The life of resistance : government schoolteachers and civil disobedience movement in Karen State

Abstract

The civil disobedience movement in authoritarian states is not usually tolerated but repressed. The 2021 civil disobedience movement (CDM) of schoolteachers in Myanmar is the refusal to serve under the administration of the State Administrative Council (SAC), the military regime, and to stop the functioning of the administrative body of the SAC. The endeavor of CDM schoolteachers, from the stage of political expression to that of emancipation, is to change the narrative of political movements and education in Myanmar. State and non-state actors used various forms of repression to decelerate the movement of schoolteachers. The consequences on CDM teachers have a correlating effect on the future education of Myanmar, including reforming or rebuilding the basic education sector. As the CDM schoolteachers have encountered various forms of repression by state and non-state actors, the impacts on key stakeholders of education, especially unaddressed human rights violations, emerge. Examining the implication of the consequences of the repression illustrates schoolteachers’ attempt to democratize Myanmar and the position of authoritarianism in the political and social setting of Myanmar. Different key stakeholders in Myanmar, including military regimes, have different ways of approaching democratization to suit different interests. From the lens of human rights and democratization, this research explores the position of the civil disobedience movement of government schoolteachers in Karen State where complex ethnic armed groups’ politics exist. Throughout the civil disobedience movement, this study explains how schoolteachers bear the cost of the movement, including the major driving force of the movement and deprivation of human rights without regard for the rule of law. Through case study approaches, this paper scrutinizes three impacts of the CDM schoolteachers on security, finance, and social relations, by analyzing and categorizing its causing factors and actors. Taking the civil disobedience movement of government schoolteachers in Karen State as a case study, this study contributes to understanding the schoolteachers’ movement, as part of democratizing Myanmar, breaking down administrative power of the military regime, consciences about serving under the military regime, and the impact on the CDM schoolteachers and education key stakeholders due to soft and hard repression from state and non-state actors. Implication of the thesis: This research contributes to understanding the emancipatory politics of the civil disobedience movement of the schoolteachers from Karen State and helps inform policymakers for education reform in Myanmar. It also suggests further research questions on the civil disobedience movement of the schoolteachers.