© Manon Ott & Grégory Cohen
Leaving the large towns in the central plain, the roads leading to Rakhine, Chin, Kachin, Shan, Môn, Karenni or Karen States are punctuated by check-points. Foreigners are not allowed to enter most of these regions and are classed as “dangerous areas” by the junta. The history of Burma has long been the reason for wide ethnic and cultural diversity. Several outlying regions are still linked to armed conflicts, such as the one fighting the Burmese army and the Karen rebels. The latter have been fighting for almost 60 years in the hope of freeing their people from the grip of the Burmese army and continue to cling to the dream of building an independent Kaw Thoo Lei state. However, civilians are most often the victims of this conflict. The Burmese military junta tries to assert its legitimacy by claiming to be the only body able to maintain order and unity in the country. Its attempts to destroy culture go hand in hand with persecuting ethnic and religious minorities. The repressive measures used by the junta against minorities who resist the “Burmanisation process” are encouraged by propaganda constructed around an ideology of “national unity”. Burmese language and culture are forcefully imposed under this pretext. Forced labour is still widely used to maintain roads and other parts of the infrastructure.
When a change of regime occurs in Burma, the issue of harmony between the various ethnic minorities will be a major challenge.
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