Burma’s history is replete with colonialism and foreign influence of one form or another. In the early 13th and 14th century an invasion of Mongol created anarchy in the pagan state. For century, from the early 1800s to the early 1900s Burma was British colony, and just as a national movement was starting up against British rule, WWII broke out and the Japanese conquered Burma for themselves. After WW II a nominally independent Burma became a proxy state to the USSR — a one-party socialist government run by a military junta, which the people resented as much as the foreign invaders.

On this day, August 8, in 1988, the 8888 protests (named because of the date) broke out all over Burma against military rule. An inchoate crowd of thousands made up of ethnic minorities of every stripe, Buddhists and Muslims, students and professionals of every age gathered in the capital of Rangoon.

The movement caused chaos and a spate of resignations within the Burmese military government. With the politicians unsure how to respond to the situation, the protests continued, and three weeks later Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of the beloved independence leader Aung San, made her first entrance on the political arena, addressing a crowd of half a million from the Shwedagon Pagoda. This was to be the launching pad for her long career in advocating political reform in Burma.