{"id":1670,"date":"2021-02-18T12:37:52","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T10:37:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/?p=1670"},"modified":"2021-02-18T12:37:52","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T10:37:52","slug":"a-public-statement-from-scholars-in-finland-regarding-the-military-coup-detat-in-myanmar-burma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/?p=1670","title":{"rendered":"A public statement from scholars in Finland regarding the military coup d\u2019etat in Myanmar\/Burma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently 50 scholars and activists based in Finland responded to the<\/span> pressing situation in Myanmar with a joint statement. Amongst them are several researchers from the Finnish Society for Development Research.<\/p>\n

Civil society, scholars and governments around the world have been called upon to denounce the coup d\u2019etat in Myanmar\/Burma, demonstrate solidarity and offer support. Thus far there hasn\u2019t been any\u00a0coordinated<\/span>\u00a0reaction from the Finnish scholarly community. This is why the undersigned scholars and activists wanted to send out a statement that includes a message of solidarity to those resisting the coup in Myanmar as well as a call for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs as well as the Finnish Government and the international community more broadly to condemn the coup very unambiguously and take rigorous, comprehensive actions for safeguarding democracy and human rights in Myanmar.<\/p>\n

You can read the statement here below.<\/p>\n

Original pdf can be found here:\u00a0<\/p>\n

* * * * * *<\/p>\n

February 15th, 2021<\/p>\n

Public statement on the military coup d\u2019etat in Myanmar\/Burma and call for a rigorous response from the Finnish government<\/p>\n

We, the undersigned scholars and activists based in Finland,stand in solidarity with the peoples of Myanmar\/Burma to condemn the military coup on 1 February 2021, and with all those who currently risk their lives trying to bring the country back to the path of democratisation. We urge the Finnish government, the EU, and the international community to do the same.<\/p>\n

We align with\u00a0the statement of Fingo<\/a>\u00a0(February 4th, 2021), an umbrella organisation of 300 organisations in Finland, and call for the Government of Finland to establish a comprehensive response that strongly condemns the coup clearly positioning itself to only recognize the elected government. We also urge the Finnish government and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to push the EU to call on the Myanmar military to immediately return power to the democratic institutions of the country, to unconditionally release all who have been detained, and to respect people\u2019s right to protest peacefully. We thus join Fingo\u2019s call for Finland to push the EU and the broader international community to safeguard democracy, human rights and civic space in Myanmar.<\/p>\n

We have read with concern\u00a0a recent commentary published by the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA\u200b)<\/a>\u00a0(February 9th, 2021). We agree with its call for targeted sanctions. But we strongly disagree with its suggestion at the end of the statement saying \u201cin light of the US-China rivalry, dialogue and pragmatic engagement with Myanmar\u2019s military regime may need to be part of the strategic bargaining in order for the West to have an impact on future developments in Myanmar.\u201d This line of reasoning, particularly at this historical juncture, may not only add legitimacy to the illegitimate seizure of power by the Myanmar military but it also risks signalling a disregard to the repeated calls by Myanmar civil society upon the international community \u201cto support existing civil society actions on the ground, as well as instituting targeted sanctions against the military, military enterprises and their crony partners.\u201d (\u200bNang Zun Moe in \u200b\u200bProgressive Voice<\/a>\u00a0(PV)\u200b, February 5th, 2021).<\/p>\n

Considerations of Eurocentric and interest driven engagements with the military regime are highly problematic, especially at this moment when hundreds of thousands of people are taking the streets everyday and risking their lives for the cause of peace and democracy, actively fighting for the future of their country under a democratically-elected civilian government. The current civil disobedience movement is immensely diverse \u2013 spanning from students, factory and mine workers to doctors, lawyers, artists, monks, part of the public police, and civil servants amongst many others. We salute and stand in deep solidarity with these brave civilian initiatives in resisting the military coup. We urge the international community to put all its efforts into supporting the civilian initiatives in all ways possible. This includes condemning condescending, eurocentric lines of reasoning and educating ourselves by listening to the demands made on the ground. All possible dialogue with the illegitimate military officers who led the power grab should be strictly limited to focus on how to restore democracy.<\/p>\n

