CZM Rewind: How To Build A Revolution: Myanmar, Part One

Summary

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Podcast Summary: It Could Happen Here

Episode: CZM Rewind: How To Build A Revolution: Myanmar, Part One

Date: July 23, 2026
Host/Reporter: James Stout, with Robert Evans
Location: Primarily in Maisot, Thailand, and the Myanmar border

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Episode Overview

This episode marks the beginning of a deep dive into Myanmar’s recent revolution, following the 2021 military coup and the grassroots, youth-driven uprising it sparked. Through intimate interviews, primarily with young Burmese revolutionaries living in exile, the hosts explore how an ordinary generation was forced into extraordinary resistance. Listeners are placed in the midst of the chaos: from the initial hope after Myanmar's democratic elections, to the brutal crackdown, and into the fledgling civil war.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Parallels Between 2020 America and Myanmar (02:38)

• The episode opens by drawing similarities between the US's 2020 protests and Myanmar’s experience, noting both populace’s exposure to the true violence of state power during movements for justice.
• The failed US coup attempt and the Burmese military’s successful coup are juxtaposed, highlighting the thin veneer of democracy and the lengths institutions will go to maintain power.

2. Introducing the Exiled Revolutionaries (05:32)

• Host James recounts traveling to Maisot, Thailand to meet Andy (pseudonym), a 22-year-old head of a makeshift family of young exiles.
• The boys’ existence is illegal in Thailand, and if caught, they risk deportation and death in Myanmar.
• The tone is both casual—drinking beer and playing music—and somber, shadowed by trauma.

3. Andy’s Story—Escaping and Witnessing Revolutions (07:39)

• Andy’s childhood was marked by the 2007 Saffron Revolution and exile to a Thai refugee camp due to economic collapse, not direct violence.
• He describes the tough refugee life:
  “We weren’t refugees, right. We were more like, how do you say, like, economic refugees...there’s no future. That’s what she said. So we went back.” (08:50, Andy)
• Returning to Myanmar, Andy’s family remains politically neutral, even initially siding with the military out of inertia.

4. The Illusion of Democracy and Ethnic Tensions (10:01 – 12:18)

• Andy describes the 2015 “democratic” election as superficial.
  “It was never real democracy. The military always had 25% seat...they make it very clear.” (11:21, Andy)
• Criticizes Aung San Suu Kyi’s government for focusing changes on Bama people, neglecting ethnic minorities and ignoring military violence in the hills and against the Rohingya.

5. Family Trauma and Exile (13:16)

• Andy recounts a violent, abusive father and family conflict that eventually forced him into self-imposed exile back in Mesat.
• By 2021’s coup, he’s once again a refugee—this time witnessing Myanmar’s chaos from abroad.

6. Witnessing the Coup—and the Call to Action (14:01)

• On February 1, 2021, Andy learned of the coup from his girlfriend in Thailand. “The military just did a coup in your country. You should call your family.” (14:01, Andy)
• After the military shut off the Internet, he felt compelled to return, document protests as a photographer, and eventually join the movement.

7. The Perspective of Young Protesters: Amira and Myouk (19:26 – 23:20)

• The episode introduces Amira (17), who, inspired by Suu Kyi and driven by rage at the coup, leads others with a bullhorn at Yangon protests.
  • “She believed in what to San Suji said, like everything is possible and we haven’t do anything. We haven’t studied yet. And then. But when we study...everything is possible.” (21:08, Myouk, translating for Amira)
• Myouk, her boyfriend, humorously describes being woken up at 4AM by his girlfriend with news of the coup after a night of "Netflix and chill."
  • “I was chilling...and at 4am there's a phone rings...Her auntie...said there's a coup...I checked the social media.” (22:11, Myouk)

8. Medical Resistance: Dr. Wonder (23:20 – 25:24)

• Dr. Wonder, a young hospital physician, emphasizes generational divides in choosing resistance.
  • Older doctors advise against political engagement, but youth (“This should be last time. The last time kids had to die in the streets.”) (25:06 Dr. Wonder) resolve to change things.
• They initiate peaceful, nonviolent resistance with the “Red Ribbon movement.”

