ON 1 February 2021, the dreams of many people in Burma (Myanmar) were shattered overnight. Since then, I, along with everyone else in my country of over 55 million people, have been living in darkness. The situation one year since remains dire – one of shrinking basic freedoms, a banking and financial crisis, mounting civil war in the midst of an unthinkable human rights disaster. For someone living in what is already one of the world’s most impoverished countries, facing a military coup during a global pandemic is akin to experiencing an 8-magnitude earthquake in the middle of a category-five cyclone. Whether out in the streets or at home, one can die from a stray bullet. Soldiers shoot wildly every time they face a hit-and-run attack by urban underground fighters. Before going out, we remove all sensitive content from our mobile phones, including the VPNs needed to open apps like Facebook. Refusal to cooperate with soldiers at checkpoints can lead to severe consequences, including