"I hope we don't meet about this again next year," remarked a speaker from Myanmar at the close of a webinar I listened to today, one of the many conversations that marked the first anniversary of the 1 Feb 2021 coup in that country.There have been some 4.5 million posts using #WhatsHappeninginMyanmar thus far. Google trends for the phrase 'Myanmar coup' show that searches peaked in March 2021, fell to much lower numbers from July onwards and climbed up somewhat toward, and during, the coup's one-year anniversary.But a lot has been happening in the media spaces around the Myanmar story. There has been a flurry of webinars, releases and discussions around creative work, ranging from films (Burma Spring Benefit Film Festival) to books ('Picking Off the Shoots Will Not Stop the Spring' and New Naratif review here), art (including rap) and projects like diaries in Kite-Tales.Controversies marked the one-year date too, including one still raging around comments by the newly appointed UN Special Envoy to Myanmar, Noeleen Heyzer, around "power-sharing" in Myanmar in an interview with Channel NewsAsia. The two-minute video clip is here - the full version is not on CNA's website as of this writing. Angry outbursts followed, including a statement from 247 civil society groups. On 2 Feb, Heyzer's office issued a statement saying it "regrets its misrepresentation indicating she used the term 'power-sharing' and proposed it as a solution in the context of the political crisis in Myanmar". Next to watch: the ASEAN foreign ministers' retreat on 15-17 Feb, an event that had been postponed from January due to differing views on dealing with Myanmar's military. (Curiously, the ASEAN Chairman's Statement on the anniversary of Myanmar's coup was issued late on 2 Feb, the day after the one-year mark.) In this issue, we share some of our own one-year-after-the-coup stories. Some good reads around media and creative work are also in the 'Clickworthy' section below. One of our first stories soon after the coup was about journalists. Today, many of them soldier on, away from the bigger outlets you might know. Some news people have shifted to selling bus tickets or cosmetics (see our story below - and do pass on our translations into Burmese, Thai and Khmer to reach more local readers). Others are waiting it out in the borderlands, doing some reporting while growing their own food and getting used to cooking with firewood and charcoal, outdoors. Johanna SonEditor/founder - Reporting ASEANreportingaseandesk@fastmail.net
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Beyond Borders | Myanmar on Our Minds
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"I hope we don't meet about this again next year," remarked a speaker from Myanmar at the close of a webinar I listened to today, one of the many conversations that marked the first anniversary of the 1 Feb 2021 coup in that country.There have been some 4.5 million posts using #WhatsHappeninginMyanmar thus far. Google trends for the phrase 'Myanmar coup' show that searches peaked in March 2021, fell to much lower numbers from July onwards and climbed up somewhat toward, and during, the coup's one-year anniversary.But a lot has been happening in the media spaces around the Myanmar story. There has been a flurry of webinars, releases and discussions around creative work, ranging from films (Burma Spring Benefit Film Festival) to books ('Picking Off the Shoots Will Not Stop the Spring' and New Naratif review here), art (including rap) and projects like diaries in Kite-Tales.Controversies marked the one-year date too, including one still raging around comments by the newly appointed UN Special Envoy to Myanmar, Noeleen Heyzer, around "power-sharing" in Myanmar in an interview with Channel NewsAsia. The two-minute video clip is here - the full version is not on CNA's website as of this writing. Angry outbursts followed, including a statement from 247 civil society groups. On 2 Feb, Heyzer's office issued a statement saying it "regrets its misrepresentation indicating she used the term 'power-sharing' and proposed it as a solution in the context of the political crisis in Myanmar". Next to watch: the ASEAN foreign ministers' retreat on 15-17 Feb, an event that had been postponed from January due to differing views on dealing with Myanmar's military. (Curiously, the ASEAN Chairman's Statement on the anniversary of Myanmar's coup was issued late on 2 Feb, the day after the one-year mark.) In this issue, we share some of our own one-year-after-the-coup stories. Some good reads around media and creative work are also in the 'Clickworthy' section below. One of our first stories soon after the coup was about journalists. Today, many of them soldier on, away from the bigger outlets you might know. Some news people have shifted to selling bus tickets or cosmetics (see our story below - and do pass on our translations into Burmese, Thai and Khmer to reach more local readers). Others are waiting it out in the borderlands, doing some reporting while growing their own food and getting used to cooking with firewood and charcoal, outdoors. Johanna SonEditor/founder - Reporting ASEANreportingaseandesk@fastmail.net