As the Spring Revolution approaches its fifth year, Ma Thida, one of Myanmar’s foremost activists and intellectuals, reflects on the country’s political trajectory leading up to and beyond the 2021 military coup – and the people’s enduring fight for democracy.

Welcome to the Southasia Review of Books podcast, where we speak to celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia. In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan speaks to the Burmese surgeon, award-winning writer and human-rights activist Ma Thida about her new book, A-Maze: Myanmar’s Struggle for Democracy, 2011-2023 (Balestier Press, May 2024). 

In February 2021, Myanmar’s junta staged a coup, ending a decade of fragile democratic transition and plunging the country back into military rule. What followed was the Spring Revolution – a nationwide movement, led above all by the country’s youth, which has continued to resist the junta through extraordinary courage and collective action.

The road to democracy in Myanmar has been nearly four decades long, beginning with the 1988 uprising. Ma Thida – one of Myanmar’s leading activists and intellectuals – has lived through every turn of that journey. In her new book, A-Maze, she traces how far Myanmar has come, how far it still has to go, and how the people’s struggle since the 2021 coup has both deepened and redefined the country’s quest for democracy.

The book looks at nearly three years of resistance and transformation, showing how the Spring Revolution isn’t just about ending military rule, but about breaking out of the larger “Maze” – the deep-rooted systems of control and inequality – and building together a new path toward a truly federal and democratic Myanmar.

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