Trump may succeed where the Myanmar military couldn’t – in silencing a defiant media house

A favourite debate topic in Indian schools used to be “the pen is mightier than the sword”. Well, the might of the US-backed Israeli devastation of Gaza was streamed live on television and phone screens for months – the first time a genocide unfolded in front of our eyes, hour by hour, with horrifying, haunting images.

Then, on January 20, US President Donald Trump signed a record number of executive orders on his first day in office. With a signature, Trump crushed the hopes of millions of people, took away their only means of survival and condemned them to slow, painful deaths. But this will be invisible, not live-streamed.

We will not see how many HIV/AIDS patients will be deprived of life-saving medicines, how many refugees will be denied resettlement and will live without any hope for a future and how many migrants will lose their jobs. Trump’s executive orders will also affect institutions, organisations and could deprive millions of people access to independent media.

Take the case of Myanmar, considered one of the least free countries in the world. The American nonprofit Freedom House gives Myanmar a score of nine out of 100 on the Global Freedom Index and categorises it as “not free”. This year, I…

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