After Myanmar’s military coup in February 2021, and the brutal suppression of the protests that followed, thousands of pro-democracy activists decided to fight back against the generals. ‘I joined the armed revolution because I believe if you’re a real human being you have to be brave enough to stand up for what you believe in’, says Bamahti Abadi. Like many others, he fled to the remote countryside to join the armed resistance, known collectively as the People’s Defence Force (PDF). ‘With the PDF’s motivation and effort, if they were properly armed I believe that they could be a lot more effective’, says Lt. Kareng Naw Htoi of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). The PDF receive training, weapons and support from long-established ethnic rebel groups, such as the KIA and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). ‘In the future of our country, I hope to see the end of military dictatorship and a federal democratic nation governed by elected politicians’, says Naw Naw, a resistance fighter.