While the ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) and People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) have sped up their attacks on military bases around the country and control some townships, urban residents say they want the resistance forces to conduct attacks in large cities, so that the revolution can succeed more quickly.
After the Myanmar military staged a coup in February 2021, people in the regions and states formed the PDFs and fought back against Myanmar junta troops. Ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) like the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Arakan Army (AA) have provided assistance to the PDFs.
Furthermore, armed groups in Chin, Kachin, Karenni (Kayah), Karen and Rakhine states have also launched attacks on Myanmar junta troops. On Oct. 27, the ethnic Brotherhood Alliance, comprising the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the AA, launched Operation 1027, attacking and seizing six towns in northern Shan State on the border with China.
Urban people support Operation 1027 and have celebrated the seizure of Myanmar military camps by EAOs.
Yangon resident Thazin said she felt encouraged by the capture of the military’s camps in northern Shan State and in other states. It would be great if the attacks on the Myanmar military could expand to Yangon, she added.
“We know the negative effects of war, but we have to face it if we want the revolution to succeed,” she told The Irrawaddy.
She said that while urban people regularly go to cinemas and enjoy nightlife, people in rural areas are sacrificing their lives and rebelling against the dictator.
“I want them [urban people] to know how rural people feel. I want equality,” Thazin told The Irrawaddy.
The resistance offensive has spread to upper Sagaing Region, where the KIA, AA and PDFs seized the district-level town of Kawlin on Nov. 6. Elsewhere, in support of the offensive, Karenni resistance forces launched Operation 1111, attacking junta bases in Kayah State’s Loikaw and Mese, and southern Shan’s Moebye town.
The revolution will be stronger if the cities take part in the fighting against the junta, said Ko Min Lwin, who lives in Mandalay.
“I want the fighting to spread to large cities like Yangon, Mandalay and Naypyitaw. If so, the people will be more motivated,” Ko Min Lwin told The Irrawaddy.
He said the people are happy to see the Myanmar military failing, as it took power illegally, violently arresting and killing people around the country.
While nobody wants war, urban residents hope to see the clashes spread to the important cities in order to end Myanmar’s crisis sooner.
U Win Naing, a resident of Yangon’s Sanchaung Township, said he wants the anti-regime operations to spread, even though he is afraid of war. He explained that he doesn’t want it to be the case that the military must always win.
“It is like praying for a cyclone because the weather is so hot,” U Win Naing told The Irrawaddy.
The military is privileged in Myanmar and it has treated the people however it wished throughout history, he added.
Currently, under military rule, people in urban areas also face social insecurity and a general crisis.
Ma Wathan, who lives in a township in downtown Yangon, said she would prefer not to see war anywhere, but in order for the next generation to live in good conditions, the dictatorship must be rooted out.
“Even if we die during the war, those who survive will have peace,” she told The Irrawaddy.
Currently, fighting is occurring in Chin State, Rakhine State and Mon State, in addition to the places where Operation 1027 and Operation 1111 are in effect. Furthermore, surrenders of Myanmar military units are being reported continuously in ethnic areas amid the resistance offensive.
The EAOs have first seized the towns in their territory, where they have the support of their people. It is natural to move first in areas where they have gained public support, though those places are not strategically important enough to cause the revolution to succeed within a short period of time, said U Than Soe Naing, a political and military affairs expert.
“In the end, this movement will spread all over the country. Finally, the movements will gradually surround the cities such as Yangon, Mandalay, Naypyitaw and Mawlamyine. The storm of revolution will sweep over these cities in the future because they are the decisive factor of the revolution,” U Than Soe Naing told The Irrawaddy.
A Yangon resident said if the military council were to give up power now, many lives could be spared. Otherwise, if a nationwide revolution is required to defeat the military dictatorship, all the people will have to join it until it succeeds, he added.
“If the battles come to the cities in order to bring about the [success of the] nationwide revolutionary struggle, we have to accept that,” he told The Irrawaddy.
According to the UN, more than 200,000 people from Shan, Chin, Kayah and Mon states and Sagaing Region have been displaced since the ethnic armed groups launched the offensive last month.
A resident of northern Shan State’s Muse Township said he was prepared for the worst regarding the current situation.
“We are ready and waiting. Only then will the revolution succeed quickly,” he said.
