IUSY STATEMENT ON THE MILITARY COUP IN MYANMAR

The International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) condemns in the strongest terms the military coup against the civilian government in Myanmar and the arrest of political leaders Aung San Suu Kyi, President Min Wyint and several others. The military coup led by commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing has pushed the country’s democracy back, threatening the hard won victory of the people. We believe that the youth, women and working people of Myanmar will suffer most from this undemocratic move. It must be remembered that justice is still not served from the genocidal attacks by the military against ethnic groups in different states. We condemn China’s veto on a United Nations resolution that will rebuke the military takeover. We are outraged by reports that the coup is motivated by capitalistic plans anticipating the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and China’s Belt and Road Initiative. There are reports on the ground that the military have already occupied several thousand of lands around the area of the RCEP and BRI pathways mostly in Kachin state and Rakhine state. Their embarrassing loss in the parliamentary elections in November 2020 against the National League for Democracy was a threat to their capitalistic plans. We support the calls of people’s movements in Myanmar for the boycott of products and businesses that support the military. We demand for the release of the detained politicians and government officials. We demand for the military to stand down, reverse its actions, and restore the civilian government. The trading partners of Myanmar will have blood on their hands if they profit off this political crisis and refuse to take action. We call on the international community to pressure the Myanmar military to put a stop to its adventurism and uphold the results of the elections.