Soe Myint Named 2022 Greeley Scholar for Peace Studies
03/18/2022
Contact for media: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944 or Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu
LOWELL, Mass. – Journalist Soe Myint, who continues to publish the independent Mizzima News in defiance of the Myanmar government that drove him into exile when the military seized power in the country last year, has been named UMass Lowell’s 2022 Greeley Scholar for Peace Studies.
Appearing remotely, Myint will be in virtual residence at the university next month, when he will deliver the talk “Reflections on the Struggle for Media Freedom and Democracy in Military-Ruled Myanmar,” during UMass Lowell’s annual Day Without Violence.
The free program will be held on campus at 9 a.m. Wednesday, April 6. Members of the public who would like to attend may either come to University Crossing, 220 Pawtucket St., Lowell, to watch the broadcast of Myint’s remarks, or they may register to watch online via Zoom at www.uml.edu/greeley.
In addition to his time with the UMass Lowell community, Myint will deliver the keynote “Personal Inspiration in the Quest for (Media) Freedom” remotely during a public event hosted by the Greater Lowell Interfaith Leadership Alliance on Thursday, April 7 at 8 a.m. Members of the public who wish to attend should email Greeley@uml.edu for more information.
Myint’s courage came to the fore as a college student during the 1988 Uprising, when Myanmar was known as Burma. That year, hundreds of thousands of the country’s citizens – led by young people – rose up against the dictatorship of Ne Win. In response, the country’s military brutally cracked down on the protests, killing more than 3,000 people. As a member of the resistance movement, Myint was targeted by the military and forced to flee to the Thailand border. Later, in exile in India, he worked as a journalist to provide independent and uncensored news. In 1998, he co-founded Mizzima to promote democracy and freedom of expression in Burma.
In 2012, the military-backed government implemented a series of political reforms in the country and Myint returned to his homeland after 24 years in exile. When he did, Mizzima became the first exiled news organization to officially move back inside the country, where, over the course of nearly a decade, it rose to become one of the leading independent media companies in the nation.
Yet, on Feb. 1, 2021, Myint and fellow journalists were forced to flee again after another military coup. Today, Myint and his colleagues are working from different locations in and outside Myanmar to operate the Mizzima group of media platforms, even though the journalists face the possibility of life in prison for pursuing their work. In the past year, four of Myint’s Mizzima fellow journalists, including Mizzima co-founder Daw Thin Aung, were arrested and later released, but two reporters are still imprisoned in Myanmar. With 26 journalists imprisoned, Myanmar in 2021 became the world’s second-largest jailer of journalists, just behind China; in the last four months, at least three journalists have been killed in the country, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
“Soe Myint’s long and continuing devotion to create international awareness about military atrocities in Myanmar and to provide easily accessible and credible alternative news to Burmese citizens at constant risk of his own life is a profound testament to his commitment to promote freedom and democracy, something that many of us in a freer society have taken for granted,” said UMass Lowell Political Science Prof. Ardeth Thawnghmung, a former college classmate of Myint who sat together with him and bore witness to the 1988 Uprising that profoundly impacted both of their lives.
“We decided to leave the classroom and join the protest movement on campus and marched toward another campus. That’s where the riot police stopped and dispersed protesters, beat and killed dozens of students and detained hundreds more; we all ran in different directions. That was the last time I saw Soe Myint,” she said.
Next month’s program will reunite the former classmates, if but remotely, and share Myint’s work with the campus and community.
“Soe Myint is a renowned journalist who has championed media freedom while working in a country with one of the most restricted media systems in the world,” said UMass Lowell’s Jenifer Whitten-Woodring, dean of the university’s Honors College, associate professor of political science. “The U.S. and Western democracies have advocated for media freedom in countries like Myanmar with the idea that it will promote democratization, yet we have no idea of the struggle that journalists in non-democracies face. This is an excellent opportunity for students, journalists, human rights activists and politicians to hear what it is like to provide news and information from a conflict zone. We can learn first-hand why Soe Myint and his colleagues continue to do their work even though they are risking their lives to do so.”
Greeley Scholars are selected for their achievements as humanitarians and their efforts promoting peace and conflict resolution at the local, regional, national or international level. With the honor, Myint joins distinguished past recipients who include Nobel Peace Prize winners Tawakkol Karman and Leymah Gbowee. A list of past scholars is available on the Greeley Scholar website.
The honor is named for the late Rev. Dana McLean Greeley, who was a longtime Unitarian Universalist minister in Concord. The Greeley Scholar Program is funded by the Greeley Endowment for Peace Studies, established with a gift from the Dana McLean Greeley Foundation for Peace and Justice and a contribution from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts via the UMass Foundation. In addition, this year’s programs are sponsored by UMass Lowell’s College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
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