Back to all interviews
Freedom Collection

Interviews with Charm Tong

Interviewed October 8, 2024

First of all, the democracy movement in Burma, from my point of view, is comprised of all these movements, you know, inside Burma. And we cannot separate that this is the ethnic movement or democracy movement. It is one movement, you know, comprised of various actors and various groups who want to bring human rights and democratic change in Burma.

The human rights and democracy, you know, and equality will be brought for different ethnic groups as well as, you know, for the whole Burma. If you look at the situation of when we hear this kind of statement, that usually mostly come from the Burma army, that if the Burma army do not maintain their power, the country will break away.

But if we really look at the real situation, the one who is breaking this union is the Burmese military regime, which has been in power, stage a coup, you know, since 1962 until today – even though they announced there will be election inside Burma. But the people have been suffering for, you know, over a half a century. So this is what is really happening.

And I believe that the movement for human rights, for equality and justice, is formed, you know, in Burma. You now, have this diverse action from various groups to bring about change in Burma.