Maximillian Morch
@maxmorch.bsky.social
Humanitarian aid along the Thai/Myanmar border.
Author of "Plains of Discontent: A Political History of Nepal's Tarai".
Author of "Plains of Discontent: A Political History of Nepal's Tarai".
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
#Myanmar's prisons have become tools of terror for junta. Political prisoners face torture, denial of health care, forced to cast advance vote & re-arrest after release. 🚨
Intl community must hold junta accountable & support former & current political prisoners.
tinyurl.com/yupnr3hx
Intl community must hold junta accountable & support former & current political prisoners.
tinyurl.com/yupnr3hx
Prisons as a tool of terror - Progressive Voice
Since the attempted coup, prisons controlled by Myanmar military junta have become a place that crushes dissent and silences those who are voicing opposition to the junta’s violence and injustice. Ma...
tinyurl.com
October 29, 2025 at 3:03 AM
#Myanmar's prisons have become tools of terror for junta. Political prisoners face torture, denial of health care, forced to cast advance vote & re-arrest after release. 🚨
Intl community must hold junta accountable & support former & current political prisoners.
tinyurl.com/yupnr3hx
Intl community must hold junta accountable & support former & current political prisoners.
tinyurl.com/yupnr3hx
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
TBC’s 2025 Jan–June Midyear Overview, highlighting our work, key developments for displaced communities, and the impact of funding disruptions, is now available in English. Local language versions will follow shortly.
www.theborderconsortium.org/wp-content/u...
www.theborderconsortium.org/wp-content/u...
September 30, 2025 at 4:14 AM
TBC’s 2025 Jan–June Midyear Overview, highlighting our work, key developments for displaced communities, and the impact of funding disruptions, is now available in English. Local language versions will follow shortly.
www.theborderconsortium.org/wp-content/u...
www.theborderconsortium.org/wp-content/u...
Thrilled to see my book 'Plains of Discontent: A Political History of Nepal's Tarai' featured in Himal Southasian’s list of 'Six books to understand Nepal’s recent upheaval'. An honour to share the spotlight with Pratyoush Onta, Prashant Jha, Manjushree Thapa, John Whelpton and others.
September 25, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Thrilled to see my book 'Plains of Discontent: A Political History of Nepal's Tarai' featured in Himal Southasian’s list of 'Six books to understand Nepal’s recent upheaval'. An honour to share the spotlight with Pratyoush Onta, Prashant Jha, Manjushree Thapa, John Whelpton and others.
Earlier this month I sat down with Border Echo and the Karen Information Centre to discuss historic policy reforms in refugee support, the impact of funding cuts and the evolving situation for internally displaced people in southeastern Myanmar amid ongoing conflict.
www.facebook.com/share/v/1Fp8...
www.facebook.com/share/v/1Fp8...
September 24, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Earlier this month I sat down with Border Echo and the Karen Information Centre to discuss historic policy reforms in refugee support, the impact of funding cuts and the evolving situation for internally displaced people in southeastern Myanmar amid ongoing conflict.
www.facebook.com/share/v/1Fp8...
www.facebook.com/share/v/1Fp8...
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
Retrospectively removing indefinite leave to remain would be immoral and economically damaging. It would tear families apart.
Attacking it as ‘potentially illegal’ is completely beside the point.
Argue with the (awful) idea. Don’t try ’well, actually you can’t do that’.
Attacking it as ‘potentially illegal’ is completely beside the point.
Argue with the (awful) idea. Don’t try ’well, actually you can’t do that’.
September 22, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Retrospectively removing indefinite leave to remain would be immoral and economically damaging. It would tear families apart.
Attacking it as ‘potentially illegal’ is completely beside the point.
Argue with the (awful) idea. Don’t try ’well, actually you can’t do that’.
Attacking it as ‘potentially illegal’ is completely beside the point.
Argue with the (awful) idea. Don’t try ’well, actually you can’t do that’.
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
You know why ethnic minorities in the UK always feel second-class as if they're never safe in this country and could be asked to leave at any time?
This is why:
This is why:
Nigel Farage: "We will abolish indefinite leave to remain (ILR) status", and "We will rescind ILR statuses that have already been granted".
The first sentence is worryingly ignorant. The second sentence is frighteningly fascist.
The first sentence is worryingly ignorant. The second sentence is frighteningly fascist.
September 22, 2025 at 7:24 AM
You know why ethnic minorities in the UK always feel second-class as if they're never safe in this country and could be asked to leave at any time?
