Through the time we were reporting this story, Robert and I walked miles and miles around the streets Maysot. Being the only two journalists in town and also both giant white guys, we kind of stood out and taking a taxi to a sensitive interview isn't always the smart choice. Even when it was, they frequently dropped us off in a wrong place and we'd end up walking anyway. Everyone in Masot rides scooters, but riding without a helmet can
get you a fine. We figured that, as relative novices to the world of scooting, we probably fucked something up and we probably better off walking. When the time came to meet me out, though he offered us a ride that was very nice, but it put us in an interesting position. What exactly you say when a guy you've never met, who's a friend of a guy you DMed on Reddit who know is engaged in the illegal production and smuggling of guns into a war zone officers to pick you up at a cafe so you can go
out for dinner. We decided to call our friend, a long suffering guy we go to when we have a security question, Paul. At his request, We're keeping him anonymous, but he works in security and has an extensive professional background dealing with situations just like this, or maybe mostly like this.
Yeah.
So basically, Paul, we're meeting with these people.
We don't have an established human chain with them of trust. They're they're just a Reddit account that James has been talking with. But for like six or seven months. It doesn't really seem like there's much else we can do besides keep our eyes open and try to meet in a digital place.
Yeah.
I mean, the big concern is they would be get the government, which is not from what you guys have said. The government simply doesn't have the wherewithal to do operations like this, and I mean rebel groups like this, they're they're trying, they want to get everything out there they can. So, yeah, is there a concern about the fact that you don't have a chain of people that can vouch for each other.
Yeah, but the situation therein.
Everything's in their favor, they are, everything's in your favor. Even minor cultural faux pause shouldn't be an issue.
With Paul's help, we came up with a watertight plan. I should note here that he was at least as concerned with our fate as he was with the fate of the pair of pants he'd loaned James for the trip.
And I mean, yeah, it's a story that needs to get out.
So being slightly lax on the rules while knowing that it's an everybody's favorite that it goes well.
I guess you gotta been the rules sometimes.
I guess we'll check in.
We'll try to proof of life.
Yeah, we'll do a proof of life.
I will.
I will send you a picture of James holding a piece of paper that says big wife guy. And if if we are kidnapped, I'll send you a picture of me that says Elon Musk will be a good custodian of Twitter.
Okay, I'll know that that's the that's the sign.
Yeah, you know, I'll yeah, yeah.
I'll figure out something. Yeah, me and me and a few friends will be on our way. That sounds awful. James has my favorite pants.
Yea, yeah, you gotta get those pants bag.
Oh yeah, this is all about the pants.
If I find James dead body, I'm getting those pants off.
Luckily, both I and Paul's trousers made it back that night. Yeah, any damage was to several delicious plates of food. Milk. His fiance and their godfather were the most gracious hosts, and we decided not to record that first night. Instead, we met up the next day. But there is one thing from that night that I want to share with you. Rather than explaining it, I'll let the song me out played for us talk to you through the beautiful medium of punk music. Bella Choo, of course, is an anti
fascist anthem. Then it's original version tells the story of a young partisan who says goodbye to his girlfriend before he goes off to fight Italian fascist. If he dies, he says he wants to be buried under a flower in the mountains so people will see it and remember him.
Oh boo, no, no, they do not all job a job.
A job, job job.
Day, No dog gonna do they.
M away episode.
Rather shy oh, I guess a job A job, a job, job job.
I want a job as same job wall photo and a nod A job as a job.
Had a job job John.
Do bas oh john jay?
Dad's all okay, y'all shabat a job rather jo a job.
A job, job jack.
Job. After a few months of revolution, all our characters found themselves mourning their friends and many of them were in the mountains. Their struggle is one they see in the same vein as the Italian partisans who fought fascism in their mountains and the anti fascists who came from around the world to fight in the Spanish Civil War.
