Profile: Blending old and new repertoires of contention in Myanmar’s anti-coup protests (2021)

Abstract

ABSTRACT This profile sheds light on the recent episode of contention triggered in Myanmar by the coup of 1 February 2021. Building on Tilly’s concept of repertoire, it maps out and describes some of the ways anti-coup protesters have been mobilized into contentious collective action. It points to inherited patterns of protest that are culturally specific to Myanmar. Historically forged repertoires of contention, such as call-and-response chants, silent strikes, and armed resistance have been (re)constructed and deployed in the weeks that followed the coup. Yet a new generation of Burmese activists has also tested, refined, and diffused innovative tactics and gendered strategies, such as the htamein protest and pots and pans protests. The hybridisation of Myanmar’s repertoire of contentious performances has typically derived from the evolving political environment, a collective memory of past cycles of protest, and new online opportunities for protesters to learn, borrow and adapt to local cultures several tools or tactics from global repertoires.