After 79 Years of Armed Struggle, Mon Resistance Pushes for Unity and Governance to Defeat Myanmar Junta

Nearly eight decades after launching an armed uprising for self-determination, Mon revolutionary forces are calling for sweeping unity, youth leadership, and the establishment of an interim revolutionary government to defeat Myanmar’s military dictatorship.

The appeal coincided with the 79th Mon Revolutionary Day on August 28—commemorating the August 1948 raid on a police station in Karen State by 27 Mon youths shortly after Myanmar gained independence from British colonial rule.

While the Mon movement historically focused on ethnic equality and regional autonomy, the 2021 military coup has expanded the struggle into a nationwide campaign to dismantle the junta, abolish the military-drafted 2008 Constitution, and establish a federal democratic union.

To overcome decades of fragmentation, resistance groups are urging a more unified political and military structure.

“We need a Mon State revolutionary government that civilians can rely on,” said Nai Peter, spokesperson for the New Rehmonnya Federated Force (NRFF). “The main priority is uniting scattered resistance forces to coordinate military operations and protect civilians fleeing junta offensives.”

In a joint statement, the NRFF and the Mawlamyine University Students’ Union (MLMU-SU) warned resistance leaders against allowing personal interests to derail revolutionary goals. They called for greater youth representation in decision-making and increased operational transparency to maintain public trust.

The push for unity comes as the junta intensifies its campaign of artillery strikes, aerial bombardments, and forced military conscription across Mon State. Simultaneously, regime officials have used peace talks and incentives under the 2008 Constitution to sow divisions between veteran Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) and post-coup People’s Defence Forces (PDFs).

Nai Kaung Sakar, spokesperson for the New Mon State Party – Anti-Dictatorship (NMSP-AD), dismissed the regime's peace overtures as familiar divide-and-rule tactics.

“The only way to guarantee ethnic rights and build a federal democratic union is to completely end the military dictatorship and abolish the 2008 Constitution,” Nai Kaung Sakar said. “To achieve that, the entire Mon population must unite under a single national flag, talk through our differences, and move forward together.”

Efforts to build transitional administrative structures are already underway. The Mon State Federal Council (MSFC) is currently collaborating with allied ethnic revolutionary organizations and the anti-coup movement to draft a Mon State Revolutionary Charter.

“We are drafting the charter to ensure the Mon people can participate firmly as a constituent state in a future federal union,” said MSFC spokesperson Nai Mon Sai, adding that administrative policies are being updated to guide both the current conflict and the post-junta transition.