Two key messages from the recent Symposium at Victoria University point to possible ways forward to a new democracy in Myanmar by
- supporting emerging community organisations on the ground in the non-military areas, and
- supporting the National Unity Government’s work with civil society organisations to build a strong foundation and strategy for a new federal democracy in the post-military era.
Care is needed to ensure a positive peace and the symposium was an excellent forum of analysis and discussion with high profile speakers such as Helen Clark, David Capie, Susannah Patton and Margaret Wilson.
Two years on from the 1st February 2021 coup d’etat Myanmar is on a trajectory to a failed rogue state. However the military regime is gearing up to hold elections later this year. It presents this as a return to civilian rule but it is seen as a move to consolidate its control by making a transition from emergency rule to a longer-term military-backed government. There is no prospect that these polls will be credible, and a high risk that it will intensify the violence.
