The Revolution Takes A Little Longer (Myanmar (2025)

‘The revolution takes a little longer’ is a work about a young generation of Burmese men and women who have given up their lives since the military coup in February 2021 to take up the armed struggle in the People's Defence Force (PDF) against the military junta in Myanmar.

Armed conflicts and the question of the right form of government run like a red thread through Myanmar's recent history. The Burmese historian Thant Myint-U once described Myanmar as ‘the unfinished nation’ - a reference to the deep-rooted structural problems and the unfinished formation of national identity. At the Panglong Conference of 1947, state founder Aung San - father of Aung San Suu Kyi - promised autonomy rights to several ethnic groups in the border regions. The agreement promised them farreaching self-government within a federal union. But shortly afterwards, Aung San was assassinated by a political rival - the federal structure remained an unfulfilled vision. Instead, a coup d'état by the Burmese military followed in 1962, which equated federalism with separatism and brutally suppressed ethnic minorities in the country under the pretext of "preventing chaos”. As a result, there were repeated armed uprisings for decades, especially in the country's border regions with Thailand and India.

When the military junta staged another coup against the civilian government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, it was the ethnic rebel groups that had been fighting for more autonomy for decades that provided the young people with military training - enabling them to form their own resistance groups, including the so-called People's Defence Forces (PDF).

And yet, as outside observers, we should be cautious about interpreting the situation solely in the narrative of ‘democratic resistance against authoritarian military rule’. The reality is far more complex. There are different political objectives, ideological orientations and territorial interests within the rebel groups. Some are actively fighting against the junta, others are neutral and still others have come to terms with the military for tactical or economic reasons. Although resistance and rebel groups now control large parts of the country - an estimated half of the territory - the heartland remains firmly in the hands of the military junta. It can continue to count on the support of China and Russia, two states with their own geopolitical interests in the region.