Suu Kyi, A story of bravery

The Lady was in court, but with the trial being closed to the public, few knew if she wore her trademark flowers in her hair. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, known to Burmese simply as "The Lady" was dragged to the infamous Insein Prison on Thursday morning to face charges of disobeying the terms of her house arrest. On May 3rd, according to Burmese state press, an American man illegally swam across a lake to Suu Kyi's waterfront villa and snuck into her compound for two nights. Foreigners are not allowed to stay overnight in Burmese houses and she is no ordinary lady. The leader of Burma's crushed democratic opposition, she has been confined to her crumbling home by the ruling junta for much of the past two decades.

Suu Kyi's trial is due to begin on May 18th, according to her lawyers.Two housekeepers who have lived with Suu Kyi since her latest stint of jail time began in 2003 were also arrested. Even though her lawyer said she was upset to discover the uninvited guest in her home she still could face up to 5 years in prison. After much stonewalling by the Burmese regime an American diplomat was allowed to meet with the swimmer, a 53 year old former military serviceman John William Yettaw. His motives for the midnight swim remain unclear.
The health of the 63 year old is watched anxiously not only by Burma's democratic opposition but by many other Burmese who revere her with a singular-if hushed- devotion. On sensitive dates related to the doomed democracy movement, some women put flowers in their hair, a subtle show of support for the silenced activist. Now with the Lady in jail those flowers may yet bloom again.

Aung San Suu Kyi born on June 19th, 1945 Her mother Daw Khin Kyi becomes a prominent public figure, heading social planning and social policy bodies. In Jan.1948 the Independent union of Burma is established and in 1960 when Suu Kyi was 15 her mother was appointed Burma's ambassador to India. Suu Kyi accompanied her mother to New Delhi. She attended high school and then went to Lady Shri Ram College in New Delhi. In 1964 she attended Oxford University and recieved a B.A. in philosophy, politics and economics at St. Hugh's College.

Her British "parents" are Lord Gore-Booth, former British ambassador to Burma and High Commissioner in India, and his wife, at whose home Suu Kyi met Michael Aris, student of Tibetan civilization.

In 1969 She went to New York for graduate study, staying with family friend Ma Than E,  staff member at the United Nations, where U. Thant of Burma is Secretary General. Postponing her studies Suu Kyi joins U.N. secretariat as Assistant Secretary, Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions. In the evenings and on week ends she volunteers t hospital, helping indigent patients in programs of reading and companionship.
In 1972 she married Michael Aris and joins him in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, where he tutors royal family and heads the Translation Department. She became Research Officer in the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

                                                                      


In 1973 they returned to England for the birth of their son Alexander in London. In 1974 Michael assumed the appointment in Tibetan and Himalayan studies at Oxford University.
In 1977 she gave birth to her second son at Oxford. While raising her children she began writing, researching for biography of her father, and assisted Michael in Himalayan studies. In 1984 she published Aung San in series of University of Queensland Press. In 1985 she published a book for young people Let's Visit Burma, also books on Nepal and Bhutan in the same series for Burke Publishing Company in London. In 1987 the family returns from Simla where Michael had fellowship at Indian Institute of Advance Studies,and where she published Socio-Political Currents in Burmese Literature1910-1940 in the journal of Tokyo University.

Back in London Suu Kyi enrolls at London School of Oriental and African Studies to work on an advanced degree. In March of 1988 she moved the family to Rangoon to take care of her mother after she had a severe stroke. In July of that year General Ne Win, military dictator of Burma since 1962 resigned. In August there was a mass uprising throughout the country and violent suppression by the military kills thousands. On August 15th Suu Kyi, in her first political action sends open letter to government asking for formation of independent consultative committee to prepare multi-party elections. On August 26th in her first public speech addressed several hundred thousand people outside Shwedon Pagoda, calling for a democratic government. On September 18th military establishes State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). Political gatherings of more than four persons is banned with arrests and sentencing without trial reaffirmed. On September 24th the National League for Democracy formed with Suu Kyi general-secretary.There was a policy of non-violence and civil disobedience.