9. The Diaspora’s Dilemma: TK's Perspective (26:13)

• TK is a Burmese expat in the US, feeling helpless but staying connected with friends on the ground.
• He confesses:
  “I have no idea about the politics. I have no idea about the military stuff.” (27:15, TK/Myouk)

10. Entering Protest and the Power of Collective Action (27:53 – 31:55)

• Andy details his return: at protests in Miawadi, the “three fingers” Hunger Games salute becomes a universal sign of resistance.
  • “First day I arrived, there were 200,000 people on the street...It was beautiful. Like, it was something else...I was like, okay, this is what I'm going to do now.” (27:53, Andy)
• He befriends organizers—most students or young professionals—and is pulled into the inner circle of resistance.

11. Music, Memory, and the Weight of History (31:11 – 34:29)

• The group plays and discusses “Tell the World,” a protest song connecting their struggle to revolutions past (notably 1988 and the Spring Revolution).
  • “The lyrics are...the blood on the roads and the streets are not dried yet. And for the sake of these people who have died for democracy, for fighting for democracy for the sake of them, we have to keep fighting.” (32:38, Andy)
• Singing the song together is bittersweet—“too dark,” too real, yet it binds them to their comrades and history.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On False Democracy & Disillusionment:
  “It was never real democracy...the military always had 25% seat...all these big things.”
  — Andy (11:21)

• On Aung San Suu Kyi’s Failure:
  “We looked at her before...as something hope for everyone...But then when she became in power, she mainly focused all these changes for the Burma people.”
  — Andy (12:18)

• On Youthful Optimism and Protest:
  “Everything is possible. So that's what she believe in. So she went on the road and then she protests across the city.”
  — Amira (21:08, via Myouk)

• On the Power of Protest:
  “There’s no time that I’ve ever felt more empowered than...toe to toe with state violence, and watch cops break and retreat. It’s incredible. It’s addictive.”
  — James (29:02)

• On the Song and Its Legacy:
  “The blood on the roads and streets are not dried yet. And for the sake of these people who have died for democracy...we have to keep fighting.”
  — Andy (32:38)

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Important Timestamps

• 02:38 — Introduction and context: comparisons between protests in the US and Myanmar, and setup for Myanmar’s 2021 coup.
• 05:32 — Meet Andy and his group in exile; background of hosts’ journey to Thailand.
• 07:39 — Andy’s childhood memories of the Saffron Revolution and refugee life.
• 10:01 — The reality of Myanmar’s pseudo-democracy and Western misperceptions.
• 13:16 — Family abuse leads Andy to exile.
• 14:01 — Andy learns of the 2021 coup; begins contemplation of resistance.
• 19:26 — Introduction of Amira, Myouk, and their protest involvement.
• 23:20 — Dr. Wonder’s initial medical resistance and the generational divide.
• 27:53 — Andy’s firsthand experience joining the protests and the transformative power of mass action.
• 31:11 — The significance of protest songs, especially “Tell the World.”
• 32:58 — Singing and reflecting on the song, the pain, and their ongoing struggle.

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Episode Tone & Style

The episode weaves a conversational, sometimes humorous and always heartfelt tone with moments of deep trauma and grief. The voices of young revolutionaries are preserved with their own language and slang. Listeners are made to feel present among the exiles—sharing their laughter, their music, and their pain.

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Conclusion

Part one of this series offers a rare, on-the-ground look at Myanmar's uprising through the eyes of young exiles for whom activism was never the plan, but became necessity in the face of military violence. The episode ends with a promise to follow the next steps as protests are crushed and resistance evolves. For listeners, it’s both a lesson in revolutionary dynamics and an intimate human portrait of hope, disillusionment, and stubborn courage.

