Assemblages of dis/connection: Network infrastructures and conflict in Myanmar

In February 2021, the Myanmar military staged a coup that overturned a decade of democratic reforms and a peace process. This coup has been met with countrywide protests, and a civil disobedience movement has brought much of the country's economy to a halt. 2 years later, and after the military used increasing violence against protesters and the civilian population in general, much of the initially peaceful protest tactics have been replaced with (urban) guerrilla warfare as resistance to the military regime. Digital technologies have been part of the repertoires deployed by various actors in these conflicts: Protesters broadcasting on social media, public servants organising strikes in messenger groups, or the military shutting down internet connectivity. Ongoing struggles of control over the digital are thus entangling a range of (human and non-human) actors within the country, but also across Myanmar’s international borders. Drawing on science and technology studies, this paper examines this complex situation from the perspective of the (mobile network) infrastructures that enable it. While infrastructures usually go unnoticed, they (and their politics) become suddenly visible when they break down - or are disrupted on purpose. In this paper, I am exploring the actors and practices that are involved in dis/connecting in Myanmar, particularly telecommunication providers: How does the military shut down the internet? How do mobile networks break down without maintenance? How is network connectivity entangled with other infrastructures necessary to its functioning (like the electrical power grid)? And, which strategies to resist or circumvent disconnection can be observed? This focus of analysis allows to decentre simplifying narratives around digital technologies under authoritarian rule and political conflict by emphasizing the role of often neglected actors like telecommunication providers; as well as the roles played by technology itself - neither understood as mere tools enabling surveillance, nor as 'liberation technology', but as unruly, often dysfunctional infrastructures in continuous need of maintenance work.