How do you fight a massive dam project that would destroy ecosystems and ruin whole communities, when you live under a brutal regime like Myanmar’s? You allow your anger to embolden you, you take little steps, and you use offline storytelling and communication tools and strategies such as art. This, at least, is what Myint Zaw, one of six winners of this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize for grassroots environmental activism, did. Distributing “unauthorized” material about art exhibits around the country, he and his team managed to create a viral campaign that eventually led to the dam project being suspended. All without any access to information technology.
When creative thinking wins over a repressive government
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