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Transcript

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[Narrator (It Could Happen Here)]

In 2020, millions of Americans took to the streets to protest police violence. They were met with police violence on a massive scale. Shootings, vehicle attacks and assassinations occurred alongside these protests, often in defense of the police. And in total, at least 25Americans died. We now know that President Trump repeatedly urged General Mark Milley to deploy US Military forces to crack down violently on demonstrations. Milley claims that Trump told him to have his Soldiers crack skulls, beat the fuck out of and just shoot protesters. In the end, we were all lucky. Military leaders, including General Milley, resisted calls to use their men to suppress domestic dissent. National Guard were called in to police several major cities. But in many cases, their behavior was tame compared to the militarized police who more reliably shot and beat protesters. For millions of Americans, 2020 was their first exposure to the violence the state will do to avoid change. And then Trump lost the election. He and his followers tried to carry out a coup, but failed for now. And millions of Americans who'd taken to the streets mostly went back to their lives. Some were satisfied justice had been done. Others were furious to have stopped short of instituting real change. But at the end of the day, business went on as usual. A version of normal prevailed. In 2021, the military of Myanmar, known as the Tatmadaw, overthrew the elected government in a coup. Hundreds of thousands of citizens, most of them young Gen Z and millennial men and women, took to the streets. Police responded with tear gas, water cannons, and eventually bullets. The international community expressed its horror at the brutality of the Tatmadaw. But that's all they did. Over the course of several months, the military pushed protesters mostly out of the cities. And a protest movement against the military coup turned into a civil war. Now those same protesters, mostly kids who wanted nothing more than a normal life, have become revolutionaries. With homemade guns, 3D printed rockets, and stolen rifles, they battle the Tatmadaw. Some of them fight in the jungles, some of them fight in the cities, and some of them fight on the Internet. This is their story. We're sitting in a large suburban home in Maisot, Thailand, a small city on the border of Myanmar. The boys singing and playing music around us range in age from 17 to 22. Their existence in Thailand is a crime. If they are caught here, they'll be forced to cross the border into Myanmar, whose government executed their friends and sold the organs for profit. But tonight, they're playing music. We're drinking beer. Later, James Stout and I will play pool with them and get our asses just catastrophically wrecked.

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

We met Andy, age 22 and head of the family, for his Instagram page. That's not his real name, but for obvious reasons, we can't identify him. We first met when I sent him a DM asking if we could buy one of his photos for our first series on Myanmar. He was a bit skeptical, but I tried my best to get him to see. We just wanted to give him Money and promote his work. Over the next six months or so, we went from talking on the phone to messaging almost every day to Robert and I booking tickets to Thailand, to sitting on the top floor of their house. It used to be his landlord's office, but now it's home to Andy and his partner, Sarah. That's also not her real name because she's a citizen of a western nation working in Thailand. The boys we talk about are his brothers, his cousin and friends. They live at a small building across the garden, and in the daytime they sit under a gazebo and play their guitars. The first night we met Andy and Sarah, we sat behind a bar in an unpaved alleyway. We drank beer out of sippy cups because selling beer is still banned under local Covid regulations. But apparently the cops don't check sippy cups. We drank far too much, in fact. And the next day I woke up with a headache and a blurry photo of me, Robert and Andy engaged in a pose, which was half hug and half mutual support structure. We walked home and according to my phone, at some point we took photos of a puppy and. And in a hopefully unrelated incident, at some point I started bleeding. It was immediately obvious that Andy needed the chance to blow off some steam. Over the last year and change, he has chronicled every stage of the coup and its aftermath. In early videos, we see joyous protests, moments of resistance and splendor in the streets of cities like Miawadi. Later, we see violence, death and guerrilla warfare. And he didn't have what you would call an easy childhood, thanks in part to Myanmar's long history of revolutions being crushed by the army. People there, like people everywhere, want to be free and determine their own futures. And so each generation has its own uprising and each generation has its own massacre and very little progress to show for it.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

I was born in 2000, so when I was seven, 2007, there was a revolution. It's called Saffron Revolution. It wasn't like this, you know, it wasn't like what happened now, but like there were a lot of people that were involved in it. A lot of people got killed and a lot of people left Myanmar and came to the refugee camps in here. And we were one of the families that came to the refugee camps in Mysot. Yeah, in my sot, Thailand.

