We all know about all the changes happening in Burma these days.
But there’s one issue that I haven’t seen get much attention, and that I figure is worthy of some closer monitoring. It may tell us something useful about political change.
Over the years I have accumulated a pretty big collection of State Peace and Development Council era propaganda statements. All the usual stuff: billboards, pamphlets, papers. This material is mostly in Burmese and English, with a few items here-and-there in an ethnic minority language. Last time I was in Yangon I noticed that the old signs were still up around town. Some were, naturally enough, looking a bit worse for wear.
What I am wondering is: when will these signs be taken down? When will newspapers stop publishing the “national causes”, and all the rest? And can anyone tell us whether the big red billboards near the palace wall in Mandalay (as pictured) are still in place?
I must confess that I once walked all the way around the mout to make sure I had copies of all of them. For posterity, you know; on the off-chance that one day they will be gone forever.
I’ve just come home after a two week trip to Yangon and didn’t see a single example of these billboards. I was relatively confined to the old British quarter, Sule Paya and up to Shwedagon and its surrounds, but throughout these areas I did a lot of walking with my camera specifically to photograph some of this stuff before it disappeared. In regard to these areas at least I was obviously too late.
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Thanks Nontok,
That may well be the case. Once upon a time there were (Burmese language) billboards (“three causes”, etc) around those neighbourhoods. But my sense is that many of those were dismantled earlier.
Would be great to get some further ground-truthing — both from Yangon and points further afield. What is most helpful are instances where we can see that specific billboards have been removed….
Best wishes to all,
Nich
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You still see the “three causes” billboards in schools and other government compounds occasionally, although they are looking rather old and forlorn. Certainly, I wouldn’t expect to see any new ones going up at the moment.
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Also, just to note, I’ve seen plaques and photos of Bogyoke Aung San in a number of government offices in regional areas now… probably an optional sort of thing…
I doubt many of the signs will come down until there is a directive to do so from above.
I think, in the progression of things, we’re not going to see protectorate rhetoric be one of the first things to be reformed… there are much more immediate needs to be discussed first, mostly surrounding poverty and economic matters.
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I was in Taungyii, Shan State pre-elections, in February, and those big red signs were still there, but I didn’t notice any in Yangon. I imagine they will be slower to come down in ethnic minority areas…
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