New
Technology Allows Modern “Berlin Wall” Concerts
Aimed At Supporting Human Rights

For Immediate Release: June 15th, 2005
Contact: Jeremy Woodrum at (202) 223-0300

(Washington, Athens, Dublin) Popular
music artists R.E.M. will dedicate a song at
its June 19th concert in Dublin, Ireland to
the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize
recipient, Aung San Suu Kyi. The song will be
broadcast via satellite television inside the
Southeast Asian country of Burma, where Suu
Kyi is held under arrest. With the aid of satellite
technology, this will be the first time the
Burmeses people will be able to watch part of
an international music concert in which musicians
speak about Aung San Suu Kyi.

“Her dedication, resolve, courage and patience
are the mark of a leader. We stand tall for
her, as she will again stand tall for herself,”
said R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe.

Burma is ruled by one of the world’s most brutal
military dictatorships. Over 1,500 political
prisoners are held behind bars, while millions
of Burmese citizens are forced into a modern
form of slave labor. The ruling dictators have
conscripted an estimated 70,000 child soldiers,
far more than any other country in the world.

Aung San Suu Kyi leads Burma’s vibrant democracy
and human rights movement. In stark contrast
to the military regime, which rules through
brute force, Aung San Suu Kyi is totally committed
to nonviolence. Her political party, the National
League for Democracy, won an estimated 82% of
seats in parliament in Burma’s last election,
but the ruling dictators ignored the results.
Her overwhelming popularity among the Burmese
people and her commitment to justice and democracy
has led her to become known as the “Nelson
Mandela of Asia.”

Aung San Suu Kyi has won over 70 major international
awards for her work on behalf of the people
of Burma, including the Nobel Peace Prize, Sakharov
Prize for the European Parliament, and the US
Presidential Medal of Freedom. She has called
on individuals, organizations, and governments
around the world to support Burma’s democracy
movement, stating, “Please, use your liberty
to promote ours.”

R.E.M. will speak about Aung San Suu Kyi on
stage at the concert.

This portion of the concert will be broadcast
inside Burma via satellite through the brand-new
Democratic Voiceof Burma television station,
which is based in Norway. There are an estimated
2 million satellite dishes inside Burma, reaching
up to 10 million of the country’s population
of 52 million persons. Listening to democracy
radio stations or watching such programs on
television is illegal under the ruling military
regime, a “crime” punishable by up
to 7 years in prison. In the past, listeners
caught listening to opposition radio stations
such as Radio Free Asia have received lengthy
prison sentences. despite the serious sentences,
demand for shortwave radios and satellite dishes
is skyrocketing in Burma as citizens search
for news uncensored by repressive governments,
satellite technology is almost impossible to
block.

Just as musicians used to play concerts near
the Berlin Wall to encourage respect for human
rights in the then-Soviet eastern bloc, modern
satellite technology today allows musicians
playing around the world to share their support
directly with peopl eliving under repressive
governments. Former dissidents in the eastern
bloc countries such as Vaclav Havel, who went
on to become the PResident of the Czech Republic
after the fall of communism, cite support from
musicians such as Lou Reed and others as a key
motivating factor in their struggle for human
rights.

The concert is part of a global series of events
demanding Aung San Suu Kyi’s release on her
60th birthday, June 19th. Protests will be held
at one dozen embassies of the military regime
around the world, while governments in the West
and Southeast Asia are rallying support for
her release.

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