[Dr. Wonder (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Yeah.

[Narrator (It Could Happen Here)]

Andy's mother is Buma, the dominant ethnic group in Myanmar due to their decades long control of the military and government. His father is Corinne, the ethnic group once used by the British government as soldiers since 1949. The Karin have fought a war in the mountains against the Tat Madaw. Their name is often Anglicized to be spelled just like the English name Karen, which, given present Internet trends, makes explaining the conflict sometimes awkward. Andy primarily identifies as and was raised Bama. His family left after the Saffron revolution. They did not flee to escape political repression, but because the economy had collapsed. This put them in an awkward position. In the camps, which were filled mostly with Karen people who had fled state violence.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

We weren't refugees, Right. We were more like, how do you say, like, economic refugees. You know, we go because. Not because our village has been burned down and our family has been killed. You know, so then if we were to go back to Yangon, we go. We still could find a job, we still could find, you know, but then for these current people, like, this place is the only place that they could exist at that moment. Right. And probably still now too. So, yeah, so they said that, but that education wasn't very good there. There's. The life wasn't good, you know, it wasn't. It wasn't. It was very bad. Honestly, it was very bad. It was a lot of violence, a lot of hate, a lot of understandable, you know, like, these people have gone through so much shit and so much trauma that. And nothing. No one is coming there to fix that. So they had a lot of anger, they had a lot of problems. But my. My mom said, yeah, we're going back because the education here is very bad. And if you go back to Myanmar, at least, you know, if you do like, the thing that people do, maybe you'll get somewhere. Yeah. In the future here, there's no future. That's what she said. So we went back and I stayed in Myanmar for like four years.

[Narrator (It Could Happen Here)]

Andy had never been very political. His family was more or less neutral, tending to side with the military more often than not out of a sense of inertia. Myanmar tended to cartwheel between attempts at democracy and military dictatorship. So when the world media celebrated their first democratic elections in 25 years, in 2015, Andy was not particularly excited.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Yeah, so, I mean, we did realize that there was a change in the country, right, because we grew up in the military detectorship. But then when content took over, there were some changes, like the phones got cheaper, the Internet got cheaper. And if you look back then, you can see big, big changes. But the thing is, it was never real democracy. And I think a lot of people in the western countries find thought that it was democracy. When Aung San Suu Kyi took over.

[Narrator (It Could Happen Here)]

Aung San Suu Kyi came to prominence during a 1988 uprising against the military which ended in bloodshed in the streets of Yangon. And she'd been a longtime democratic activist. As Andy noted. Westerners celebrated her election as the first democratic head of state for Myanmar. She even won a Nobel Prize. But the agreement her party had made with the military gave the general significant permanent control over the government.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

But I think most of the people in the country knew it wasn't real democracy because, you know, the military always had 25% seat, 25 seats in the parliament, right? Like they were always, they were in charge of electricity, all these, all these big things, weapons, army, like the military itself, they are in charge of all these things and they make it very clear.

[Narrator (It Could Happen Here)]

And even with a Nobel Prize, Aung San SUU Kyi did not fight to stop the Tatmadaw from pursuing their decades long wars against the ethnic armed organizations in the hills. Nor did she act to stop their ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people. In fact, she and others in her party didn't even call them Rohingya. They called them Bengali and insisted they were illegally residing in Myanmar, despite mountains of evidence documenting a group by that name living in what is now the Rakhine State. I think most Americans and Westerners in general can empathize with the feeling of electing someone who promises change and then getting very little of what you'd expected.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

I think Aung San SUU Kyi used to be this hope that was like the opposition against the military. But I think when she got power, she couldn't do all the things that she promised to do or like, you know, we looked at her before, we looked at her as something, you know, something hope for everyone, for all the ethnic groups and for everyone in the country. But then when she became in power, she mainly focused all these changes for the Burma people. Well, you know, the mainland people, like the military was still fucking killing people and killing ethnic groups. Did they do something, you know, like, so then for the ethnic groups, what's the difference?