I first heard that song Belachoo from a Spanish Civil War veteran, and it's a strange closing of the loop to be here sitting hearing it with young people who, just like the Spanish Republicans, are fighting a coup with next to no international support and a critical shortage of weapons. But Miant was trying his best to fix that shortage. A month into what would become the Spring Revolution, and the stakes had become clear when the first protester would
shot and they kept marching. When people decided to go back into the streets, they showed that the future of their country was worse dying for weeks later, some of them decided it was also worth killing for. It was about then that me Out's buddy and Keen Reddit use a Daddy UMCD said he'd been online we reckon they could use their three D printers, a steel pipe and the expertise and some strains on the internet to arm themselves.
The promise of revolutionary technology would take quite some time to have any kind of battlefield impact in Meanmma, but the effects of a different kind of revolution would be felt immediately. But the nation's young activists took up arms against their government.
Uh, I was like, I'm interested us in Horwest and three D printing especially my profession is a grand us some virtuariality and one the test three D prinding is my hobby. So I just do I just donload some five from thinking bus or other three D three D print in criminal dy and just do it for my dad's not specially especially.
Yeah, yeah, desk toys and stuff.
Yeah yeah, yeah, just a twice.
Yes, what do you think of guns? Then?
I have never emergined a care because you know, we have been living in a military booth for a long time, so we're afraid of soldier, especially not the soldier, especially the care that they hold. So we are so afraid of that, so we never imagine, like like we are the same as in Korea. We're so afraid of that, so we never imagine making gan. But after that the story.
Began at first and his team felt safe despite the dangerous nature of their work. He felt the Topmador was so behind the times they wouldn't even know what a three D printer.
Was like at those tide the military didn't didn't know or didn't give out a funk about brind So it is okay at those time, it's really okay. And when when day can we need to hide the campus if they see three D printer, that that's okay because we were saying this is for our job or for some hobby that we can say at those times, but not this time. If this time, if they found trainder, yes, cam can go to day like yeah or hashot headshot.
Yeah.
Soon that headshot became a lot closer to being a possibility.
It's like as soon as we we we finished the second second APCNI, we try and to do tasted in Yangon and we send it to our warehouse. But unfortunately, uh, this warehouse is exposed and uh ambushed by the military and this gun is taken by the military. Uh. And they they did announced this on the new by pataring this uh like like Hamdmaigins and Podle give fun about this just a ham again they just stay at the
very first time. But later and later later and Lada when they were uh the second time they were arrest there a this time that they arrested my revolutionary from my team. So I told hand about the efficiency and how do you use and the history. Also the gamp at the time maybe maybe he was, you know, investigator and he told the crew I was that He says like the nine yeah, and now and now was the name nine like this before before the at the very first antee and now the gamp from the Turkish gap.
From if you missed that, they thought the guns were Turkish. The reason we giggled at this is that whenever we see videos of combat in me and mar James and I send them to a group chat and try to work out what the weapons are and where they came from. Nearly every time we're stumped. The guns turned out to be some kind of niche Turkish shotgun made to look like an AR fifteen. It seems the military were operating on the same assumption, only this time they were very wrong.
Like Allan's k Yok started this second, more deadly phase of the Spring Revolution by taking a trip out to the jungle, and he stayed for several months to learn some of the skills he was going to need to fight back against the top Madar.
I was going the Mandai as a culminated data so I'm not like the I'm not have a video training or something like that. I just going as a culminated aga. So I met with Gan specially or Sam Trena, and I said, I want to know how to shoot Gan, how to ask Mber the gang. So they teach me, I said, saying, I'm an acuminadaga. I can't do the trainer, but I want to lamb the books out of things. So they sent me some videos that ideas to lamb by myself.
Yes.
Yes, Later he went back to carry prototype printed guns to the EAOs for testing. We asked if it was scary being an undercover gun runner in a dictatorship. He says it was, but he found that he had a powerful ally in his fire. Homophobia.
Yeah, but we need to discus it, so you know, yeah, disguises though. I just that I have a long hair, so I act like a day So you know that the military has sold China and equality, so.
They hate gays.
That's why.
Just just our advantage.
The military assuming Miok was gay and therefore incapable of fighting, let him go. Miok kept his mouth shut and let their homophobia help him smuggle the guns with which he hopes to help topple the regime that places so much stock and values like these. Miok said he had to go to the jungle to prove that his guns worked because at first the eeos didn't believe him.
