Shows / Insight Myanmar
Insight Myanmar
Insight Myanmar is a beacon for those seeking to understand the intricate dynamics of Myanmar. With a commitment to uncovering truth and fostering understanding, the podcast brings together activists, artists, leaders, monastics, and authors to share their first-hand experiences and insights. Each episode delves deep into the struggles, hopes, and resilience of the Burmese people, offering listeners a comprehensive, on-the-ground perspective of the nation's quest for democracy and freedom. And…
Episodes
- Insight Myanmar
The Lives of Others
Episode #395: Laetitia van den Assum, a Dutch diplomat and former ambassador to Thailand, was one of nine members of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State…
- Insight Myanmar
You’ll Never Walk Alone
Episode #394: Sandar, an ethnographer and documentary photographer, dedicated her life to understanding Myanmar’s diverse cultures. Before the coup, she…
- Insight Myanmar
A Norwegian Fairy Tale
Episode #393: “It’s now time to be more principled and say that, ‘We would like to support democracy.’” With this statement, Audun Aagre, former head of the…
- Insight Myanmar
Contested Ground
Episode #392: Landmines and explosive remnants of war are taking a devastating toll on civilians, as armed groups on many sides continue to use the deadly and…
- Insight Myanmar
When Tech Meets Tyranny
Episode #391: A key figure at Article 19 for the Asia Pacific region, Lana exposes a dilemma: the tense dynamic between an accelerating tech industry and…
- Insight Myanmar
Fragmentation
Episode #390: The exhibition Fragmentation, hosted earlier this year at Bangkok Art and Culture Center and co-organized by SEA Junction and A New Burma…
- Insight Myanmar
The Will To Fight
Episode #389: Mie Mie Wynn Bird, a retired U.S. Army officer and defense strategist runs leadership and capacity-building workshops for Myanmar’s pro-democracy…
- Insight Myanmar
The Spirit of Disobedience
Episode #388: “Every day in Myanmar, people are living in constant fear, fear of air strike, fear of artillery, fear of arbitrary arrest, fear of extra…
- Insight Myanmar
Long Walk to Freedom
Episode #387: “I think vipassana has always been a response to crisis, not just a quest for spiritual purity,” says Gustaaf Houtman, anthropologist and author…
- Insight Myanmar
Barely Breathing
Episode #386: Maw Htun, Deputy Minister for Electricity and Energy in Myanmar's National Unity Government (NUG), has navigated a path defined by personal…
- Insight Myanmar
Return to Nowhere
Episode #385: Minna Fredriksson, human rights advisor at the Swedish development organization Diakonia, describes her humanitarian work and critiques the…
- Insight Myanmar
Dark Signals
Episode #384: “As a journalist, you always hope for consequences. I mean, otherwise our reporting is meaningless,” says Bjørn Nordahl, a Norwegian…
- Insight Myanmar
Heritage and Hope
Episode #383: The 4th International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies (ICBMS) was hosted at hosted by Chiang Mai University. This major event brought…
- Insight Myanmar
Losing My Religion
Episode #382: Zack Tu Nan, a queer, ethnic Zaiwa activist and student living in the Netherlands, reflects on his journey through marginalization, faith…
- Insight Myanmar
Unfrozen Assets
Episode #381: Vicky Bowman, the former UK Ambassador to Myanmar and past director of the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB), explains what…
- Insight Myanmar
On Vipassanā and Authenticity
Episode #380: “I started meditation at a fairly young age,” begins scholar and author, Daniel Stuart. At nineteen, he traveled to India, disillusioned by the…
- Insight Myanmar
Rooted Beyond Erasure
Episode #379: “It’s a different migration story,” reflects Amy Hardingson, speaking about her enduring connection to her Burmese heritage, a thread stretching…
- Insight Myanmar
Of Bills and Sanctions
Episode #378: Simon Billenness, director of Campaign for a New Myanmar, draws on thirty years of advocacy to explain the mechanics and challenges of U.S…
- Insight Myanmar
All Along the Mekong
Episode #377: “Myanmar is a source of inspiration everywhere! This is me speaking directly to friends in Myanmar, that they should understand that they are the…
- Insight Myanmar
The Adjustment Bureau
Episode #376: “I think it’s a big win. And also people may not like to hear this, it’s actually a win for sanctions,” says Erich Ferrari, founder of Ferrari &…
- Insight Myanmar
The Art of No Deal
Episode #375: “Don’t fall for the junta's attempt to try to propagandize!” says Derek Mitchell, former U.S. ambassador to Myanmar. In this interview, he…
