Aung San Suu Kyi, pronounced Un-song-Sue-Chee was born in Rangoon, Burma in 1945, she was the winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for opposing the military regime in her homeland Burma, now named Myanmar. She went to school at Oxford University in England and lived a fairly quiet life until 1988 when she returned to her country and began a non-violent struggle for democracy against strongman Ne Win. Some may say bravery was in her blood. Her father U Aung San led Burma’s fight for independence from Great Britain after WWII; he paid with his life when he was assassinated by a political group, just a few months before independence was formally achieved.
The government in Myanmar bans gatherings of larger than four people, but thousands gathered in defiance of that ban to hear Aung San Suu Kyi speak, in fact over 500,000 anti-government protesters gathered at the most sacred shrine in Rangoon to hear her speak, she told the crowd that they had a fundamental human right to choose their own government. By the next day an outpouring of people sharing the same passion became a full out democratic movement. Just before she was placed under house arrest in July 1989, she said: “Within a system which denies the existence of basic human rights, fear tends to be the order of the day, fear that masquerades as common sense or even wisdom, condemning as reckless, insignificant, or futile the small, daily acts of courage which help to preserve self-respect and inherent human dignity.” She spent six years under house arrest, with the government offering her freedom if she’d leave the country. She refused to leave until Myanmar was returned to civilian rule. She was finally released in July, 1995, and said: “I did not know what to feel. I said to myself, ‘Well, I’m free,’ but then I have always felt free. I did not really hanker for the great big world outside. I always felt that the important thing was to be able to live inside myself and feel free.”
Even though she won 82 percent of her countries parliamentary seats, she was once again arrested and locked away on May 30th, 2003 after the regime’s militia attacked her convoy and killed up to 100 of her supporters. They were attacked by the same military regime who has destroyed over 3000 villages in East Burma, forcing 1.5 million people from their homes, and raping 1000’s of women. They have also recruited more child soldiers than any other country in the world. Aung San Suu Kyi has been compared to a modern day Gandhi, or Mandela, she is a symbol of hope to people all over the world struggling to fight for what is right. To date Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained in prison for over 12 years. She is 62 years old.