[Narrator (It Could Happen Here)]

And so while Andy was hopeful that his country might take a better path, he was not exactly convinced that things were going to get better. Conflict within his family eventually pushed him to make the decision to leave.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

My dad was very abusive. He would beat the shit out of my mouth every day like that. It was fine. Like it was fine. When I, when we were younger, we couldn't do anything, you know, we just kind of watched it, right? But the older we got, the more we involved, the more we tried to stop it. But then we would fight with him too, you know. And so at some point it became too much. And so I left my home, I think, in 2016, just by myself. And I was like, I've been to Mesa. I will go back here, you know.

[Narrator (It Could Happen Here)]

So Andy lived across the border on his own for more than five years. He'd fallen in love, gotten a home of his own, and set himself up in the sort of odd job you can do without papers or legal residency. And that's where things were for him when the top madaw carried out their Coup in early 2021.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

2021 50, February 1st. I was in Mossad. I was here. And yeah, in the morning I woke up, called me my girlfriend, and she said, the military just did a coup in your country. You should call your family.

[Narrator (It Could Happen Here)]

The military claimed voter fraud and used that as the pretext to stay in power. It's a situation that should be unsettlingly familiar to most of our audience. For a while safe in Mesat, Andy watched it in horror as he texted with friends and family across the border.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

They arrested Aung San SUU Kyi and all the big leaders right at the top. So we were kind of like, okay, is someone going to tell us what to do? And especially for us, we didn't have any experiences, we didn't know anything about any of this that I'm talking about right now. I didn't have any knowledge of that. But yeah, so after I think six days, the military cut off the Internet, like, for like two days. And I've lost all contact with everyone inside my family, my friends. And that's the night I started planning it. Like, I started thinking, oh, fuck, I should go back. And like. And I saw the protest photos from Yangon. They looked amazing, right? And I'm like, I'm a photographer. I should be there and, you know, document that.

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New voices, each with the courage to tell their own story.

[Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff (The Missing Sister narrator)]

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[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Okay, just try and act normal.

[Narrator (It Could Happen Here)]

He was essentially on the run.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Every family has secrets.

[Sheryl Swoopes / Tareka Foster Brasby]

The rug had been pulled from underneath me.

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[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

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[Narrator (It Could Happen Here)]

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[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

While Andy was staring at the protest photos from the capital of Myanmar, Naypyidaw, as well as Miawadi and the largest city, Yangon, wondering he should take his camera and document yet another rising for democracy in his home country. A young woman named Amira was in the thick of those protests in Yangon when the coup started. Amira, aged 17, had just finished high school. She was looking forward to university and more pressingly looking forward to playing futsal with her friends. She liked to spend her days crafting, she says, making little things to gift or to keep. Like every other day when she woke up, she spent 10 minutes in medication before facing the world. On 1 February, Aung San Suu Kyi was her hero, she says in our interview. Her boyfriend translated for her. We'll get to their story later. But when the coup began, they lived a world apart. But they joined their whole generation in feeling enraged by the Tatmadaw, trying to rip the freedom their parents had fought for from them, Amira took her rage into the street. Someone gave her a bullhorn because of her voice.

[Myouk (It Could Happen Here subject)]

And then she became the leader, you know, with the.

[Narrator (It Could Happen Here)]

Yeah, the bullhorn.

[Myouk (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Yeah.

[Narrator (It Could Happen Here)]

What kind of stuff would you say through the bullhorn?

[Myouk (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Oh, she's saying this is end fail and then this is what the. The arresting Ausan Suji is unfair, not fair.

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

Oh, okay. Oh, gotcha, Gotcha. Yeah. Okay.

[Dr. Wonder (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Yeah.

[Myouk (It Could Happen Here subject)]

And then, and then she believed that. She believed in what to San Suji said, like everything is possible and we haven't do anything. We haven't studied yet. And then. But when we study and then we can finish it. So everything is possible. So that's what she believe in. So she went on the road and then she protests across the city from

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

Amira on coup D, Meowc's girlfriend woke him up with the news that the government they'd voted for had been arrested. We're calling him Myouc here because that's his name. In the revolution, everyone has one. Amir is his baby because she's so young and yet so fierce. Myouk, if you're wondering, means monkey. These revolutionaries who have risked life and limb for each other didn't know the legal names of the people they call their revolution family because it's safer that way. And we don't either. Meowkud spent the night. Well, I'll let you hear how he phrased it.

