The Milk Tea Alliance - by Jeffrey Wasserstrom (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The political situations in Burma, Thailand, and Hong Kong are radically different. Only Burma is in a state of civil war. Only Hong Kong has changed in just a few years from a place with virtually no political prisoners to one with many. Only Thailand is a monarchy with lèse-majesté laws. Yet, many young activists and exiles from these regions feel that their struggles are connected.

Historian Jeffrey Wasserstrom met dozens of dissidents, including Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, known for his protests against compulsory Thai military service; Agnes Chow, co-founder of a political party now banned in Hong Kong; and Ye Myint Win (aka Nickey Diamond), who fled to Germany from Burma in the early 2020s, fearing reprisal from the junta for his human rights work. Activists like these three express solidarity with one another online and on the streets, and sometimes refer to themselves as belonging to the "Milk Tea Alliance," a nod to their shared opposition to nationalistic Beijing loyalists and the fact that their cultures' iconic drinks contain dairy, unlike mainland China's traditional tea.

How do these activists, each facing their unique situations, find common ground and sustain one another? Wasserstrom traveled globally to interview members of this loosely constituted alliance, meeting some in Asia and others in exile, finding them united by democratic values, shared concerns over autocrats, and the rising influence of a common adversary--the Chinese Communist Party.

Review Quotes

"The historian Jeffrey Wasserstrom, celebrated for drawing connections across time and genre, brilliantly succeeds here in capturing the travel of moral energy, how one uprising informs another. In tracing the currents linking youth movements across Asia, he gives us a story of resilient defiance against not just local oppression but the expanding shadow of Xi Jinping's China--a defining battle of the twenty-first century." --Evan Osnos, National Book Award winner, author of Age of Ambition

"By tracing the links between young activists across Asia, The Milk Tea Alliance presents an exciting new way of seeing the region, and Jeffrey Wasserstrom is uniquely placed to contextualize these stories of persistence and resilience. The resulting web of connections forged across social, cultural and geographical boundaries is a template for hope in dark times." --Emma Larkin, author of Finding George Orwell in Burma

"The future of democracy in several Asian countries looked promising with the rise of youth movements in the 2010s and 2020s. Authoritarian regimes responded by trying to crush their attempts at change, but we hope the world will care more about them and the future they fought for, starting with Wasserstrom's excellent stories of these young activists." --Thongchai Winichakul, emeritus professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison