page_title: 1962 Rangoon University protests
section_title: General Ne Win’s state-of-the-nation address and the demolition of the Rangoon University Students' Union (RUSU) building
hierarchical_section_title: 1962 Rangoon University protests / Protests and crackdown / General Ne Win’s state-of-the-nation address and the demolition of the Rangoon University Students' Union (RUSU) building
context_page_description: The 1962 Rangoon University protests were a series of marches, demonstrations, and protests against stricter campus regulations, the end of the system of university self-administration, and the policy of the new military regime of General Ne Win. The main events took place in Rangoon, Burma on 7–8 July 1962. On 7 July 1962, the military regime violently suppressed a student demonstration at Rangoon University attended by some 5,000 students. This resulted in the deaths of more than one hundred, and the arrest of more than 6,000 students according to unofficial sources. However, official government statements put the death toll at 15. In the morning hours of the next day, the military regime blew up the historic Rangoon University Students' Union building, which had been the symbol of the anti-colonial nationalism struggle since the 1920s.
  The reaction of the military regime disclosed for the first time its new tough stance against all regime opponents as part of implementing the new state ideology, the Burmese Way to Socialism, which included bringing "almost all of Burma's political, social, and economic life under strict military control".
context_section_description: Shortly afterward, Ne Win addressed the nation in a five-minute radio speech portraying the incident as the work of a treacherous group of communist students. He concluded his statement warning that "if these disturbances were made to challenge us, I have to declare that we will fight sword with sword and spear with spear".
  Although the student protest had already ended, the next morning the military regime nonetheless demolished the historic RUSU building with dynamite at 6:00 a.m. on 8 July 1962. However, Ne Win would soon realise that this decision substantially undermined popular support for the regime. The RUSU building had been a symbol of Burmese nationalism ever since the anti-colonial nationalist struggle of the 1930s as it constituted the locus of the beginning of Burma's drive for independence. In this respect, the building was also "closely associated with the martyred Aung San", who is not only considered the Father of the Nation of modern independent Burma but was also a student leader in his youth. The act of destroying the symbolic RUSU building was a tangible sign of a break with this nationalist tradition, where a large segment of the Burmese elite shared national aspirations across party lines. It was capable of turning public opinion against the new military regime. Moreover, as some authors contend, the event also revealed that there was a new elite in power, recruited mainly from the military who disregarded this symbol of the former elite's shared identity.
caption: Last known photo of historic Rangoon University Students' Union building
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