Wednesday, May 18 | 7:00 p.m. | DCF, Lwów screening room
Burma In Flames. A lecture following the screening of the film MYANMAR DIARIES, dir. The Myanmar Film Collective
In 2021, the Burmese army staged the fourth coup in the history of Myanmar (Burma), ending a decade-long transition period. Peaceful protests were bloodily suppressed, and the military omnipotence returned. The coup proved to bear a heavy political cost. The pacified society had three options: to migrate domestically, emigrate or take up arms. Paramilitary militias have been formed to fight the Burmese army, and over a hundred of them have joined the ethnic guerrillas active along the country's borders for the last 70 years. The constant fighting is causing creeping anarchy in the country. The coup has had a disastrous impact on the economy: Myanmar's GDP has declined by 18%, the Burmese kyat has lost half its value, more than one million people have lost their jobs in 2021, and nearly half the population already lives below the poverty line. On top of that, the country has to deal with the collapse of the health service, terrorist attacks, social fatalism and a brain drain. This profound crisis is shown in the film and will be further explained by the guest speaker following the screening.
Guest:
Michał Lubina – scholar, columnist and traveller. PhD, Associate Professor of Political Science at the Institute of the Middle and the Far East, Jagiellonian University in Kraków. He is the author of six books on Burma, including A Political Biography of Aung San Suu Kyi and The Moral Democracy, translated into Burmese. A regular commentator on Asian affairs on radio, television and the internet. He has visited 75 countries, including Burma, where he has been 16 times.
