UVA Undergrads Publish Book Spotlighting the Struggle for Democracy in Myanmar

The People Demand Democracy Event
UVA undergraduates (left to right) Lauren Taylor, Pratha Purushottam and Gloria Wu launched their book The People Demand Democracy at an event held on Grounds.

The University of Virginia’s Democratic Futures Project (DFP) recently hosted a conversation with Myo Yan Naung Thein, a pro-democracy advocate from Myanmar  who fled the country after a military coup that deposed the nation’s democratically elected leader. 

The event also served as an opportunity to announce the publication of The People Demand Democracy. Researched and compiled by six UVA undergraduates who worked with Thein, the book documents the brutal repression of the people of Myanmar under its military leaders and the growth of the Spring Revolution, a campaign to restore political and human rights to the nation.

Held at UVA’s student center on the Corner, the event featured a conversation between Thein and Stephen Parks, a UVA professor of writing and rhetoric and founder of the DFP. Thein was invited to UVA after fleeing Myanmar, and he is currently a visiting researcher with the DFP, a multi-disciplinary institute based in the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences that brings together academics, advocates and policy makers working to reinvigorate democracy and citizenship around the globe. In his conversation with Parks, Thein recounted the story of his arrest and imprisonment in Myanmar after the coup and his work at home and at UVA to secure peace and democracy for the people of his country. 

“Education is the basis of democracy,” Thein said, and for him, the book, sharing the voices of the people of Myanmar, is a plea not to forget their struggle.

The People Demand Democracy was a three-year project compiled by undergraduate editors under Thein’s mentorship. Documenting the military coup of 2021 and the subsequent campaign of repression against the people of Myanmar, the book captures the stories of 30 political dissidents and refugees, offering a stark look at the realities of life under Myanmar’s totalitarian regime.

For Parks, the book is an example of the work universities can do to advance democracy around the world and to empower students to hope and to change the future for the better.

“We argue that our students should be civically engaged, do public facing work and that they should imagine themselves as global citizens,” Parks said. “Universities often give them the theory but don’t give them the practices that they’ll need to create the future, to rebuild a political center in which real work can get done. As a result, I think that students are frustrated with the current moment but lack the tools to change it in an effective way.”

Sales of The People Demand Democracy will support future work of the Burmese Democratic Futures Working Group. According to Parks, collaborative projects like the book offer students real opportunities to create change, as well as new tools to shape the kind of world they envision.

“It’s so nice to see this project come to fruition,” said Gloria Wu, a recent UVA graduate and one of the student editors of the book. 

Wu said she was struck by how long the persecution of Myanmar’s pro-democratic populace had been going on even before the coup. The insights she gained from the people she interviewed have shaped her career goals.

“My work with Myo Yan has inspired a lot of what I want to do with my future,” Wu said.  “I’m preparing for law school now.  I want to pursue a career in human rights law, and I want to work specifically in the area of transitional justice.”

Fourth-year Pratha Purushottam’s work as one of the book’s editors inspired her to take on additional coursework in democracy, human rights and immigration. She is also focusing on pursuing a career in law.

“For me, the work has really created a love for advocacy through storytelling, and that’s something I would love to pursue as a career…spotlighting voices in the dark and lending legitimacy to voices that are unfairly silenced,” Purushottam said.