"I often wonder what Orwell would make of Myanmar’s return to totalitarian rule."

Ali Fowle on the story behind 101 East's investigation into military rule in Myanmar

Throughout the Orwell Festival we’re sharing new writing and exclusive interviews from this year’s Orwell Prize finalists on our Substack.

In this next piece, journalist Ali Fowle takes us through the story behind her team’s Orwell Prize for Journalism shortlisted investigation into the aftermath of the recent military coup in Myanmar, the country where Orwell himself was once a police man.

Ali Fowle and Drew Ambrose will be taking part in ‘Crackdown on Dissent’, a panel event with fellow finalists Michela Wrong and Polina Ivanova on 12th July, 6.30pm, University College London, as part of this year’s Orwell Festival. Tickets from £6 here.

“When the military seized control of Myanmar in February 2021, I had been living in Yangon, the country’s biggest city, for almost a decade. Violent chaos engulfed the country and citizens found themselves living in an Orwellian surveillance state. When the crisis began, COVID restrictions meant airports were shut so the foreign media’s access to the nation was severely limited. To tell this story, I teamed up with journalists Drew Ambrose, Aun Qi Koh and the team at 101 East, Al Jazeera’s weekly current affairs programme covering the Asia-Pacific. While other news outlets relied on commentary from academics and analysts outside Myanmar, we began producing an in-depth, first-hand account of the unfolding situation, in what would become the world’s first long-form documentary about the coup.

This was a high-risk assignment because dozens of reporters, filmmakers and foreigners were being detained by the new regime. As a registered journalist and a western woman, I needed to be inconspicuous, so I filmed from cars and used discreet, lightweight production equipment to keep a low profile. As anti-coup civilian demonstrations grew bigger, I worked with brave local cinematographers. Camera rushes were locked in my cabinet, then uploaded and wiped every day for security. Outside Myanmar, the 101 East team scoured the internet and verified user generated content of violent incidents.

Fear grew as the authorities made more and more arrests. Many people were now on the run, difficult to contact and frightened of speaking to journalists. Despite these challenges, we were able to gain rare access to brave protesters, deposed politicians in hiding and reporters from local media organisations who had been taken off the air. We met in safe houses and cars, exchanged encrypted messages or communicated through trusted third parties. The risks for those brave enough to speak with us were extremely high and we knew we had to take every precaution to protect them. Our concerns only rose after one of my former colleagues was arrested at his home in the night and we heard rumours of a crackdown on foreign journalists. I moved to a safe house in case my own home was raided.

The violent crackdown intensified, and my visa was not renewed by the military regime. As we completed filming for the first documentary, I realised with great regret that leaving Myanmar was my only option.  

Upon returning to the UK, I worked with Drew Ambrose, Aun Qi Koh and 101 East again to produce a second documentary that forensically investigated atrocities committed by the authorities. We interviewed senior army defectors now critical of the military. Through my contacts in Myanmar, we obtained previously unseen footage of a politician who had been killed in custody. His blood-soaked body undermined the military’s claims that he died of a heart attack. Our team also obtained testimonies from former detainees who had been held at an alleged interrogation centre where hundreds of people are believed to have been detained, with some allegedly subject to abuse. Working with UK-based investigative agency, Forensic Architecture, we digitally recreated this secret facility. When our investigation began, this facility was little more than a rumour, but utilising field photography and satellite imagery, we illustrated how the building was refurbished and busier in the month before the coup. Our investigation also uncovered evidence of how advanced data extraction tools appeared to have been weaponised against a critic of the military. In collaboration with Lighthouse Reports and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, we obtained leaked documents that exposed the role of Western companies in helping the generals build a digital surveillance apparatus to create an environment remincient of George Orwell’s book 1984. 

Orwell served as a police officer in Myanmar when it was a British colony, inspiring his earliest political writing. Although banned in Myanmar for decades his work is still well-known and under the previous military regime, people referred to him as “the prophet”.  I often wonder what he would make of the country’s return to totalitarian rule. The economy is at a standstill, towns are warzones and basic services barely function. Our interviewees are still on the run, desperate to avoid the fate of 14,000 dissidents arrested since the coup began. Violence across the nation has killed 1900 people and displaced one million civilians. Myanmar’s population continues to live in a state of fear.”

Ali Fowle is a freelance journalist and filmmaker from Edinburgh. Passionate about investigation, her work focuses on illicit trade, trafficking, human rights, law and justice and she has extensive experience on stories related to conflict and civil disobedience. She specialises in the Asia Pacific region where she has lived since 2009.

Aun Qi Koh is an investigative journalist based in Malaysia. Before joining Al Jazeera in 2019, she was a subeditor at online news portal Malaysiakini. She has produced stories on various social justice issues including Malaysian custodial deaths, the plight of Filipino nurses abroad and targeted killings of Afghan women.

Drew Ambrose works across the Asia-Pacific region as a foreign correspondent, investigative journalist and documentary producer. He has been a digital lead for multiple interactive, virtual reality and online projects. His intrepid reporting has won 35 global media prizes including the 2021 One World Media International Journalist of the Year.