Please join us in Auerbach 320 or online this Wednesday, April 24, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., for our next meeting of the Philosophy Club for a discussion of the ongoing struggle for democracy in Myanmar (Burma).
Join the meeting online here. If you have trouble joining, call Brian Skelly at 413.273.2273.
In the early hours of Feb. 1, 2021, the day the new Parliament was set to take office after Burma’s second successful democratic election in five years, the Tatmadaw or military junta staged a coup, dropping all pretense of supporting democracy. A protest movement was met with military force. Citing the pandemic and baseless claims of election fraud, the military murdered more than 800 protesters and injured thousands more.
Since then, counterinsurgencies have emerged and even have begun to coalesce inter-ethnically. But the ruling junta has a low bar for continuity of power, since they have never really controlled nor administered to the entire country.
The world needs to pay more attention to the struggle for democracy in Burma. The success of democracy worldwide depends on our not ceding ground to its opponents, who would wish nothing more than that the world would avert its gaze and lose mindfulness of their tyranny.
Additional Information:
An ongoing weekly tradition at the University since 2001, the University of Hartford Philosophy Club is a place where students, professors, and people from the community at large meet as peers. Sometimes presentations are given, followed by discussion. Other times, topics are hashed out by the whole group.
Presenters may be students, professors, or people from the community. Anyone can offer to present a topic. The mode of presentation may be as formal or informal as the presenter chooses.
Come live or join online! Invite friends. Suggest topics and activities. Take over the club! It belongs to you!