About again, no one, no one believes believed that. No one believes that. So we have to make made it first and show them. So we made it first. I wish that we got again. It's it's a sulfu. We lie, we need to lie, and we send this to the EO. Then they made it and it didn't walk out and the achas and it walk out.
Yeah, okay, yeah.
How do they feel.
When they oh, oh, oh my my one of my revolutionary and EO s. They said, oh, they're really really happy. They said all that, all of the brand that and campaigns for this, let's do it right now. Yes.
Yeah, almost everyone we met spent time in the jungle. Rooney that's a nom the gear, not a given name, started off as a protester, and just like everyone else, he fled into the jungle to avoid being murdered by the government and to learn from the ethnic armed organizations how to fight back.
When we try and make peaceful protesting and it's really break down. Then he decided like he also we, so we decided to choose to have a hands and to make it to make a revolution. So at this times he goes to the e or stays and he lands the trainings, you know, even especially the explosive trainees, and he got back to the town and he's started making this explosive with the head of teachings.
After learning from the eeos, he came back to Yangon to put his knowledge to use. Of course, just like Miyok's gun making team and the street protesters who learned from Hong kongers, he took to YouTube and Google to try and find a better way to build killing machines.
So it's like the EO teach us the very business exposed just kembaumb like this, but after the land a very business then and they want to improve. So the lambindself, it's just like Di I y the lam googear with YouTube, so later and later even they can make tan T and DN.
Yes.
Of course, nearly everyone we met at some point googled something like how to make gun or how to make bomb. Now this is not ideal opsect, but it speaks to the desperation of the times. They used crowdfunding websites to raise money for ingredients, and Rooney soon started putting his knowledge into practice. What that meant was that people died. He killed human beings with the explosives that he made. Now, those people would have killed Rooney or anyone else we've
spoken to in this series. He was defending himself and others by making killing machines. But still, if you're a decent person, it's not easy to watch your work result in a stranger being blown into a pink mist.
He is not proud of that, but you know he is never trying to ky event a cat on any man. He is sad, but he had to do because of revolution.
Yes, revolution was in Rooney's blood. The military had stolen his house as a kid, and he'd grown up with his uncle sharing memories of the nineteen eighty eight pro democracy uprising and its violent repression. He'd seen his family, his cousin brothers, and their parents harassed for his whole life. Now he had a chance to fight back. He carried out hundreds of missions before he eventually had to flee the city when an accident led to serious injury.
To Jone Saba. There is a nine mission, so he has to be made nine bone. Yeah, really bit bone. So they did trying to assembly this bowl as one of his friends smoking and this this famy is called Gamhau.
After the blast, he had to run away from his house before the police arrived. His friend was not so lucky and is in jail now. Rooney is mostly recovered, but it's not safe for him to go back, so he's hoping to make a new start in Massont.
The fight didn't stay in Yangon, in Napid or either. For villages living outside, the coup was just as real, and so was a desire to fight back. People outside of town found themselves in the crosshouse at the Topmador as well. The military employs a strategy which they call four cuts. It's designed to alienate the rebels from local support. It doesn't work. His kind of SCORCHDF stuff has never worked.
Didn't work when the Nazis tried in Europe, did work when the US tried it in the Middle East of Vietnam. Doesn't work when Israel keeps doing it, and it doesn't work in Meanmar. What it does do is drive people who lose their families to pick up a gun and
kill soldiers. And it's not hard to see why. I just want to play you our conversation watching one of Andy's videos about one of hundreds of masacrets that have happened since last February, and as a warning, the stuff we're going to talk about, it's about horrible as stuff can be.
But yeah, basically about I think twenty eight people would kill that day.
They just came into a village and shot everyone.
That's a handmade guns that these villagers had, but it was just they weren't shooting anyone.
Though, they just had that's all that. Everyone died. All these guys died.
Look at that his hands tied. Yeah yeah, yeah, that's what electrical.
Game it looks like.
And they burned the whole village. Now yeah they do, yeah you guys, Yeah.
