The 'Good Monk' Myth

One night in Rangoon last year, I met up for beers with a man who had participated in Burma’s Saffron Revolution, which saw tens of thousands of Buddhist monks and nuns protest the former junta, prompting a brutal military crackdown 10 years ago this week. That I was meeting a monk for beers may seem odd, but this one had long since left the monkhood. Still, it felt like a bit of a metaphor for the unexpected ways Burma has changed, and for the country’s lack of a fairy-tale ending.   

As we sat with other former activists drinking and smoking cigarettes, he talked about his struggle to make a living and about the imperfect state of Burmese democracy. Aung San Suu Kyi had won elections in November 2015, but she was still denied the presidency