‘Storytelling is resistance’: Journalist Thin Lei Win on the fight to keep Myanmar in the global spotlight

Award-winning investigative journalist Thin Lei Win is urging the international community not to look away from Myanmar, warning that the country’s deepening humanitarian crisis and the war against independent media since the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021, serves as a dark harbinger for global democratic backsliding.

In an interview with DVB, Thin Lei Win detailed her unique approach to covering the crisis, the systemic weaponization of food by the regime in Naypyidaw since 2021, and how local journalists are using storytelling as a vital form of resistance.

The weaponization of food

Thin Lei Win’s reporting sits at the critical intersection of food systems, climate change, and humanitarian issues. Born and raised in Yangon, she highlighted the stark paradox of her homeland: a nation that has historically produced a food surplus, yet sees widespread hunger and malnutrition, particularly in ethnic minority areas like Chin and Rakhine states.

She noted that while Myanmar is highly vulnerable to climate shocks—such as cyclones and erratic monsoons—the root of the starvation is deeply intentional.

“Humanitarian crises are never just about a lack of resources. It’s a political decision,” she explained, pointing to the military’s notorious “four cuts” strategy.

“Myanmar’s military has a very, very long history of weaponizing food… We’re seeing this combination of conflict and climate change having devastating humanitarian impacts, even worse after the coup,” she added.

Elevating ordinary voices

Frustrated by an education system that taught a history populated only by “mythical kings” and military generals, Thin Lei Win co-founded the storytelling platform The Kite Tales in 2016.

Originally launched as a public memory project during the country’s brief democratic transition, the platform sought to document the everyday lives and rich cultures of ordinary citizens across all ethnic backgrounds.

“Our history books… had always focused just on a few people in power, mostly men,” she explained. “It is the people that make the country. It’s never the people in power who represent what’s happening.”

Journalism under siege

Following the 2021 coup, the mission of The Kite Tales had to radically shift from cultural preservation to survival. With independent newsrooms violently shuttered and reporters forced to flee for their lives, the project began providing financial support to at-risk journalists.

These reporters now publish anonymous diaries detailing their harrowing escapes and the brutal realities of life under the regime. For Thin Lei Win, this documentation is a direct counter-offensive against the military’s ultimate goal.

“One of the big things that the military junta wants us and the world to do is to forget about Myanmar,” she stated. “What these stories are telling is that no, there is resistance. No, people are surviving despite what the military has been doing.”

A warning to the world

As global attention inevitably pivots to other major conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, maintaining international focus on Myanmar has become an uphill battle. However, Thin Lei Win cautions foreign audiences against viewing Myanmar as an isolated tragedy, urging them to see it as a symptom of a much larger threat.

“I try and draw parallels with what is happening in the rest of the world, to the rise of authoritarianism,” she explained, warning that the dismantling of democracy and press freedom in Myanmar should alarm citizens everywhere.

Despite facing severe funding shortages and constant physical threats, she praised the relentless determination of Myanmar’s media workers. Her final plea to the international community is straightforward: “Support Myanmar journalists… If you cannot support monetarily, at least tell others who don’t know what is happening.”