[Myouk (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Actually, I was just like, I was chilling with my ex girlfriend, you know, I was chilling and we were, you know, you know, Netflix And Che, like 311 January, nuffles and Che. I think it's a Sunday. I think Sunday, Nuffle and Chef and we sleep together.

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

If you didn't catch that, they were Netflix and chilling.

[Myouk (It Could Happen Here subject)]

You know, I was literally not wake up by any louder show. I was so asleep. But at 4am there's a phone rings and I suddenly wake up. This phone rang from my girlfriend. Her auntie called her and she said there's a coup de feet. Oh. And she wake up, she told me there's a coup d'. Affit. Ah. And then, you know, I don't believe it. I didn't believe it. So other time I checked the social media.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Oh, shit.

[Billie Eilish]

Oh.

[Myouk (It Could Happen Here subject)]

May I accurately do this? I'm so angry and I'm so angry. You know, I was going down downstairs and I told to my family, it's good. Everyone's angry at those times. The Internet, they cut off.

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

The next revolutionary we're going to meet is a FELLOW we'll call Dr. Wonder, because that's his revolution name. When the coup started, he was just waking up after a 24 hour shift at the hospital in Yangon where he worked. Doctors were some of the earliest and most visible dissidents in the protest. Their rarity and therefore their relative value to the regime made them a potent symbol of the pro democracy movement. But as Dr. Wonder made clear, many older medical professionals were not at all certain that resistance was a right move.

[Dr. Wonder (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Here at the morning I saw the news that bad news, really, really bad news for us because how could I say that they broke, you know, they broke our future.

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

Doctors were some of the earliest, most visible dissidents in the pro democracy protests. Their rarity and relative value to the regime made them a potent symbol of the pro democracy movement. But as Dr. Wonder made clear, many older medical professionals were not at all certain that resistance was a right move.

[Dr. Wonder (It Could Happen Here subject)]

On that morning, we go back to our society, our hospital. We are young guys, you know, old professors, old consultants. They not much interest about that because they told us, you know, whoever rules our country, this is not our business. It is. One of our senior doctors from our society, Foreign department pull us like that. But we replied him, no, this should be last time.

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

If you didn't catch that. He said, it should be the last time. The last time kids had to die in the streets. They didn't want another generation to have to go through the same thing. So they got together a proposal, a sort of manifesto for peaceful nonviolent resistance. And they submitted it to their seniors.

[Dr. Wonder (It Could Happen Here subject)]

We negotiated with our, you know, young residents, our society, and we discussed about that. We plan to start with one of our prior movement before civilities of yml. We have got a Red Rayborne movement because we wanna thrive peacefully on the media. Okay. We started like that. And then some of our seniors from our society, they were from Mandalay Hospital. Okay, they accept our proposal. Yes, because our generation has already passed that difficulties before. But not your generation shouldn't accept that.

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

Three days before the coup, TK Got off a plane in San Francisco. He's from Myanmar, but he lives in the Bay Area. Now. Before you ask, he says that the Burmese restaurant there is not as good as the stuff back home.

[Myouk (It Could Happen Here subject)]

It's only three days.

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

Three days before.

[Myouk (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Three days before I went back to the. To the United States. And I wish I stay in a jungle and doing the revolution and I participate in every way that I can, but I couldn't do from the long distance, you know, so that's all I can do for now.

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

TK had just been in Myanmar. He had connections to many people on the ground there. His friends were there, his family were there. When the government cut off Internet access, he remained able to get good international reporting on the situation in his home country. Slowly, he found ways to communicate with his friends and a growing core of the protesters taking to the streets.

[Myouk (It Could Happen Here subject)]

I was a kibo fighter. I have no idea about the politics. I have no idea about the military stuff.

