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NERMEEN SHAIKH: Nearly six months into Israels assault on Gaza, the health sector has been completely decimated. Before October 7th, Gaza had 36 hospitals. Nearly six months later, only two are minimally functional, and 10 are partially functional, according to the United Nations. The rest have shut down completely after either being shelled, besieged and raided by Israeli troops, or running out of fuel and medicine.

The death toll from the Israeli assault has topped 32,500, including over 14,000 children, with nearly 75,000 wounded. The entire population of Gaza is facing high or catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity, and famine is imminent in the north. At least 27 people, mostly children, have died of malnutrition and dehydration.

AMY GOODMAN: In Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the largest hospital in Gaza, an Israeli raid is continuing for the 10th day. Israeli forces there have killed at least 200 people and detained over 400.

Meanwhile, the U.N. reports that as of Tuesday, Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis has ceased functioning. That leaves the remaining hospitals in Gaza that are able to partially function completely overwhelmed. One of those is the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Our next guest just spent two weeks volunteering at and living there with a team of international doctors.

Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan is a pediatric intensive care physician who works with Doctors Without Borders. Shes co-founder of the social media account @GazaMedicVoices, which shares firsthand accounts from healthcare professionals in Gaza. She just left Gaza yesterday. Shes joining us now from Amman, Jordan.

Tanya, welcome back to Democracy Now! I know youre absolutely exhausted. Can you just share your experiences of the last two weeks, what you feel its most important for people around the world to understand?

DR. TANYA HAJ-HASSAN: Yeah, certainly. Thank you. Just to clarify, I was in Gaza with a charity called Medical Aid for Palestinians UK, MAP UK.

Its really difficult to describe in words the horrors that we saw in our two weeks there. You know, you watch the news, you have some idea of what youre going to see. But experiencing in real time entire family structures collapsing, entire families being wiped off the civil registry, having to tell a father or a mother that their entire family, their lifelong partner and all of their children, have just been killed and you werent able to resuscitate them, is something that was very difficult to experience and something that I hope I never have to experience again. And frankly, its something that I just feel ashamed that were still talking about, you know, seven months into this. It just is such a stark representation of our failure, of our failure as humanity. This is not a humanitarian crisis. This is the worst of what humanity is capable of, and its entirely all man-made. And when you witness it firsthand, its an unbearable injustice.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, thank you for that account. If you could also talk about some of the nurses with whom you worked? For our television viewers, youve seen some of the images that Tanya sent to us. And if you could speak specifically about a nurse whose name you cannot reveal for security reasons, who holds in his hand an infant, which well show now on screen? If you could talk about the story of what happened with this nurse and the child in his hands?

DR. TANYA HAJ-HASSAN: Yeah, certainly. I think this photo is very representative of the utter exhaustion and yet ongoing determination of the healthcare staff there. Healthcare workers in general have been targeted since day one, as have health facilities. Al-Aqsa Hospital is a smaller hospital in the scheme of Gazan hospitals. The largest two hospitals are, first, Al-Shifa Hospital and, then, Al-Nasser Hospital. And as you mentioned in your introduction, both of them have been directly besieged. Theyve been targeted, bombed, deprived of resources. Their healthcare staff have been forced to flee. Many of the healthcare workers are arrested. They describe they describe changing out of their scrubs or being told by civilians to change out of their scrubs when theyre fleeing. Weve had civilians give healthcare workers their own clothes so that theyre not seen wearing scrubs, because we know that healthcare workers have been systematically targeted in this particular in this particular war. So, I think I wanted to start by saying healthcare workers are under an enormous amount of pressure. Theyre directly targeted. These healthcare workers evacuate, travel a very long way, and then, ultimately, are back at work, work extremely hard, do all that they can to keep patients alive.

And in this particular photo, this particular nurse, one of the most hard-working nurses that I worked with, had come to the end of a 24-hour shift, had tried very hard to resuscitate this infant, and unfortunately was unable to, and then just passed out, out of exhaustion, onto the stretcher in front of him, carrying the now-dead child. A lot of times we cant even tell the parents that their child has been killed, because there are no parents to be found. And thats, unfortunately, a very common occurrence.

In many of the other photos that youll see in front of you Im not sure which photos, Democracy Now!, youre sharing; I cant see them on my end but you can see the carnage, the very difficult circumstances under which the emergency room department is trying to operate. A lot of the senior doctors have fled. Junior doctors, who are straight out of medical school, are on call overnight, receiving mass casualties, mass casualties with stories I can share with you, but stories that are very difficult and unbearable to experience, let alone talk about. But Im happy to share more.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about where you stayed; if you slept, where you slept?