This is why:
This is why:
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
🚨Event alert!🚨
17 CSOs including PV will hold an online press conference to launch a joint report on how #Myanmar civil society is strengthening local resilience.
📅 30 Sep 2025
⏰ 3:00 PM (Bangkok time)
🔗 Register here: bit.ly/3HR90Xq
ℹ️ More info: bit.ly/4nzWHxw
17 CSOs including PV will hold an online press conference to launch a joint report on how #Myanmar civil society is strengthening local resilience.
📅 30 Sep 2025
⏰ 3:00 PM (Bangkok time)
🔗 Register here: bit.ly/3HR90Xq
ℹ️ More info: bit.ly/4nzWHxw
September 18, 2025 at 11:28 AM
🚨Event alert!🚨
17 CSOs including PV will hold an online press conference to launch a joint report on how #Myanmar civil society is strengthening local resilience.
📅 30 Sep 2025
⏰ 3:00 PM (Bangkok time)
🔗 Register here: bit.ly/3HR90Xq
ℹ️ More info: bit.ly/4nzWHxw
17 CSOs including PV will hold an online press conference to launch a joint report on how #Myanmar civil society is strengthening local resilience.
📅 30 Sep 2025
⏰ 3:00 PM (Bangkok time)
🔗 Register here: bit.ly/3HR90Xq
ℹ️ More info: bit.ly/4nzWHxw
The recognition of refugee work rights is a historic step forward after 41 years of confinement to camps, but it’s only one part of a much broader process. Much more work is needed to ensure all refugees, not just those in camps, can live in safety and dignity.
TBC welcomes Thailand’s historic move to grant refugee work rights, but continued support is vital to ensure no refugee is left behind.
August 28, 2025 at 3:08 AM
The recognition of refugee work rights is a historic step forward after 41 years of confinement to camps, but it’s only one part of a much broader process. Much more work is needed to ensure all refugees, not just those in camps, can live in safety and dignity.
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
🎙️"For the Lhotshampa, this announcement of the Geluphu Mindfulness City is incredibly painful because it is just yet another erosion of the identity of the existence within Bhutan," @maxmorch.bsky.social #StateofSouthasia
Maximillian Morch on the disquiet behind Bhutan’s Geluphu Mindfulness City: State of Southasia #29
Bhutan’s bold new urban venture, the Geluphu Mindfulness City, is being pitched as a landmark in values-based development. Envisioned as an economic hub rooted
buff.ly
August 8, 2025 at 12:47 PM
🎙️"For the Lhotshampa, this announcement of the Geluphu Mindfulness City is incredibly painful because it is just yet another erosion of the identity of the existence within Bhutan," @maxmorch.bsky.social #StateofSouthasia
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
📣 🎙️ Coming up on State of Southasia, Maximillian Morch (@maxmorch.bsky.social) who researches Asia's borderlands talks to @nayantaran.bsky.social about the economic strife and the history of repression behind Bhutan's mega project – the Gelephu Mindfulness City.
August 1, 2025 at 3:12 PM
📣 🎙️ Coming up on State of Southasia, Maximillian Morch (@maxmorch.bsky.social) who researches Asia's borderlands talks to @nayantaran.bsky.social about the economic strife and the history of repression behind Bhutan's mega project – the Gelephu Mindfulness City.
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
📣 🎙️ Coming up on State of Southasia, Maximillian Morch (@maxmorch.bsky.social) who researches Asia's borderlands talks to @nayantaran.bsky.social about the economic strife and the history of repression behind Bhutan's mega project – the Gelephu Mindfulness City.
August 3, 2025 at 11:32 AM
📣 🎙️ Coming up on State of Southasia, Maximillian Morch (@maxmorch.bsky.social) who researches Asia's borderlands talks to @nayantaran.bsky.social about the economic strife and the history of repression behind Bhutan's mega project – the Gelephu Mindfulness City.
Bhutan’s new Mindfulness City is hailed as sustainable & values-based—but built on land once home to Lhotshampa refugees expelled in the 1990s.
I speak on the State of Southasia podcast (@Himalistan) about what this project erases.
www.himalmag.com/podcast/maxi...
I speak on the State of Southasia podcast (@Himalistan) about what this project erases.
www.himalmag.com/podcast/maxi...
August 4, 2025 at 6:07 AM
Bhutan’s new Mindfulness City is hailed as sustainable & values-based—but built on land once home to Lhotshampa refugees expelled in the 1990s.
