The Great Depression had a significant impact on the Burmese nationalist movement. The economic catastrophe left many poor Burmese unable to pay taxes or repay loans they had taken from foreign money lenders (overwhelmingly Chettiyars from India). Consequently, bankers seized millions of acres of land in lieu of monetary repayment. Tensions rose as a result, eventually erupting in violent anti-Indian protests in Rangoon in the early 1930s. This created tremendous incentive for young nationalists— including Aung San—to form the first mass nationalist organization: Dobama Asi-ayone (We Burman Association): They consciously used the more colloquial ethnonym Bama, or “Burman,” to emphasize a folk identity. . . . They called themselves Thakin, or “master,” a style formerly reserved for the British. All drew from a popular well of antagonism toward both big business and immigrants. Their protest song, the basis of today’s national anthem, includes the refrain “da do-mye, da do-pye”: “this is our land, this is our country.” Meaning, it’s not yours. (Myint-U, 2019, p. 29) Almost two decades prior to independence, the idea of a national identity was used to reach political goals. Aung San’s prominent role in both the nationalist movement and as founding father of the Tatmadaw, opened opportunities for future authoritarian rulers to continue using the concept of a Burman nation to garner support from the majority ethnic group as well as legitimize and justify their continued rule. During World War II, the idea of a Burmese identity began to take root with the nationalist independence movement initially led by Aung San and the BIA. As previously mentioned, the 1937 partition of India separated Burma on the basis of racial identity and designated it as its own colony (Myint-U, 2019). During the war, in the midst of backand-forth fighting with Britain and Japan, Aung San and other Burmese figureheads formed the Anti-Fascist Organization (later renamed the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom 60