DR. TANYA HAJ-HASSAN: Yeah, we slept in a room in the hospital. They had the female healthcare workers in one room on mats, and the male healthcare workers in another room. And we basically worked day and night. We had a surgical team with us that operated through most of the night just so that we can get through the very large backload of cases. I mean, this is a very small hospital that has a capacity of about 200 patients and is running with over 700 patients at the moment, and then there are thousands of internally displaced people there, as well. So they have a backlog of patients that require medical attention, that require surgical procedures, to prevent their wounds from becoming infected, to stabilize fractures. And, unfortunately, they dont have the surgical space or workforce to get those cases done. So our team was just trying to offload some of that work. The teams there are also just utterly exhausted. I mean, theyve been doing this for over 170 days. We did it for two weeks, and were exhausted. I cannot begin to fathom what it feels like for them.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, if you could you mentioned, in the image that you sent us and that we showed of the child in the nurses hands you said that there were no parents or family members to whom you could convey the information of what happened to this child. The last time we had you on, you spoke about this new acronym, wounded child, no surviving family. Obviously, this child was among those. If you could talk about the number of children who were coming in, either on their own or who were left on their own?

DR. TANYA HAJ-HASSAN: Yeah, certainly. In fact, there are a number of them that are living in the hospital at the moment and being cared for by strangers or relatives. Often what happens is well receive children, dead or still alive. Well attempt to resuscitate them, and well start asking around, Does anybody know if theres family for this child in the hospital that have come in with the same mass casualty? And well have a distant relative look at us and say, like, Theyve unfortunately been martyred, or Theyve been killed. And so, it was a very common occurrence to have a child that we were resuscitating and not know if any of their family were alive, or be told that their family had been killed, or be told that that other woman that were resuscitating simultaneously on the floor is the childs mother.

I remember one incident where we received a young boy who the side of his face had been blown off, and we were providing care for him while providing care for his sister in the adjacent bed. His sister had 96% of her body burned. Their parents and all of their other siblings had been killed in the same attack. And he kept asking for his family, and he had a distant cousin who was at his bedside, who kept saying, Theyre fine. Theyre fine. Theyre injured. Theyre going to be fine. And he kept saying, Wheres my sister? He could see the patient next to him. He just couldnt recognize her, because she was so badly burned. But that was his sister. She unfortunately died despite our efforts. A 96% body surface area burn is essentially a death sentence, particularly under those resource circumstances. She died a couple days later in the intensive care unit. And he is still in the hospital receiving reconstructive surgery for his neck and face. But as of the moment I left, his distant relatives hadnt had the heart to tell him that they had all died. He was suspecting it. So, when I would pass by to check on him, he would say, I have a feeling my family has been martyred. I wish I had been martyred, too. So I think he knows. But its utterly unbearable.

Theres another child that has an external fixator, so rods in his leg after some complex fractures, that, you know, lives in the hospital at the moment for ongoing care and is cared for by strangers because he doesnt have any relatives in the hospital. And his car was bombed as they were trying to flee. And his family was killed, but he still thinks his family is in the north.

Other children know that their family has been killed, and are being cared for by extended relatives. Fortunately, their faith is strong, and they are able to rationalize, in whatever way this is youre able to rationalize these atrocities. I find them very difficult, if not impossible, to rationalize. This is an utter and complete failure of humanity, and, to be frank, I feel ashamed to be an American citizen. I feel ashamed to be part of a society that has allowed this to continue. And I am very much hoping and looking forward to the moment where we decide to take a courageous stance and put an end to this massacre.

AMY GOODMAN: Why did you go back, Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan? You have been there a number of times.

DR. TANYA HAJ-HASSAN: So, I had been there over the last 10 years to teach. This is an area thats been besieged for 16 years. And you have healthcare providers that are working under unimaginable circumstances before October 2023. And I think witnessing what was happening from a distance thereafter, witnessing the injustice, witnessing the immense pressure under which our colleagues were working, I found it unbearable not to be there with them. And, in fact, I probably felt most at ease in the last since October, the moment I arrived in Gaza and knew that I could now actually join them in solidarity, in providing care for their patients, because theyre doing exactly exactly what we signed up to do in our Hippocratic Oath. And theyre doing it with a level of commitment and determination that is incomprehensible. It is so impressive. And yet theyre being attacked and directly targeted. And I think most healthcare workers that I know that are aware of whats happening feel the same way I do and cannot wait to be there in person to provide solidarity, or are providing that solidarity in different ways from a distance.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And as you were treating Dr. Haj-Hassan, as you were treating children, people with such horrific injuries, if you could talk about the kind of equipment you had to work with? There are reports of aid trucks being denied entry because there were basic medical supplies, scalpels, scissors. Explain what doctors there have to work with as they confront these absolutely unimaginable injuries.

DR. TANYA HAJ-HASSAN: So, theres certainly a shortage of a lot of things we need to work. And I think, at a very basic level, theres just shortage of space. So, you can imagine, when we resuscitate a single patient that arrives into an emergency department, we put them in a resuscitation bed in a bay surrounded by equipment. That is not at all whats happening in these hospitals. When you receive a mass casualty, the most critical cases get moved into this red area. There are three beds in the red area. And then the rest we resuscitate on the floor in the red area or the yellow zone. And so, well have amputations that we do on the floor of the yellow zone of an emergency department.

