On August 8, 1988, a nationwide uprising took place in Myanmar. That fact that it had a concrete political objective cannot be denied by anyone.

What is the cause of the 8888 uprising? Why did people throughout the country revolt against the government? What was the political background and what were the demands of this uprising? It is only when we can understand these questions and answer them correctly that we can hand over our political tasks to the next generation.

Led by General Ne Win, some senior military officers staged a coup d' etat in 1962 and took over control of the country. Myanmar was then ruled by a duly elected civilian government called the Union Government or Pa-Hta-Sa in Myanmar.

This marked the beginning of deprivation of democracy in Myanmar. In next 26 years the military junta and their cohorts in their bid to remain in power metamorphosed into different forms of Government and also changed their military uniforms.

They used extreme violence and repressive laws to oppress the people during these years. The development of the country fell to an unprecedented low level.  As a result, UN gave the country the Least Development Country (LDC) status. The military regime let the down the pride of the people and the country. The development in all sectors especially in economics, politics, education and health fell to a record low.

Under these unbearable circumstances, the anger and anguish of the people was on the verge of explosion. There was an outburst, people took to the streets to express their sufferings. They demanded that the military government address their grievances. They saw no other alternative to express their anger. They aired the exploitation going on in the country to the people around the world through the uprising. The ultimate goal of the people who took to the streets were “democracy, safeguarding human rights and peace in the country”.

The insurrection broke out on 8th August of 1988, and four '8' digits (8888) is popularly used to refer to it. The military leaders in Myanmar ignored the demand of people in the entire country. General Ne Win stepped down but a coup d’ etat was staged again. The uprising was brutally suppressed. The military cracked  down on unarmed demonstrators.  The country was under oppressive military dictatorship again.

We can safely infer that the country is now beginning a journey on the road leading to democracy.

Therefore, memorials of democratic movements and uprising days been re-emerged into the public sphere after being suppressed for 25 years. It is now time for us to commemorate the 8888 Uprising Day by celebrating its anniversary every year. We must explore avenues through which we can implement political objectives “democracy, safeguarding human rights and peace” the 8888 protesters sought out to accomplish.