<\/a>, internet access became cheaper. Facebook accounts proliferated. So did online disinformation. Falsehoods about sexual violence <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/10\/15\/technology\/myanmar-facebook-genocide.html\" title=\"\">fanned the flames of genocide<\/a> against a Muslim minority.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Today, in Karenni, Myanmar\u2019s smallest state and one of the least developed even before the online blackout, innuendo again stands in for truth. Conspiracy theories multiply. But amid the uncertainty and paranoia, music acts as a salve.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cEvery day I heard the sounds of bombs, airplanes and gunshots,\u201d said Maw Hpray Myar, 23, who fled a junta-controlled city and started a music school in the forests of Karenni. \u201cWhen we hear the sounds of music, our fears go away a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When there is the uncommon chance to access the internet, the appeal of getting online can pose its own dangers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In January, members of the resistance assembled at a secret command post in Loikaw. They were not there for battle strategy but for access to Wi-Fi, courtesy of Starlink, a satellite internet service used in conflict zones worldwide.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The resistance forces binged on Facebook. They hearted photos of newborn babies and images of other rebel recruits posing, young and resolute, in their camouflage uniforms. Some were so absorbed by their online forays that they didn\u2019t notice the whirring nearby, one soldier who was there recalled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He and others escaped the armed drone dispatched by the junta\u2019s forces. But three people too tethered to the internet did not and were injured in the attack, one seriously.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On the night of the third anniversary of the coup, opposition soldiers gathered in the rebel-controlled town of Demoso to celebrate the marriage of Augustine and Josephine, whose names were proclaimed on a sign at the venue. Augustine was heading to the front soon, and many of the other militia members were enjoying a couple days\u2019 respite from battle. Generators lit up the tent, and soldiers occasionally glanced at the sky to ensure no fighter jet was targeting the bright festivities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As the partygoers knocked back shots of whiskey before crowding the dance floor, Ko Yan Naing Htoo sat on a plastic stool, smoking. In the B.C. years, he had been an accountant. Then he joined a rebel army. A land mine claimed his leg.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI feel very sorry that I cannot fight alongside my comrades anymore,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A commander boogied over to Mr. Yan Naing Htoo and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. They nodded to the music, the lyrics about missing home for a people displaced from theirs. Then a wave of song carried the commander back to the dance floor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Marooned on his plastic stool, Mr. Yan Naing Htoo sucked on his cigarette. His hand went to his pocket and pulled out a phone, a vestigial motion from another era. He swiped the device. It was dead. He put it away and watched as men swayed and sang, so near but just out of reach.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/23\/world\/asia\/myanmar-rebels-internet.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the night, the mountain air not quite chill enough to still the insects, young people gathered around a glow. The light attracting them was not a phone screen, that electric lure for people almost everywhere, but a bonfire. From around the blaze, music radiated. Fingers strummed a guitar. Voices layered lyrics about love, democracy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/11\/multimedia\/00myanmar-dispatch-01-gqvj\/00myanmar-dispatch-01-gqvj-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3177,1076,548,1925,10339],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33182"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33182"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33184,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33182\/revisions\/33184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}