17/17. Links to my previous Burma History Threads (incl. on railways & rivers) are at: www.projectmaje.org. Order my latest book "Where the Mithuns Are" at: blueearbooks.com/where-the-mi... (e-book for international readers is now available!)

15. After Feb. 2021 Myanmar coup, protesters used traffic-blocking for vast marches in Yangon. In many towns & cities they painted enormous slogans on main roads. Motorbike processions & "silent strike" installations of protest objects were other types of anti-coup road usage.

14. Roads like Asian Highway extension in Karen St. & resource extraction roads elsewhere in Myanmar, caused conflict, enviro damage. Many areas, incl. in Chin St., Sagaing & Rakhine St., were still lacking reliable roads. Floods, landslides blocked access to towns & villages.

11. In 2004-05, Myanmar regime built a new capital city, Naypyitaw, connected to previous capital Yangon (Rangoon) & Mandalay by Expressway. One of Naypyitaw's distinguishing features is largely empty 4 lane roads & 20 lane blvd., suitable for large scale military deployments.

10. Myanmar's SLORC/SPDC juntas constantly used captive ethnic civilians for forced labor on infrastructure projects, incl. building & maintaining roads, which often served military purposes & post-1989, international resource extraction. 2001 report: khrg.org/2001/02/01u1...

9. As the Ne Win regime isolated Burma economically, smuggling routes to neighboring countries became necessary. Consumer goods were carried into Burma by people & pack animals along forested mountain trails. Rice, jade, opium & other commodities were smuggled out.

8. Gen. Ne Win institutionalized decades of military rule of Burma/Myanmar with his 1962 coup; his "Burmese Road to Socialism" (actually military control of the economy) did not include improving or expanding road systems & was often derided as "Burma's Road to Ruin."

7. Independent post-WW2, Burma's embattled elected govt. did not effectively pursue road-building. The UN's Asian Highway system project (1959 onward) was supposed to include Burma, but encountered a gap there, not to be connected for decades.

5. Strategic WW2 Ledo Road (aka Stilwell Road) was built by US Engineer units (majority Black soldiers) & local laborers, through mountainous Kachin St., northern Burma, during 1943. It connected to the Burma Road in 1945, enabling Ledo to Kunming convoys by early '45.

4. WW2 as Allies fought Japan's occupation of Burma, ambitious military roads important for Allied supplies & troops, between India & China. "Burma Road" over rugged terrain from Burma's Shan St. (Lashio) to Kunming became a crucial route.

3. Colonizing Burma late 19th C., British prioritized river transport & railway building, exporting commodities like rice & teak. Roads were de-emphasized. British restricted access to newly paved roads to spoked-wheel carts (Charney '16). 1930s roads built for motor vehicles.

2. As MW Charney (2016) wrote, precolonial lands that wd become Burma had military roads which wd also be used by civilians & some royal toll roads. Although animal-drawn wheeled carts were common, rivers & trails for human/animal cargo carriers were more important trade routes.

1. This History Thread is about the roads of Burma (Myanmar). In contrast to rivers & railways (subjects of previous threads) these transport corridors have often been lower priority. Currently roads are scenes of coup regime convoys & anti-coup ambushes. #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar

It was a full room for presentation w. @jamesstout.bsky.social at wondrous Clio's Books in indomitable Oakland CA, July 14. We discussed our latest books "Where the Mithuns Are" & "Against the State" w. topics of Burma (Myanmar), Spanish Civil War, Rojava, mutual aid, history lessons, inspiration. 📚

Cherry skillet cake with some of this year's bumper crop from our 3 Bing Cherry trees. A delicious slice of local history. Honoring the legacy of Ah Bing.

15/15. Links to my previous Burma History Threads & Project Maje reports are at: www.projectmaje.org. Order my latest book "Where the Mithuns Are" at: blueearbooks.com/where-the-mi... (ebook for international readers is now available!)

14. It's unknown how many mithuns remain in Chin St., as 40,000+ refugees had fled from Chin State to neighboring NE India's Mizoram by 2022. Some refugees brought their animals with them, others had to abandon/release livestock in a landscape of landmines & other war dangers.

13. In Chin St. (& throughout Myanmar) the coup regime constantly attacks civilians, with airstrikes & ground raids like a 2021 attack in which mithuns were deliberately killed. This was a war crime: to deliberately deprive civilians of food and destroy their cultural property.

12. Chin State is a war zone since '21 Myanmar coup. Unlike coup regime (backed by China & Russia), anti-coup revolutionaries lack outside support, so they rely on creative fundraising like this '23 Chinland Defense Forces Kanpetlet raffle, featuring a mithun for a lucky winner.

11. But although the Chins are Christian, mithun sacrifice had continued for special events like weddings. In Tashon village, I saw sacrifice planks & memorial stones featuring mithuns. They are known as "sia" or "sial" in local languages. Some are hybrids with domestic cattle.

10. In 2016 I went to Chin State to investigate environmental issues. I met my first mithuns around Tedim & Falam. The Chin State economy was starting to change & mithuns had become a commodity, not just a ritual possession. Mithuns were sold, butchered & on the menu in cafes.

9. In Myanmar during the early 21st Century, the occupying military confiscated mithuns from owners in Chin State, selling them to India. The military regime's proposed breeding programs posed health risks to mithuns and there were disease outbreaks in 2001-2008.

8. Northeast India now has the National Research Center on Mithun, in Nagaland. It seeks to support mithun owners with veterinary science & innovation, including possible use of mithuns to produce dairy products.

7. Mithuns haven't received much attention from outsiders. A few ended up in zoos in Europe & the US. Frederick & Elizabeth Simoons wrote a very good book about them, "A Ceremonial Ox" published in 1968.

6. Traditionally, mithuns were never used for plowing or pulling carts. They weren't used for milk. Their role was to live a free life until they might be ritually sacrificed for a communal feast on special occasions. The sacrificed mithun's head would be displayed afterwards.

5. For the Asian peoples who have owned mithuns, these animals have been cherished as prized possessions. Poems and songs were written about them and they were featured in artworks like wood carving and textiles.

4. Mithuns live in highland Asia, mainly NE India (Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh) & western Myanmar (mainly Chin State.) Said to be fewest in number of all large animals domesticated by humans, with est. about 300,000 in India & about 35,000 in pre-2021 Myanmar.

3. Mithuns are normally free-range, eating leaves in forest or woodland during the day and returning to their owners at night. They have a salt-craving motivation for interaction with humans and are known for their gentle behavior.

2. The mithun (also called gayal) is a #bovine (Bos frontalis), related to cattle, yaks, buffalo, bison. It is a domesticated (or semi-domesticated) and smaller relative of the gaur, an enormous wild forest ox of Asia.

1. This History Thread is about the natural history of an Asian animal called mithun or gayal. Found in upland Burma (Myanmar) & India, it's among the topics of my book "Where the Mithuns Are: Essays on War, Art and Beasts" (now available in ebook, ordering info at end of thread)