And, you know, basic things that we take for granted are just not available sterile suture kits. Ketamine, I have to beg for. Its a drug that we use to provide pain relief and sedation when we do basic procedures. But, you know, I tend to use it on most pediatric cases when we need to do painful procedures in the emergency department, but theyre short on supplies, so you have to pick and choose which patients you provide it to and how much you provide, because you know that, you know, its opportunity cost for another patient. And thats a very hard reality, and its not one that Ive had to deal with before in my career, despite working in humanitarian medicine for a long time. We often have to think about resource limitations, but these particular resource limitations are very difficult to bear.

And I should mention that Al-Aqsa Hospital is better off than so many of the other health facilities throughout the Gaza Strip, that have either been destroyed or are completely cut off. I mean, you think about the north, Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital, and how cut off its been from the very beginning, or Al-Nasser Hospital, that was besieged for so long, and the healthcare staff inside those institutions not having access to food or water for several days and sometimes weeks. That is a much more extreme situation than that which Im describing to you at Al-Aqsa Hospital, where, despite me describing severe resource shortages, we were still better off than many of the other areas in the Gaza Strip.

AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, we want to thank you so much for being with us, pediatric intensive care physician, was in Gaza for two weeks with Medical Aid for Palestinians. She just left on Wednesday, co-founder of the social media account @GazaMedicVoices, which shares firsthand accounts from healthcare professionals in Gaza, speaking to us from Amman, Jordan.

Coming up, we go to a State Department official who just resigned in protest over the Biden administrations support for Israels assault on Gaza. Back in 20 seconds.

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The Worst of What Humanity Is Capable Of: Pediatrician Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan on What She Saw in Gaza - Democracy Now!

WASHINGTON, D.C. The same federal court that struck down South Carolinas congressional map for being an unconstitutional racial gerrymander ruled today that the state can use the map in the upcoming 2024 elections.

This decision comes after Republican officials asked the court to pause its January 2023 decision that blocked the map and ordered a new one for 2024. Todays order states that because the June 11 primary is rapidly approaching and a new map is not in place, the ideal must bend to the practical.

South Carolina voters have gone over a year without a fair congressional map. With todays order, justice is delayed once again to Black voters in the state. The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to issue its opinion on the merits, which the court cites as a reason for this delay.

In January 2022, the Republican-controlled South Carolina Legislature passed a congressional map that drastically changed the composition of the states 1st and 6th congressional districts. The South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP and a voter filed a lawsuit challenging the congressional map, alleging that the map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander in violation of the 14th and 15th Amendments.

The South Carolina branch of the nations oldest civil rights organization argued that the Legislatures action was the latest example of a decades-long pattern by the Legislature of proposing or enacting congressional districts that discriminate against Black South Carolinian voters to limit their electoral opportunity.

The case went to trial in fall of 2022 and soon after the district court sided with the plaintiffs and struck down the map.

The three-judge panel that heard the case struck down the map after finding that race was the predominant motivating factor in the General Assemblys design of Congressional District No. 1 and that traditional districting principles were subordinated to race.

The court held that creating South Carolinas 1st Congressional District, currently held by Rep. Nancy Mace (R), would have been effectively impossible without the gerrymandering of the African American population of Charleston County and that the movement of over 30,000 African Americans in a single county from Congressional District No. 1 to Congressional District No. 6 created a stark racial gerrymander of Charleston County.

The court ordered the Legislature to present a remedial map, but Republicans appealed the entire decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has issued 11 opinions so far this year but continues to stall the process by refusing to issue its decision in this case.

Since the plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of the South Carolina congressional map under the 14th and 15th Amendments this case was directly appealable to the Supreme Court, which had to accept the appeal and rule on the merits of the case.

Republican legislators appealed the panels January decision to the Supreme Court and asked the nations high court to reverse the decision and reinstate the gerrymandered map.

In May 2023, the Supreme Court announced that it would review the case on its full merits docket next term, with full briefing and oral argument. All the while, voters in the Palmetto State still did not have a fair congressional map.

The Court heard oral argument in mid-October of last year when the parties asked the Supreme Court for a decision by Jan. 1, 2024. Nearly three months later, the Court still hasnt ruled on the case, creating a dire situation for congressional candidates as the candidate filing period started on March 16 and will end on Monday.

In the U.S. Supreme Court, citing the Purcell principle, Republicans argued in a brief to the Supreme Court that implementing a new map so close to the 2024 elections would bring about confusion and disorder, despite having ample time to produce a remedial plan. In response, the South Carolina NAACP, which brought the case, pointed to the thirteen months of legislative inaction.

The Legislature could have implemented a new congressional plan, the NAACP noted, without disturbing the June 11 primary and November 5 elections and argued that the states arguments against adopting a new map were overblown, contrary to the trial record, and inconsistent with their prior request that this Court issue a decision by January 1, 2024. There is still plenty of time to draft and enact a new map, the plaintiffs concluded.

The two plaintiffs went beyond court filings to voice their discontent with the latest development in the case. In a press release issued on Monday, Brenda Murphy, president of the South Carolina NAACP, urged the Legislature to prioritize the integrity of our democracy by enacting a new map created in fairness for all voters and Taiwan Scott, a longtime South Carolina voter, added, We cannot allow delay tactics to impede progress towards fair and equitable representation in our democracy.

