Refugees take a stand for democracy
Immigrants from Myanmar gather in Albany to denounce military coup back home
Under the glaring sun, Kyaw Min Tun stood in front of a crowd of at least 100 fellow refugees from Myanmar with a plea to bring democracy back to their home country.
“Now they are killing children; they are killing women. They are terrorists,”
“We also ask for more interventions and more support from the international communities for our democratic transformations.”
he said of the military there. “This requires outside military action ... to bring democracy back. For this reason alone, we are here today to pray and to honor our fallen heroes.”
Albany’s community of refugees from Myanmar gathered at Lincoln Park on Sunday afternoon to protest a nearly twomonth-long military coup in the Southeast Asian country. In 1989, the country changed its name from Burma to Myanmar. As a result, many people from Myanmar still identify as being from Burma, as the signs displayed at the Sunday event showed. The military recently took over and claimed a state of emergency following nearly a decade of semi-democracy in the country, after the leading civilian party, National League for Democracy, won over 80 percent of parliamentary seats in November elections. Since then, hundreds of civilians have been injured and killed in demonstrations protesting against the military rule.
On Sunday, people from different ethnicities and faiths united in support of demonstrators back home, calling attention to the tragedies taking place in the country they themselves had to flee in search of political asylum.
Community members and their children wore
Myo Min Khaing, event organizer
traditional garb representing their various cultures, waved flags signifying their ethnic groups side by side, and held signs calling for a democracy and the release of political prisoners. Some wore T-shirts saying, “We support civil disobedience movement.” Different religious leaders stood at a podium to lead prayers for Myanmar and its “fallen heroes” — first Muslims, then Christians, Buddhists and Hindus. In the field behind the crowd, a group of children giggled and screamed as they chased each other.
“Our country needs federal democracy. This is what we lost for many, many years,” said Myo Min Khaing, a doctor who came to the U.S. for political asylum in 2015 and is now working in public health. He and his wife, Hnin Wai Lwin Myo, were organizers of the event.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan and U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-amsterdam, also attended the event.
“It must be heartbreaking, heartbreaking, to see what is happening in your homeland. But I am also inspired by people taking to the streets and fighting for democracy,” Sheehan said. “We must work together across communities, across nations, to fight for democracy wherever it stands, and to stand for people who are fighting for democracy.”
Advocacy and collaboration are one of the loudest demands the diaspora from Myanmar has been making in an effort to save lives in their home country.
“We also ask for more interventions and more support from the international communities for our democratic transformations,” Myo Min Khaing said. “We really need it in this time.”
In the background, the crowd was singing “Kabar Makyay Bu,” a revolutionary anthem for the people of the country formerly known as Burma. Their voices grew louder as they vowed, in Burmese, that they would never stop, even at the end of the world, until they get their democracy.
Two children who had been playing became intrigued by the growing volume of the singers. They came closer to the crowd, their eyes twinkling with excitement and curiosity as the energy and passion for democracy and justice filled the air.