KNU marks 8888 with call to action against regime

By Admin 08 Aug 2024

DMG Newsroom
8 August 2024, Sittwe

The Karen National Union (KNU) urged the people to continue to do their part to wipe out dictatorship and establish a federal, democratic Union, in a message marking the 36th anniversary of the 8888 pro-democracy uprising in August 1988.

People and anti-regime groups marked the anniversary by organising anti-regime protests in Yangon, Mandalay, Sagaing and Magwe regions.

The 8888 Uprising was a series of student-led pro-democracy demonstrations and strikes in Myanmar against one-party rule under General Ne Win. Thirty-six years after the uprising, Myanmar remains under military rule.

“It is important to root out the military dictatorship,” said one politician. “We will have to continue to fight as long as dictators exist. The country will continue to suffer from instability.”

The Myanmar military seized power in 2021 after the National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in the 2020 general election, with the military claiming the vote was fraudulent. The coup led to widespread protests and ultimately a far-reaching and formidable armed revolution.

The junta has lost more than 70 towns since the launch of the anti-regime ‘Operation 1027’ in late October of last year.

An 88 Generation student called on the Myanmar people and anti-regime groups to work together to abolish the military dictatorship, saying the revolution has peaked.

“People must have political awareness. There is a need for anti-regime groups inside and outside the country to work together. Only then, the military dictatorship can be rooted out,” he said.

The KNU statement saluted the students and people who sacrificed life and limb to fight the military dictatorship throughout the 8888 uprising.

The country has become a “failed state” as the Myanmar military has followed in the footsteps of previous military regimes, said the KNU.