The signed scholars and activists thus call on the Finnish Government and the international community for an unambiguous and forceful condemnation of the coup. Most immediately the international community should do everything to make the Myanmar military (and police) respect people\u2019s right to protest and not use violence against people in the streets. We also call for carefully planned, targeted sanctions that encompass the military leadership and all military-owned,-controlled or \u2013linked companies and enterprises. Sanctions that negatively impact ordinary people more than the military would be unacceptable. Importantly, Finland should also push all EU members to effectively execute the arms embargo, including related technology transfer. A comprehensive response from Finnish government should also include continuation of support to Myanmar\/Burma that is conflict-sensitive, humanrights-based, supportive of civil society and not in anyways beneficial to the military. It is crucial that the assistance is truly guided and where necessary, reoriented by the advice and perspectives of communities on the ground now and in the future. All actions should be planned in alignment with the calls of citizen initiatives on the ground.<\/p>\n

Signed by<\/p>\n

Johanna G\u00f6tz, Global Development Studies, University of Helsinki
\nMira K\u00e4k\u00f6nen, Global Development Studies, University of Helsinki
\nMarjaana Jauhola, Global Development Studies, University of Helsinki
\nEija Ranta, globaali kehitystutkimus, Helsingin yliopisto
\nTiina Sepp\u00e4l\u00e4, International Relations, University of Lapland
\nBonn Juego, University of Jyv\u00e4skyl\u00e4
\nBarry Gills, Global Development Studies, University of Helsinki
\nPaola Minoia, Global Development Studies, University of Helsinki
\nTuomas Tammisto, Social & Cultural Anthropology, University of Helsinki
\nFernando Oliveira Di Prinzio, Social Anthropology, Tampere University
\nHeikki Wilenius, Social & Cultural Anthropology, University of Helsinki
\nChristopher Chagnon, Global Development Studies, University of Helsinki
\nMari Valdur, Social & Cultural Anthropology, University of Helsinki
\nHenri Onodera, Global Development Studies, University of Helsinki
\nNoora V\u00e4h\u00e4kari, University of Turku
\nTuija Veintie, Global Development Studies, University of Helsinki
\nVille-Veikko Hirvel\u00e4, New Wind Association
\nKukka Ranta, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lapland
\nSanna Komi, Global Development Studies, University of Helsinki
\nFlorencia Quesada, World Cultures, University of Helsinki
\nGutu Wayessa, Global Development Studies, University of Helsinki
\nSamuli L\u00e4hteenaho, Social & Cultural Anthropology, University of Helsinki
\nKai Vaara, New Wind Association
\nTove Selin, Finnish Asiatic Society
\nMarketta Vuola, Global Development Studies, University of Helsinki
\nUsman Ashraf, Global development studies, university of Helsinki
\nAnna Heikkinen, Global Development Studies, University of Helsinki
\nRatih Adiputri, Political Science, University of Jyv\u00e4skyl\u00e4
\nJyrki Luukkanen, University of Turku
\nUllamaija Kivikuru, University of Helsinki
\nKaarle Nordenstreng, Tampere University
\nJyrki K\u00e4k\u00f6nen, Tampere University
\n\u00c9lise F\u00e9ron, Tampere University
\nJohanna Hohenthal, Global Development Studies, University of Helsinki
\nMartta Kaskinen, Global Development Studies, University of Helsinki
\nTarita Memonen, Global Development Studies, University of Helsinki
\nTuomo Melasuo, TAPRI, Tampere University
\nJuhani Koponen, Global Development Studies, University of Helsink
\nSaila-Maria Saaristo, Global Development Studies, University of Helsinki
\nIlona Steiler, Global Development Studies, University of Helsinki
\nAnja Nygren, Global Development Studies, University of Helsinki
\nAnu Lounela, University of helsinki
\nElla Alin, Sociology, University of Helsinki
\nMarja-Liisa Trux, vapaa tutkija, Helsinki
\nHeidi H\u00e4rk\u00f6nen, University of Helsinki
\nLinda Annala, Hanken School of Economics
\nEsin Duzel, Independent Scholar, Helsinki
\nJohanna Kivim\u00e4ki, University of Helsinki
\nMarianna Vivitsou, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently 50 scholars and activists based in Finland responded to the pressing situation in Myanmar with a joint statement. Amongst them are several researchers from the Finnish Society for Development Research. Civil society, scholars and governments around the world have been called upon to denounce the coup d\u2019etat in Myanmar\/Burma, demonstrate solidarity and offer support. …<\/p>\n

A public statement from scholars in Finland regarding the military coup d\u2019etat in Myanmar\/Burma<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1670"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1671,"href":"http:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1670\/revisions\/1671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}