Civic Resilience Laboratory

Presentation: Resilience as Revolution: Subaltern Agency among the Urban Poor and Disenfranchised

If resilience is the ability to absorb disturbances such as floods, fires, and coup d’états while maintaining a system’s essential functions, structure and identity, the struggles of Yangon’s Urban Poor Network (UPN) and Bedar Social Development Group (Bedar) stand as exemplars of grassroots tenacity despite inhospitable circumstances. Under Myanmar governments that have largely ruled by force, marginalized populations such as the urban poor, kyukyaw (slum dwellers), and ethnic minority groups have had to devise living and working environments for themselves despite state neglect and abuse.

Unlike neighboring countries such as Thailand and India, the state has not officially recognized its responsibility for providing basic infrastructure or housing since independence in 1948. While there have been sporadic efforts to modernize, the people in Myanmar are supposed to be responsible for improving their own lives and even the country as a whole without relying on state assistance. Except for the ten-year experiment in liberalization between 2011 and 2021, the state has not been answerable to the people. Under these circumstances, horizontal grassroots networks have operated in parallel with multiple state and non-state systems, at times interacting with but rarely approaching the state as the provider of urban justice and development. Instead, groups like Bedar and UPN have and continue to rescue fellow climate disaster refugees, pandemic victims, and floating populations, to ensure mutual survival.

Our presentation will discuss how grassroots organizing became more viable in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in 2008 then grew in scale and efficacy between 2011 and 2021 but encountered extreme challenges during and after February 2021 coup. Despite the violent crack downs instigated by the junta and the ongoing economic crisis, the UPN re-organized itself after mass evictions in October 2021 and continues to support fellow “slum dwellers” through a UPN Rice Bank, small loans system, and other programs. We argue that the very act of resilience is an act of revolution. By organizing among ourselves and insisting on our right to the city, we are demanding a new form of state-society relations. That is, the state is not the sovereign who must be invoked to realize rights, instead, we are working for a revolutionary change wherein our rights become the basis of governance. 

Keywords: Urban poor; grassroots organising; right to the city; Yangon, Myanmar

Bio: Hsu Lai Yee is a community architect and researcher based in Yangon, Myanmar, working with Bedar Social Development Group, a local NGO. With a background in architecture, she works closely with urban poor communities at the intersection of empowerment, livelihoods, and housing rights. Her practices focus on participatory approaches to co-create inclusive urban environments. She is currently working with evicted urban poor families to address their socioeconomic challenges and reflect on future possibilities for advocating housing rights for exclusive urban poor communities.