While the nations high court has yet to respond to the Republicans request and rule on the merits of the case, todays order from the district court means South Carolina voters will not have a fair map before 2024.

The order concludes: The present circumstances make it plainly impractical for the Court to adopt a remedial plan for Congressional District No. 1 in advance of the military and overseas absentee ballot deadline of April 27, 2024 mandated under federal law and the party primaries scheduled for June 11, 2024.

The district court itself acknowledges that it is the same court that struck down the map for being an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, but still ruled today that voters will have to be subject to this unconstitutional map for 2024.

The U.S. Supreme Court will still have the final say on the merits of this case and could block the map for 2026 and future elections.

Read the order here.

Learn more about the case here.

Link:
South Carolina Will Use Gerrymandered Congressional Map in 2024, District Court Rules - Democracy Docket

Editors note: While the Stimson Center rarely publishes anonymous work, the author of this issue brief is an analyst who has requested anonymity out of legitimate concern for their personal safety. The writer is known to appropriate staff, has a track record of reliable analysis, and is in a position to provide an otherwise unavailable perspective.

February 1, 2024, marked the third anniversary of the military coup in Myanmar. During the past three years, Myanmar has experienced major conflict nationwide, and the social, economic, and political situations in the country have worsened each year. The World Bank reports that nearly 60 percent of the population is now living below the poverty line, and has issued warnings about food security across the country. In addition, the black-market rate for the U.S. dollar is 3,900 Myanmar kyats, a 300 percent decline in currency value since the coup.

The conflict has intensified since October 2023, when the Three Brotherhood Alliance launched Operation 1027 to end the military regime. Operation 1027 was supported by ethnic armed organizations and others among the National Unity Governments allied ethnic resistance organizations. In December 2023, U Myint Shwe of the military regime, the acting president of Myanmar, even stressed his concern that the country could fall apart if conflicts nationwide continued. As of January 22, 2024, the United Nations was reporting that there were 2,587,100 internally displaced people within Myanmar since the coup began.

The militarys main reason for the coup was the accusation of fraud in the 2020 election. As the military states in its road map to restore democracy, the first priority of the regime is to hold a free and fair election. Therefore, it is crucial to look at how far the military regime has progressed toward the likelihood of holding a free and fair election amid extreme conflicts in different parts of Myanmar between the regime and the Peoples Defense Forces and ethnic armed organizations. Further, it is crucial to understand and analyze the views of various political parties on their perspectives about and hopes for a general election.

The author of this paper, who writes under a pseudonym to protect their identity, explores and studies the existing political and conflict situations in Myanmar. The author has consulted with three different groups of political parties: registered parties, parties in the process of registration, and unregistered parties or those which refuse to be registered. All representatives of the political parties consulted decided to remain unidentified.

Despite many challenges and extreme conflicts occurring across the nation, the junta, the State Administration Council (SAC), still has a plan regarding an election. Although it has not announced an election date, the SAC sent officials from the Union Election Commission (UEC) to India in December 2023 to study the election management and digital voting system there.

Since January 26, 2023, however, divisions increased both within and between political parties over whether to register or be dissolved as a result of a new Political Party Registration Law announced by the UEC. According to the new law, union-level parties (i.e., parties that would compete in a nationwide election) were required to have at least 100,000 party members within 90 days of registration and to open offices in half of the 330 townships in Myanmar within six months. In addition, the law required union-level political parties to possess a party fund of at minimum 100 million kyat (USD 47,000) and at least 10 million kyat (USD 4,700) for smaller state- and regional-level parties.

Leaders of political parties raised concerns and challenges regarding restrictions imposed in the law to the chairman of the SAC in October 2023, and in response, the SAC relaxed three major clauses in the party registration law on January 30, 2024. These included decreasing the membership requirement of union-level parties to 50,000 party members within three months prior to the election or a notification date from the UEC, and reducing the number of offices required for union-level parties to open to one-third of the nations 330 townships. However, a number of party leaders claim that the changes were made as a result of the regimes inability to control and stabilize the conflict situation in many townships across the country rather than as a genuine show of goodwill through leniency.

Despite the restrictive legal requirements for party registration under the new law, 50 political parties applied for the right to continue to exist during the two-month application window. Of the 50 applicants, 47 parties had been granted registration as of January 2024. Among them, 24 registered political parties are from ethnic regions, and the other 23 are from lowland Burman areas. Apart from the military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), a couple of other lowland Burman parties, and a few ethnic parties that have previous track records of successfully elected candidates, the rest of the registered parties are weak or small and do not have track records of any election victories for members of Parliament (MP) candidates.

