“he-who-must-not-be-named” (2/3)

As I kept growing older, I kept learning all these new words: corruption, crackdowns, house arrest, junta and so forth. They baffled me, how could people do this to other people and how could people let this happen. Then I learned about 1988, the 88 uprising. It happened 7 years before I was born. At that time it felt like a lifetime ago, but now that I’m 26, 7 years ago seems awfully close to my birth year. I heard stories and detailed accounts from many different people. A friend told me of how his cousin brother, who witnessed the junta’s massacre, saw people being murdered right in front of his eyes.

As a kid, I loved the Harry Potter series. I watched all the movies that had been released to date and when I couldn’t wait for the next one, I started reading the books. I remembered how they used to refer to Voldemort as “you-know-who” or “he-who-must-not-be-named” and it was a little fun gimmick. That would later become real life experience for my friends and I later on in life. As kids we were naïve. We were quick to believe rumors and it included things like the government was surveilling us or that we couldn’t say the then military leader’s name. So when the internet rolled around we would avoid ever typing his name in chats or to say negative things about the military. When we were outside we would be careful, never to say his name in front of the police, soldiers or any authority in fears that we would be imprisoned. He was our Voldemort.

Thinking back, it was funny in a way. The things we were mad about, the things we thought unjust and the things we feared. As adults, we no longer fear the silly things, but we have come to fear true oppression and we fear for our freedom. And now, it seems like things are on track to go back to the old ways.

(I’m writing this in 3 parts, so please read the previous one if you haven’t yet and then please move onto the next after this one!)