The Founding of the Yangon Anarchist Association

the essay was first published HERE

by anon (not verified)

From Yangon Anarchist Association
November 18, 2023

A pro-IWA group of anarchists, namely the “Yangon Anarchist Association,” has been reportedly established with its interim members, whose primary aim is the proper establishment of a regionally based anarchist group. YAA is meant to be a predecessor of the IWA Yangon section, which will be registered either as a friend of IWA or an IWA associate.

The immediate primary goal of the association is to produce as much translated material as possible on the topics of “anarchism”, “autonomism”, “philosophy”, “working-class politics”, and “intersectionality”. The long-term goal is to establish an anarchist association with the dominant working-class anarchists and grassroot radicals of every community who hold general anarchist political values.

As of now, there are four interim members who took the full-time position voluntarily. The nickname and brief introduction of the four full-time interim members are as below:

Katsu

Comrade Katsu is a lifelong anarchist organizer who was instrumental in the establishment of the grassroots community organization “For the People for the Hood” (later 44). Inspired by the Black Panther Mutual Aid Programme, “For the People for the Hood” launched a program named “the 44 Mutual Aid Programme” despite all of their technological and knowledge shortcomings. It was originally 44OB, which stood for “For the Hood, For the People, Of the Hood, By the People,” but the general public simply never called it “44.” Community activities, including free meals, libraries, and other amenities, were once self-organized at the grassroots level under the “44 Mutual Aid Programme.” Comrade Katsu has chosen to devote his time to the Yangon Anarchist Association and is no longer involved with “For the Hood, For the People, Of the Hood, By the People” as of now.

Kay Tee

Comrade Kay Tee led a student union at the grassroots level in an urban regional area. Later, he was promoted to secretary of that student union from the regional sector. Currently, he is responsible for the foreign liaison in the YAA and the IWA Yangon Initiative.

Hmrd

Back in the day, Comrade Hmrd led the student union at the grassroots level. Afterwards, he joined the Central Committee of the Leftist Organization of Yangon, an unofficial student branch of the Communist Party of Burma, with a few local groups spread throughout Myanmar’s universities and private schools. In a controversial sexual harassment case, Comrade Hmrd supported the underage victim and disclosed the identity of the alleged member of the Central Committee of the Leftist Youth Organization. The incident involved the molestation of an underage girl. Due to the fact that comrade Hmrd revealed the sexual harassment issue involving a Central Committee member of the Leftist Organization of Myanmar, who was eventually recruited by the People’s Liberation Army of CPB, he lost his position as a Central Committee member of the Leftist Youth Organisation of Myanmar.

Later, he made contact with members of the elder generation of Burmese anarchists who run the “Autonomist” Telegram channel, which posts various translated papers on subjects like “Democratic Confederalism” and “Autonomism.” Comrade Hmrd became influenced by philosophers such as “Max Stirner” and “Nietzsche,” as well as other postmodern scholars, and considers himself an anarchist.

AnCom

Comrade AnCom was introduced to one of our non-affiliated anarchist circles while working in the underground resistance activities and fundraising activities for the current Burmese Spring revolution against the military junta. With those connections, he had attended military training under a left-leaning militia group but left due to the different praxis and other issues.

Online Presence

The official website for “Yangon Anarchist Association” is “www.yangonanarchistassociation.wordpress.com”.

The statements and blog articles which are meant to be for the international community will be published on the above mentioned website. The detailed information on every page of the website will be discussed internally by all the intrims members of YAA and will be updated.

The primary contact email address is “yangonanarchistassociation@protonmail.com”. Please feel free to reach out to us.

Social Media presence is meant to be for the local community. So, it hosts the translated materials or the quotes of the well-known anarchists all over the world. The official Facebook page for “Yangon Anarchist Association” is “https://www.facebook.com/people/Yangon-Anarchist-Association-YAA/1000950...”.

Summing up, “Yangon Anarchist Association” is established to gradually transform into a regional-level IWA affiliate “IWA-Yangon”.