The UEC announced that another 40 existing political parties did not apply for registration within the specified time frame, which means the UEC considers them automatically dissolved; among these is the National League for Democracy (NLD), the ruling party prior to the coup. As of January 2024, according to the UECs announcement, there were 80 political parties regarded as disqualified for registration under the SACs new law. A list of registered and unregistered political parties can be seen on the UEC website. The majority of unregistered parties (53) are from ethnic groups, and the rest are from lowland Burman regions. Many of the unregistered parties include those that have strong support from their constituents and have successfully elected MPs in previous elections.

The 40 political parties that chose not to register claim a lack of trust in the de facto authorities to conduct a free and fair election. Of the parties that have registered, some contend that elections are the only credible solution to a political and security crisis in which three years of armed revolution have not succeeded in forcing the military out of power.

In this context, some parties see elections as a way to de-escalate the current crisis, and also as a potential way to make gains under a system of proportional representation that would enable them to demand political concessions from the military on behalf of their constituents. Others have registered out of fear of reprisals by the military, or out of pressure to avoid being dissolved from their own constituencies, where they have spent years building the ability to advocate on behalf of their communities.

A few leaders of parties have revealed that many of the registered parties are pro-military. In addition, many received either financial support for their registration, or other incentives such as land, both provided by the SAC. One party leader stressed that he does not believe an election would be fair since many parties registered with the support of the government, and thus their interests are not in supporting the people but rather the regime. He added that his party would not be working with those kinds of political parties as they would never work for the interests of the people.

Apart from the Mon and Rakhine political parties, the registered political parties do not include many elected MPs from their constituents in the 2020 election. That suggests that these parties are not being supported by people in their respective areas, and likely lack influence. Another implication is that these parties are not in a position to compete at any level with the military proxy USDP.

The SAC imposed additional restrictions on some strong and influential political parties that had firm support from their constituents when they applied for registration. These include making serious inquiries into the history and business of each party committee member, including their families. A leader from a political party that elected an MP in the 2015 and 2020 elections stressed that this is one way the SAC made registering more difficult for such parties. Many small and new parties received their registrations quickly, as they support the military and have no restrictions. The implication is that there is no equal treatment of political parties in relation to party registration.

Some leaders from unregistered political parties also do not accept the SAC as a legitimate government, meaning any actions the regime has taken are not official in their view. For example, these leaders perspective is that their parties do not need to be registered under the military regimes governance. They added, We initially did not trust or believe that the SAC can do a better or fairer election since they took power in early 2021. The party leaders added that their parties are still genuinely supported by the general public, without any registration under the regime. Many of their parties MPs won several seats in the 2015 and 2020 elections.

One ethnic party leader further objected to the process, saying the majority of the politicalparties who have registered, apart from a few ethnic political parties, are the ones who tend to be opportunists who reluctantly believe that the SAC would win the game at the end of the day, or the ones who choose to be silent and follow the path that the SAC created.

Interestingly, most of the political parties consulted see no major conflicts between the registered and unregistered political parties on the matter of registration. Although unregistered parties generally do not want any parties to be registered under the SACs new law, representatives stated they also think that the choice is the decision of each party and that neither choice should be condemned. Similarly, a member from a registered party stressed that parties that do not want to be registered are also making a free political choice.

The SACs actions have imposed unfair burdens on political parties to move toward the election process, limited the ability to express alternatives to the SACs agenda, disregarded their own constitution, and installed a system of governance that further weakens democracy in Myanmar.

Regarding the election process, the SACs party registration law created challenges and burdens for many political parties through requirements of party size and member mobilization, number of offices, safety and security, and the registration fee. Furthermore, the process was not fair to many political parties as the SAC easily granted registration to its supporters, whereas some stronger or more influential political parties were given much narrower pathways to registration.

Interestingly, both the registered and unregistered parties believe that the regime will not be in a position to hold an election anytime soon. Some of the challenges include the safety and security issues of holding an election during extreme conflict. Many townships are controlled by resistance groups, and many are regarded as active conflict zones. It is a difficult time to gain party members through mobilization across the country, as well as to manage an election with a shortage of staff members (a large number of government staff have joined the civil disobedience movement). Furthermore, the attention of the public at the moment is less on politics than on their safety and livelihoods.

Recently, spokesperson of the National Unity Government (NUG) Kyaw Zaw claimed that the NUG has established interim administration in more than 170 townships across the country and is working to enhance the rule of law, development, education, health care, and the economy. Some party leaders have indicated that registered parties will be hindered in mobilizing people from these 170 townships and opening their required offices in different states and regions. Moreover, leaders of many parties believe that even if the SAC holds an election, it will be neither free nor fair.

Regarding civil liberties, the SAC has strictly prohibited any form of freedom of expression, including media, religion, and assembly. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), as of February 2024, there were 25,940 political prisoners arrested, 4,474 killed, and 20,002 people still detained, including those sentenced by the SAC.