- Insight Myanmar
It Takes All Of Us
Episode #374: “Miraculously, amazingly, the mission has continued up until now in 2025.” These words from Dr. Zaw Moe Aung, Executive Director of The Leprosy…
- Insight Myanmar
Echoes in the Absence
Episode #373: In this wide-ranging interview, journalist Lorcan Lovett returns to the podcast to discuss Aung San Suu Kyi’s imprisonment, the fractured…
- Insight Myanmar
The Resistance Will Not Be Dammed
Episode #372: “I focus on research that's mostly relevant for climate resilience, and I really look at Myanmar as the most interesting and important case.”…
- Insight Myanmar
Flattery Will Get You Everywhere
Episode #371: “I remain confident in the longer term, completely, actually, that this regime is losing,” says Sean Turnell, Australian economist and former…
- Insight Myanmar
Decolonize This
Episode #370: "Why are [Asian women] not allowed to dream that we can open our own thing and lead our own work?" This question by human rights lawyer Emilie…
- Insight Myanmar
Oslo’s Lost Accord
Episode #369: “I promised Aung San Suu Kyi and committed myself to work for democracy and human rights in the country as long as necessary. And still it is…
- Insight Myanmar
More Than Words
Episode #368: The Adhikara podcast is an important, new voice in Burmese media, aiming to build not just a movement but a resilient community against…
- Insight Myanmar
Degrees of Resistance
Episode #367: In this episode, we hear from two compelling voices grappling with the human and political costs of authoritarianism in Southeast Asia. Raoul…
- Insight Myanmar
Schooling the System
Episode #366: Sallo Polak, founder of the Philanthropy Connections Foundation (PCF), has spent decades building a grassroots approach to humanitarian aid in…
- Insight Myanmar
Awakenings and Uprisings
Episode #365: “The Buddha lives and teaches for the welfare of the world, for the happiness of the world,” says Bhikkhu Bodhi. “He does live for the welfare…
- Insight Myanmar
The Ripple Effect
Episode #364: Ben’s simple words resonate strongly: “If I could do something small for one person, why would I not?” This episode brings together Ben and a…
- Insight Myanmar
Bonus Episode: A Talk at New Bloom
New Bloom is an online magazine and community space covering activism and youth politics in Taiwan and the Asia Pacific, founded in Taiwan in 2014 in the wake…
- Insight Myanmar
Crypto in the Time of Tyranny
Episode #363: In post-coup Myanmar, where conventional aid channels with humanitarian intentions risk getting diverted and empowering the military junta…
- Insight Myanmar
The Invisible Enemy
Episode #362: Myanmar has recorded the world’s worst casualties from landmines and explosive ordnance for the first time, with over 1,000 casualties in 2024…
- Insight Myanmar
No Self, No Junta
Episode #361: “I am Burmese. I feel like it is my duty and responsibility to speak about it.” With these words, Myet opens a conversation that explores…
- Insight Myanmar
Crime and Disbursement
Episode #360: “To have my daughter summarily decide that I was complicit in genocide, I really had to think through again my logic for taking the position that…
- Insight Myanmar
No Neutral Ground
Episode #359: “The real motivating force is people, it is those human relations.” Duncan McArthur, a backpacker turned decades-long humanitarian leader, found…
- Insight Myanmar
Rewriting History
Episode #358: The 4th International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies (ICBMS), hosted by Chiang Mai University in August 2024, brought together scholars…
- Insight Myanmar
From Russia With Anxiety
Episode #357: When Wai Yan Phyo Naing, a civilian scholar in Myanmar vocal against the human rights atrocities of the junta, received a scholarship from a…
- Insight Myanmar
When Silence Isn’t Noble
Episode #356: Jonathan Crowley shares his experiences as an Assistant Teacher within the Vipassana Meditation Organization of SN Goenka. He participated in a…
- Insight Myanmar
Can’t Knock the Hustle
Episode #355: “You need to pay attention to what the kids care about,” says Naomi Gingold. “It will inform so much about the place that you're trying to…
- Insight Myanmar
Over the Borderline
Episode #353: Professor Lahra Smith, a political science professor specializing in East Africa at Georgetown University, argues that Myanmar’s current…
- Insight Myanmar
Bonus Episode: The Global Citizen
The Global Citizen Podcast recently featured a look at the work behind Insight Myanmar and Better Burma, which we bring you here as a bonus episode.
