Myanmar, The Last Stand

Plot

After the Myanmar military coup in 2021, its citizens stood unprecedentedly together, while a cross-national Milk Tea Alliance formed online. Though international support was still lacking, the people of Myanmar saw themselves as taking one last stand.

This graphic novel is a collaboration between the French writer Frédéric Debomy, an expert on Burmese politics, and the comic artist Lau Kwong Shing, an eyewitness to Hong Kong's pro-democracy movements. It is an account of the two years since the military coup in Myanmar, as well as the related historical and political contexts.

The story opens with the coup d'état that began on February 1st, 2021. Comprising various interviews with the author, conversations among friends, and words from Myanmar's public intellectuals and the government in exile, the narrative not only depicts the events that follow the coup, but also details changes in the social climate, differences between 88 Generation activists and Gen Z, and both domestic and international forces for change.

Compared to political protests in Ukraine and Hong Kong, Myanmar's pro-democracy movement appears internationally isolated, and the military government has continued its oppressive measures. Still, transcending ethnic lines, the people of Myanmar have banded together to fight authoritarian forces. And, on the Internet, the subsequent emergence of the Milk Tea Alliance further demonstrates the formation of new connections, based on democratic values, across Asian nations