Interviews with Min Yan Naing

Yes, we got training from Otpor, CANVAS, Otpor from Serbia, also many people, many organizations. On blogging and the media. [Otpor was a Serbian civil society movement that organized young people in opposition to the regime of Slobodan Milosevic. Several activists from Otpor later formed CANVAS – the Centre for Applied Non Violent Actions and Strategies – an NGO that teaches nonviolent political organizing techniques to similar movements around the world.] Our organization has capacity building training, this human rights community organizing, nonviolent action, political defiance. Right now we give this campaign, this training, campaign training also.

We very much admired this organization. They look very free. Sometime their talking’s very free. Like this, we got the inspiration. After that, we – OK, we would like to do like this. But not all good ideas; different situation, Serbia and Burma. We admire their young people (being) involved in politics.

Min Yan Naing is a Burmese civil society activist, youth leader and rapper. He was born and lives in Rangoon. He became active in a series of 1996 and 1998 student protests against the military junta ruling the country.

In 2007, together with several schoolmates, Min Yan Naing founded Generation Wave, an underground civil society group. Generation Wave works to motivate young Burmese to become engaged in politics through music and nonviolent protest actions. Using a variety of musical styles, including rap and hip-hop, Generation Wave recordings and videos encourage youth to take a stand in favor of democracy and human rights. Like many opposition groups, Generation Wave has been unable to register as a non-governmental organization and has faced many obstacles to its activities, which are illegal in the eyes of the military regime. Many of the movement’s activists have faced arrest and detention.

Generation Wave uses a variety of techniques to spread its messages, including loading material onto CDs and flash drives for distribution in public places. The group is also known for adapting tactics used in Serbia in 2000 to oust dictator Slobodan Milosevic, such as using graffiti and distributing leaflets to encourage youth activism.

As the Burmese government has eased some of its repressive tactics, Generation Wave has moved into greater visibility. Many of its detained activists were released by the government in early 2012. Generation Wave was active in the by-election campaign that saw opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi elected to the Burmese parliament.

A number of Generation Wave’s music videos are available on the Internet, including these:

Generation Wave’s Hip Hop song

WHOMADEWHO w/ GENERATION WAVE : “LEFT HAND OF THE BOXER”

Generation Wave Mother 64 Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

TEN by GENERATION WAVE