‘We have the momentum’: Myanmar’s youth take up arms against junta, fleeing conscription order

Running from conscription, enraged by the military and boosted by a sudden scent of victory, Myanmar’s young people are increasingly joining the fight

Thousands of young men and women have joined pro-democracy People’s Defence Forces, undergoing several weeks of training in the jungles in the south

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New women members of the People’s Defence Forces train at a jungle camp of the Dawna Battalion in Myanmar. Photo: Khu Sam

Published: 12:00pm, 14 Apr 2024

In Myanmar’s conflict-hit south, recruits to the pro-democracy rebellion choose not to reveal their real names to their new comrades, despite sharing a common cause fighting the wounded junta.

Thousands have joined People’s Defence Forces (PDFs) since a junta decree in February made all men and women over 18 years of age eligible for conscription to fight their own people.

But taking on the junta puts the fighters’ families who remain at home in peril, so the new recruits give themselves noms de guerre – aliases for their time spent in military training and combat.

In Dawei, southeastern Myanmar, hundreds have joined the local PDF, which is welcoming them despite having too few guns.

A member of the Myanmar People’s Defence Forces at a rebel-held checkpoint near Dawei city looks on as smoke rising from a junta air strike. Photo: Khu Sam

Brothers “P1” and “P2” received a letter in March at their home in Dawei ordering them to sign up and serve the junta, with their next steps simplified by the prospect of having to fight for a regime they loathe.

“We made contact with the PDF and left,” said P1, who is 26. “I refuse to violate or kill our people. I will only fight the military.”