Helen Li
Since gaining independence in 1948, Myanmar has faced persistent political crises and ethnic tensions. The most recent upheaval, the military coup of 2021, ignited widespread protests and brutal crackdowns once again, and Myanmar has descended into a civil war, with a patchwork quilt of resistance forces fighting against the military government.
Amid this chaos, a quiet, resilient life took shape and grew in the borderlands. In the jungle controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU), an armed ethnic resistance group, survival is a collective endeavor. Here, resistance soldiers, Civil Disobedience Movement activists, and internally displaced civilians have forged a new normal, a life where the lines between resistance and routine blur, and hope is reconstructed from the fragments of their shattered pasts.
The Lives of Resistance Soldiers in the Borderland
After the military junta overthrew the elected government on February 1, 2021, Myanmar plunged into turmoil. A.K. and his 27 childhood friends were among the many youths who vowed to resist and fled immediately to ethnic group-controlled zones. Through close contacts, they reached out to the KNU in Karen State via Telegram. Neither of them informed their families about their destination. The farewell was abrupt but solemn, with little certainty about when they would be able to return.
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