- Insight Myanmar
A Nation Interrupted
Episode #352: Nicholas Coppel’s tenure as Australia’s ambassador to Myanmar (2015–2018) provides a unique lens on the country’s transition toward democracy, as…
- Insight Myanmar
From the Strait to the Streets
Episode #351: Aurora Chang’s diverse background and upbringing deeply influence her perspective and activism. Born in Taiwan, she spent formative years in…
- Insight Myanmar
On the Frontlines of Democracy
Episode #350: Dr. Kevin Casas-Zamora, Secretary-General of International IDEA since 2019, speaks on the enduring struggle for democracy in Myanmar, a fight he…
- Insight Myanmar
Fields of Gold
Episode #349: Oliver Tanner's journey begins in London, where as a teenager, he became restless and dissatisfied with the status quo. At 19, he traveled…
- Insight Myanmar
Spring Awakening
Episode #348: The Spring Revolution in Myanmar represents a continuation of long-standing struggles for a legitimate political order, according to Charlie…
- Insight Myanmar
Dispatches from the Edge
Episode #347: In the first part of this three-part series, three distinct yet intersecting voices reveal the human, political, and structural toll of the…
- Insight Myanmar
Burn After Reforming
Episode #346: Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK, reflects on Myanmar’s multiple crises and shares his multi-decade relationship with the country…
- Insight Myanmar
Bonus Episode: Light Forest
The host of Insight Myanmar was invited to speak on the Light Forest Podcast. Here is a description of this platform: "The Light Forest podcast is a journey of…
- Insight Myanmar
The Art of Doing Nothing
Episode #345: Does any and all engagement with the junta equate to some form of complicity? Moe Thuzar of ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute challenges this notion by…
- Insight Myanmar
Rangoon Confidential
Episode #344: Dominic Faulder’s decades of reporting on Myanmar began serendipitously in 1981, when a Thai coup disrupted his travel plans and led to an…
- Insight Myanmar
On The Waterfront
Episode #343: “I literally thought the world was crumbling!” Chloe, a young woman born and raised in Myanmar’s Inle Lake region, speaks viscerally about the…
- Insight Myanmar
An Irish Bhikkhu in Burma
Episode #342: Dhammaloka, born Laurence Carroll in Dublin around 1856, was a unique figure in the history of Buddhism and anti-colonial resistance. Much of…
- Insight Myanmar
The Unfriendly Skies
Episode #341: As the military has suffered setbacks in the field, its use of indiscriminate aerial bombing has only increased, taking a deadly toll on…
- Insight Myanmar
Lost In Translation
Episode #340: Having taught at Payap University in Chiang Mai from 2016–2022, Tony Waters mentored doctoral students grappling with Myanmar’s long history of…
- Insight Myanmar
Whose Byline Is It Anyway?
Episode #339: Aung, a full-time journalist and women’s rights activist, sheds light on the many hardships Myanmar’s journalists now face both operating from…
- Insight Myanmar
Emergency Declined
Episode #338: “[The quake] revealed the tragic disconnect between the government's understanding—or perhaps, willingness to communicate—the severity of the…