Four years after government workers left their positions in defiance of the military’s seizure of power in Myanmar, trading stable jobs for uncertain futures in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), their lives remain dramatically transformed
In the hot days of February and March 2021, the call to “Leave work, break free” echoed throughout Myanmar.After Myanmar’s military staged a coup in February 2021, protesters demanded that civil servants leave their offices, joining an effort to disable the machinery of the regime attempting to seize power.Departmental staff in government offices throughout Myanmar began to strike on a massive scale, creating a new Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) to resist. After decades of enjoying stable livelihoods and steady incomes, these civil servants experienced the myriad disruptions that came of walking off their jobs, and their individual stories illustrate the depth of the transformation that followed: a policeman became a resistance leader; a school principal became a Buddhist nun; a man who worked as a train driver for 20 years now has to take on odd jobs; and a student who once spent their days in classrooms. . .
