Interview with Yaw Han from Food not Bomb Mae Sot

Yaw Han is a life-long supporter of Food Not Bomb movement in Myanmar and an anarchist punk-rocker from Maggot Zyxtem, an anti-fascist local Punk band from Myanmar (Burma).

Author

Hein Htet Kyaw

Hein: You’re a life-long supporter of Food Not Bomb Myanmar, and also a punk rocker who lean anarchist. Can you tell us since when you got influenced by anarchism?
Yaw Han: I was introduced to anarchism from my readings on Spanish civil war. Around 2009, I reached to a conclusion that the ruling class is reactionary and always oppress the mass. Later, when we got introduced into Internet by around 2010s, I managed to read some texts of Bakunin, Proudhon and Peter Kropotkin. On Food Not Bomb Myanmar, I am not an official volunteer even though I’ve an advocate of their movement due to their punk-related lifestyle.

Hein: I notice you focus on punk music and lifestyle. Can you share us more about your punk music and its influence on you? So, the global anarchists will know.
Yaw Han: I’m a member of a local punk band called “Maggot Zyxtem”. Sometimes, I play guitar, and piano for other bands as a freelancer too. The band I am officially the guitarist of “Maggot Zyxtem” that focuses its lyrics and overall themes of “anti-war”, “anti-establishment”, “progressivism”, “social justice”, “anti-corruption”, “anti-fascism”, and “the feelings of the youths who had lost their future”. We’ve four members, two vocals and one guitarist as well as one drummer. We primarily subscribe to the music genre of “hardcore punk”, “d beat”, and “grind core”. Here, I would like to emphasize that I was not attracted to anarchism due to my punk lifestyle. I was already an anarchist before I formally joined the punk lifestyle and punk community in Burma. I’m appreciative of the experiences I gained from setting up underground punk concerts and taking part in this revolutionary punk band with likeminded people. We currently don’t have YouTube channel. We have Facebook page though. Currently, we collaborate with other local punk and metal bands near Mae Sot (Thai-Burma border). We’ve created 9 songs so far and we sometimes even travelled to Bangkok to play with some local punk bands. There are some ex-revolutionary soldiers who might need to let their anger out here too. We can be useful to them.

Hein: I personally like “emo”, “punk”, “rap metal” and “nu metal” kind of music genres but I don’t know much about music theory. Also, can you share some of your activism around 2010s? I remember we had to rely on internet cafes and access cards to use the internet. I remember using MIRC chat and VZO for chatting. How were the “propaganda of the deeds” during these old days?
Yaw Han: In the early days, I write about overall history of leftism, and revolutionary movements. Then, we posted those quotes on social media. Since 2015, I was critical of Burmese Buddhist nationalist movements, and I was anti-war during the series of attack by the military and NLD government against other ethnic armed organisations. There is no specific intention, but I was struggling for social justice and against the power structure.

Hein: What about the 2021 coup? I’m pretty sure you were part of the general strike against the 2021 coup. There were a lot of elegant photographs coming out of punk community and anarchist-leaned community, waving antifa flags and using anarchist logo on the shields. Can you share us more about these experiences?
Yaw Han: After the 2021 coup, we organised among ourselves and participated along with the general strike against the military junta. We called our rally as “Anti-Fascist rally”. In 27^th February 2021, we were shot by the real bullets, so we decided not to continue our rallies. Just like others, our lives turned upside down after the coup. I went through a lot of hardships and risks I had to take to reach Mae Sot. I was interrogated by both Thailand immigration policies and Burmese soldiers. I gained a lot of valuable experiences on my way to Mae Sot from Burma. I managed to travel to Mae Sot around 2022 and started to re-organise our fellow comrades in Mae Sot. Situations are not perfect in Mae Sot too. As there are wars going on Karen state (nearby Mae Sot), there are a lot of refugees here. I feel I’m obligated to contribute my labour, so I took part in the initiative of Food not Bomb Mae Sot. There was a time when we literally drew banners for our group but couldn’t really take the actions because we don’t have proper documents to stay in Thailand. Food not Bomb Mae Sot focuses on buying vegetables and food, cooking for the homeless people and the refugee’s population who cannot afford the food. We fundraise our capital funding by selling handmade buttons, accessories and band shirts. Sometimes, we accept solidarity donation from the organisations and the individuals.

Hein: Thanks a lot for sharing your experiences. I wish all the best to Food not Bomb Mae Sot and you.

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