Their expressions were grounded in ideas of self-realization, sympathy, metta or loving kindness, and an extension of concern for the world in terms that drew from Buddhist ideas as well as Western notions centred on human rights. Before the revolution, these kinds of apologies would have been unimaginable. Even the word “Rohingya” was politically taboo in “Maha Bamar” nationalist social and political discourses. Gen Z human rights positions contrast with older generations’ attitudes and their fears of the impending destruction of the Bamar Buddhist nation, fears that the military and Buddhist nationalists had cynically whipped up during the democratic period. With intensified anti-coup resistance by the people and the rampant brutality by soldiers and police, “Maha Bamar” ideology has been successfully challenged and subordinated to more inclusive discourses of the nation. Almost overnight, the Tatmadaw’s nationalist justifications for military rule were swept away. The political evolution of the anti-coup protests had two pronounced stages. In the early days of the protests, the people and organizations demanded the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters and for member of the Hluttaw or Parliament to resume their roles as legitimately elected officials. Then, as more diverse groups and people, especially young people, began to participate in the anti-coup protests and messaging, the direction of the movement began to shift. More robust democratic political demands gathered broad support for abolishing the 2008 constitution and establishing a federal democratic polity. This development contrasted with the revolutionary movements of 1988 and 2007, which drew on culturally salient ideas of the Bamar Buddhist majority populace. In 1988, the challenge to the Ne Win regime led by unionized students confronted royalist ideas of power and authority vested in the authoritarian sovereign. Student leader Paw Oo Tun famously drew on this logic when he adopted the nom de guerre Min Ko Naing, or “conqueror of the king”, to capture the anti-regime logic of the students being “contenders for the throne” during the nationwide uprisings of 1988, at a time when the democracy discourse was still inchoate in the country. In the 2007 Saffron Revolution, monks undertook a unified collective rebuke and excommunication of the military for violent actions taken against peacefully protesting members of the Sangha who were 21 21-J07648 01 Trends_2021-7.indd 21 28/4/21 9:34 AM