Yeah, hell, And that's why we say massacre because it's fucking look at all the brains up, you know.
Yeah, all these kids, they weren't even eighteen.
So all the villagers that run away, they took a photo of the village from Afar, and.
They burned their relatives and then left.
Yeah, O Jesus fucking Christ.
And he says a nonprofit called Liberate Mianba supports the families every month, keeping them fared and sheltered, because however hard the government tries to divide the people from one another, it always seems to fail. Instead, it just pushes them closer and closer together. While we were in Thailand having a drink on a rooftop actually and talking about some kind of meditation retreat that a guy we'd met had gone on, we got to see some of the action
for ourselves. That night was a fun one. We were hanging out with some nonprofit folks and we'd acquired some pretty terrible whiskey. At various points in the evening we would ambush one of the boys and tell them they've been shot in the arm or the leg, and have the others rush into practice they stop the bleed skills. Robert and I demonstrated some improvised carrying techniques and how to effectively turn and drop to the floor when you're
in the intimate presence of a grenade. Everyone else at the party probably thought we were pretty strange, but we were having fun. Then in the distance we saw a huge yellow flash. It took a few seconds of us all wondering if that whiskey had sent us blind before the boom reached us. At first we thought it's one of the air strikes that have been happening in the border region. But it was close and it was just one huge boom, not the rockets had cluster bombs the
Tupma door liked to drop on civilians. Within minutes, minutes of nervously waiting on the rooftop to see what was coming next, and his phone started buzzing. It was a car bomb and it had gone off about one hundred yards from the border where we stood earlier that day.
A camera or something let me see, Yeah, right, scam, How did they fucking get it in there?
Immediately we had questions, but very few answers. Car bombs hadn't been the thing thus far in the revolution. This was new. Car bombs are also extremely scary. It's hard not to be around cars in a city, and when any one of those cars might kill you, it's hard to do anything feeling any semblance of safety.
I want to know who's did what I mean in the air.
Yeah, no car bombs. I've never heard of it.
It hasn't yet.
Is it somebody who driving it?
Or do they like I don't think if someone driving it? Is it like you don't see anything there?
Like uh no, I mean it could have Wait is it by the because if if there was a person, there wouldn't be anything left.
Yeah, no, no, no, But the thing is, Look, there's the fence like that that looks like it was there when it was Yeah, it was.
It looks like it's the shocks. Yeah, it's right by the bridge.
But I don't know why what this what happened.
We still aren't sure who set off the car bomb, or if anyone died. In a conflict like the one in Meanmar, it's sometimes as confusing as it is scary. The military are more than capable of a false flag style attack, killing civilians and then blaming the PDF, and it has done this before. That's what totalitarianism does. It aims to control every aspect of everyday life, even the truth. The jungle haunted us the whole time we were there, unattainable, but right next door, just a few miles away, in
lochhe Kaw, the fight was raging. Lakee Kaw is what's called a friendship town. It was built with Japanese money as a place for k and U fighters to live after they put down their arms. It was supposed to be a symbol of hope in a new, peaceful and democratic mianmar Now it's a battlefield. But while we couldn't get there, we could walk along the river bank and look at the jungle and imagine what it must be like up in those mountains, which we did almost every day.
Myanmar itself looms like a mountain over the town of Maysaut. It's a border town without a border, but the city is surrounded by refugee camps, non profit offices, and even museums for political prisoners that can't exist on the other side of the river. One day, we took a cab to see a monastery on a bluff overlooking the river down into Myanmar. We could see a casino still doing
business with Chinese tourists despite the bombing. Nearby. On the walls of the monastery were a colorful but horrific scenes of rape and murder Buddhist stages of Hell, a reminder that, according to the Four New noble truths of Buddhism, All life is suffering and greed is the cause of suffering. The same thing could be said for the refugees and fighters forced to hide in the endless green of the jungle, driven away from their homes by the greed of men who worship.
Power O Yeah, Demo, Crazy dig wandream my Josh hold on.
Oh do.
Ye.
It could Happen Here as a production of cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website cool zonemedia dot com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources for It Could Happen Here, updated monthly at cool zonemedia dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.