Welcome to the Southasia Review of Books podcast, where we speak to celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia. In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan speaks to the Burmese surgeon, award-winning writer and human-rights activist Ma Thida about her new book, A-Maze: Myanmar’s Struggle for Democracy, 2011-2023 (Balestier Press, May 2024).
In February 2021, Myanmar’s junta staged a coup, ending a decade of fragile democratic transition and plunging the country back into military rule. What followed was the Spring Revolution – a nationwide movement, led above all by the country’s youth, which has continued to resist the junta through extraordinary courage and collective action.
The road to democracy in Myanmar has been nearly four decades long, beginning with the 1988 uprising. Ma Thida – one of Myanmar’s leading activists and intellectuals – has lived through every turn of that journey. In her new book, A-Maze, she traces how far Myanmar has come, how far it still has to go, and how the people’s struggle since the 2021 coup has both deepened and redefined the country’s quest for democracy.
The book looks at nearly three years of resistance and transformation, showing how the Spring Revolution isn’t just about ending military rule, but about breaking out of the larger “Maze” – the deep-rooted systems of control and inequality – and building together a new path toward a truly federal and democratic Myanmar.
This episode is now available on Youtube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Episode notes:
A-Maze: Myanmar’s Struggle for Democracy, 2011-2023 by Ma Thida (Balestier Press, May 2024)
Prisoner of Conscience: My Steps through Insein by Ma Thida (Silkworm Books, February 2017)
The Roadmap by Suragamika (Silkworm Books, July 2011)
A ‘fierce’ fear: Literature and loathing after the Junta - Ma Thida (Himal Southasian, Jun 2016)
Shafiur Rahman on the Rohingya’s endless troubles in Bangladesh: State of Southasia #20 (Himal Southasian, Mar 2025)
How Thailand and India continue to fail Myanmar refugees - Makepeace Sitlhou (Himal Southasian, Aug 2024)
Myanmar’s prison system is an overt tool of repression - Andrew M Jefferson (Himal Southasian, Jan 2024)
Learning from Myanmar’s unsuccessful ‘Third Force’ movement - Aung Kaung Myat (Himal Southasian, Jun 2022)
The deep roots of Myanmar’s crisis: A conversation with Geoffrey Aung (Himal Southasian, Apr 2021)
How civil society is responding in the face of escalating violence in Myanmar: A conversation with Nai Aue Mon (Himal Southasian, Mar 2021)
What the military coup means for Myanmar’s ethnic conflicts: A conversation with David Brenner (Himal Southasian, Feb 2021)
Myanmar’s contentious elections, voter disenfranchisement and prospects for the future: A conversation with Ei Ei Toe Lwin (Himal Southasian, Nov 2020)
Legacy of conflict: The exclusionary nature of the Myanmar peace process - Yola Verbruggen (Himal Southasian, Jun 2016)
Before Democracy: Images of a country under the junta - Nic Dunlop (Himal Southasian, Jun 2016)
Reframing the ‘Burma question’: Understanding the country’s complex history and complicated present - Thant Myint-U (Himal Southasian, Feb 2007)
Lady liberty and the ethnic cauldron - Kanak Mani Dixit (Himal Southasian, Jun 2012)
Myanmar: Troubled Transitions (Himal Southasian, November 2017)
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