Defying the ban Suu Kyi makes speech-making tour throughout the country to large audiences. In December of that year her mother Daw Khin Kyi died and at her huge funeral procession Suu Kyi vows that as her father and dead mother had served the people of Burma, so too would she, even unto her death. January 1989 through July of same year Suu Kyi continues her campaign despite harassment, arrests and killings by soldiers. On February 17th she was prohibited from standing for election. April 5th in the incident in Irawaddy Delta she courageously walked towards rifles that soldiers were aiming at her. On July 20th Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest, without charge or trial. Her sons were with her and Michael flew to Rangoon and finds her on her third day of hunger strike. Michael asked to be jailed to join students who were arrested at her home. She ended the strike when good treatment of students was promised.
In May of 1990 despite detention of Suu Kyi, NLD wins election with 82% of parliamentary seats. SLORC refused to recognize the results of the election. In October of 1990 Suu Kyi was granted the 1990 Rafto Human Rights Prize. In July of 1991 European Parliament awarded her Sakharov human rights prize. In 1991 Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In December of that year Freedom from Fear was published in New York, England, Australia, and New Zealand. It was also translated to Norwegian, French and Spanish. On Dec. 10th Alexander and Kim accepted their mother's prize in an Oslo ceremony. Suu Kyi remained in detention having refused an offer to be freed if only she would leave Burma and withdraw from politics. Now world wide appeal is growing for her release. In 1992 she announced that she would use her $1.3 million prize money to establish health and education trusts for Burmese people. In 1993 a group of Nobel Peace Laureates, having been denied entry into Burma visited Burmese refugees on the Thailand border calling for Suu Kyi's release. Their appeal later was repeated at UN Commission for Human Rights in Geneva.
In February of 1994 she has her first non-family visitors, a UN representative, a U.S. congressman and a New York Times reporter. In September and October SLORC leaders meet with Suu Kyi, who is still asking for a public dialogue. On July 10th, 1995 the SLORC releases Suu Kyi from house arrest after 6 years of detention.

                                                                             



On March 27th, 1999 Michael Aris died of prostate cancer in London. He had petitioned the Burmese authorities to allow him to visit Suu Kyi but his request was denied. He had not seen his wife since Christmas 1995. The Burmese government always urged her to visit her family abroad, but she knew once she left she would never be allowed back into Burma. This separation she regarded as one of the sacrifices she had to make in order to work for a free Burma.
All in all Suu Kyi has been detained on and off for the last nineteen years.



From Nobel Lectures, Peace 1991-1995, Editor Irwin Abrams, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1999
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures.

International Women's Day. Stop Female Genital Mutilation!

March 8th we celebrate International Women's day. Women have influenced life since the dawn of mankind, whether anyone wants to admit this or not. We have been suckled, nurtured protected and loved at one time or another in our lives. We are influenced every day by women. Be it our Mothers, sister, friends, neighbors or strangers. So let us think about the women in our lives and what they have done for us and what they bring to our world.

FGM. Do you know what these three letters stand for? Female Genital Mutilation. A horrible mutilating disfiguring of women done because it is believed by many to ensure a man's progeny was his and also to insure women were not sexual beings. This is not known to be truly the whole reason and is open to speculation.

Female Genital Mutilation is usually done to girls between the ages of three and six, although the age can vary, and are done by the women of the family and village. It is performed in secret and leads to disfigurement and problems for the girl later in childbearing years. In order for a girl to have sex most often surgery is needed. In order to give birth more surgery is needed. More than 100 million women and girls are estimated to have had FGM.

What does this say about the women of the world? Are they so expendable? Are they worthless in the eyes of so many? Some say uncut women are considered more likely to be promiscuous, unhygienic and prone to diseases such as Aids. Attempts have been made to justify this horrific practice on religious grounds. Some die hard Muslims insist that women must undergo genital cutting to remain faithful to the purest teaching of Islam, even though it not mentioned in the Koran and only in uncertain expressions in the Hadith (a collection of oral traditions about the life of the prophet Mohammed).

It is known by a variety of names, the most common being female genital mutilation (FGM), female circumcision, or simply "cutting". It involves removing part or all of the clitoris, the surrounding labia, and then sewing up of the vagina, leaving only a small opening for urine and menstrual blood. There are no anesthetics involved, just a little girl held by her legs, spreading them apart and then using a piece of glass, a rusty razor blade or filthy knife and then cutting off the clitoris and labia and ending by sewing the raw edges together. A pack of mud and herbs are then put on the wound and the girl is held in isolation until she has healed, usually several weeks.

The real unsettling story is the fact that this practice is still happening in Britain today! By conservative estimates there are 66,000 women and girls living in Britain that have been mutilated. Because of the secrecy, finding and punishing the cutters, who are often flown in from their home countries is extremely difficult. The families have had the ways of cutting in their cultures for hundreds of years and to eradicate this belief is damn near impossible.

