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Most cities in Myanmar were very quiet on Feb. 1. Shops were closed and millions of people stayed home. The day was billed as a “silent strike” to mark the first anniversary of a coup that ended a nascent democracy in the Southeast Asian nation. Over the past year, street protests have not ended the military’s violent rule. Nor has a small, civilian-led armed rebellion. By silencing commercial activity – at least for a day – the strike instead served as a loud reminder for people in Myanmar to exercise their freedom from fear. It also enabled them to live the truth about the real source of power in shaping civic life.

“It has been a year. The military council has not gained the control of the country,” Thura Aung, a Mandalay-based organizer, told Radio Free Asia. “The power is still in the hands of the people. Law and order are still in the hands of the people.”

The strike also exposed the desperation of the military brass to stop a nonviolent action designed to show the emptiness of their lies about a legitimacy to rule. Dozens of shop owners were arrested before the strike. Many more were threatened with imprisonment and confiscation of their businesses.

In addition, the ruling junta may have wanted to stem a reported decline in morale among the rank and file. In its brief silencing of public life, the strike sent a signal to foot soldiers that the people prefer rule by moral authority over physical force. When it ended at about 4 p.m., many videos were posted on Facebook showing people clapping at its success in attracting widespread – and peaceful – support.

Last year’s coup was a response to the tremendous loss of the military’s proxy political party in elections held in November 2020. The military, controlled by Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, ousted the clear winner of that election, Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party. The NLD’s popularity had grown since a democracy movement began against the country’s military rulers in 1988. Since the coup, many of the party’s leaders have either fled or, in the case of Aung San Suu Kyi, been imprisoned.

Since 2010, when the military introduced some political freedoms in hopes of staying in power, young people have come to enjoy rights and liberties. “The youth know what freedom, equality and respect are,” Zun Moe Thet Hlaing, a 24-year-old protester, told Nikkei Asia. Despite the military’s violent crackdown on dissent – more than 1,500 civilians have been killed in the past year – young people still want to practice those democratic values. On Feb. 1, they showed themselves, the military, and the world that they could.