When the dam of people’s anger at the military coup of 1 February 2021 burst, one image – among the thousands taken of courageous protesters – electrified me.
Leading the marches in Yangon, the nation’s largest city, were two young women: Ei Thinzar Maung and Esther Ze Naw, both 26 and dressed in almost identical outfits. With a red cloth tied around their wrists, they raised their hands in the three-finger salute inspired by The Hunger Games that has become an emblem of resistance across Asia. They were wearing red-and-white cotton tops, synonymous with the Karen ethnic minority. Behind them stood a young man holding the Karen national flag.
