"The great maxim of the English in governing an oriental race is 'never get something done by a European when an Oriental can do it.' " [2]
George Orwell
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is an ethnically diverse country located in southeastern Asia. Great Britain, the occupiers of nearby India, looked to Burma to expand their empire in the 19th century. After years of war, Burma became a British colony in 1886.
Britain, with the justification of civilizing the Burmese "savages," heavily relied on Burma's rich natural resources to fuel its booming economy. However, this wealth was never extended to the Burmese, who largely remained impoverished peasants with no political voice.
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"And after all, the Burmese are mere peasants, occupied in cultivating the land. They have not yet reached that stage of intellectual development which makes for nationalists." [2]
George Orwell
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“Could the Burmese trade for themselves? Can they make machinery, ships, railways, roads? They are helpless without you. What would happen to the Burmese forests if the English were not here? They would be sold immediately to the Japanese, who would gut them and ruin them. Instead of which, in your hands, actually they are improved. And while your business men develop the resources of our country, your officials are civilising us, elevating us to their level, from pure public spirit. It is a magnificent record of self-sacrifice.” [3] |
"The main work, I thought, must be done in Burma which must be the mobilization of the masses for the national struggle. I had a rough plan of my own, country-wide mass resistance movement against British imperialism on a progressive scale... coextensive with international and national developments in the form of a series of local and partial strikes of industrial and rural workers leading to a general and rent strike finally, also all forms of militant propaganda such as mass demonstrations and people's marches leading finally to mass civil disobedience, also economic campaign against British imperialism in the form of boycott of British goods leading to the mass non-payment of taxes , to be supported by developing guerrilla action against military and civil and police outposts, lines of communication...leading finally to the complete paralysis of the British administration in Burma." [4]
Aung San