8888 Uprising
The 8888 Uprising,[a] also known as the People Power Uprising[b] and the 1988 Uprising,[c] was a series of nationwide protests,[9] marches, and riots[10] in Burma (present-day Myanmar) that peaked in August 1988. Key events occurred on 8 August 1988 and therefore it is commonly known as the "8888 Uprising".[11] The protests began as a student movement and were organised largely by university students at the Rangoon Arts and Sciences University and the Rangoon Institute of Technology.
"People Power Uprising" redirects here. Not to be confused with the People Power Revolution in the Philippines.8888 Uprising
12 March – 21 September 1988
(6 months, 1 week and 2 days)
- Withdrawal of currency notes without compensation
- Economic mismanagement
- Failure of the Burmese Way to Socialism
- Police brutality
- Corruption
- Totalitarian one-party rule of Ne Win and his Burma Socialist Programme Party
Multi-party democracy in Burma and the resignation of Ne Win
Military coup d'état on 18 September 1988; demonstrations suppressed by force
- Resignation of Ne Win
- Elections for a constitutional committee to draft a new constitution (results were not honoured)
Unknown
Unknown
Since 1962, the Burma Socialist Programme Party had ruled the country as a totalitarian one-party state, headed by General Ne Win. Under the government agenda, called the Burmese Way to Socialism, which involved economic isolation and the strengthening of the military, Burma became one of the world's most impoverished countries.[12][13][14] Many firms in the formal sector of the economy were nationalised, and the government combined Soviet-style central planning with Buddhist and traditional beliefs and superstition.[14]
The 8888 uprising was started by students in Yangon (Rangoon) on 8 August 1988. Student protests spread throughout the country.[5][12] Hundreds of thousands of monks, children, university students, housewives, doctors and common people protested against the government.[15][16] The uprising ended on 18 September after a bloody military coup by the State Law and Order Restoration Council. Thousands of deaths have been attributed to the military during this uprising,[5][4][6] while authorities in Burma put the figure at around 350 people killed.[17][18]
During the crisis, Aung San Suu Kyi emerged as a national icon. When the military junta arranged an election in 1990, her party, the National League for Democracy, won 81% of the seats in the government (392 out of 492).[19] However, the military junta refused to recognise the results and continued to rule the country as the State Law and Order Restoration Council. Aung San Suu Kyi was also placed under house arrest. The State Law and Order Restoration Council would be a cosmetic change from the Burma Socialist Programme Party.[15] Suu Kyi's house arrest was lifted in 2010, when worldwide attention for her peaked again during the making of the biographical film The Lady. The Tatmadaw (Myanmar Armed Forces) again seized control of the country in the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, which began with the imprisonment of then State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. The coup has led to numerous protests and demonstrations against the military-led government. Activists have compared the current coup resistance movement to the 8888 Uprising.[20][21][22]
Date
18 September 1988
8888 Uprising
General Saw Maung
Formation of a military junta, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)
- Suspension of the 1974 constitution
- Abolishment of all organs of state power that were formed under the 1974 constitution
Aftermath[edit]
Many in Burma believed that the regime would have collapsed if the United Nations and neighbouring countries had refused to recognise the legitimacy of the coup.[73] Western governments and Japan cut aid to the country.[72] Among Burma's neighbours, India was most critical; condemning the suppression, closing borders and setting up refugee camps along its border with Burma.[74] By 1989, 6,000 NLD supporters had been detained and those who fled to the ethnic border areas, such as Kawthoolei, formed groups with those who sought greater self-determination.[75] It was estimated 10,000 had fled to mountains which were controlled by ethnic insurgents such as the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), and many of them later trained to become soldiers.[76][77]
After the uprising, the SLORC waged a "clumsy propaganda" campaign against those who had organised the protests.[78] Intelligence Chief General Khin Nyunt, held English-language press conferences which were aimed at giving foreign diplomats and the media a favourable account of the SLORC's response to the protests.[78][79] During this period, more restrictions were imposed upon the Burmese media, denying it the relative freedom to report news which it had been able to exercise at the peak of the protests. In the conferences, he detailed a conspiracy in which the right was plotting to overthrow the regime with the assistance of "subversive foreigners" and a conspiracy in which the left was plotting to overthrow the State.[78] Despite the conferences, few believed the government's version of events.[78] While these conferences were going on, the SLORC was secretly negotiating with mutineers.[79]
Between 1988 and 2000, the Burmese government established 20 museums which detailed the military's central role throughout Burma's history and the size of the military increased from 180,000 to 400,000.[61] The Burmese government also kept schools and universities closed in order to prevent future uprisings.[61] Initially, Aung San Suu Kyi, U Tin Oo and Aung Gyi publicly rejected the SLORC's offer to hold elections the following year, claiming that they could not be freely held while Burma was under military rule.[80][81]
Significance[edit]
Today, the uprising is commemorated by Burmese expatriates and citizens. In Thailand, students also commemorate the uprising every 8 August.[82] On the 20th anniversary of the uprising, 48 activists were arrested for commemorating the event in Burma.[83] The event garnered much support for the Burmese people internationally. Poems were written by students who participated in the protests. The 1995 film Beyond Rangoon is a fictionalized drama which is based on the events that took place during the uprising.
The uprising led to the death and imprisonment of thousands of individuals. Many of the deaths occurred inside the prisons, where prisoners of conscience were subjected to inhumane torture and deprived of basic provisions, such as food, water, medicine, and sanitation. From 1988 to 2012, the military and the police illegally detained and imprisoned tens of thousands of leaders of the Burmese pro-democracy movement, as well as intellectuals, artists, students, and human rights activists. Pyone Cho, one of the leaders of the uprising, spent 20 years of his adult life in prison. Ko Ko Gyi, another leader of the uprising, spent 18 years of his life in prison. Min Ko Naing was placed in solitary confinement for nine years for his role as a leader of the uprising.[84] Because the uprising began as a student movement, many of the individuals who were arrested, imprisoned, tortured, and killed by the police and the military were high school and university students.
Many of the student leaders of the uprising became lifelong human rights activists and leaders of the Burmese pro-democracy movement. Nineteen years later, many of these same activists also played a role in the 2007 Saffron Revolution. The 88 Generation Students Group, which is named after the events of 8 August 1988, organised one of the first protests which eventually culminated in the Saffron Revolution. But prior to the outbreak of large-scale demonstrations, its members were arrested and given lengthy prison sentences of up to 65 years. The activists who were arrested included prominent individuals such as Min Ko Naing, Mya Aye, Htay Kywe, Mie Mie, Ko Ko Gyi, Pyone Cho, Min Zeyar, Ant Bwe Kyaw, and Nilar Thein.[85] Though not an 88 Generation Students Group member, a solo protester Ohn Than also joined the demonstration.[86] All of them were released in a general amnesty in 2012. They continue to work as politicians and human rights activists in Myanmar. They also campaigned for the National League for Democracy (NLD) in the 2015 general election. Pyone Cho, one of the main leaders of the 88 Generation, was elected to the House of Representatives in the 2015 Election.