Generation Z of Myanmar fight back military coup with ukulele

Record ID: 1600925

  • Title: Generation Z of Myanmar fight back military coup with ukulele
  • Date: 11th February 2021
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Burmese) 25-YEAR-OLD YOUTH MUSICIAN, WAI MOE AUNG, SAYING: "I marched along other protesters when the very first revolution started, but I came to a realisation that by continuing to do just this, we (protesters) will not get much international attention. I wanted the protest to be more creative, so I posted online and got a lot of people interested in creating something. We met up and wrote a revolution song together without knowing each other before this."
  • Embargoed: 25th February 2021 09:40
  • Keywords: Aung San Suu Kyi Myanmar Yangon coup democracy dictatorship military politics protest
  • Location: YANGON, MYANMAR
  • City: YANGON, MYANMAR
  • Country: Myanmar
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA003DZ76FRB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Sounding the hymn of revolution, a group of young Myanmar musicians have found unconventional means to call for political change and denounce the country's military government.
    Armed with nothing but an arsenal of ukuleles, a group of around thirty young protesters are joining demonstrations against the coup and strumming their dissatisfaction away, making sure their voices---and strings---are heard.
    Wai Moe Aung, a 25-year-old musician based in Yangon, calls his generation that came of age during Myanmar's years of democratic development "Generation Z".
    "My message to dictatorship from Generation Z is you are not be able to control us, we are going to continue our protest in every possible way that nobody has ever done in the history before. We are going to express our rights in the peaceful manner," said Aung, adding that he hopes to inspire others to join his musical ukulele revolution.
    Aung said that he has been inspired by both the 1988 and 2007 protests, in which hundreds of thousands took to the streets to demand for change.
    Myanmar's army seized power on Feb. 1 and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ending a long transition towards democracy and bringing tens of thousands of demonstrators onto the streets.
    (Production: Jiraporn Kuhakan, Joseph Campbell)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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