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Though censorship is omnipresent, Ju stubbornly decided to publish her novels, starting in 1987, on taboo subjects like extra-marital relationships, adultery, sexual relations, incest, rape and suicide.
She acknowledges that the army is still in power and has learned to play with the rules. Allegories, allusions or irony are the favored figures of speech she uses to avoid the ire of Tint Swe, the chief censor known as the “executioner of literature”
And, thanks to ongoing negotiations, all her books have been published. Since 2012, censorship was officially abolished. Ju continues to write but hopes that with more peace and less corruption and censorship, she can concentrate more on her creativity.
Today Mayco Naing is a well-known figure in contemporary Asian photography who exhibits both internationally and in her own country where she opened a studio gallery.
Her favorite theme: women. Her “Identity of Fear” portrait series is a frank look at the Myanmar generation born at the time of the 1988 revolution who are uneducated, have conservative values and have grown up under a repressive military regime. And she raises the question about the new freedom of expression. Today, she hopes to inspire Myanmar citizens who are artists or photojournalists, especially those living in regions where ethnic minorities are the victims of armed fighting.
Today, Myanmar literature gives more place to human rights and criticizing the former regime. These women writers continue to raise the question of women’s place in a society in transition.
The Roadmap, Ma Thida, Silkworm Books Editions
An intense portrait of Myanmar’s unstable politics through the stories of two families.
Les femmes de lettres birmanes (Myanmar female writers), Khing Mya Tchou, L'Harmattan Editions
Amha-Taya, Ju
PEN International : https://pen-international.org/fr/
An organization that defends all writers’ ability to express themselves freely
Ma Thida paid a high price for opposing the Myanmar dictatorship. In 1993 she was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Freed five years later, she resumed her activities: medicine and journalism. She became editor-in-chief of a literature magazine, Shwe Amutay and another for young people, Teen. For the first time, she published articles in Myanmar on drugs or masturbation and invited her readers to express their thoughts in a “life experience” column. Today she runs an online news magazine, “Inforest” and continues her career as a committed writer. Through her publications, she spreads a democratic consciousness and calls on each person to take on their responsibilities.
Ju, the nom de plume of Tin Tin Win, was born in Mandalay in 1958. After studying medicine, she practiced her profession and also became a confident of women. As a feminist and reader of Simone de Beauvoir, writing was an obvious path. In 1987 she published Ahmat-Taya (Souvenir) that became a best-seller. For the first time, in Myanmar, well-known women told their stories, claimed their independence and dared to bring up the subject of extra-marital relationships. This book set off a passionate debate in Myanmar society. She then wrote fifteen more novels.
Thirty years later, she observes that women’s condition has improved and that an entire generation now express themselves more freely. Her literary conferences throughout the country have become places for discussions and sharing about all types of subjects in society.
Long closed off to the outside world, Myanmar suspended its flight backwards to ancient times thanks to a story that seems like a fairy tale. But at the same time the dictatorship imposed itself on the people for decades: forced labor, random arrests and censorship outraged people’s consciences.
Though Aung San Suu Kyi’s release from prison in 2010 and the official regime change in 2012 opened the way towards the country’s democratization, the situation of the Rohingyas reminds us that there is still a long road towards freedom.
In these conditions, what role can intellectuals, and especially women, play?
In certain breaches in the Myanmar junta, there have always been women committed to change who invite the people to take their destiny into their own hands and express themselves. There is freedom of expression but it is under surveillance.
MILLION INHABITANTS
AMONG THE WORLD'S 180 COUNTRIES
IN TERMS OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
MYANMAR IS CLASSED
THINK THAT ALMOST EVERITHING THEY SEE ON FACEBOOK IS TRUE
MILLION
MYANMAR
POPULATION
RANGOON :
,3
INDEPENDENCE OF MYANMAR
THE MILITARY JUNTA COMES TO POWER
AUNG SAN SUU KYI IS AWARDED THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
DEMOCRATIZATION OF THE COUNTRY AND ABOLISHMENT OF MEDIA CENSORSHIP
ELECTIONS AND REVISION OF THE CONSTITUTION
OF THE POPULATION LIVES BELOW THE POVERTY LEVEL
OF THE BURNESE ONLY GET THEIR NEWS ON FACEBOOK
,7
%
%
TH
%
THE PORTRAIT
THE PORTRAIT
FRUSTRATING CENSORSHIP
FRUSTRATING CENSORSHIP
MA THIDA : A DEMOCRATIC CONSCIOUSNESS
MA THIDA : A DEMOCRATIC CONSCIOUSNESS
THE NEW GENERATION
THE NEW GENERATION
TIN TIN WIN
TIN TIN WIN
THE NEW GENERATION
CRÉDITS
A DEMOCRATIC CONSCIOUSNESS
FRUSTRATING CENSORSHIP
TO KNOW MORE
THE PORTRAIT
THE SUBJECT