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

This is the single most common sentiment we've heard across all the revolutionaries we've met. None of them considered themselves to be very political Prior to the coup. They started marching in the street because a military coup was obviously bad. But they stayed there because the violence dished out by the state was so horrific. Safe at their house in Mesa, we talked to the boys and his brothers and cousins, all of whom were living in Naypyidaw when the coup kicked off. It didn't take him long to try and join them.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Then I went in. I went to Miaori, which is across the border in Myanmar side. And I was there for a week, and it was. It was something else. Like, I've never been to protests. I've never been involved in any of this thing. And I never thought I would be, you know, like, I don't know. I always thought, like, I wasn't going to be a part of it. But when I went there, the first day I arrived, there were 200,000 people on the street protesting. And then it's like. And this big group of people walking streets after street and everyone coming out of their house, and we have this symbol, like three fingers from hanger gang, I think. Yeah, yeah. So that's like our symbol for democracy now or our movement now. And everyone come out of their house doing that and, you know, like, giving us water, food, everything. It was beautiful. Like, it was something else. It was something else. And then from that day, I was like, hook. I was like, okay, this is what I'm going to do now. I'm going to be a photographer, and I'm going to. In this, you know, and I'm going to. I'm going to take photo of these people and their stories, and I'm going to share it. And that's. That's my part. That's my rule.

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

Soon he found friends among the protesters. Within a few days, he was feeling a feeling that so many people felt in 2020. It's a feeling you felt if you've ever been in the thick of a crowd of people filled with righteous anger and facing down overwhelmed police or soldiers. It's a sensation. I can't really describe to you if you haven't experienced it, But I can say that there's no time that I've ever felt more empowered than the times I've been crushed shoulder to shoulder with strangers, toe to toe with state violence, and watch cops break and retreat. It's incredible. It's addictive. And if I'm honest, it's probably why Robert and I booked a flight to visit a stranger. I'd been dming on the gram.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

I think after three days, I met this group of people, you young people, like students trying to be lawyers and stuff. And I figured out that they were the ones trying to organize these big protests. Like 200 people, 100,000 people. They were the ones that's making that happen. So I started kind of following them, trying to get close, because I wanted to get stories from them. And then they became. And they realized what I've been doing. They've been watching, and so they were very welcome. And they took me to this hideout that they go to and then we will have discussions, meetings about what we should do the next day. Da da da da. But then kind of it's because it's a small town, right. Slowly I think police and military started realizing that we are that group too.

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

So by now you're probably wondering what that cover of Dust in the Wind. It's a song the boys learned when they first took to the streets. But it tells the story of a prison previous revelation, one that didn't succeed. That's pretty good, guys.

[Narrator (It Could Happen Here)]

Can you tell us what that song's about? Like, do you know what the lyrics are and stuff in English?

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Yeah, yeah, we.

[Myouk (It Could Happen Here subject)]

We can try.

[Narrator (It Could Happen Here)]

I heard the word democracy in there.

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

I'm pretty sure. Yeah, yeah.

[Narrator (It Could Happen Here)]

It's like all the lives that were

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

lost in fighting for democracy.

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

Yeah. Do people use it for spring revolution as well as 88?

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Yeah, cuz it's the same thing. We can use it till the world. And that's the name of the song.

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

Tell the World, it's called.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Yeah, like tell the World. So basically the song is like. Yeah, they sang it in the back in the 88 and then it's like we used it quite a lot when. When we were in the protest to.

[Dr. Wonder (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Yeah.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

The Larisar will keep fighting until the end of the world for the sake of history and revolution in our blood and of the fallen heroes who fought for the democracy. Oh, our dearest heroes. This is the land of like heroes.

[Dr. Wonder (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Like. Yeah.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

And yeah, it goes on and then yeah, basically saying like something like the history went wrong along the way, but we have to fix it.

[Dr. Wonder (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Yeah.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Like the country has shed its blood and how could they commit such violence to its own people, you know?

[Myouk (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Yeah.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

And yeah, like they say, like the. The blood on the roads and the streets are not dried yet. And for the sake of these people who have died for democracy, for fighting for democracy for the sake of them,

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

we have to keep fighting.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Basically.

