Civil disobedience demonstrations in Myanmar have drawn global attention
Myanmar’s military staged a coup early last month, causing a national backlash. The demonstrators have defied the crackdown and resorted to peaceful and non-violent protests that have received international solidarity. Five scholars, including Kristian Stokke, a professor at the University of Oslo in Norway, earlier nominated the Burmese demonstrators for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.
Professor Stokke noted, “Civil disobedience movements have always been the main means by which Burmese mobilize large numbers of people for democracy, and they are doing so by non-violent means.”
Stork said, “Such democratic movements, if successful, may also affect other places outside Burma and inspire nonviolent democratic movements elsewhere when democracy is oppressed by authoritarian forces.”
He said, “The point is to give people a glimmer of hope. After the military coup, (a peaceful nonviolent civil disobedience movement) has crossed many differences within Burmese society, especially ethnic differences, to form a kind of coalition.”
The Nobel committee will only accept nominations submitted by the Jan. 31 deadline, so Stoker and five other scholars’ proposals will only be up for next year’s prize.
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