One party leader mentioned that apart from pro-SAC media and groups such as Ma-Ba-Ta, the Buddhist extremists, and pro-military groups, none of the democratic media and groups are able to function or express their views. Whereas the military scrutinizes, captures, and tortures any media groups and individuals who oppose them or support democratic values, the Ma-Ba-Ta launched the pro-military campaign in Pin Oo Lwin in late December and even criticized Min Aung Hlaing, but the SAC has taken no action against them. Other civil movements and campaigns are only possible in the so-called liberated areas, where the ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) or Peoples Defense Forces (PDF) are in control in central Myanmar and various ethnic areas. According to a Christian leader based in Yangon, other religious institutions such as Christian communities are forced to attend meetings with SAC officials, receive Min Aung Hlaing at religious events, and release statements in support of the work of the SAC. These actions clearly illustrate the SACs repressive treatment of other religions, freedom of expression and media, and freedom of assembly. In addition, the SAC has also targeted civilians and their property, based on the data collected by Data for Myanmar and Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, with more than 4,197 people killed, including 200 children and more than 76,932 homes nationwide burned and razed by the military from May 2021 to October 2023.

In relation to judicial independence and equality before the law, the SAC does not respect the 2008 constitution that the military itself established. According to views expressed by some party leaders, the SAC will play with the law based on its own interest to stay in power, overriding the constitution to extend the coup period. In addition, one party leader mentioned that the military is now forcing recruitment from villages in the Bago and Ayeyarwaddy regions; failure to comply with the militarys order results in a fine of 2 million kyats (about USD 950). A media source also confirmed that at least 50 people per village have been forced to form militias in the Bago region. The junta announced the recruitment drive after reportedly losing more than 600 bases in northern Shan and Rakhine states to the Three Brotherhood Alliances Operation 1027 offensive since the end of October. A party leader stressed that this act of forced recruitment is a complete disorder of the law.

Quite a number of political parties consulted for this paper expressed their concerns with the SACs approach to peace and dealing with the resistance and the current conflict. In particular, the regimes response to the resistance with violence and torture has been interpreted by political parties, the public, and the majority of the EAOs as leaving no other options for moving toward peace.

In addition, the decision to conduct the coup in response to claims of election fraud was an unconstitutional act for the military. For the past 70 years in Myanmar, the militarys mindset is that they may steer and shape the countrys political situation based on their own interests. As the strongest institution in Myanmar during this period, military officials see themselves as safeguarding Myanmars political space.

Yet the majority of the political parties consulted concluded that they do not believe in any plans that the military has initiated. The military coup and the actions of the SAC for the past three years can be clearly interpreted as an indication that the military would only understand and listen to absolute armed resistance. Although many unregistered political parties believe that armed resistance is not and should not be a political solution for the people of Myanmar, resistance is one option that could drive a bargain with the regime for future political dialogue and resolution.

Therefore, some party leaders stressed that the SAC itself is not a legitimate government, that it is not in a position to hold any elections, and that its capacity to hold a free and fair election is limited. Since the coup, the military does not appear to have made any progress toward an election.

Nevertheless, political parties have been a source of organized pluralism and debate as units of political representation in Myanmar. The coup has had an alarming effect on the political space, leaving parties with almost no room for opposition. Political parties interviewed for this research grieved the absence of a space for debate. Some parties had largely turned their organizational work into the provision of services, including health care, education, and humanitarian assistance for those displaced by conflict. Many unregistered political parties inside the country in areas controlled by the SAC provide humanitarian services to internally displaced internally displaced people (IDPs). Many of the unregistered parties inside resistance-controlled areas or liberated areas, or outside of the country, are working either with the resistance armed groups or with the NUG, and also help IDP issues in many ways, though this is not their main work. With additional restrictions from the SAC on their ability to organize, the space for political operation in Myanmar has dwindled drastically and threatens the operation of democracy both now and into the future.

Based on perspectives and views expressed by various political parties, the SAC has completely failed to hold a free and fair election, leading the country nearer to a failed state. Since the coup, the SACs actions have made the countrys situation worse, and the SAC has continued to oppress freedom of media, religion, and assembly, overriding the 2008 constitution to prolong the coup period. The regime has targeted and tortured the public, and there is, at best, extremely limited political space for political parties and the public to debate.

The SACs election plan, ongoing arrangements, and policy in preparation for the election will remain a major challenge even for registered political parties as a result of requirements for party members, opening offices, ensuring the safety and security of candidates and voters, and mobilizing party members amid intensified conflict on the ground. In addition, these results indicate the SACs inability to control the conflict situation around the country, as well as the strengthened movement of the resistance from various armed organizations, including Operation 1027, that control 35 towns and populations of the country. According to the U.S. Institute of Peace, starting from October 2023 through February 1, 2024, more than 5,500 junta troops had been killed or captured, including 10 brigadier generals, and more than 30 towns had been taken by the resistance; overall, the junta had lost no less than 30,000 soldiers since the coup, a major blow toa military of 150,000 troops.

In addition, the SACs plan to hold a future election will not be a political solution for the people in Myanmar. Although armed resistance is not the desired political solution for many ethnic armed groups, political parties, and PDFs on the ground, there are no other feasible options that armed organizations can agree to choose. For the EAOs and other PDF wings, armed resistance remains the only option to deal with the current regime.