[Dr. Wonder (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Yeah.

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

Now in their exile, they keep singing it to remember the first day of the revolution when the fights were in the street, not the jungle before they lost so many of their comrades.

[Dr. Wonder (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Yeah.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

And then there was the night protest in front of the police station. Candles. Oh, this is. They're singing the song. They just sing. Yeah, It got very, very heated.

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

The protests our friends were just talking about occurred in Miyawali. But the song popped up all across the country. When you played it in Yangon, did

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

you all sing it? Yeah, in Niengon. It wasn't one guitar it was a whole band.

[Myouk (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Band.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Like, we'll have, like, protesters sitting down and then there's a group of people who are playing this and repeatedly. There are a bunch of songs that we'll play and then there's, like, words that we would say and.

[Dr. Wonder (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Yeah.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Like slowly.

[Dr. Wonder (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Yeah.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

And you'll see from the footage how it's.

[Dr. Wonder (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Yeah. Yeah.

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

How does it make you feel singing it now?

[Dr. Wonder (It Could Happen Here subject)]

It's scary.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

You know, it's like the. The song. The song is very real. So, like, at first we didn't want to play the song. It's too dark. It's too. It's too intense, right?

[Dr. Wonder (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Yeah.

[Andy (It Could Happen Here subject)]

Like, yeah, but it's not. Like the levels are there. Like, you can see it, you know, it's like. Because we. We've been through it too, so it's very intense. And yeah, I think the first time I heard it, like, I heard the song, I remember that weird feeling of. Yeah, still have it. Like every time we sing it now, like, this is not one of the songs that we usually sing. Like, it's not a fun song, but. Yeah.

[James (It Could Happen Here reporter)]

On the next episode, which you'll be able to download tomorrow, we'll talk about how the hunter began to clamp down on the protests and how the protesters decided this struggle was too important to abandon and decided to fight back. Hi, everyone. Hey, everyone. It's James here. I just wanted to note that lots of the words in this script are Burmese or Karen or Thai, and we've made every effort to make sure that we pronounce them correctly, but we're sure we've obviously made some mistakes along the way. That's not out of a lack of respect or out of a lack of re recording on my part. But we did want to note that where we've made a mistake, we're very sorry for doing so.

[It Could Happen Here Outro Narrator]

It could happen here as a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media, Visit our website, coolzonemedia.com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts you can find sources for. It Could Happen here updated [e-mail] sources. Thanks for listening.

[Nora Jones]

Hey, it's Nora Jones and my podcast Playing along is back with more of my favorite musicians. Check out my newest episode with Finneas.

[Billie Eilish]

So I went home and I asked Billie if she wanted to sing it. She immediately made it her own thing. And you give me those ocean eyes and I'm scared.

[Nora Jones]

So come hang out with us in the studio and listen to playing along on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Sheryl Swoopes / Tareka Foster Brasby]

Hey, everybody. I'm Tareka Foster Brasby. What's up, y'?

[Chelsea Handler]

All?

[Sheryl Swoopes / Tareka Foster Brasby]

I'm your girl, Sheryl Swoops. When you tune in to a new episode of our podcast, Levels to this, you're definitely gonna get some spy, cw, NBA Analysis. But we're more than just hoops and the real conversation is what we actually bring.

[Sheryl Swoopes / Tareka Foster Brasby (Levels to This co-host)]

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[Sheryl Swoopes / Tareka Foster Brasby]

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[Betrayal Weekly Host]

Listen to Betrayal Weekly on The Hand Other iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Chelsea Handler]

It's Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. This season we've got some awesome guests ready to dole out advice. Guests like Tiffany Haddish kind of slide into people's DMS.

[Sheryl Swoopes / Tareka Foster Brasby]

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[Chelsea Handler]

Grocery stores near gyms, Darcy Cardin, Sherry O', Terry, Anna Faris, Dave Franco, Madeline Klein, Adam Scott, TS Madison and more. Listen to Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Sheryl Swoopes / Tareka Foster Brasby]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.