Revolution or order? Buddhist responses to the 2021 (failed) Military Coup in Myanmar

Revolution or order? Buddhist responses to the 2021 (failed) Military Coup in Myanmar

The 2021 military coup in Myanmar has brought about massive popular resistance. Recent research into the religious responses to the coup in its early phases indicate that the mass protests in February and March 2021 were characterised by global internet culture, interreligious solidarity, and new visions for a plural and democratic Myanmar. However, institutional Buddhism finds itself in an ambiguous, fragmented and vulnerable position in ways not seen before.

In this talk we will tease out similarities and differences in the role played by Buddhism compared to previous 'critical events' in postcolonial Burma/Myanmar, asking two interrelated research questions: First, why and in what ways and do senior leading monks support the military coup? Second, what is the role of Buddhist revolutionary politics, and what might 'revolution' mean from a Buddhist point of view? Finally, we will discuss the possible long-term impact of the 'Spring Revolution' on Buddhism in Myanmar.

SPEAKERS:

Dr Iselin Frydenlund MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society

Dr Iselin Frydenlund is Professor of the Study of Religion at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, former Director and Fellow of the MF Centre for the Advanced Study of Religion (MF CASR). She specialises in questions relating to Buddhism and its societal impact, focusing on Buddhism, politics, nationalism, and violence in Sri Lanka and Myanmar. She is the author of Buddhist-Muslim Relations in a Theravada World (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), co-edited with Michael Jerryson, and she has recently edited (with Eviane Leidig) a Special Issue on ’Love Jihad’: Sexuality, Reproduction and the Construction of the Predatory Muslim Male (2022). She is currently working on a monograph on Buddhism as a political religion, for the Scandinavian University Press. 

Phyo Wai Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) member

Born and raised in peri-urban Yangon, Phyo Wai graduated from West Yangon University and Yangon Institute of Education with specialisation in English Literature. After graduation, he co-founded Myanmar Cultural Research Journal and Asia Myanmar Research Institute, also contributing his written works to local academic journals and newspapers. Since 2016, he became a lecturer in Department of English Related to Tripitaka in State Pariyatti Sasana University (Yangon) and Mahavihara Dhamma-Vinaya University. When the military coup started, he stopped teaching there and participated in the CDM movement and other anti-coup activities. 

CHAIR: Hunter Marston

The Myanmar Research Centre Dialogue Series’ 2023 program includes a special series of nine presentations on the theme of revolution and solidarity in Myanmar, which is based on a collection of papers commissioned by the Myanmar Research Centre and the Danish Institute for International Studies.