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‘Now we are united’: Myanmar’s ethnic divisions soften after coup

A mother watches over her son, who was injured protesting against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar, on March 30. For many members of the Bamar ethnic majority now fighting for democratic rule in Myanmar, the coup has led to a growing acceptance that democracy cannot flourish without respecting the minorities who have endured decades of military persecution. | THE NEW YORK TIMES

By Hannah Beech
THE NEW YORK TIMES

May 1, 2021

The Myanmar military’s disinformation was crude but effective.

Army propagandists claimed an ethnic group called the Rohingya was burning down its own villages and wanted to swamp Buddhist-majority Myanmar with Islamic hordes. The Rohingya were spinning tall tales, the military said in 2017, about soldiers committing mass rape and murder.

The truth — that troops were waging genocidal operations against Myanmar’s ethnic minorities — was perhaps too shocking for some members of the country’s Bamar ethnic majority to contemplate.

‘Now we are united’: Myanmar’s ethnic divisions soften after coup

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