The Operations Commander of People’s Defense Force (PDF) Area-2, Comrade Tin Oo, has revealed a crucial challenge facing the revolution’s success. During a discussion panel titled ‘We’re Back: Breaking Through to the Irrawaddy Sea’ held on May 31, he detailed three strategic approaches that successive military dictatorships have employed to maintain their power.
The first strategy involved attempts to cool down public revolutionary fervor. The military council employed various tactics including spreading rumors, offering false hopes, and implementing delaying tactics. However, these attempts failed to diminish the people’s revolutionary spirit. Comrade Tin Oo emphasized that despite these efforts, the public’s determination remained unwavering in their fight against the military dictatorship.
The second strategy involved the military council’s use of brutal tactics to instill fear among civilians and revolutionary forces. However, rather than achieving its intended effect, these acts of brutality served to unite the people and revolutionary forces more strongly. The commander explained that these atrocities were transformed into strength and determination, fueling the continued resistance against the military council.
The third and most dangerous strategy, according to Comrade Tin Oo, is the military’s attempt to create divisions among revolutionary forces. He pointed to numerous historical examples in Myanmar’s revolutionary history where victory was within reach, only to be lost due to internal divisions among revolutionary groups. Currently, the military council is actively working to create rifts between different revolutionary organizations, between various levels of command, and among different resistance groups. These divide-and-conquer tactics have been historically successful for previous military dictatorships.
Given that the military council is facing defeats across the country, Comrade Tin Oo strongly emphasized the critical importance of maintaining unity among revolutionary forces. He stressed that victory in the revolution is achievable if resistance forces can remain united and vigilant against the military council’s attempts to create divisions. The commander particularly emphasized the need for revolutionary groups to be aware of and resist these divisive tactics, as unity remains the key factor in achieving final victory over the military dictatorship.
