TheWorld.org (PRI, Public Radio International); Wisdom QuarterlyThis summer, [The Lady] Aung San Suu Kyi will be stepping out onto an international stage.
She will finally be picking up her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize and speaking her mind in various European capitals.
It will be a far cry from the 15 years she spent under house arrest, unable to participate in elections or speak to her Burmese compatriots.
Suu Kyi, now a member of the Burmese parliament, recently completed her first trip out of Myanmar [Burma as renamed by its military dictatorships after their coup] in 24 years.
In a speech in Thailand, she praised President Thein Sein’s efforts to bring democracy to the country. But she didn’t shy away from criticizing more entrenched [authoritarian] forces that are less open to change, in particular the military which she called a “force to be reckoned with.”
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| Buddhist monastics rose up protesting police state dictators during the Saffron Revolution. |
Next, Suu Kyi heads to Paris, Oslo, London, and elsewhere for a series of high profile appearances.
Her words will be closely analyzed back home -- by those who love her and those who fear her. It’s clear that the government of Myanmar is giving Suu Kyi freedoms that it previously denied her...
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Tragically there is also silence about other ethnic minorities, such as the Karen and Rakhine, particularly along the border with Thailand. If only there were a website showing the Buddhist beauty and military horror of Burma. Wait. There's The Irrawaddy Magazine. There's USCampaignforBurma.org. There's the BurmaCampaign.org.uk. There's BurmaDigest.org. And the BBC does a decent job of covering the region. News on the Rohingya can be found in the Bangladeshi press.
