Five Years On: Where Myanmar’s Resistance Now Stands

On 1 February 2021, Myanmar’s military overthrew a democratically elected government. The coup marked a profound rupture—reshaping political awareness, resistance, and everyday life for millions of people inside the country and in exile.

Five years on, the struggle continues. But the forms and conditions of resistance have changed.

Alongside courage and defiance, many journalists, human rights defenders, and displaced communities are now carrying deep exhaustion. This fatigue is not incidental. It is part of the military’s long-term strategy: to stretch resistance thin, erode hope, and normalize survival over defiance. Prolonged conflict, economic collapse, mass displacement, and sustained psychological pressure are designed to wear people down over time.

Sham Elections and Manufactured Legitimacy

The junta is banking on this exhaustion—both inside Myanmar and internationally. It is counting on a world that is tired, distracted, and willing to accept military rule under the thin veneer of an electoral process.

In December 2025, Myanmar’s military authorities organised an election under conditions that did not allow for genuine participation, freedom of expression, or political competition. Far from reflecting the will of the people, the process risks being used to legitimize continued military control. The polls have closed, but the outcome is neither uncertain nor meaningful.

Repression Behind the Façade

Claims of “stability” and “normalization” collapse when confronted with the lived reality of repression.

Just days before the fifth anniversary of the coup, the Assistance Association for Myanmar-based Independent Journalists (AAMIJ) reported that freelance photojournalist Myat Thu Kyaw was violently assaulted inside Insein Prison. The attack was reportedly carried out by members of an incarcerated Taiwanese drug syndicate, allegedly acting under the direction of prison authorities. He sustained serious injuries and had since been placed in solitary confinement, where he continues to face abuse.

This case reflects a broader pattern. Myanmar’s prisons remain central instruments of repression—spaces where violence is inflicted directly or by proxy, and where the state maintains plausible deniability while silencing dissent. No election staged under such conditions can obscure this reality.

Ko Htet, a Myanmar journalist in exile, shared:

“The SAC wants us to be afraid long enough to forget why we started. Arrests, torture, and prison are meant to silence us, not just physically, but psychologically. Every time a fellow journalist is punished, it reminds us that truth is still dangerous to those in power. That’s why we keep reporting.”

A Changed Resistance, A Deeper Political Awareness

If one of the military’s goals was to erase political consciousness, it has failed.

Five years into the revolution, political awareness has deepened across communities. People understand power, propaganda, and repression with a clarity forged through lived experience. Young academics, ethnic communities, women, and LGBTQI+ activists have articulated political visions that were once marginalised or suppressed. This is one of the revolution’s quieter but enduring victories.

At the same time, political awareness alone is not enough. Many in exile now speak of the need for spaces dedicated to reflection, healing, ethical resistance, and collective care.

July, an LGBTQI+ activist in exile, reflected:

“As an LGBTQI+ person, the coup didn’t just take away our freedom—it intensified our invisibility and risk. But it also pushed us to care for one another and imagine a future where freedom includes all identities. Hope, for us, is survival that we choose every day.”

And yet, despite everything, resistance endures.

Ma Shunn Lei, a research fellow at a university in Thailand, shared:

“I was a university student when the coup happened. I witnessed protests and loss. We learned more about politics from tear gas and bullets than from textbooks. I now have a deeper understanding of power, patriarchy, and resistance. Some days I feel lost beyond words, yet I know stopping would mean letting injustice rewrite our future. Continuing—even slowly—is how I resist.”

Yucca Wai, Program Director at Exile Hub, shared:

“What we see every day is not just exhaustion, but persistence. People continue to show up for one another—through care, through bearing witness, and through small acts of resistance that keep communities alive. Hope, for us, is built in these everyday choices.”

Where We Are Heading

The path forward is neither linear nor certain. The revolution has entered a long phase—one that demands endurance, accountability, and renewed international attention.

As we mark this fifth anniversary alongside exiled journalists and human rights defenders, several truths remain clear:

• Exhaustion is real and must be acknowledged, not shamed.

• Delayed accountability is justice denied.

• Elections staged under repression cannot erase crimes.

• Hope, when chosen deliberately, remains a form of resistance.

• Nothing can be sustained in isolation; community is essential.

  
  

Ma Zee, Managing Director of Exile Hub reflected: “Hope is not optimism, and it is not denial. It is a decision to stay accountable to each other, to truth, and to the future we refuse to give up. Five years on, resistance looks quieter in some places, slower in others, but it remains rooted in collective care and an insistence that injustice will not be normalised.”

Five years on, the struggle continues—not because people are untouched by pain, but because they refuse to let violence define the future.