| Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced Daw Aung Sawn Sue
Chee) is one of the world's most renown freedom
fighters and advocates of nonviolence, having
served as the figurehead for Burma's struggle
for democracy since 1988. Born on June 19th,
1945 to Burma's independence hero, Aung San,
Aung San Suu Kyi was educated in Burma, India,
and the United Kingdom. Her father was assassinated
when she was only two years old.
In 1988, while living in London, she returned
to Burma to nurse her dying mother, and was
plunged into the country's nationwide uprising
that had just begun. Joining the newly-forming
National League for Democracy political party,
Suu Kyi gave numerous speeches calling for freedom
and democracy. The military regime responded
to the uprising with brute force, shooting and
otherwise killing up to 10,000 demonstrators
— student, women, children, and others
— in a mater of months. Unable to maintain
its grip on power, the regime was forced to
call for a general election in 1990.
As Suu Kyi began to campaign for the NLD, she and
many others were detained by the regime. Despite
being held under house arrest, the NLD went
on to win a staggering 82% of the seats in parliament.
The regime never recognized the results.
Suu
Kyi has been in and out of arrest ever since.
She was held from 1989-1995, and again from
2000-2002. She was again arrested and placed
behind bars in May 2003 after the Depayin massacre,
during which up to 100 of her supporters were
beaten to death by the regime's cronies. She
has moved from prison back into house arrest
in late 2003 and has been held there ever since.
She has won numerous international awards, including
the Nobel Peace Prize, Sakharov Prize from the
European Parliament, United States Presidential
Medal of Freedom, and Jawaharlal Nehru Award
from India. She has called on people around
the world to join the struggle for freedom in
Burma, saying "Please use your liberty
to promote ours." |