I cry as I write this because of the complete ignorance in this matter. You hear of it, possibly you have seen pictures but who has any idea of long term results of this practice. Genital mutilation may leave a lasting mark on the life and mind of the woman or child who has undergone it. The psychological complications may be submerged deep in the child's subconscious and may trigger behavioral disturbances. In the longer term,
women may suffer feelings of incompleteness, anxiety, depression, loss of trust, chronic irritability and frigidity. Many women and girls, traumatized by their experience but with no acceptable means of expressing their fears, suffer in silence. I urge all women to stand up and say enough is enough!

This year lend your voice. Help educate these women and help them see what they are doing and how wrong it is. If this is their choice then let them choose as adults, not be forced as very young children who have no say so in this cruelty. There are charities out there who are trying to stop this barbaric custom. Stopfgmc is one such site that warrants a look.

Here is a petition that you can sign.
This website has some good information.
More info here.
Another source of info

Bloggers Unite For Refugees

Today is the day we give our voice for those who have none. Today is the day we unite for refugees. We are banding together to give the world the stories of families torn asunder by war. Men who do not know where their wives are. Mothers who do not know where their children are. Help the refugees of the world find their loved ones. Help them get the message, I am alive, I am here!



With the call of a cease fire in Goma, thousands of war weary refugees strive to reach their homes they had fled when the fighting started. American and U.N. envoys join forces to try to find a solution to the region’s long running rebellion.

Laurent Nkunda's renegade movement called a truce after an upsurge of fighting this week. He said he wanted the cease-fire to allow humanitarian help to get through and refugees to go home.

The U.N. refugee agency said it was getting reports that 50,000 people, in desperate need of help, have been forced out of refugee camps and settlements in rebel-held areas near the town of Rutshuru in recent days.

Women whose faces streamed with sweat carried bundles of belongings on their backs and toddlers on their necks.
Rhema Harerimana, who has been on the run for five days, told the AP "We've had nothing to eat for three days, There's no shelter, there's no food, My only choice is to go home." she said.
She is trying to make it back  home Friday to Kibumba, about 17 miles (28 kilometers) from Goma.
Nkunda's rebellion has threatened to reignite the back-to-back wars that afflicted Congo from 1996 to 2002, drawing in eight African nations.  Elected in 2006 in the first vote in 40 years, President Joseph Kabila has struggled ever since to contain the bloody insurgency in the east.

Jendayi Frazer, the top U.S. envoy for Africa and Alan Doss, the top U.N. envoy in Congo, flew into Goma on Friday to try to help. They met with Julien Mpaluku, Goma’s Governor, along with government ministers and local officials.

Nkunda began a low-level rebellion in 2004, claiming Congo's transition to democracy had excluded the Tutsi ethnic group. Despite agreeing in January to a U.N.-brokered cease-fire, he resumed fighting in August.
Nkunda charges the Congolese government has not protected ethnic Tutsis from the Rwandan Hutu militia that escaped to Congo after helping slaughter half a million Rwandan Tutsis in 1994. Congo has charges Nkunda himself with involvement in war crimes, and Human Rights Watch say it has documented summary executions, torture, and rape committed by soldiers under Nkunda’s command in 2002 and 2004.

Rights groups have also accused government forces of atrocities and widespread looting.

A team from International Medical Corps trying to reach a clinic in Kibumba, were stopped by a rebel guard, who said he needed permission from a higher up to let them pass. Two hours later they were still waiting. Close by, rebels refuse to allow a group of about twenty drivers of motorbike taxis to return home. “Those new soldiers have blocked us from returning,” said driver Ruwara Nuyubuzu, referring to the rebels manning a checkpoint. “We want to go home.”

Village chief Gatambaza Kariwabo says soldiers have looted homes and the bank in Kibumba.

The United Nations has approx. 17,000 Congo peacekeepers. They only have about 6,000 of these I the east because of unrest in other provinces.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, speaking to reporters in New Delhi, urged all sides to respect the cease-fire. He also said he was concerned about attacks on U.N. workers by Congolese who accused them of not protecting the population.
This comes from a purely, some purely misunderstandings from them," Ban said. "United Nations is there to keep peace and stability."

 

  – People walk past a United Nations armoured vehicle, not seen, in Goma in eastern Congo, Thursday, Oct. …