The hope and prospect of a majority of the registered political parties solely relies on the regimes capacity to handle the ongoing conflict across the country, whereas unregistered political parties have sided strongly with other revolutionary forces to end the military dictatorship and restore peace and democracy in the country.

Last but not least, for many unregistered political parties, an election is no longer an absolute political solution to address the current conflict in Myanmar. For these parties, instead, their ultimate goal is the elimination of the 2008 constitution and the rebuilding of a concrete and genuine federal democratic union without the involvement of the military.

The anonymous writer is a researcher based in Singapore.

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Challenges and Perspectives of Political Parties on Democracy and Elections in Myanmar Stimson Center - Stimson Center

Never before would so many people worldwide heed Bob Marley’s rousing anthem to “Stand up for your rights” — particularly the most basic, central right in a democracy — the right to vote.  

With half the world voting in over 80 national elections, 2024 will be the biggest election year in history. While some elections may not be fully free and fair, the voices of over half the populace — the voices of women — might be severely constrained.     

Women face barriers to equal and active political participation at every stage of the electoral cycle. Some countries bar women from voting or serving in office altogether. Others curtail women’s access to register to vote for lacking identity documents. 

While one billion people worldwide cannot vote because they lack official identity documents, the World Bank estimates that 1 in 2 women in low-income countries does not have an official ID, limiting their access to participate in political life. Married women often face more identity proof requirements than married men when applying for a national ID card. Further, women engaged in unpaid care work — a staggering total of 12.5 billion hours a year — are turned away for inability to pay fees. 

Despite these hurdles, in dozens of countries, more women than men tend to turn out to vote. 

Denigration and defamation of women, amplified by social media and tech platforms, are perils that carry exponential harm during elections. Women voters encounter violence during elections and political processes. Frequently such violence intends to deter women from civic participation, but there are ways to forecast, monitor and mitigate its impact.  

Alarmingly, attacks against citizen observers and electoral officials have been on the rise. In the U.S., women make up nearly 80 percent of election administrators and are at greater risk of gender-based harassment and threats forcing their departure; a liability of serious consequence in a major election year.

Perhaps the top reason women cite for exiting and increasingly never even entering politics is the virulent harassment and vitriol thrown at them. Not for their policies, perspectives or platforms, but for being women, their appearances, their sexuality, their intimate lives and the quality of their parenting. This is a level of abuse their political male peers are mostly shielded from. 

While a global phenomenon, these gendered attacks are often local, and frequently from women candidates’ own political party. The ripple effects are undeniable: from impact on women politicians’ mental health struggles to countless young women worldwide watching and internalizing the cycle of women in politics being shamed and discredited.  

State-based and affiliated actors join forces with opportunistic trolls to flood communication channels with misogyny and gendered threats (rape is particularly popular) to drown out and delegitimize the voices and votes of women. Whether as voters, election observers, electoral body officials, civic leaders or candidates, women’s participation provokes targeted hostilities designed to chill their participation, curtail their influence and eliminate them from seeking power. After all, nothing seems to scare authoritarians more than women’s equality.

But this pernicious toll, borne by women leaders personally, erodes democracy as a whole. 

Despite these challenges, initiatives to fight violence against women in politics by the National Democratic Institute (where I am a senior advisor for gender and democracy) such as the #NotTheCost campaign are gaining traction, as well as promising interventions to combat online violence.  

National government-led multi-stakeholder initiatives like the Global Partnership for Action Against Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse are focused on key principles such as safety by design, establishing response mechanisms and identifying effective tools and approaches to combat gendered disinformation.  

Moreover, activists, especially young women, are ground-truthing progressive democratic values, leading protests and calls for transformative change. This growing trend of young women turning to progressive priorities by emphasizing inclusive, equitable approaches is undercut by their male peers’ views hostile to gender equality.  

As the world views of young men and women seem to drift apart, a 2023 United Nations Development Program gender social norms survey found that almost 9 out of 10 men and women worldwide still hold gender biases today, with half of people worldwide believing men make better political leaders than women. These attitudes are reflected in the stagnated 26 percent world average of women members of parliament. 

Political parties continue to act as gatekeepers to women’s political leadership. Countries with parliamentary quotas often comply with requirements in ways that do not ensure women will win seats. This does not bode well for enshrining women’s political participation and leadership as a prerequisite for democracy.  

Why is this important? Having studied several hundred political revolutions since 1945, Harvard professors Erica Chenoweth and Zoe Marks found that though revolutionary male leaders are lionized, women’s work undergirds more effective political movement strategies and their inclusion predicts the subsequent success and sustainability of hard-fought democracies. 

While women leaders consistently display more effective leadership skills, they are in danger of disproportionately shouldering the burden of crisis management and democratic turnarounds. The glass ceiling must not become a glass cliff, setting up newly minted women leaders for failure. 

“We will know whether democracy lives or dies by the end of 2024,” warns Nobel Prize laureate journalist Maria Ressa, herself the target of online violence. Accelerating support for women’s full, meaningful and equal electoral and political participation is essential to ensuring that it lives and renews.

Tzili Mor is a senior advisor for gender and democracy at the National Democratic Institute. 