I speak on the State of Southasia podcast (@Himalistan) about what this project erases.
www.himalmag.com/podcast/maxi...
I speak on the State of Southasia podcast (@Himalistan) about what this project erases.
www.himalmag.com/podcast/maxi...
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
Today marks 2 years since the disappearance of Myanmar refugee activist Thuzar Maung, and her 3 children, from their home in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. DVB continues its investigation #goneWithoutATrace #whatshappeninginmyamar #abduction youtu.be/5zTQi74156I
Gone without a trace: Myanmar refugee missing in Malaysia
YouTube video by DVB TV News
youtu.be
July 3, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Today marks 2 years since the disappearance of Myanmar refugee activist Thuzar Maung, and her 3 children, from their home in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. DVB continues its investigation #goneWithoutATrace #whatshappeninginmyamar #abduction youtu.be/5zTQi74156I
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
Incisive autopsy of the hidden narratives behind Crisis Group's post-earthquake analysis on Myanmar.
Excellent writing. Follow Beyond Ah Na for regular dissection of the misleading and harmful narratives that underpin much mainstream analysis on Myanmar.
ahnah.substack.com/p/who-owns-t...
Excellent writing. Follow Beyond Ah Na for regular dissection of the misleading and harmful narratives that underpin much mainstream analysis on Myanmar.
ahnah.substack.com/p/who-owns-t...
Who Owns the Narrative After Disaster?
ဖိုင် 007: On Crisis Group’s quiet recentering of the junta after Myanmar’s deadliest earthquake in a century
ahnah.substack.com
June 12, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Incisive autopsy of the hidden narratives behind Crisis Group's post-earthquake analysis on Myanmar.
Excellent writing. Follow Beyond Ah Na for regular dissection of the misleading and harmful narratives that underpin much mainstream analysis on Myanmar.
ahnah.substack.com/p/who-owns-t...
Excellent writing. Follow Beyond Ah Na for regular dissection of the misleading and harmful narratives that underpin much mainstream analysis on Myanmar.
ahnah.substack.com/p/who-owns-t...
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
The em dash supposedly being a “tell” for AI generated text does sort of give away the game on the enormous amount of work stolen from journalists and news organizations that these things were trained on
For my first @salonnewsroom.bsky.social piece, I wrote about how freaks for the em dash (me, and possibly you) will not stand by and cede our precious punctuation to AI www.salon.com/2025/06/11/a...
AI can’t have my em dash
Gen Z and AI have pulled a divisive punctuation mark into the spotlight.
www.salon.com
June 12, 2025 at 2:29 AM
The em dash supposedly being a “tell” for AI generated text does sort of give away the game on the enormous amount of work stolen from journalists and news organizations that these things were trained on
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
"A major failing of 'Enlightened Leadership' relates to its treatment of the Lhotshampa question: Bhutan’s mass expulsion of its Nepali-descent ethnic minority."
@maxmorch.bsky.social reviews the prime minister Tshering Tobgay’s memoir:
@maxmorch.bsky.social reviews the prime minister Tshering Tobgay’s memoir:
Bland lessons and careful lies from Bhutan’s prime minister
BHUTAN IS famously known as the “Kingdom of Happiness,” a reputation built in part on its pioneering Gross National Happiness index, a novel approach to measuri
buff.ly
June 8, 2025 at 8:56 PM
"A major failing of 'Enlightened Leadership' relates to its treatment of the Lhotshampa question: Bhutan’s mass expulsion of its Nepali-descent ethnic minority."
@maxmorch.bsky.social reviews the prime minister Tshering Tobgay’s memoir:
@maxmorch.bsky.social reviews the prime minister Tshering Tobgay’s memoir:
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
"There is a recurring weakness: a lack of detail on how certain policy issues have been resolved. This is particularly glaring in a book written by a two-time prime minister."
@maxmorch.bsky.social writes:
@maxmorch.bsky.social writes:
Bland lessons and careful lies from Bhutan’s prime minister
BHUTAN IS famously known as the “Kingdom of Happiness,” a reputation built in part on its pioneering Gross National Happiness index, a novel approach to measuri
buff.ly
June 7, 2025 at 9:47 AM
"There is a recurring weakness: a lack of detail on how certain policy issues have been resolved. This is particularly glaring in a book written by a two-time prime minister."
