the where of it

Aung San Suu Kyi on trial in Burma

• Posted by Summer Wood on May 25th, 2009 filed in people
• Comment now »

“To paraphrase our beloved James Baldwin: the world is held together, really the world is held together by the love and compassion and clarity of thought of a very few individuals. Though this idea may be frightening, the world being in such distress, it is also comforting. At least there are a few people who can be counted on to lead us in a proper direction for survival as humans, and for thriving as a species. Aung San Suu Kyi is at the top of the list.” — Alice Walker

In a move of calculated absurdity, the ruling military junta of Myanmar — the former Burma — has brought charges against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and moved this 63-year-old woman of fragile health from house arrest to jail.

I learned about Burma when I learned Vipassana meditation from those who had been taught by the Burmese “householder” S.N. Goenka, whose teacher was Sayagi U Ba Khin. And one of the first things I learned — not from meditation practice but from the news, and from word of mouth — was that this brave and steadfast woman had made tremendous personal sacrifices to serve as the voice of democracy in a country shackled by a corrupt and vicious military junta. Born into a political family in Burma and educated in and living in the West, Suu Kyi returned to Burma to care for her ailing mother and stayed to lend her nonviolent support to the movement for democracy.

Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and has become an international symbol of peaceful resistance to an oppressive regime. For me, she embodies the grace and strength and courage required to stand up, day after day and year after year, to brutality — and to keep your soul unclenched in spite of what your eyes take in.

Most of the news we hear from Burma is bad.  Cyclone Nargis killed hundreds of thousands of people a year ago.  The suffering escalated as the junta prevented international aid groups from entering the country.  A year before that, a popular uprising led primarily by Buddhist monks was brutally repressed. And Ms. Suu Kyi, who has the support of the vast majority of Burmese people, has been held without trial under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years.

Her house arrest is due to expire at the end of this month, and many observers have accused the junta of arresting Ms. Suu Kyi under trumped up charges in order to extend her detention.

Human rights groups estimate that more than 2100 political prisoners are being unjustly held by the government.

You can learn more about Aung San Suu Kyi at Alice Walker’s blog, and in a long letter  to Aung San Suu Kyi Alice wrote and posted for the world to read.  Another useful commentary that speaks to the world’s response (or lack of it) is posted in this piece in the Guardian.