Ceasefires and Civil Society: The Case of the Mon

Abstract

This chapter represents the author’s analysis as of late 2002. As far as possible, the facts cited were up-dated in September 2004. In general, the situation on the ground had not changed greatly in the interim. However, the case study does not take account of the government-organised National Convention in Burma (re-convened in May 2004). ¶ This chapter addresses three interrelated questions: ¶ How has the structure of the Burmese state determined the formation and projection of group identities, and in particular, what has been the impact of more than six decades (1941-2003) of conflict on concepts of ethnicity and modes of social organisation among minority groups? What is the relationship between the configuration of the state - including the de facto, insurgent-controlled ‘micro-state’ - and the existence (or lack) of a functioning ‘civil society’? How should the international community respond to the tentative re-emergence of civil society networks in Burma? ¶ These questions are examined in relation to the ceasefire agreed in June 1995 between the SLORC and the New Mon State Party (NMSP). It is proposed that the Mon and some other ceasefires have created the political space within which ethnic minority civil society networks may re-emerge. Mon community networks inside Burma have generally developed beyond the sway of the NMSP’s political-cultural paradigms, which have sometimes stifled the development of civil society in the party’s ‘liberated zones’. Unlike the military regime and its state nationalism, or the unreconstructed ethnic nationalist reaction to this, these new community initiatives and leaders are challenging the NMSP - both for leadership of the nationalist movement, and to examine its basic values and practices. ¶ However, such developments have had a limited impact on people’s daily lives, particularly in rural areas. Villagers’ basic rights continue to be abused, although probably to a lesser degree than before the ceasefire. In order for the tentative re-emergence of civil society to significantly affect state-society relations, and influence democratic transition, community development must be accompanied by initiatives in the political arena, including negotiation of a new relationship between Burma’s diverse ethnic minority groups and the state. ¶ The on-going realignment of ethnic politics in Burma has generally been neglected by outside observers - both academics and activists. As in transition processes the world over, the situation on the ground is a complex mixture of positive and negative elements. It remains to be seen whether recent developments in Burma’s state-society relations represent a new - or a false - dawn. ¶ This chapter sketches the development of Mon and other ethnic identities in pre-colonial Burma and since, and examines the suppression of Burmese civil society since 1962. The bulk of original research is contained in the following sections, which describe the development of the ‘ethnocratic state’ in Burma, and outline ethnic nationalist responses to the perceived Burmanisation of culture and politics. The final sections analyses the ceasefire process, which since 1989 has seen the majority of armed groups negotiate truces with Rangoon.