@maxmorch.bsky.social writes:
@maxmorch.bsky.social writes:
Bhutan brands itself a peaceful democracy, yet continues to deny rights to Lhotshampa and detain critics. PM Tobgay’s new book praises “enlightened leadership”—compassion he won’t extend to the displaced. For Himal Southasian, I explore the contradiction
Prime minister Tshering Tobgay’s memoir is all praise for Bhutan’s monarchy and fledgling democracy, but it misrepresents the Lhotshampa expulsion and the fraught political history of the “Kingdom of Happiness”.
@maxmorch.bsky.social writes:
@maxmorch.bsky.social writes:
Bland lessons and careful lies from Bhutan’s prime minister
BHUTAN IS famously known as the “Kingdom of Happiness,” a reputation built in part on its pioneering Gross National Happiness index, a novel approach to measuri
buff.ly
June 6, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Bhutan brands itself a peaceful democracy, yet continues to deny rights to Lhotshampa and detain critics. PM Tobgay’s new book praises “enlightened leadership”—compassion he won’t extend to the displaced. For Himal Southasian, I explore the contradiction
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
Today in the ARB: @maxmorch.bsky.social reviews “One More Story About Climbing a Hill: Stories from Assam” by Devabrata Das (Speaking Tiger) asianreviewofbooks.com/one-more-sto...
“One More Story About Climbing a Hill: Stories from Assam” by Devabrata Das
One More Story About Climbing a Hill: Stories from Assam is the latest book by renowned Assamese writer Devabrata Das. This collection of eighteen short stories, translated from the Assamese origin…
asianreviewofbooks.com
June 2, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Today in the ARB: @maxmorch.bsky.social reviews “One More Story About Climbing a Hill: Stories from Assam” by Devabrata Das (Speaking Tiger) asianreviewofbooks.com/one-more-sto...
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
"There can be no effective, ethical recovery if the architects of the suffering are allowed to control the [humanitarian] response while they continue to destroy lives through bombings and killings." says @khinohmar.bsky.social
progressivevoicemyanmar.org/2025/05/03/a...
progressivevoicemyanmar.org/2025/05/03/a...
Aid Accountability Essential After Quake - Progressive Voice
One month after the devastating magnitude 7.7 and 6.4 earthquakes hit central Myanmar, international aid responses are failing to meet dire humanitarian needs and the junta is blocking, weaponizing, a...
progressivevoicemyanmar.org
May 8, 2025 at 7:34 AM
"There can be no effective, ethical recovery if the architects of the suffering are allowed to control the [humanitarian] response while they continue to destroy lives through bombings and killings." says @khinohmar.bsky.social
progressivevoicemyanmar.org/2025/05/03/a...
progressivevoicemyanmar.org/2025/05/03/a...
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
My new article on increased police extortion of Myanmar migrants in Thailand since Myanmar's 2021 military coup: "Navigating Thailand's extortion regime."
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doi.org
May 7, 2025 at 9:24 AM
My new article on increased police extortion of Myanmar migrants in Thailand since Myanmar's 2021 military coup: "Navigating Thailand's extortion regime."
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
God there were so many of these…
April 29, 2025 at 5:32 AM
God there were so many of these…
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
Khit Thit Media reports that when the earthquake struck during Friday prayers, at least 50 mosques were destroyed, and 300 Muslims lost their lives. The actual death toll may be significantly higher.
March 29, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Khit Thit Media reports that when the earthquake struck during Friday prayers, at least 50 mosques were destroyed, and 300 Muslims lost their lives. The actual death toll may be significantly higher.
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
Earthquake scrambles the already dire situation, but junta continues bombing; Kokang resist Chinese pressure to retreat; junta airstrike destroys a hospital & murders health workers.
#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar #Myanmar #Burma #Rohingya #China
#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar #Myanmar #Burma #Rohingya #China
Burma Coup Resistance Notes March 29, 2025
Earthquake scrambles the already dire situation, but junta continues bombing; Kokang resist Chinese pressure to retreat; junta airstrike destroys a hospital & murders health workers.
open.substack.com
March 29, 2025 at 5:01 AM
Earthquake scrambles the already dire situation, but junta continues bombing; Kokang resist Chinese pressure to retreat; junta airstrike destroys a hospital & murders health workers.
#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar #Myanmar #Burma #Rohingya #China
#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar #Myanmar #Burma #Rohingya #China
Reposted by Maximillian Morch
27 pages. Of babies. Whose entire understanding of what Earth sounded like was bombs dropping & people screaming at the sky
March 24, 2025 at 5:58 PM
27 pages. Of babies. Whose entire understanding of what Earth sounded like was bombs dropping & people screaming at the sky