Today, October 15, 2026, marks the second anniversary of the founding of Myanmar’s Anti-Fascist Internationalist Front (AIF). It is on this occasion that LSC wishes to express our solidarity and best wishes for the AIF and their autonomous women’s formation, WITCH. Since the military-led coup in 2021 following the defeat of the fascist Union Solidarity and Development Party, the people of Myanmar have been in open rebellion against the state’s long-running system of military dominance and control. A series of strikes, peaceful protests, and symbolic actions quickly turned into a nationwide revolution following the massacre of peaceful protesters and organizers by Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw.
Myanmar has been for decades ruled by a military dictatorship, with the Constitution of Myanmar directly granting military forces significant control of the legislature and other governmental organs. Following the rebellion against the military and coup leaders, international anti-fascist volunteers founded the AIF, and later WITCH as a dedicated women’s front, in order to engage in the global battle against fascism and help free Myanmar from military control.
While AIF and WITCH constitute the current front of the resistance movement, there has been popular resistance in Myanmar for as long as its military dictatorship has existed. The Spring Revolution that began following the 2021 military coup is but the latest in nearly a century of resistance to fascist state policies. The 8888 uprising in 1988, while sadly defeated, paved the way for the Spring Revolution that follows today. The military state has for decades pursued policies of of ethnic ultra-nationalism and religious assimilationism, including the internationally recognized genocide of the predominantly Muslim Rohingya people by the Tatmadaw on religious grounds.
Today, Myanmar’s fascist military dictatorship, while currently masquerading as a civilian government, continues to murder dissenters, organizers, and activists by the thousands; despite this, the state is quickly losing territory. Continuous offensives against the fascist state have led it to lose significant ground. These struggles have been fought by a coalition of ethnic minority militias pursuing rights under a federal democracy, as well as radicalized ethnic majority Bamar protesters who fled to the jungles to continue the fight following heavy repression in areas under state control.
As DSA’s Libertarian Socialist Caucus, we are committed to opposing oppression, imperialism, and fascism at all stages, in all forms, and from all sources. Per our tenth Point of Unity, “while American imperialism has dominated the shape of international relations, other powers have influenced global and regional politics to lesser degrees. Their political and economic interests frequently intersect with those of Empire, to the ultimate detriment of the global working class.” Myanmar’s fascist dictatorship has allied itself with entities such as Russia and China, and has courted India and the Zionist entity, showing their clear common interests; Russia, China, India, the Zionist entity, and Myanmar all have in common a nation-state model built on the oppression of ethnic minorities to develop a common national identity.
As libertarian socialists, we must fight fascism wherever it manifests, and support all movements for proletarian democracy and the liberation of all peoples. An injury to one is an injury to all, and a victory against fascism in one country is a victory for the whole world. We wish our best to the struggling peoples of Myanmar, and the internationalists in the AIF and WITCH formations, in their battles against fascism and militarism, and express our full support and solidarity with their efforts.