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In a historic election year, women are the force for democratic renewal - The Hill

The owner of a Kansas newspaper outlines a litany of violations in a 100-plus page federal lawsuit claiming a police raid at the newsroom was an intolerable violation of their constitutional rights.

Its the fourth legal action taken in the wake of the Aug. 11 raid at The Marion County Record, which drew condemnation from around the world.

Police also executed search warrants at the home of Joan Meyer and her son Eric Meyer, who own the newspaper, and former City Councilwoman Ruth Herbel.

The suit was brought to deter the next crazed cop from threatening democracy the way Chief (Gideon) Cody did when he hauled away the newspapers computers and its reporters cell phones in an ill-fated attempt to silence the press.

The Record had been investigating Codys previous tenure with the Kansas City Police Department. He resigned from the agency while under investigation for allegedly making sexist comments to a female officer.

Cody, the City of Marion, former Mayor David Mayfield, Acting Police Chief Zach Hudlin, the Board of County Commissioners of the County of Marion, Sheriff Jeff Soyez and detective Aaron Christner are listed as defendants in the lawsuit.

They did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The raids were carried out under the pretense that a reporter had illegally obtained information about the DUI conviction of local restaurateur Kari Newell. That information was later confirmed by the Kansas Department of Revenue to be open to the public.

According to Eric Meyer, the raid was also conducted to settle personal scores. The newspaper had a turbulent relationship with Cody as well as Mayfield and Soyez, he said.

In a statement Meyer said, the true plaintiff is American democracy.

The last thing we want is to bankrupt the city or county, but we have a duty to democracy and to countless news organizations and citizens nationwide to challenge such malicious and wanton violations of the First and Fourth Amendments and federal laws limiting newsroom searches.

The 127-page lawsuit was filed by attorney Bernie Rhodes, who has represented The Star in past litigation.

Rhodes said he expected additional claims, including wrongful death, to be added to the lawsuit.

During the raid, Joan Meyer told the police officers at her home, Whats going on is illegal as hell.

She also told them, Boy, are you going to be in trouble.

The 98 year old died the next day after suffering a heart attack.

My job is to make sure Joans promise is kept, Rhodes said.

The lawsuit seeks more than $10 million in damages. Eric Meyer said any punitive damages will be donated to community projects and causes that support freedom.

In early August, Eric Meyer notified police that he was concerned information reporter Phyllis Zorn had received from a source about Newells DUI conviction had been obtained illegally. He also wanted to know why authorities allowed Newell to drive even though she did not have a valid license.

Cody told Newell that a reporter had stolen her identity in order to access her drivers license record, the lawsuit said.

Police began investigating The Record.

Christner drafted the search warrant application for the newsroom and Cody submitted it to Judge Laura Viar. The documents contained false statements, the lawsuit said, about the Kansas Drivers License Status Check tool, which is a public website.

Had Chief Cody been truthful, the affidavits would have failed to state even arguable probable cause, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit also said Soyez reminded Cody that Eric Meyer worked from home and a search warrant for the residence was added.

During the raid, the lawsuit alleges Cody yanked a reporters cell phone from her hand, injuring her. The officers were also supposed to conduct a preview search on electronic devices to identify information related to the alleged identity theft.

But the lawsuit alleges officers conducted a sham search with overly broad keyword searches that turned up irrelevant hits, including information about a haunted hotel in Arkansas and a drive-in showing of the movie Finding Dory. Then the officers abandoned the preview searches because they were taking too long.

During the search, Cody called Soyez and is heard saying, Alright, well just take them all.

According to the lawsuit, police seized cell phones from reporters even though preview searches were not carried out.

Also during the search, Hudlin located a file in a reporters desk and alerted Cody.

On a body camera recording, Cody said, Hmm ... keeping a personal file on me.

Later, the lawsuit said, Cody could not recall the wording when he attempted to give Zorn her Miranda warning.

During the search at the Meyers home, Joan Meyers was visibly upset and told officers, If I have a heart attack and die, its going to be your fault.

Hudlin thought about arresting her for interference, but didnt.

The lawsuit also said Cody and Christner drafted probable cause affidavits to arrest Eric Meyer, Zorn and Herbel four days after the raid.

The search warrants were withdrawn the next day by the county attorney.

The lawsuit goes on to allege that Cody asked Newell to delete text messages with him.

If attorneys or kbi go digging and see I deleted the texts as you asked me to, will I get in trouble? the lawsuit said Newell asked Cody.

The lawsuit lists violations against the First and Fourth Amendments in addition to the Privacy Protection Act, which protects reporters materials from seizure; the Kansas Open Records Act; and alleges the city and county failed to train, supervise and have proper policies.

Cody resigned in October. Hudlin was then named interim police chief.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation launched an investigation. Documents showed that the KBI had knowledge of Codys investigation of The Record prior to the search warrants. The investigation was later handed over to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

Two of The Records reporters and the papers office manager have also filed lawsuits.

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'Duty to democracy': Kansas newspaper files lawsuit after police raided the newsroom - Today's News-Herald