podcast friday

[sabotabby]

 Apparently Fridays are a bad day for me to regularly post, who knew?

Anyway! I'm coming to you with yet another 5-parter to keep you busy until the next time I can be bothered. It Could Happen Here recently did a 5-part series called "How To Build a Revolution: Myanmar," and it is incredible. Have some links:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Robert and James go to Thailand to interview people who participated in Myanmar's spring uprising, from a group of young men who took first to the streets, then the jungle to fight the military regime, to a doctor treating protesters, to a 17-year-old girl who became a protest leader, to an arms smuggler. It's equal parts inspiring and heartbreaking, though, notably, unlike their previous series on Myanmar, there's not a note at the end about how their interview subjects are dead now. The bravery of these young people blows me away, and the story, told through interviews, is compelling in a way that a straightforward history wouldn't be. It's a brilliant piece of journalism, and if the Burmese covers of "Dust in the Wind" and "Bella Ciao" don't get you sobbing, you have no heart.

Comments

[greylock]

I've been following Myanmar/Burma for a few years, and it's not surprising that a lot of companies were happy to hop into bed with Junta 1, but surprising that were quick sticks to take tax breaks and skip out for Junta 2.

And now, here we are again, and the world doesn't care that much.

Myanmar has a lot of issues, but I don't think a military dictatorship is going to solve them.

I don't know if you've seen Henry Rollins do his spoken word, but he used to do a bit where he saw Than Shwe at a hotel somewhere, and went full Rick from The Young Ones in expressing his feelings with his fingers.

[sabotabby]

They talked a lot about how the protests had started peacefully, assuming that the world would be outraged and do something, but no one ever came. Which is horribly naïve but these are teenagers.

I have seen Henry Rollins! His was actually the first show I saw when I decided that I couldn't deal with not going to shows, no matter how dangerous it was. He didn't tell that story, though.

[frandroid]

Friday is also a bad day for me to post, so I record my comments in a Google doc any time I hear a good episode, and just have to copy/paste the post of Friday.

[sabotabby]

That sounds like something an organized person would do. (Which reminds me that it's Reading Wednesday, lol.)