This week on Cultureteca, a brief political history as Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy win a momentous general election in Myanmar; recent releases in Kanye West’s Yeezy Season 1 collaboration with adidas; Facebook M Assistant treads the line between artificial intelligence and human endeavour; a skateboarding dog; and WWE RAW meets Wayne Rooney in Manchester.
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Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD Win Absolute Majority in Myanmar
The First Anglo-Burmese War, fought for control over northeastern India, lasted between March 1824 and February 1826 and resulted in a decisive British victory. It marked the beginning of British rule in Burma, which was extended through the Second Anglo-Burmese War between 1852 and 1853, and consolidated upon the Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885.
Following World War II, Burma gained independence from British rule in 1948. But despite becoming a neutral voice on the international stage, and the country’s earnest attempt to shift its economy away from a reliance on foreign aid, internal political divisions resulted in a military coup in 1962, led by General Ne Win. The military has effectively remained in power in Burma ever since.
Under the leadership of Ne Win, the Burma Socialist Programme Party was formed to handle political and economic matters. After a new constitution was adopted in 1974, the BSPP officially ruled Burma via a one-party system. But when 1988 saw a series of demonstrations – initiated by students, soon spreading throughout the country, and referred to as the 8888 Uprising because key events took place on 8 August 1988 – the military sought to reassert direct control, establishing the State Law and Order Restoration Council as Burma’s new government.
In 1989 the SLORC officially changed the English name of the country from Burma to Myanmar. At the same time, in response to the demonstrations of the previous year, the council agreed to call the first multi-party elections since 1960. In the Myanmar general election of May 1990, the National League for Democracy – a party established in 1988 and led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Aung San, who had been influential in the 1940s in securing Burmese independence – won 58.7% of the vote and 392 out of a total of 492 seats in parliament. However, the military refused to accept the results, and the SLORC continued to govern.
Determined to remain in Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi spent fifteen of the next twenty years under house arrest. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. But despite a general election in 2010 which was widely perceived as fraudulent, over the past five years Myanmar’s military authorities have undertaken a series of processes towards democratic reform.
In November 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest. In March 2011, the State Peace and Development Council – a reformulated SLORC – was officially dissolved, with the council’s political wing, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, forming a nominally civilian government. By-elections in April 2012 saw the NLD enter parliament for the first time, winning 41 out of 44 contested seats. A National Human Rights Commission was established, amnesties were given to some political prisoners, and there has been a relaxation of press censorship.
Last Sunday, on 8 November, the people of Myanmar went to the polls for the first open general election in the country since 1990’s annulled results. It was quickly clear that the NLD, under Aung San Suu Kyi, had enjoyed a major success. The outcome was confirmed on Friday, with the NLD winning an absolute majority in both the Pyithu Hluttaw (House of Representatives) and Amyotha Hluttaw (House of Nationalities) – the two houses of Myanmar’s bicameral legislature.
The NLD won 255 of 330 contested seats in the Pyithu Hluttaw, leaving the USDP with just 30. In the Amyotha Hluttaw, the NLD won 136 of 168 contested seats, with the USDP taking just 12.
Not all of the seats in the Hluttaw were on offer on Sunday, with between 20% and 25% reserved for military appointees in accordance with Myanmar’s military-drafted constitution. This constitution also prohibits Aung San Suu Kyi from taking the presidency herself, as both of her sons are foreign citizens. Myanmar’s new president will not be determined until next March, at which point three committees – made up of elected MPs in the Pyithu, elected MPs in the Amyotha, and military-appointed MPs – will have to come together and reach an agreement.
But Sunday’s results give the NLD control over this process, and control too over an increasingly vocal parliament, which has legislative authority but must seek 75% approval in both houses for any change to the constitution, giving the military the power of veto. Whoever becomes Myanmar’s next president, Aung San Suu Kyi has made it clear that she will be the real power behind the scenes, where she will have to steer a course in the face of the National Defense and Security Council, still dominated by military officials.
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Yeezy 350 Boost Lands in Moonrock
Following the release of the Yeezy 750 Boost in February, a high-top sneaker in thick grey suede, and the Yeezy 350 Boost in July, a low-top ‘grey’ sneaker made of unlined black and white adidas Primeknit, the all-black version of the Yeezy 350 Boost arrived in August, and the end of October saw the emergence of Kanye West’s full first fashion collection with adidas, Yeezy Season 1.
With Yeezy Season 1 came sateen flight jackets, fur-lined parkas, camouflage overcoats, distressed sweaters, crop tops, sweats, and the Yeezy 950 Boost, a duck boot made from ballistic mesh, rubber, and suede, in the four colourways of peyote (olive), pirate black (black), moonrock (light grey), and chocolate (brown). Yeezy Season 1 has been modelled by Ian Connor, The Weeknd, Vic Mensa, and Tink, and incorporates a line of accessories including backpacks and a weekend bag.
On Saturday, the Yeezy 350 Boost in moonrock was made available via selected adidas retailers: in a departure from the previous three sneaker releases, this one was withheld from the adidas Confirmed app. And rounding off an autumn of Yeezy, the first weekend in December is scheduled to see the release of the Yeezy 750 Boost in black.
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Facebook M Assistant: Artificial Intelligence or All Too Human?
Back in August, Facebook announced a new service called M, a ‘personal digital assistant’ integrated into the Facebook Messenger app, powered by artificial intelligence with training and supervision from real people. The service has been tested over the past few months in the San Francisco Bay Area. Viewed inevitably as competition for Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, or Google Now, Facebook touted its product on the range of tasks it would be able to complete on a user’s behalf: more than simply answering queries, it was said to be able to ‘purchase items, get gifts delivered to your loved ones, book restaurants, travel arrangements, appointments and way more’.
This week one of M’s early users, Arik Sosman, a software engineer at BitGo, devised, carried out, and wrote about what he refers to as an ‘Anti-Turing Test’, meant to examine the extent of the service’s human element. Sosman concluded that beyond training and supervision, human beings appear to be typing out responses to queries made via M, as well as undertaking phone calls and making bookings. And they are doing this while making a ham-fisted attempt to appear artificial.
His test questions the existence and certainly the level of maturity of Facebook’s AI, challenges the extent to which M will be scalable beyond the confines of San Francisco Bay, and posits a future in which we are paid to do for others the most menial tasks which we are disinclined to face ourselves.
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Dog On a Skateboard Navigates Carefully Through Legs
A dog on a skateboard, navigating by means of his paws, this week rolled expertly between the legs of all these people. Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
In fact the thirty pairs of legs skated through by Otto the bulldog marked a Guinness World Record. A proud day for such a lovely dog.
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King Barrett Tangles with Wayne Rooney at RAW
WWE RAW took place on Monday in Manchester, England. The show was defined by the absence of World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, who after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament, and meniscus in his right knee performing at a house show in Dublin, is set to be out of action for approximately six-to-nine months. That meant the hasty putting together of a title tournament, with the aim of crowning a new champion at Survivor Series next weekend.
One of the first round matches saw Sheamus, accompanied to the ring by his tag partner King Barrett, face off against Cesaro. Before the match, Barrett took to the microphone to tear into Wayne Rooney, the Manchester United and England football captain who was seated at ringside. But Rooney was to avenge Barrett’s cruel taunts, having a hand in Cesaro’s eventual victory.
