On the 8th of august in 1988, a general strike began in Myanmar (Burma) as part of the 8888 Uprising, with mass anti-government demonstrations throughout the country demanding multi-party democracy from the ruling one-party state. Over the following days, the mass demonstrations devolved into violent riots as the military fired into crowds of protesters.
The 8888 Uprising, also known as the People Power Uprising, took place in the context of an economic crisis in the country, governed as a one-party state by the Burma Socialist Programme Party, led by General Ne Win. Students and farmers had been engaging in protest and campaigns of rebellion against various state economic policies since 1985.
On August 8th, 1988 (thus the uprising's name) mass anti-government demonstrations took place throughout the country. Participants came from a wide variety of demographics - Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, students, workers, young and old participated.
The protests began relatively peacefully, with only one casualty reported on the first day, the result of a frightened traffic cop who fired into the crowd and fled. Over the next few days, the protests devolved into violent riots as the military and police fired on the protesters, at one point even shooting doctors and nurses tending to the wounded.
Protesters responded by throwing Molotov cocktails, swords, knives, rocks, poisoned darts and bicycle spokes. In one incident, rioters burned a police station and killed four fleeing police officers.
On August 26th, Aung San Suu Kyi (eventual leader of the country and complicit in the rohingya genocide), the daughter of anti-imperialist revolutionary Aung San, addressed half a million people at Shwedagon Pagoda, becoming an international figure in the uprising, supported by the West. Her party would later go on to win elections in 1990, however these results were ignored by the military government and she was arrested.
On September 18th, the military retook power in the country, with General Saw Maung repealing the 1974 constitution and imposing martial law. The demonstrations were violently suppressed and, by the end of September, at least 3,000 people were killed, however estimates of casualties vary widely.
Eventually after another mass protests in the saffron revolution and the 2010-2015 reforms Aung San party the NLD would take power in 2015 and be overthrown by a coup in 2021 and banned 2 years later.
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Partner's mom died from cancer a couple weeks ago
My dad is dying from kidney failure
We thought my partner might have a very dire blood disease until a couple months ago
Now we're at a vet being told that our dog, who we thought just had a sinus infection, "may be critical"
That's enough catastrophic, mortal peril for me now, thanks, you can stop now
I hope you just got one of those evil vets that like to make you worry and then overcharge you.
Maybe. Fuckin 900 dollars later and they couldn't even tell us what's wrong with him, just that there's shit in his lungs and he may be critical. Like... what? Dog is only 8 years old and he's exhibiting cold-like symptoms, now you're telling me he might die? The fuck?
I'm so burned out dude. I can't take us constantly being in this state where my girlfriend just randomly breaks down into tears from all the terrible stress, anxiety and grief. It's been like a year and a half of this.
Maybe give the dog a covid test?
Edit: sorry if that seems like a joke, it's just the first thing i thought of with "mystery respiratory illness with shit in lungs"
First time my dog hurt her paw I spent about $3k because I didn't know that if I went to literally any other place the exact same exams and medicine would have been about $300. Last time I take my parents' advice on something money-related I stg.
I'm so sorry you're dealing with so much loss
I consoled my partner about the death of her mother by saying "at least we're finally on our way to a less stressful life"
Then we take our dog to the vet because he's been sneezing and has a runny nose and they tell us he may not be able to recover from this illness, lol... I'm just so fuckin' tired... I keep thinking it can't get worse, it can't keep going at this level, and then it does.