Issue and Opponent: Panties for Peace was an action targeted at the violent response of the Burmese military regime to the 2007 Saffron Revolution protests, the abuse of women by the military including rape and sexual slavery, and reigning superstitious beliefs held by the junta concerning women. The action was started by the group Lanna Action for Burma, a women-led group that spoke of the powerlessness Burmese citizens felt seeing their neighborhoods and communities ravaged by the military responses to largely peaceful protests. Panties for Peace was made possible because of the global acknowledgments for women’s and human rights violations of the Junta government.
The Saffron Revolution started on August 15th of 2007, and the Panties for Peace action began shortly after on October 16th.
Dilemma Action: Panties for Peace was a global mail-in action where women worldwide posted their underwear to Burmese embassies as a calculated insult and power-sapping measure to the junta and its leader, General Than Shwe. It involved embassies in the UK, Thailand, Australia, Singapore, and Geneva. One group sent 140 to the embassy in Geneva. The superstitious junta members believe that contact with female undergarments or bottoms makes men lose their strength. Female sex organs are considered contaminated, and this belief is so widespread that men and women bathe in different water, and women’s bottoms are washed separately. This is how the lose-lose scenario is set up: either the Burmese government responds violently or harshly to an insulting, but globally considered harmless postal action, and further portrays a brutal image on the world stage; or, they don’t respond, and their supporters and suspicious countrymen view them as weak, unwilling to respond to a threat on their power, and less powerful as a result of contact with women’s undergarments. It is not overstated how widespread this superstition is, as some opposition groups did not support the Panties for Peace campaign as they worried that the gesture was too offensive even to those who did not support the government. The protest of sending panties would, in the eyes of the junta, either drain their power or force them to admit that these superstitions are false. This could be characterized as a rude gesture, delivery of symbolic objects, or non-violent harassment.
Outcomes: While there was no response from Burmese government officials, the media covered the Panties for Peace actions favorably. Viewed within the scope of the larger campaign against the military Junta, Panties for Peace could have increased foreign interest in the issue, but the other more public dilemma actions likely resulted in some of the larger outcomes, like the 2008 constitutional referendum, and 2010 government change. Panties for Peace was part of the larger campaign against the abuses of the military junta led by the 88 generations, and the All-Burma Monks’ Alliance. This dilemma action fits in as a global pressure component to the mostly in-country demonstrations led by monks and citizens alike. Because of its international focus, panties for peace gained international support and attention, as the postage of underwear sent to Burmese embassies came from nations outside of Myanmar. The action itself was made possible because of the global acknowledgments for women’s and human rights violations of the Junta government. The campaign used other dilemma action methods. Peaceful monk-led protests were the main In Rangoon, pictures of Than Shwe, the junta head, were hung around the necks of dogs, a culturally significant insult. Women baked birthday cakes featuring Than Shwe’s face in the shape of underwear, and fed them to stray dogs. Anti-junta graffiti including train paintings were widespread, and leaflets were secretly distributed in Akyab.