Myanmar, the last stand
緬甸，最後一搏
Overview
Rights Sold: Japanese
Full Content Available in English
After the Myanmar military coup in 2021, its citizens stood unprecedentedly together, while a cross-national Milk Tea Alliance had formed online. Despite the lack of sufficient international support, the people of Myanmar saw themselves as taking one last stand.
This graphic novel is a collaboration between the French writer Frédéric Debomy, an expert on Burmese politics, and the comic artist Lau Kwong Shing, an eyewitness to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movements. It is an account of the two years since the military coup in Myanmar, as well as the related historical and political contexts.
The story opens with the coup d’état that began on February 1st, 2021. Comprising various interviews with the author, conversations among friends, and words from Myanmar’s public intellectuals and the government in exile, the narrative not only depicts the events that follow the coup, but also details changes in the social climate, differences between 88 Generation activists and Gen Z, and both domestic and international forces for change.
Compared to political protests in Ukraine and Hong Kong, Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement appears internationally isolated, and the military government has continued its oppressive measures. Still, transcending ethnic lines, the people of Myanmar have banded together to fight authoritarian forces. And, on the Internet, the subsequent emergence of the Milk Tea Alliance further demonstrates the formation of new connections, based on democratic values, across Asian nations.
1 Volume (end)
182 x 257 mm
Black & White
Author(s)
Born in 1975 and raised in Paris. Since 2006, Debomy has participated in organizations supporting Myanmar's democracy, including Info Birmanie and Euro Burma Network. He has published dozens of books and comics on Myanmar and has written for the news media. He has also written about the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda.
Debomy's comic works include On the Edge: Ten Years in Myanmar, Myanmar: Fragments of A Reality, and Full Stop: the Tutsi Genocide in Rwanda.
A Hong Kong artist. Lau spent his childhood in Kyoto, Japan, and has been deeply influenced by manga culture. After returning to Hong Kong, he studied art at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has published dozens of serialized comics, even contributing to the Anti-Extradition Law Movement in Hong Kong through his comics. Relying on charcoal pencils as his main medium, Lau's drawings are bold and confident. Using the texture of pencil strokes to create a sense of aura, he attempts to deconstruct and recreate “comics” by exploring its possibilities as a mode of expression. His seemingly raw, simple style is in fact intensely emotional.
Lau's comic works include The Fallen City: Hong Kong, The News Lens, Episode 001: Foreign Students, Undocumented Workers, and The Incense Burner of Lust.
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