![Demonstrators wave the flags of different ethnic groups during a protest against the military coup, in Yangon, Myanmar, Feb. 18, 2021 (AP Photo).](https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/l_myanmar-protest-02122021-1.jpg?w=519&h=259&crop=1)
When Myanmar’s military overthrew the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, one resident of Yangon, the country’s largest city, was initially indifferent. A 34-year-old professional translator, he had lost faith in Myanmar’s public and its political classes long ago, he told me in a recent phone conversation. Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for Democracy, or NLD, seemed too willing to compromise with the military and make progress in half measures, as evidenced by the country’s flagging, decade-long transition to democracy. But then, something unexpected happened: The people of Myanmar began to […]